Going EV and putting it (and myself) to the road trip test

Disclaimer: I am no professional vehicle critic and even less a professional writer. The views in this article are mine and mine only.

How chill are you? That’s a question you’ll want to ask yourself as you consider purchasing an Electric Vehicle (EV). I know it’s a question I asked myself several times during the first road trip we took with our Chevy Bolt. But let’s rewind a bit and give you some context on why that question is so important.

After moving to Los Angeles to start a new job, my wife and I needed to acquire a commuter car. This was a first. I’m a car guy. A guy who’s owned only German made vehicles, geared towards strong acceleration and a strong level of satisfaction in hearing the engine come to life. I gleefully drive my 2006 Porsche Cayman S to Cars and Coffee or Fun Runs arranged by the local club. I’ve been very fortunate to be able to afford the joy of cars who’s purpose is anything but getting you from point A to point B. My wife, however, comes from a family where a car is only associated with the concept of point A to point B and where “Fun driving” is a totally foreign idea. Since we both needed to use the car, and I already have the one geared towards pleasure, we were looking for utility.

Very quickly we decided to look at EVs. It made a ton of sense considering our needs for the car and our desire to be part of the first adopters of that technology. It also made a ton of sense because of the rebates and credits that were offered, significantly reducing the cost that we were looking at. The fact that we’d have an EV prior to one of our close friends, who’d been jonesing for a Tesla for the better part of the last 5 years (and had a Model 3 deposit for over 12 months), was also a small motivation. We’d become earlier adopters than him! In the end we settled on the Bolt for several reasons. Range, aesthetics and cost. It was the vehicle that gave us the best ratio between those three. Tesla? Much too expensive and too long of a wait. Nissan Leaf? Ugly (no offense…) and too low in range. Fiat 500? Much too small and much too limited in range. We decided to lease because of how fast the technology is evolving and a desire to keep our options open for the near future.

We leased our Bolt in September 2017 and have been very happy (low quality Chevrolet plastic aside…) with it ever since. The 238 miles of range make it very low maintenance for the daily 10 mile round-trip commute and, with our weekend activities, we generally only have to charge the car once per week. With chargers available at work and the City of Santa Monica providing free charging in public parkings, we hadn’t been confronted to any sort of range anxiety. The furthest we’d driven was 120 miles roundtrip in one day, just leaving us with a longer charging session once we got home. Despite “limited” exposure, over the course of this first year and a half of experience with the EV world we had already learned a couple of things. Driving on the highway is kryptonite to an EV’s range, as is the need for AC or heating. You better hope for perfect weather conditions and plenty of options for side roads to avoid 65mph.

That said, having built up our confidence in the little Bolt, we decided we’d take it on our road trip when my wife’s brother and his wife visited from Canada. 190 miles one way, with some miles added on as we diverted ourselves to some destinations along the road. We began the trip at the airport, where we picked them up from their flight in to LAX, and immediately shared the requirements that would be linked with road tripping an EV. “We’ll be making multiple stops to charge the car, and those will longer than stopping at a gas station”. This was greeted with enthusiasm at the sense of adventure. Morale was high, EV confidence level a glowing 100%, and the trip off and running.

We stopped for lunch after about 23 miles and thought we’d take advantage of a free charger at the Malibu Country Mart. May as well top-up while we eat, one of the basic concepts of EV driving. Unfortunately one of our fellow hybrid drivers decided to leave their fully charged car plugged-in for the full hour of our presence at that location. Charging etiquette be damned in that case. Our EV confidence level took a minor drop to about 90%. If you can’t count on your fellow drivers being courteous 23 miles from home, when your car is still upwards of 85% charge, what will they be like when you’re 190 miles away and freaking out over remaining range?

We set our next stop for a fast charger in Goleta, just west of Santa Barbara. EvGo and PlugShare indicated the fast charger as available when we were a few miles away. Our confidence in a quick stop was high. That feeling evaporated as we drove up to find both chargers occupied and another car drove up right behind us, queuing up at the station that we hadn’t parked at. We were at 50% range, about to hit some uphill driving, and no fast chargers were available between there and our destination. We had to wait and charge. My brother-in-law and his wife headed into the shopping center while I waited next to the car. Luckily for us the BMW i3 that was trying to charge at one station didn’t seem to be able to get the connection made. Even more lucky for us the person who had come in behind us, and had full intention of jumping ahead of us in the order, gave up and drove away. This allowed us to successfully test the station at which the i3 had failed and get the charging started. This lead to 35 minutes of human size Jenga (the shopping center had great games), helping keep everyone in good spirits. As we finally drove away, we had added 50 minutes on to our trip, but were back to 85% charge and our EV confidence level was relatively unchanged.

By the time we made it to our destination, some 85 miles away, we were back down near half charge due to a lot of highway driving at over 55mph — remember, that’s kryptonite — and, to boot, uphill. Arrived at our Airbnb we figured-out how to plug into a wall outlet, with the hope of eeking out a few kilowatts to help with the next day’s travel. After plugging-in the dash read “Fully charged — 10:30AM”.

In the morning, as we got ready to go, I took a look at the MyChevy app to find out how our status had evolved and take some joy in a quasi-filled battery. To my great chagrin, the app gave me the full information that the dash had not “Fully charged — 10:30AM, Mon”. We were Sunday morning. In total, after being plugged-in for about 12 hours, we got around 25 miles of range added. After believing we were in for a charge free day, the reality set in that PlugShare and EvGo were back in business, and our plans. EV confidence took a bit of a hit, though we knew plugging in to regular outlets is by far the worst possible way to charge our car.

Upon arriving at our breakfast destination, we dropped-off my brother-in-law and his wife to get our names on the list, and my wife and I set out to find the public parking that PlugShare gave us the information for. After great excitement at seeing a huge row of chargepoint chargers greet us in the parking lot we quickly noted the yellow tape that sealed them off from our thirsty Bolt. Not yet in use. Schucks… We made our way to the two in-service (and free) ones which were, of course, occupied. We parked two spots away, opened the charging door, and left a note on a fellow bolt’s windshield asking to please be plugged-in if they left before us.

After a healthy brunch of pancakes, fried steak and gobs of melted cheese, we returned to the parking lot to find an EV charging spot open and our car plugged-in. The note we had left on the windshield had been returned to ours, with an added message “Done — No problem J”. Our EV confidence was so boosted back up by this act of kindness, that we didn’t even allow it to be overshadowed by the fact that we’d only gained 5 miles of range…obviously the generous plug-in was only executed a few minutes prior to our return. But, hey, people being kind and giving you a smiley face are worth all the range in the world. Aren’t they?

Unfortunately, it turns out that range really is the biggest priority in the world of EVs. Would you drive away from the gas station with 1 gallon of gas when you needed 12, happy at the fact that the attendant gave you the nicest smile? We drove off to the start for our hike, which would see us walk through wind, light rain and 1,600 ft of elevation, with the assurance that plugging-in was to be part of our afternoon. A thought that was growing to be less and less pleasing for our passengers who, though remaining extremely polite, had begun to grow weary of their un-expected participation in a life-size experiment in EV road-tripping. Who can blame them, I was growing weary myself, and beginning to think of loopholes allowing us out of our lease agreement. “Chill” I thought. This really isn’t so bad at all.

On return from our hike, as we pulled into that same San Luis Obispo parking structure, we found the chargers occupied and resorted to street parking, otherwise known as a lost charging opportunity. As we had a nice coffee then challenged ourselves with a complex Escape Room experience, the Bolt sat calmly by a tree, whispering that though it may stop running due to lack of power, it was helping it’s leafy friend breath better. EV confidence, however, was down to 60%.

Fortunately EvGo was providing a Level 3 charger right on our way back to the Airbnb. It was right behind a Von’s, which we found very practical as we had a couple errands to run. We pulled into the scarcely lit loading area of the Von’s under a light rain and, to our great (not that great) joy, found a station to be available. We plugged-in and used up some time chatting with my mother-in-law who’s day on the slopes was cut short before the end of her first run, and browsing the aisles of Von’s for much longer than actually necessary. By the time we unplugged, the novelty of the EV adventure had worn off entirely and our intrepid team was ready to do something else than kill time in the immediate vicinity of a charging station.

I’ll spare you the play-by-play on our last day, but briefly summarized we woke up to a an extra 40 miles added to the range, persistently drove five mph below the speed limit to mitigate our effect on range, passed on AC despite getting quite warm, and only stopped to charge once, at the Camarillo EvGo station, before getting home with plenty of range remaining.

The fact is, EV infrastructure is still extremely limited for those of us who don’t drive a Tesla, and even for them a road trip takes extra planning. Until we can pull up to facilities as commonly available as gas stations to charge our car, and remove the roulette russe factor of whether there will or won’t be availability, EVs will remain an oddity, not the norm. This, of course, doesn’t even account for the amount of time it takes to actually charge the car. If you happen to be nowhere near a Level 3 charger you’re in trouble. We like our car for what it provides in daily commuting and around town, but I remain unconvinced when it comes to long distances. Our trip didn’t even take us up to the mountains or on an actually significant distance, yet it demonstrated the limits of the current situation and leaves little doubt as to why traditional SUVs and other gas guzzlers remain so popular for most Americans. That companies like Shell are starting to invest in charging networks is a great sign, but a radical change to the experience we had during our road trip is still far enough off to require extra pause when considering such a vehicle.

In all, we spent 2hrs15mins at EvGo stations and spent $27 charging the car, we consistently drove under the speed limit on highways, chose scenic drives instead of speedier highway options and spent a bunch of time charting our course with PlugShare and EvGo. All to complete a very standard 430 mile road-trip which, with a gas powered car, I would not have given a second thought, and would have cost very little more. Everything compounds when it comes to charging an EV. Get to a charger and it’s not available, that’s an extra 10 to who-knows-how-many minutes waiting for the previous person to finish. Get to a charger and wait there for an hour but the other person isn’t returning to their car, that’s another hour lost and you’re still not charged. This, my friends, is why ask how chill you are. If you’re prepared to spend the extra time, enjoy loading docks at super markets, love waiting to charge your car, are eager to be frustrated by fellow EV drivers who’s respect of etiquette is equivalent to that of an airline passenger in row 30 putting their carry-on in row 10, and are enthralled at the concept of driving below the speed limit, then driving an EV may be for you. But, even if it’s for you, be sure to consider whether it’s for your passengers too. However courteous and positive they may be, anyone gets cranky when unwillingly forced into tolerating the uncertainty of EV charging and when a loading dock EvGo stop stands between them and a beautiful hike.

So, how chill are you??