I've been driving an EV for three years now, but I still have a lot to learn. Hey, it's a process. Here's what I learned on our latest road trip.
Expectation One: 200 miles at 18 degrees fahrenheit? Try 170... or less
Recently I posted asking if it was realistic to expect 200 miles from a fully charged 2023 Bolt EUV in sub-freezing temperatures, around 18 to 21 degrees fahrenheit (around -7C). A Better Route Planner seemed confident, but I figured it was too good to be true.
The resounding consensus: "hell no." Most responses were in the realm of 170 to 180 miles on a full charge.
Since I knew I'd be driving with family members in the car, I carefully took this advice to heart. I carefully planned a trip in which each leg of the journey did not have to exceed 100 miles without a charge, with the goal of charging to 80% each time.
Expectation Two: magic dock = long cord, right? Nope!
On Saturday the 21st, for the drive north from Philadelphia, PA to Simsbury, CT, I planned to make three charging stops. I was pleased to see we didn't need the first one, which is lucky, since there was a long line at the East Brunswick Electrify America. We turned it into a quick bio-break and got back on the road.
For the second stop, we had planned to try a Tesla Magic Dock-enabled supercharger in Woodcliff Lake, NJ. This proved to be a mistake.
Flashback to Thanksgiving: we tried our first Magic Dock in Harrison, NY. Apart from some drama due to the lack of a natural place to queue, it went great - the user experience of releasing the Magic Dock was smooth, and the cords were plenty long enough for any EV. So, surely all Magic Docks have long cords... right?
Wrong! Only Rev 4 Superchargers have long cords. Rev 3 Superchargers retrofitted with Magic Docks have the super-short cords that require you to block two chargers... which will not make you any friends when there's a queue.
Alas, by now my family was all in on the promised lunch at Bareburger, which I gotta recommend if you haven't tried it; we're still in mourning for the late, lamented Philly location. So there went an hour on the clock, with zero charging achieved.
At least I had planned for a backup option. Always have a backup charger lined up!
If you're curious, you can use supercharger.info to filter for v4 superchargers only (thank you ITypeStupdThngsc84ju). But here's the thing... there are very few of them so far. So for right now, our new plan is to pretty much ignore the Tesla option entirely until they roll out more v4's and/or retrofit more long cords. Even though we do have an adapter. Unless we're desperate and/or it's not a congested holiday season drive.
Expectation Three: there's a line, right? Well... sort of
After lunch we went to our trusty EVGo at Nanuet Mall. Unfortunately there was a line. We sat in a quasi-queue for 25 minutes, the worst part of which honestly is the negotiation, the people running back and forth to explain their place in line, the folks who insist on making sure that one dead charger won't magically work for their particular car... it's hard to just put on music, tune out the nonsense and chill. But we managed.
Expectation Four: at least we can charge at 50kw for a while? No?
I understand that the Bolt is a slow-charging car. My previous car was a Leaf S Plus, and ironically, the Bolt charges even slower than that. And I'm OK with this... at normal temperatures.
But in very cold weather, the Bolt charges even more slowly, even while below 80%. And under the wrong conditions, "even more slowly" can be barely twice L2 (220V home charging) speed.
This adds time. Everything adds time. Time is the enemy. \[Shakes sleepy, road-weary fist\]
From there our next stop was the EVGo in North Haven, CT. Here thankfully there was no queue. But there was a person next to us panicking because their car hit 0% as they arrived and, they didn't know how to use the backup key in their fob to get the dog out.
I did my best to help, but just then the dog managed to lower the power windows. Good dog!
Please take the impact of cold weather on your range seriously, people.
Charging was still fairly slow, but we only needed enough to reach our hotel in Manchester. We renegotiated to see my mom the next day, so we could go direct to our hotel, and drove on.
Expectation Five: never fast charge to 100%... unless you have a good reason
Here is where I can take a little credit for doing something intelligent:
I booked our stay at the Manchester Courtyard Marriott. Which is a five-minute walk from the Electrify America at Wal-Mart. And yes, there's a backup a few blocks away.
Now look, I know it's antisocial to charge to 100% at a fast charger if you don't need it. But with 18 degree weather coming on Sunday and plans to pick up mom in entirely the wrong direction, then zoom off into the charger-less wilds on Eastern Connecticut for Cousin-mas... we did need it. And since queues are rare after 9pm, we really weren't inconveniencing anybody.
So my wife and I dropped off my son at the hotel, drove across to the Wal-Mart, plugged in the car, made sure the app was feeding data, noted the lack of a queue due to the late hour... and walked back to the hotel. Where we had dinner and relaxed in the lobby until the car was approaching 100%. Then I walked back and unplugged it and parked at the hotel.
Expectation Six: Waze is best... except when it isn't
Man, Sunday was cold! We didn't leave the hotel until it hit a balmy 18 degrees Fahrenheit outside. Hey, that's warm on Mars.
But even with a 100% charge to start, we still had to top off again in Manchester after picking up mom just to have a decent safety margin, knowing it would only get colder on the way back. Hey, you'd be cautious too with someone over 80 in the car.
And even then I was concerned, until while playing around in Google Maps it offered me a "greener route" that was 15 miles shorter (!). Yes it added a little time but I definitely did not give a shit at this point. And route 6 was a wonderful scenic drive. So many hobby farms.
We are a Waze family. Waze is to be trusted at all costs. Except for our sacred vow to always take the Tappan Zee (aka Mario Cuomo) Bridge and never, ever take our chances on NYC traffic.
But on this day I was very grateful for the setting that allows Google Maps to offer low-energy routes for EVs.
The family party was wonderful, but it was still a long night. I didn't want to squeak in with less than 20 miles of range, so we stopped in Manchester yet again before dropping mom off in Simsbury.
And you can bet I ended the night by plugging in for a long winter's charge, walking to the hotel, and returning to the card in the bracing cold on my own over 90 minutes later. I did this on my own this time, to zero objections.
Generally this Electrify America charger worked great, but it did unexpectedly halt my charge at 93%... and threaten to start late fees in 1 minute! This had the intended effect of causing me to bolt out of bed and race down the street. When I got there I discovered the actual grace period is 10 minutes. LOL. I see what you did there EA.
Expectation Seven: the Bolt EUV is great... except when it isn't
Our drive home on Monday took nine and a half hours. This is a new record, and not in the right direction. So this part is a little harder for me to write.
Holiday traffic was a factor of course, and so were bio breaks. Lost time equals more bio breaks equals more last time. Also we didn't sprint to the car first thing in the AM to avoid traffic, because (1) see above under "cold," and (2) we'd promised to spend a little more time with my mother. Which I very much wanted to do.
But I can't ignore the hour and a half we spent simply queueing on Monday. Or the greatly increased time per charge. Or the need to charge multiple times per day, rather than just once at the halfway point.
I CAN ignore the time we spent just winding our way into the Westfield Garden State Plaza Mall, and the high-intensity queueing process that followed, because I am a f\\\*ing moron for suggesting that we charge there two nights before Christmas!
So OK... that's half an hour of our lives we could have had back without my stupidity. But even without that... still a nine-hour journey.
Also that mall did allow us to sit in a warm comfortable place and eat our poke bowls until we reached 87%. Which saved an entire stop... which may have gained us time overall anyway!
And even before the Mall Incident (tm), my wife and I had already discussed the elephant in the room: the Bolt EUV is just not the right choice for holiday driving. Especially in cold weather.
So next time, we will rent an ICE car for the holidays.
I admit it, I feel bad about this. But I really shouldn't! Owning a cheap EV is much like other environmentally sound choices, such as going without a car entirely: if you don't allow yourself to occasionally chuck the rules and rent a regular car, you will eventually chuck the baby out with the bathwater and buy a hybrid. So let yourself do that.
Frustration is the ultimate enemy here... time is just his lieutenant. We have to pace ourselves.
Besides, it wouldn't be the first time. We rented a car to drive to Vermont for the eclipse. And the year before that our car was in the shop and we wound up driving a rental for Thanksgiving, which allowed us to catch a concert in DC the night before and still make it.
Plus... there's an Enterprise Rental Car in walking distance of our house. It's meant to be.
So I put a recurring annual appointment in our Google Calendar to confirm our holiday travel dates and book a car. And the rest of the time, we'll enjoy our EV, which is usually perfect for anything within 100 miles, and pretty damn good even further out when only one fast charge is required.
Obviously: your mileage may, literally, vary. Maybe your only role in holiday travel is getting there and you don't shuttle family members around. Maybe your car charges faster to begin with and has more range to lose when it gets cold.
If you really want to go all EV all the way, even for road trips, make sure you buy a vehicle that offers much faster charging and significantly higher range. Or hey, just rent once in awhile.
(Note that I edited this post to be more specific to the Bolt since our experience would have been a great deal different in certain EVs.)
