Range anxiety, specifically during long road trips, is one of the major reasons why buyers may hesitate to purchase an EV. And, even if one is set on driving an EV, the tradeoff needs to be made between FWD/RWD models with higher range vs AWD models with less range. This post attempts to break down what a longer EV road trip might look like in a 230-mile range vehicle vs a 300-mile range vehicle. Popular EVs such as the Hyundai Ioniq 5/Ioniq 6, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Nissan Ariya, Kia EV6, and Volkswagen ID.4 offer options closer to each of these ranges, and choice of range is one of the major decision-points when considering an EV purchase.
The first thing to consider is how much you expect yourself to experience range anxiety. Consider your own experiences when driving a gasoline-powered vehicle. Are you someone who regularly lets the tank go down until the light goes on, or do you go to the gas station as soon as the meter gets below 50%? Chances are, your behaviors will be somewhat similar in how far down you let the EV battery drain before becoming anxious.
The next thing to consider is temperature at the time of year that you typically take long road trips, and whether there is frequent traffic while on the road trip. The best-case scenario, when specifically considering EV range, might be 60-85 degrees Fahrenheit, with frequent traffic jams and/or local road driving along the way, which allows regen braking to kick in more often. A worst-case scenario is under 20 degrees Fahrenheit, highway driving the entire time, with snow tires on the vehicle rather than the regular EV-specific tires, with no traffic jams. In that first best-case scenario, in my own vehicle I have achieved 4.1 miles per kilowatt hour over the entire duration, whereas in that same vehicle in the second worst-case scenario, that dropped to 2.8 miles per kilowatt hour. Vehicle ratings for kilowatt hours per 100 miles on sites like www.fueleconomy.gov give averages that combine city and highway driving, and for my vehicle, the listed rating is 31 kWh/100 mi = 3.2 miles per kilowatt hour, but as you can see, depending on the conditions, the actual efficiency can improve or degrade quite a bit.
A third thing to consider is to look at the map of DC fast chargers along your expected road trip routes, and see how many miles apart they are spaced out from each other, and also if they are regularly at capacity with longer wait times, or if they have excess capacity available. Are there ample chargers available, one every 70 miles or less, or are you reliant on driving 150 miles to get to the next charger? One of the factors that could make an EV road trip potentially unpleasant is not just how quickly your own vehicle can DC fast charge, but also what sort of wait times exist. On a typical holiday weekend Sunday afternoon, when many drivers might be on road trips, do all the chargers look occupied? Look for DC fast charging stations as well that have 6 or more stations, to reduce the chance of a lengthy wait. Check the EV charger apps, in advance of your EV purchase, to look at typical capacity levels right now of the DC fast chargers near you.
Consider that many DC fast chargers start throttling the charge once your battery level exceeds 80%, so that others in line may have a turn. If you have home charging, you can get the battery to 100% at the start of your trip, but getting it back to 100% during refilling at DC fast charge stations is unlikely. And, letting your EV's battery drop below 20%, while ok every once in a while, may not be ideal for battery health longer term.
Lastly, consider that it is often much easier to find DC fast chargers in suburban or exurban areas, rather than in the middle of a city. If you are road tripping into a city, make sure to plan to leave enough leftover range to get back out.
With all of this in mind, lets break down a potential road trip experience in a 230-mile range vehicle, in the worst case scenario listed above (winter highway driving in under 20 degrees Fahrenheit). Suppose this trip is between two major cities in the eastern US, roundtrip 500 mile total driving distance, 250 miles each way. DC fast charging is available at least once every 70 miles. Factoring in scenario degredation, lets estimate that the actual mileage range, from a battery starting at 100%, might be 200 miles. DC fast charging a single time would bring the range back up to 80%, or 160 miles. Assume that due to range anxiety and battery degredation reasons, you do not want to drop below 20% battery, or 40 miles remaining range.
- Start of trip: 200 miles range, 250 miles to reach first destination. You can safely drive 160 miles (200-40) before needing the first DC fast charge (90 miles left to the first destination).
- That first DC fast charge will bring the vehicle back up to 160 miles of range, but you do not want to let it drop below 40 miles remaining due to battery reasons, so it is effectively 120 more miles.
- The next DC fast charge then can happen 30 miles into the return leg of your trip, as you will reach your first destination with 120-90 = 30 miles of effective range left.
- At that point, 250-30 = 220 miles are needed to get back home. This next DC fast charge brings the vehicle back to 160-40 = 120 miles of effective range, so you will need a second DC fast charge on the way back home in order to make it home.
Now, lets do the same exercise in a 300-mile range vehicle, also in the worst-case scenario (winter highway driving). At 100% battery in this climate, that vehicle might actually have a 260 mile range. At 80% battery, the range would be 208 miles, and at 20% battery, the range would be 52 miles.
- Start of trip: 260 miles range, 250 miles to reach first destination. You can safely drive 208 miles (260-52) before needing a DC fast charge (42 miles left to the first destination).
- That first DC fast charge will bring the vehicle back up to 208 miles of range, but effective range of 208-52 =156 miles as you do not want the battery to dip below 20%. So you will reach your first destination with 156-42 =114 miles of effective range left.
- The next DC fast charge can then happen 114 miles into the return trip, with 250-114 =136 miles still remaining. It brings the effective range back up to 156 miles, which is enough to reach your final destination.
So this trip required 2 DC fast charges, which may become 3 if the DC fast charger locations are not ideally spaced out for the trip requirements. And in total, the advent of having a 300 mile range vehicle, rather than 230 mile range, meant that the trip as a whole required one less DC fast charge, albeit with the same amount of potential range anxiety (in both cases, the vehicle's battery would have gotten down to 20%).
Let's now consider the ideal (from a range perspective) driving conditions, in the summer (in areas with more moderate climate), 60-85 degrees Fahrenheit, with some traffic jams for regen braking along the way. Many road trips happen in the summer on busy weekends, so this experience may be more typical for the EV owner.
The 230-mile rated EV, in these ideal conditions, lets estimate that with 100% battery, it could actually achieve 280 miles of range. 80% battery would be 224 miles of range, and 20% battery would be 56 miles of range. So going from 100% to 20% would provide 280-56 = 224 miles effective range, and going from 80% - 20% (after the first DC fast charge) would provide 224-56 = 168 miles effective range.
- Start of trip: 224 miles effective range, 250 miles to first destination. First DC fast charge happens with 26 miles remaining.
- That first DC fast charge adds 168 more miles of effective range, so second DC fast charge happens 168-26 =142 miles into the return trip, with 250-142=108 miles remaining.
This trip is doable with 2 DC fast charges, possibly with a 3rd depending on DC fast charging spacing.
The 300-mile rated EV, with 100% battery in these ideal conditions, might be able to achieve 370 miles of range. 80% battery would be 296 miles, 20% battery would be 74 miles. So 100%-20% battery would provide 370-74 = 296 miles of effective range, and 80%-20% battery would provide 297-74 = 223 miles of effective range.
- Start of trip: 296 miles effective range, 250 miles to first destination. This first leg of the trip can avoid DC fast charging entirely.
- DC fast charge happens 296-250=46 miles into the return trip, with 250-46=204 miles remaining. 223 miles of effective range is added from that DC fast charge, so a second DC fast charge is not required.
This trip is doable with 1 DC fast charge, possibly with a second depending on DC fast charging spacing.
So, in both the winter and summer road trip scenarios, the 230-mile range vehicle required a single extra DC fast charging stop as compared to the 300-mile range vehicle, for a total 500 mile road trip.
The question then becomes, how much of a drag is it, on the overall road trip experience, to require an extra DC fast charging stop. See the above point about checking average capacity at DC fast charging stations near you, at times when you might be taking road trips in the future. I personally have found that the most stressful part about the DC fast charging experience is not waiting for my own vehicle once it starts charging, but the process for waiting in line for a charger when all existing chargers are at capacity. And, restrooms and snacks may not be available right adjacent to the charger.
Imagine if you arrive at a DC fast charger, find that the waiting line is 5 cars deep, but need to use the restroom right away. If you can set your own car up for charging right away, you then can go off and walk to a restroom. But, if you need to wait in line for a charger, you cannot leave the vehicle yet, so that restroom stop must happen before even entering the waiting line. Once in the waiting line, the process of organizing vehicles to wait in line for an available charger can also be haphazard. However, if you see ample 6+ station DC fast chargers along your potential road trip routes, which do not appear to be at capacity even on heavy weekend travel days, then chances are you can avoid waiting lines entirely. My own experience has been that I can avoid DC fast charging waiting lines more than 1-2 cars deep in the worst case even on weekend road trips, but it requires planning up front, and timing of day of the road trip, to avoid those lines. Most of my DC fast charging sessions have had no waiting line at all. This likely varies quite a bit from area to area, so it is worth checking (by looking at the various EV charging apps) to get a sense of what your experience might be like.
As an aside: much ado has been made about the ability of some EVs to DC fast charge from 20% up to 80% in less than 20 minutes. However, if the waiting line is 5 cars deep, and the 5 other cars in front of you take 45 minutes each to fast charge, then your own car's charging time is not as much of a factor in what your experience will be like. Doing research on waiting times at fast chargers near you is what will help you get a sense of your potential experience.
A last factor that I have not discussed yet is potential range degradation, due to diminished battery capacity, over the lifetime of the vehicle. I have not personally gotten that far in my EV ownership experience to see what this can be like, but I could easily see it adding an extra DC fast charge along the way for all of the trip scenarios above. With something like 5 DC fast charges required for a 500-mile road trip, this is where ample availability of DC fast chargers, spaced less than 70 miles apart from each other, really becomes critical for that road trip to even be viable.
Overall, both the 230-mile-range and 300-mile-range EVs are viable for road trips, but you can expect more DC fast charging stops in the 230-mile-range vehicle, and your comfort level with that extra stop or two makes all the difference in your satisfaction level with using the vehicle for longer road trips.