What I Learned From My First EV Road Trip

I had never driven an electric car before, so, naturally, I made sure my first drive covered 500 miles across two states in one day.

Although public opinion on electric cars is still mixed, facts suggest these cars are not a passing fad. Electric vehicle sales in the U.S. topped 1 million for the first time in 2023, quadrupling the figure three years prior. And although demand has slowed, a recent study by industry group Cox Automotive found that more than half of shoppers previously identified as skeptics are poised to enter the EV market in the second half of the decade.

While my first experience with an EV was unusual — I rented one to drive from San Jose, California, to a work event in Las Vegas — it included many situations a prospective buyer would want to consider. If you’re new to EVs or just curious about what a road trip in one is like, here are the lessons I learned.

The 2023 Chevy Bolt EV 1LT that I drove has a combined miles-per-gallon equivalent (MPGe) of 120 and a maximum range of 259 miles, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. These totals didn’t translate to real life.

That’s because an electric vehicle’s maximum range doesn’t take into account the use of anything in the car, including air conditioning/heater, the infotainment system, charging your phone or the terrain you’ll drive through. It’s just a measurement of what the 100% charged battery is capable of.

It turns out, though, that an electric battery functions best when it is between 20% and 80% full, because going over that exposes the battery to high voltages that can accelerate degradation over time. (Think of your phone battery and how the battery dies faster as the phone ages.) So if you’re keeping the car’s battery between 20% and 80% most of the time, your battery should last longer.

When I picked up the car, the battery was at 80%, which gave me a minimum of 151 miles. I had mapped out my trip based on where I could find public charging stations, and I knew the first leg of my trip would cover about 150 miles while driving through a mountain pass. Before heading out, I decided to top up the charge to a minimum of 163 miles — but, happily, I got to the first stop with 60 miles left, mostly due to regenerative braking that takes the energy usually wasted with braking and puts it back into the battery.

I charged the vehicle four times on my trip, using three of the four largest public charging companies: Electrify America, ChargePoint and EVgo. Because all three charging companies function differently, this meant that each time I was figuring out how payments and plugging in worked. It felt like I was 16 again and learning how to fuel up my car for the first time.

Depending on your area, you might have a plethora of charging options or not many at all, and it’s not always predictable. Consider two California cities of comparable size: Fresno with a population of 542,107 and Sacramento with a population of 524,943. When it comes to charging stations with Level 2 and direct-current (DC) fast chargers (the two fastest charging options), Sacramento has more than double the number of chargers in Fresno — 359 and 174, respectively, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. And there’s even more of a divide in different areas across the country.

Keep in mind, too, that not all of those chargers work for every car. Tesla has the largest network of charging stations by far, but while the company is opening up that network to other manufacturers and charge-point operators, that process is very much in-progress. What’s more, at any given station some of the chargers may be out of order (two of the four stations I visited had chargers that weren’t working), and if you get to a station and it’s full, you may have a wait ahead of you.

Enter a drive from San Jose to Vegas in your favorite mapping software and it’ll say it takes about eight hours. My drive required 11 and a half.

Travel time in an EV depends on the vehicle you’re driving and what kind of public chargers you use. DC fast chargers can fill a battery electric vehicle to 80% in as little as 20 minutes or as long as an hour, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. When I stopped at the ChargePoint in Coalinga, California, I had a minimum of 60 miles left in the battery. I used a DC fast charger for 1 hour, 9 minutes to gain an additional 103 miles.

But most plug-in hybrids and many electric cars are not yet equipped for that type of fast charging, and so realistically it may take longer. I didn’t do any Level 2 charging on my trip, but that technology can charge a battery electric vehicle to 80% in four to 10 hours and a plug-in hybrid in one to two hours.

In total I charged for 3 hours and 6 minutes over my 529-mile drive. For comparison’s sake, I drove a gas-powered car back from Vegas and had to gas up only once for eight minutes.

Awful. That’s how it feels to be on a long drive in an EV wondering if you’ll make it to the next charging station.

I experienced this twice on my trip — when I reached Mojave, California, with a minimum of 20 miles left, and then pulling into Las Vegas, with a minimum of 32 miles left. Both times I was genuinely concerned that I wouldn’t make it to my next stop. I turned off the air conditioning, stopped listening to my audiobook, unplugged my cell phone and tried to remain positive.

I started to plan out my options for what to do if the car died. I looked up charging stations near me using my phone, but had no luck. Worst case, I was ready to use my AAA membership, although I don’t know what they could do other than tow the vehicle to a charger. Of course, this was first timer’s nerves, but in survey after survey, anxiety over charging and range is among the biggest blockers to widespread EV adoption, with one noting that some 40% of current EV owners still report having a little.

When you’re driving a gas car, there are plenty of opportunities to stop. In fact, you’ll see road signs along the highway to let you know when you can stop. This isn’t something you can rely on in an electric car. Instead, you’ll have to rely on your phone or previously mapped out charging stations. Despite mapping my stops ahead of time, I ended up looking for stops when I started getting charging anxiety.

Additionally, paying for charging may require your cell phone. Gas stations generally have two payment options: at the pump or with an attendant. None of the charging stations I visited had an attendant working, and ChargePoint didn’t let me tap or pay at the plug. Instead, I had to pay using its app, which isn’t ideal if your phone is dead or you can’t get the app to work.

Yes, but there are some caveats. I’m fortunate enough to be a two-car household, and if we were to get an electric car, it would replace one of the gas vehicles. I suspect electric cars are great for short trips, like a daily commute, but I’m not ready for one on a longer journey. And if I did buy an electric car, I don’t think I would rely on public charging. I would install a Level 2 charger in my home, which costs extra for the charger and the electrician but gives peace of mind that I could quickly top up every night.