I'm testing out the EV life this weekend! It's been interesting so far.
We had existing plans to visit friends in Truckee, and (currently carless) we had to rent a car anyway, so we opted for the EV option! The downtown Avis location in San Francisco gave us a current-model-year Hyundai Ioniq 5, which is rated for about 300 miles of range. We received it with an 83% charge, and about 263 miles of range estimated.
From there, we headed directly out of town. Traffic on a Friday afternoon towards Tahoe is brutal all year round, and yesterday was no exception. Departing around 3PM, we made it to Auburn just after 6. I didn't baby the car along the way at all, but did make heavy use of adaptive cruise control. Over the course of 137 miles and 1300 feet of elevation, we used 40% of the battery, down to 43%.
Auburn, in the foothills of the Sierras, has a high-speed Electrify America charger capable of delivering 350kW. After plugging in, the car immediately started charging at 235kW, its specified maximum, estimating 12 minutes for a charge up to 80%.
What to do with those 12 minutes was interesting. The charger was in the back parking lot of a Motel 6, a bit away from the freeway, with nothing in walking range. We took a brief walk around the grounds, looked at the nearby railroad tracks, but eventually just hung around the car.
Very briefly, the charger finished and we were on our way again. We stopped by a gas station to buy snacks to justify also using their bathroom, and then hit the road.
There was no more traffic on the way to Truckee, and the climb up the mountains was uneventful. It did pose a challenge for the batteries though; the remaining 6000 feet of altitude (and 60 miles) on the way to Donner Summit, driven relatively aggressively, took the battery all the way from 80% to 50%. On the way back down the pass into Truckee, about a 1200 foot descent, the car sipped a further 3% over 8 miles
I think I have two takeaways from this. First, that in the abstract, EVs are ready for my use case. Obviously mileage will be even worse in winter, but you could assess a heavy range penalty for the cold and still be just fine overall. Charging mid-route was quick and painless, but beyond that, at least in the summer, I could probably make this drive without stopping if I was topped up to 100% to start.
Second, I think that while there may be more technological advancements to be made in terms of charging speed and battery capacity, I don't think those are necessarily the things that will make long-distance EV road trips viable in general. Instead, I think the future is "destination-ish" charging points, with attractions of their own; think Wall Drug in South Dakota. A 12 minute charge was great, but I would've also taken a one-hour charge where I had the chance to sit down and eat a delicious dinner.
After yesterday, I have this vision of a new American road-trip style that's almost a return to the mid-20th century. In comparison, I grew up in the '90s and '00s, where a family road trip meant 12 hours a day straight in the car, with sandwiches from a cooler and stopping every five hours for however long it took to fill the tank and use the restroom. I think the challenges posed by EVs present a unique opportunity to make road travel much better.