cross country trip with electric car

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The 10 Things We Learned by Driving Cross-country in an Electric Vehicle

No one said it was going to be easy. Our mission to cannonball (but drive at a reasonable and respectable rate) a trip from Disneyland in Anaheim, California, to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida in a Kia EV6 electric car was tougher than anticipated, but not because of seat time.

The route required stops to charge the car at 20-ish locations along the way. Along the road, we learned some tough lessons about electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure as well as the bits of EV life that are beneficial.

Many of these issues are universal, but using a different charging network, like Tesla 's Superchargers, may relieve some of the stress.

Some of the issues we were prepared for ahead of time, having gotten hundreds, of hours behind the wheel of EVs over the last decade, and knowing the ins and outs of best practices for fueling with electrons.

Here are our biggest takeaways.

Plan to be disappointed.

No charging speed ever met what the Kia EV6 is capable of handling. Twice it came close, and only two other times did the charger actually deliver anything close to its maximum charging speed.

At times, the flow out of a fast charger was slower than what you'd typically get out of a 110-volt socket at home.

While the cold weather didn't help, the temperatures along the route weren't extreme, never dipping below 30 degrees and never getting higher than 70 degrees. We even used the EV6's Winter Mode during the coldest times to improve driving and charging performance.

This lack of capability slowed the entire journey. Not knowing how long you're going to have to sit at a stop is a stressor, especially when you know you're traveling to a less than desirable location after dark.

Alternatives aren't always available

Along the Interstate 10 route traveled, there were long swaths of highway where there was no alternative public charging source other than one provider at one charging depot.

The next one would be about 200 miles away, so topping off was necessary. Not only did that lengthen time between stopping and starting, but it also produced a fair amount of range anxiety.

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Additionally, there would be challenging landscapes along the way - mountains, rolling hills, and rough roads.

There was one stretch where we drove for about three hours in near freezing temperatures in the middle of the night, without climate control on, just to get to the next location due to range anxiety from the distance between charging points, combined with mountainous terrain.

We were not beholden to any one charging provider and tried out ChargePoint, Electrify America, EVgo and Duke Energy chargers during the trip.

Garbage bins aren't present like at gas stations

Only a few of the charging locations were near businesses where trash bins were available, unlike at a gas station where they seem to be at every pump.

While most locations were clean, there were a few that were downright disgusting, complete with rats, masses of ants, litter (including a half-used and open jar of peanut butter teeming with insects) and beer bottles.

Wheels, tires and rain matter more than you may have realized

Added into the electric vehicle charging location challenge is what happens when the vehicle encounters inclement weather. Torrential downpours didn't just cause us to have to drive slower, it caused the on-demand all-wheel drive system in the EV6 to activate, propelling the tires through plenty of water resistance.

We found that this, along with the necessary use of front defrost climate control and windshield wipers, combined to decrease range more than terrain or speed had throughout the entire journey.

You can't always pick your charging speed

Sure, a location may have three 150 kilowatt chargers, but only the 50 kilowatt charger off to the side may be the only one that's available. When you're in a pinch, beggars can't be choosers.

Thankfully, most fast chargers allow you to see what percentage someone is charging at. If a vehicle only has a few percentage points left to charge, it may be worth waiting to see if they're moving away soon, freeing up the space.

It's worth noting that higher charging speeds also typically cost more.

Charging locations aren't ideal

Sure, some charging locations are perfect with easy in/out, facilities and food nearby, plenty of chargers. Others are not. In fact, most are far from it.

Many locations we experienced had challenging parking situations with the chargers located within a diagonal pull-in space with narrow curbs and parking space block that didn't easily work with the EV6's charge port location.

However, we also experienced some really good setups that allowed pull-through over a larger space, similar to a gas station. Many were well-lighted.

A few positioned the power supply units for the chargers in a location that limited surround visibility, which left us feeling like our personal safety may have been compromised.

Bathroom breaks often require another stop

This issue is similar to the garbage bin one. If you stop to charge at a Walmart or Target , the facilities and what we'll call "entertainment factor" are higher than if you're parked in front of a deserted Econo Lodge.

If you're not going on your road trip without stops like we were, the experience becomes easier because you're able to stop for meals, which usually come with the benefit of a restroom nearby.

Extra space in an EV's cabin offers a road trip win

The beauty of an electric powertrain is that it doesn't require a transmission tunnel running through the center of the vehicle, taking up cabin space. This allows for flat floors and more a more spacious cabin design.

In the EV6, designers opted to allow the car's center console to have minivan-like characteristics, with a deep covered storage area and a lower bin-like space that's perfect for storing snacks, wallets, purses, unopened drinks, brochures, and a garbage bag. We made full use of the area and are happy to report that it was truly a highlight of the car.

Charging session fees aren't always apparent up front

Unlike when you fill up with a gallon of gas, the charge for filling up on electrons isn't always a per kilowatt-hour charge. Sure, that's a part of it, but there's also a taxes, sometimes a session fee and charges for staying past your charging time (usually there's a window of forgiveness).

One station we stopped at did not advertise the session fee up front. We only found out via the reviews on the ChargePoint app. But, because there were no other charging locations

Always be ready to find a backup charger, if possible

In this era, EV roadtripping still requires a fair amount of planning. That means finding your next charging station before you leave the last, and discovering if there are any alternative charging locations nearby.

It also means having a buffer zone for range to hit any alternative location if necessary, and having plans if none of that works out so you're not stranded.

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I drove 6,000 miles across the US in an EV. Here’s what I learned

• December 20, 2023
• No comments
• 6 minute read
• David Carlson

When I set out from Montana on a cross-continent, 6,000-mile journey in my electric car, I had two goals. I wanted to visit family and friends in Wisconsin, Maine, Illinois, and Iowa. And I wanted to prove, to myself and others, the possibility of making such a journey by electric vehicle.

Before my trip, I absorbed plenty of warnings about EV travel and charging. I read stories of drivers navigating successfully along charger alleys – Chicago to Atlanta, for example – but rarely found reports of successful travel across the so-called charging deserts of Montana or Wyoming, which I hoped to cross in a vehicle with a nominal range of 250 miles.

Worse, I read plaudits for Tesla charging networks, but because I drive a Volkswagen ID.4, I depended instead on Combined Charging System, or CCS, chargers; I found few positive accounts of long-distance travel using CCS sites.

I also heard complaints about the reliability of charging services. A recent Wall Street Journal report carried the headline, “Why Are Public EV Chargers So Unreliable?”

But the price of fuel for such a long trip via gas-powered vehicle seemed too high. I determined not to discard my EV travel aspirations.

How I planned a cross-country EV road trip

I used the EV travel apps PlugShare and A Better Routeplanner to plan my trip. I immediately ran into a problem: The apps showed no EV routes across Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota or across western Ontario from Sault Ste. Marie to Ottawa.

By applying slightly different filters and making slight route adjustments, including accepting slower Level 2 charging services where necessary, I eventually identified a plausible three-day trip to northern Wisconsin followed by an additional three days to coastal Maine.

PlugShare allowed me to easily check drivers’ reports of recent successful charging activity at any site. That information proved extremely helpful in selecting routes and sites. (I tried to always post my own ‘check-in’ reports following positive charging experiences; you could probably reconstruct my route from those records.)

What I learned from driving cross-country in an EV

I set out in late October 2023, driving alone and heading east. My journey would take more than two weeks, spanning 14 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces and requiring 54 vehicle charging sessions.

On a typical travel day, covering 400 to 450 miles, I needed successful connections at three or four different charging stations. Each day, I started with at least an 80% charge. I would calculate the distance to the next charging location in advance.

Because the PlugShare app showed likely charging vendors at each location, I preloaded Electrify America, ChargePoint, EVconnect, FLO, and Ivy apps with credit card information and money. Once I connected at a charging station, I repeated the process, charging to 80% or greater and calculating how far to the next charging stop of the journey.

As expected, the western states of the U.S. and western stretches of Ontario had few charging options. Sheridan, Wyoming, and Blind River, Ontario, for example, offered only a single DC fast-charging, or DCFC, station each. As I approached the Mississippi River, charging stations grew common enough that I could often choose my preferred vendor.

I learned as I moved. I tried to keep moving eastward (later, westward) while also recognizing ever-present uncertainties about where to charge next. I found I could rely on Electrify America stops for ease of connection, reliability, and prominent locations.

A westbound EV driver filled me in on new services available in Chamberlain, South Dakota. And I dealt with an unexpected problem in Quebec: Despite the apparent abundance of charging options, very few worked with U.S. credit cards, even though those same cards worked in motels, restaurants, and grocery stores.

As I drove, I monitored my car’s vehicle travel efficiency, displayed in units of miles per kilowatt-hour used. On average, the vehicle’s efficiency was better than three miles per kWh.

But when I faced literal headwinds — westbound across southern Minnesota, for example, or traveling from Billings uphill toward Bozeman Pass in Montana — the efficiency sometimes dropped below 3 miles per kWh. When that happened, I as a driver (and the vehicle itself) recognized the possible need for additional charging to reach my intended destination.

In retrospect, by slowing somewhat, I could have crossed Bozeman Pass and returned home without stopping for a supplemental charge in Livingston, Montana. But I enjoyed the short stop and didn’t regret finishing at a battery charge of 18% rather than 8%.

What it was like to charge an EV on a road trip

At most charging stops, I encountered nearly empty sites hosting four to eight charging units. From connect to disconnect, it typically took 39 minutes to charge my car, though the total time varied from a low of 25 minutes to a high of 69 minutes.

Occasionally, I would accept longer wait times to charge to “safer” levels of 90% or even 100%. I proceeded cautiously, knowing that the range or efficiencies on my dashboard display might prove overly optimistic.

What did I do during 39 minutes of charging? I used bathrooms, dumped trash, and perused local stores. If I had extra time, I might take a picture, go for an exploratory walk, eat a snack, or read a few pages of my book. When possible, I compared notes with other EV drivers.

Although I often visited charging stations at odd hours, I rarely felt hurried or unsafe.

Occasional problems connecting to chargers

Three times during this trip, I confronted situations in which I could not get the charging connection to work.

One short, promptly answered call, to Electrify America, related to failure by the app to close the prior charging session, so the app would not initiate the next charge. An agent fixed the problem quickly and effectively.

I called ChargePoint when their app would not recognize the DCFC station in Sheridan, Wyoming. The customer service agent initiated charging remotely while promising to address the particular barrier — and when I returned to the same station 18 days later, everything worked perfectly.

At another stop in Sioux Falls, charging wouldn’t start, but again, an agent solved the problem.

How much it cost to drive an EV cross-country compared to gas

Occasionally, during an EV drive, you encounter free charging. That happened to me when my accommodations or family members provided charging at no cost.

When I did have to pay, I spent an average of $15 per charge, though the price varied widely: a low of $5 to a high of $24. In all, I estimate I would have spent $675 in charging costs for the trip. But thanks to a discount for VW owners at Electrify America charging sites, I actually spent only about $300 for 6,000 miles of travel.

The same trip in an internal combustion engine SUV getting 30 mpg at fuel costs of $4 per gallon might have cost about $800.

For this trip, driving an EV proved less expensive than driving a gas-fueled vehicle.

In August 2023, the Washington Post published state-by-state modeled estimates of EVs vs. gas, with this conclusion: “For the everyday driver in the United States, it’s already cheaper to refuel an EV most of the time, and it’s expected to get cheaper as renewable capacity expands and vehicle efficiency improves.”

Reflections on the journey: Caution pays off

I, and those I visited, considered the trip a success: I traveled from Montana to Maine and back using an electric vehicle.

I had done above-average pre-trip homework to select favorable routes and set up charging apps. I never strayed far from major highways or major cities. That meant that in the event of a problem, I could stop somewhere overnight and resume problem-solving the next morning. I carried VW’s standard 110V charging cord so I could have arranged at least a slow charge in any situation.

Only in Quebec did I face significant obstacles — and, not incidentally, depleted the vehicle’s battery to its lowest-of-the-trip value. Even there, though, my cautious approach paid off. I tried to always reserve sufficient miles and know where to find a backup charging location if a stop failed.

Most people noticed no difference between my white VW EV and any other white SUV-sized vehicle. Those who knew about my EV seemed amazed at my successful arrival if somewhat confused about the effort required.

Several people regarded the charge port with curiosity but bewilderment. “You mean it doesn’t use gas?” “You charge it through that port?”

Would I recommend others to consider a similar trip? Yes. Charging my vehicle, largely an unknown factor before the trip, proved — for the most part — routine and easy.

That said, charging infrastructure for EVs remains under development in most places. EV drivers need better charging stations at more locations. And charging systems need stability, reliability, and better data products.

At the moment, many EV owners tolerate the chaos. We anticipate that improvements will emerge, soon.

David Carlson trained in oceanography, spent a decade supporting atmospheric science, and led large efforts in the tropics and polar regions. He finished his career as the director of the World Climate Research Programme. Now retired, he resides in Bozeman, Montana.

This article was originally published by Yale Climate Connections . Republished here under a Creative Commons licence . Read the original version of the article here .

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What to do when planning an electric car road trip.

Modern electric vehicles (EVs) are chipping away at range anxiety , but long-distance trips still feel difficult to many considering a switch to electric. With better batteries and increased charging infrastructure, is it finally possible to take a real road trip in an electric car?

Related: How Far Can an Electric Car Go on One Charge?

If you want to drive cross-country in your EV, it will take a bit of planning beforehand. You'll need to make sure you have access to charging infrastructure --- and a backup plan if the ones you find don't work out.

Find Charging Stations Before You Go

As travel publication Roadtrippers demonstrates in a short and sweet video  on the topic, apps like ChargeHub and PlugShare will help you find stations along your trip route. Depending on how advanced your EV's navigation system is, you can then make those stations stops on your route. Even Google Maps will tell you the most efficient route for traveling in an EV now.

Most of these apps also tell you if the charging station you're looking at is out of order and have user-contributed photos. If you see that stations are down or people complain about the chargers being broken a lot in the comments, it might be best to pick another spot.

Related: How to Find an EV Charging Station Near You

When plotting your route, it makes the most sense to pick areas where you'll already be doing something else to stop and charge. Restaurants, shopping centers, and sometimes even places like gyms will let you plug in while you run a few errands or stock up on supplies. For quicker stops, look for DC fast charging (DCFC) stations. Tesla drivers have the Supercharger network, and non-Tesla vehicles can plug in it at level 3 DCFC stations. It's very simple to filter by the level of charging station you want using the apps listed above.

If you're stopping at hotels along the way, their websites should list charging stations as an amenity, so make sure you book a room with one on-site. To be extra careful you can double-check by calling the hotel and looking them up on your app of choice.

Related: Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3? EV Chargers Explained

Want to camp instead? RV parks are your friend. They'll be equipped with outlets that provide the same level of power as a level 2 charging station since heavier power is needed to run the big vehicles that usually stop at RV campgrounds. Nightly rates are also usually reasonable, cheaper than a hotel, and don't limit how many hours you can charge. National parks like Yosemite often have charging stations in and around the park you can use to plug in while you hike or swim. (Check before you go, though, as it's probably not true for every national park).

Whichever route you choose, avoid letting the battery get too low. 20-80% is usually the optimal range to keep an EV's battery working in, so don't let it dip down to 5% before you start looking for a station --- you might end up getting towed to one.

Know Your Range

Of course, before doing any of that you need to be familiar with your EV's range. Different models will have different capabilities, and knowing what yours is will help you build a buffer between charging stations so you can hit the next one before your battery gets too low.

Related: 5 of the Longest Range Electric Cars You Can Buy

If longer trips are important to you, it's probably best to get an electric car with a range of 200 miles per charge or more. You don't need to drive a Tesla to get a decent amount of range out of your EV, either. While some longer-range electric cars are expensive, plenty are within the price range of a typical modern gas car. Kia and Hyundai, for example, make EVs with a roughly 300-mile range. The 2021 Chevy Bolt can travel over 250 miles on a single charge.

If you're on the fence, consider renting an EV for a few days and taking a road trip to try it out. If it's within your budget, it can be a great way to find out what EV is right (or wrong) for you.

Mind the Weather

As many have noted, cold weather is not friendly to electric cars. While they do better these days than in the past, you're going to see a decrease in your range when the temperature drops too low.

Related: How Does Cold Weather Affect Electric Car Battery Life?

If you can still make the trip driving shorter distances between stations then chances are you'll be fine, but you don't want to get stuck in a far-flung area with spotty charging infrastructure in the middle of winter. If you do decide to road trip in colder weather, warming the car's cabin and battery before unplugging from the charging station each time will do a lot to lighten the load on your battery and mitigate range loss.

Extremely hot weather can decrease EV range too, so you'll want to take steps to keep the car cool on summer road trips. Parking in the shade, using the car's battery management system while plugged in, and keeping the battery topped up all help.

Have a Backup Plan

Roadtrippers editor-in-chief Sanna Boman said it best in her article detailing her own EV road trip experience: "If there's one thing I learned during my trip, it's that the key to a successful EV road trip is planning, planning, and more planning."

DCFC stations are great, but get hard to find once you leave major cities and suburbs behind. If you know you'll be heading through a more rural area and have the opportunity to top up before things get sparse, do it.

Even if you do find a station, all the ports could be occupied by other vehicles. Some or all of the stations could also be broken or down for maintenance. Or, as happened with Boman's Chevy Bolt once, the station could just be unable to communicate with your car. If any of those things happen, you'll want to be prepared to wait a little longer or have enough power to travel to the next station.

If you know people in the areas you'll be traveling through that can let you use their garage to plug in and get some juice, that's a great option to have in your back pocket as well. And always know where the charging stations are before you leave.

Related: Electric Vehicles: How Easy Is It to Find a Charging Station?

The ultimate guide to road tripping with an electric car

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The past couple of years have changed the travel world in many ways, but two things stand out to me: road trips and electric cars.

Early in the pandemic, we saw road trips take the spotlight during a coronavirus-fueled dip in air travel. Even after vaccines helped air travel rebound, many travelers still prefer to take the great American road trip when visiting national parks , cities and everywhere in between.

At the same time, more and more drivers are switching to electric cars, with adoption steadily rising both in the U.S. and abroad. This has become more prevalent as gas prices continue to rise due to world conflict and supply chain issues, and even rental car companies have begun to add EVs to their fleets.

Related: 5 lessons learned from taking a road trip in the age of coronavirus

After a summer of rental car road trips, I purchased a used 2016 BMW i3 in August 2020. It's a range-extended electric compact car, meaning that it also has a small gas motor that can charge the battery on the go. This, combined with the car being a hatchback, makes it — in my opinion — the ultimate road trip vehicle for those living in a major city like New York .

Since buying the i3, I've taken it on a couple of short trips. It's a different experience than road tripping with a gas car, and newcomers to the electric car world might be deterred if they don't know what to expect.

In this article, I'll share some tips I've picked up while on the road with my EV. I'll discuss everything from what to look for when buying an EV for road trips to how to find charging stations. I'll also share some trip-planning tips.

Let's dive (drive?) in!

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Choosing an electric car for road trips

There are some important considerations if you're in the market for an electric car and plan on road tripping it. Here are some elements to examine as you go through the car buying process, such as car range and whether or not you should purchase a plug-in hybrid.

Related: Should I buy a used car instead of renting this summer?

Criteria for a road-trip capable electric car

It's important to look for a car that has appropriate range for the trips you plan to take. So, don't buy a car with an 80-mile range if you plan to take 500+ mile road trips regularly. That said, you don't need an ultra-long-range electric car for these trips. Something like the BMW i3 94ah has a 153-mile range which — if you don't mind making a few stops — can be a good bet for longer trips.

Consider a long-range Tesla or a Chevrolet Bolt if you want to avoid frequent charges. These cars have well over 200 miles of electric range. This means you're subject to less charging stops, but you'll generally spend more on the car. This is especially true on the used market where long-range cars tend to have a higher resale value.

In my opinion, road trippers should avoid cars like the Fiat 500e and the electric Mercedes-Benz B-Class. These cars have sub-100-mile electric range and don't offer a range extender option. That means you'll have to charge frequently on long trips. Further, these cars may not be able to handle longer trips that don't have chargers en route.

Related: The pros and cons of Amex's Auto Purchasing Program

Consider a plug-in hybrid or range-extended vehicle

Further, you may want to consider an electric car that's not fully electric. You have two options here: plug-in hybrids and range-extended electric vehicles. The former are essentially standard hybrid vehicles with larger batteries that can be charged externally. These cars generally have 15 to 50 miles of electric range and full-size gas tanks.

That said, these vehicles don't have a fully electric driving experience and don't generally offer fast charging options (more on that soon). I find these cars less fun to drive and — if you want to drive in electric mode — considerably more inconvenient to charge. At the same time, they can make great road-trip vehicles with a gas engine.

On the other hand, range-extended electric cars are fully electric vehicles with a small gas motor. This motor effectively charges the car's battery to provide additional range when driving long distances. My BMW i3 is equipped with the range extender option, and it's saved me on longer trips where I find myself far away from a public charger.

I prefer range-extended cars to plug-in hybrids since you always have the electric driving experience (think: immediate torque). Plus, these cars are usually equipped with fast charging and other EV-specific technology features.

Related: The best credit cards for purchasing a car

DC fast charging is key for a sane road trip

Here's a big one: only purchase a car with included DC fast charging if you plan on road tripping. More and more fast chargers are popping up around the country which can charge a vehicle — as in the case of the BMW i3 — to 80% in just 45 minutes. This is possible as fast chargers — commonly called Level 3 chargers — provide up to 250kW+ per hour.

On the other hand, a vehicle without this option can only use Level 2 public chargers, which charge at around 11kW per hour. This is still faster than plugging in at home but will take a ton of extra time to charge when on the go. Going back to the i3 example, it takes around three hours to charge from 0% to 80%.

This option is even more important when on long road trips. If you have to wait hours every time your vehicle runs low on battery, it will take you quite a long time to get to your destination. On the other hand, a 45-minute stop is enough time to grab lunch and set navigation to your next charge point or final destination.

Thankfully, almost all new fully electric vehicles and range-extended cars are equipped with fast charging. Some older electric cars don't have this option, though, so make sure to inquire about it before you go for a test drive. Some cars that aren't equipped with this feature include some 2014 and 2015 BMW i3s, all models of the Fiat 500e and some older Nissan Leafs.

Check battery degradation when buying a used car

Plan on buying used? Make sure to check the car's battery status before you buy. Like all batteries, the battery inside of an electric car will degrade over time. This is normal, but excessive degradation can make your road trip life difficult. You can usually check battery status on the car's infotainment system.

Thankfully, most electric cars have long battery warranties. For example, my used BMW i3 has a 100,000 mile/eight-year warranty on the battery, meaning I'm covered through 2024 on my 2016 model. According to BMW, a battery replacement can be authorized if a battery degrades 30% or more during the warranty period.

How to plan a road trip with an electric car

As discussed, road tripping with an electric car is different than with a gas car. It requires a bit more planning for pure electric vehicles which — while tedious — isn't too bad once you get the hang of it. Let's take a look at how I plan road trips in my electric car.

Plan your route around fast chargers and be mindful of range

First things first: You'll need to charge when out on the road, so you must plan your driving route around available public chargers located near highways, expressways or wherever else you're driving. You'll need to charge before your battery dies to avoid calling roadside assistance , but there's a bit more to it than this.

Unfortunately, electric car range is dynamic. You'll use more battery when accelerating quickly, going up hills and when using climate control. Always give yourself at least a 10% buffer when looking for chargers. This means that if you have a car with a 100-mile range, plan chargers that are no more than 90 miles apart.

Additionally, try and stick to fast chargers when you're on the road. This ensures that you're not stuck at a given charger for hours while waiting for your car to charge. Instead, you can plug in for 30 to 40 minutes and you're back on the road without issue.

You can plan your trips manually or use an app like PlugShare. I'll go in-depth on this app in the next section, but in short, it's a crowdsourced directory of all chargers available near your location. The app's built-in route planner can be a huge timesaver when mapping out long, multi-charge road trips.

Look for hotels with chargers

Another way to save time on charging is by staying at hotels that offer electric car charging in their parking lots or garages. These are becoming more and more common, and oftentimes charging is either free or included with the parking fee. These are generally Level 2 chargers, though, so they're best suited for charging overnight.

No charging at your hotel? Ask the hotel staff if they have an outdoor plug you can use. Most electric vehicles include a Level 1 wall charger that can be used with any standard wall socket. If the hotel is OK with it, this charger will slowly charge your vehicle overnight and give you at least enough power to make it to your next destination.

Related: 7 mistakes every road tripper makes at least once

Use these apps and charging networks to find public chargers

Now that you know how to plan a trip, let's take a look at the best way to find public chargers. As mentioned in the last section, several charging networks exist nationwide in the U.S. Some of these include ChargePoint and Electrify America. That said, there are many non-networked public chargers that you can find in parking garages and on city streets.

Here's a look at the apps and charging networks I use on electric car road trips. Before you head out on your first electric road trip, make sure to download these.

PlugShare for most public chargers

PlugShare is a community-powered electric charger app. You can use this app to view networked, non-networked and home chargers that are open to the public. Even better, you can sort chargers by speed, connector type and cost. This can be immensely helpful when trying to find a fast charger on a long trip.

Further, the app has a trip-planning feature that will help you find electric car charge points along a given route. Just enter your origin and destination and the app will show you all the chargers nearby. You can even input your car's range to plan your route around charging stops.

Tesla owners are also in luck with the ChargePoint app. It shows all Tesla Destination Chargers, SuperChargers and other compatible chargers on the map. Just toggle on the Tesla connector in the app and locations will appear on the map.

ChargePoint has chargers around the US

ChargePoint is one of the biggest electric car charging networks in the U.S., offering both Level 2 and Level 3 chargers in major cities and along some major highways. Many ChargePoint locations will show on the PlugShare app, but I recommend downloading both apps, as PlugShare will often miss specific chargers. Also, you can use the ChargePoint app to pay for charging at several charging locations.

One word of caution: The ChargePoint app sometimes shows chargers that aren't available for public use. This is especially the case here in New York where many city vehicles have transitioned to plug-in hybrids or full electric vehicles. Keep an eye out for this when looking for places to charge.

Electrify America for DC fast chargers near highways

In the Northeast, I almost exclusively use Electrify America chargers on road trips. The company has a huge network of fast chargers located both within cities and near major highways, usually located at Walmarts, Targets and other shopping centers. Pricing is pretty reasonable, too — it varies based on how fast you're able to charge and you can get a discount by signing up for a membership ($4 per month).

Using these chargers is remarkably simple. Just drive up, plug in your car and select the charger you're using on the Electrify America app to start charging. The charge fee is billed to your credit card after you're finished charging.

One downside to Electrify America, however, is that its stations can be unreliable. On a recent drive from Philadelphia to New York, I stopped at a charger only to find three of the four available chargers were out of service. The fourth charger was in use, so I called tech support who offered me a free fill-up at a nearby charger.

Earn bonus miles on electric car charging

Since you'll usually pay for charging when on the road, why not earn miles in the process? Most chargers do not code as travel, so you'll want to use a credit card that earns extra points on general spending . There's a variety of these cards on the market, and some of our favorites include:

• The Blue Business®️ Plus Credit Card from American Express (2 Membership Rewards points per dollar on the first $50,000 in purchases per calendar year; then 1 point per dollar, giving you a 4% return based on TPG's valuation )
• Chase Freedom Unlimited (1.5% cash back/1.5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar for a 3% return based on TPG's valuation )
• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (2 miles per dollar on purchases, giving you a 2.8% return based on TPG's valuations )

If you're completing a credit card spending requirement , you may want to use it to pay for your charging. For example, I use my Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card to pay for charging so I can earn bonus Medallion Qualifying Miles to qualify for Delta elite status .

Related: Maximizing points and miles on summer road trips

Bottom line

Road tripping in an electric car is different from a road trip in a gasoline car, but it's still fun. In fact, I've often found that road trips are more enjoyable in my EV as I see new places I otherwise wouldn't. On top of this, money saved on gas can be used to stay in better hotels and eat at nicer restaurants. Sounds like a win-win to me.

I think the biggest takeaway is to always be mindful of your range. Planning your route along charge points and stopping to charge before you need to charge is key to an enjoyable and stress-free trip. If this isn't for you, consider a range-extended electric car or a plug-in hybrid for more flexibility.

Drive safe!

Feature photo by Andrew Kunesh/The Points Guy.

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What it’s like to road-trip cross-country in an electric car

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Earlier this year, Glen Ayers and his wife Mary drove their electric car from Massachusetts to California and back , stopping at parks and small towns across the country.

Ayers says going such a long distance in an EV was not difficult. Knowing where to charge up required a bit of planning, but he says they were able to plug in at campgrounds and stations along the way.

“If you’re driving on the interstates, pretty much every 30 to 50 miles, there’s a fast charger,” he says.

Ayers says this was a noticeable increase from a few years ago when he and his wife took a similar vacation.

And the number of EV drivers has grown, too. Ayers says on the couple’s last trip, their car was often the only one at a charging station. But he says this time they almost always saw two or three other cars charging.

“And there were two times where we had to actually wait in line for about 10 minutes … to plug in our car,” he says. “That’s very different from three years ago.”

Altogether, Ayers estimates that he and his wife spent about a third less on charging than they would have on gas.

And by driving an EV, they dramatically reduced the carbon footprint of their trip.

“I hope to never, ever drive a gas-powered car again for the rest of my life,” he says.

Reporting credit: Ethan Freedman/ChavoBart Digital Media

Editor’s note: This page was updated July 12, 2023, to correct an error in the subheadline.

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10 Electric Vehicles You Can Take Cross-Country

Some think road trips are dead with EVs' limited driving ranges. Here are ten electric cars that prove them wrong.

• EVs with long driving ranges are essential for cross-country road trips, but passenger space and cargo capacity are also important considerations.
• The Chevrolet Bolt EUV is a value option for road trips, offering ample space for passengers and cargo along with a 247-mile driving range.
• The BMW i4 is a luxurious and stylish choice for cross-country travel, with a 301-mile driving range and impressive interior features like a large touchscreen and voice commands.

Road trips are part of the romance of getting behind the wheel and heading out for an adventure. Some people start their road trips with specific landmarks in mind, others go where the wind blows them, but all those who venture out on the open road need to drive a vehicle that’s made for the experience. This brings us to an important question about electric cars . Can EVs actually take you on a cross-country journey?

There’s more to a cross-country drive in an electric car than just good driving range . That said, it’s still an integral part of getting from one place to another. Still, traveling across the country means you’ll spend most of your days in the car. It’s important to have a vehicle with enough space for you and your passengers, room for your cargo, and that can charge quickly enough to get you back on the road quickly.

Using information from U.S. News & World Report , Edmunds , and Car and Driver , we give you ten electric cars that you can take on a cross-country road trip ranked by maximum driving range.

Related: 10 Electric Vehicles That Make Going All-Electric Beyond Easy

1 Chevrolet Bolt EUV

Ev driving range: 247 miles.

The 2023 Chevrolet Bolt EUV can be an excellent option for road trips by offering one of the lowest base prices in the EV world. The Bolt EUV is the winner of the 2023 Best Electric SUV for the Money from U.S. News & World Report, making it a value option.

Specifications

The Bolt EUV and Bolt EV are often confusing because the smaller hatchback has more cargo room. Still, the Bolt EUV provides more passenger space than its sibling, making it a good option for some shorter cross-country adventures .

2 Genesis GV60

Ev driving range: 248 miles.

The 2023 Genesis GV60 is a brand-new addition to the Genesis lineup, adding an excellent electric crossover to the mix. This luxury EV is practical, comfortable, and filled with modern technology. The list of user-friendly features is long, making the Genesis GV60 an excellent choice for your cross-country adventures.

Genesis delivers style and elegance in the GV60 with comfortable leather upholstery and powered seats that move where you want and provide heating and ventilation. If you step up to higher trims, you could add Nappa leather upholstery and a massaging driver’s seat to the mix.

Related: 10 Reasons Why The Genesis GV60 Is Criminally Underrated

EV Driving Range: 301 Miles

If you want an electric car that turns heads and offers impressive luxury comfort on the road , the 2023 BMW i4 has what you’re after. This Gran Coupe is ideal for cross-country driving with the signature BMW athleticism and driving dynamics that make it fun on winding roads.

Once behind the wheel, you’ll admire the impressive graphics and menus offered on the 14.9-inch touchscreen, which is flanked to the left by a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster. Use “Hey BMW” to enjoy the voice commands during your road trip.

4 Hyundai Ioniq 5

Ev driving range: 303 miles.

The 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5 is the result of the Ioniq name’s development from a trio of power types to an EV capable of making your cross-country road trip a pleasure. You’ll have the option of RWD or AWD for this electric vehicle, with a variety of driving dynamics. Could this be the ideal EV for your next road trip?

Driving the Ioniq 5 can become a concert-like experience thanks to the impressive Bose audio system and 64-color ambient LED interior lighting options. The intuitive infotainment system makes this Hyundai EV easy to enjoy wherever you need to go. Start your adventures with the Hyundai Ioniq 5.

Related: 10 Things You Need To Know About The Hyundai Ioniq 5

EV Driving Range: 310 Miles

The 2023 Kia EV6 is considered one of the best EVs for cross-country road trips because of its sophisticated design, impressive performance, and reasonable price. This combination is hard to beat with any other electric car or SUV.

The EV6 packs in the comfort of impressive seats that you’ll feel good sitting in for many hours on the road. The addition of a sunroof can make this Kia electric SUV feel open and airy while touring the countryside. Stay entertained during your drive thanks to the upgraded 14-speaker Meridian audio system.

6 Ford Mustang Mach-E

Ev driving range: 312 miles.

The Ford Mustang has been ubiquitous with road trips for decades, but now there’s a new version in town. The Ford Mustang Mach-E stands taller and brings more cargo room than any version of the muscle car ever did, making it an excellent electric vehicle for your road trips .

The Mach-E features a tablet-style infotainment touchscreen that provides impressive readings across the 15.5-inch space. This Ford electric vehicle is fun to drive, offering good acceleration, and it handles perfectly around the corners, making it a great choice for driving across the country.

Related: Here's Why the Ford Mach-E Is A Real Mustang

EV Driving Range: 318 Miles

The BMW i7 is the electric flagship sedan offered by BMW. This car is meant to stand toe-to-toe with the Mercedes-Benz EQS Sedan at the top of the luxury electric sedan market. The generous driving range and full-size sedan comfort of the i7 make it an excellent choice when your road trip calls for a comfortable car .

When you want to add more to your road trip pleasure, check out the impressive dashcam, 31-inch rear entertainment screen, and 39-speaker Bowers & Wilkins surround-sound system that provides more entertainment for you and your passengers during your cross-country road trip.

8 Rivian R1S

Ev driving range: 321 miles.

The Rivian R1S is one of the newest names in the electric car market . This electric SUV is one of the few off-road-focused models on our list. If your cross-country adventures include riding into the wilderness to explore the trails, the R1S could be the right vehicle for your wilderness fun.

Currently, Rivian vehicles cannot utilize DC Fast-Charging networks, but that’s expected to change soon. When Rivian launches its public charging network, the R1S should be capable of adding 140 miles of range in only 20 minutes, which can improve your cross-country driving experience.

Related: 10 Reasons Why The Rivian R1S Is The Best Electric SUV

9 Mercedes-Benz EQS Sedan

Ev driving range: 340 miles.

Mercedes-Benz is well known for offering some of the most incredible luxury vehicles in the entire market. The 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQS Sedan is the electric equivalent to the S-Class , which makes it the flagship model, packed with impressive features, style, and quality materials.

When you need extra room for cargo, the EQS Sedan provides up to 63 cubic feet of space when you fold the seats down. This large electric Mercedes-Benz sedan is comfortable, providing a plush and composed ride that handles perfectly. Get behind the wheel and enjoy what this Merc brings to your road trip.

10 Hyundai Ioniq 6

Ev driving range: 361 miles.

The 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6 is a brand-new electric sedan offering smooth driving manners and a quiet cabin that can be perfect for long road trips. This new EV utilizes Hyundai’s E-GMP platform to deliver an excellent driving range and comfort.

The new Ioniq 6 comes standard with a 12.3-inch touchscreen, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto. You’ll also find wireless device charging and an upgraded audio system among the possible upgrades for this Hyundai electric car.

A coast-to-coast US road trip in an electric car is now easier than ever

Jul 9, 2020 • 2 min read

Your favorite road trip is now sustainable © Oleksandr Telesniuk / 500px

A new cross-country network of electric vehicle charging stations has been unveiled in the United States , making a more environmentally-friendly road trip an even easier option for summer travels. 

The route runs from Los Angeles, California , to Washington, DC , and was developed by Electrify America, which is owned by Volkswagen. It’s a competitor to Tesla’s Supercharger network, but Electrify America’s charging points are compatible with all makes of electric cars, unlike Tesla’s, which can only be used by Tesla vehicles. A second countrywide Electrify America route is in the works between San Diego, California , and Jacksonville, Florida, and is slated to open this September.

“Electrify America’s primary goal has always been to advance electric vehicle adoption in the US, and that starts by instilling feelings of confidence and freedom in consumers when it comes to EV ownership,” Anthony Lambkin, director of operations at Electrify America, said in a statement. “The completion of our first cross-country route is a significant step towards that goal – by making long-distance travel in an EV a reality, we hope to encourage more consumers to make the switch to electric.”

Electrify America has also already set up routes down the east and west coasts, from Seattle to San Diego and from Portland, Maine , to Miami . The company has built more than 435 charging stations, opening one every business day last year, with hundreds more sites under construction, and many are located near major interstate highways for easy access, including along huge stretches of I-70 and I-15.

The chargers can be found about every 70 miles of the 2700-mile journey across the country, and the new super-fast technology means that getting a full charge can take just 20 minutes.

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Matador Original Series

Driving Across the Country in an Electric Vehicle Just Got Way Easier

T he summer of 2020 is shaping up to be an ideal time for road trips with family and friends. And traveling extended distances in an electric vehicle just got much easier, thanks to a new cross-country route lined with direct-current fast-charging stations.

Electrify America has installed rapid-charging stations for electric vehicles from coast to coast along interstates 70 and 15, making it possible to drive from Washington, DC, to Los Angeles without ever running out of juice.

The stations are designed to keep electric vehicles moving, and are able to charge certain models in as little as 30 minutes.

Should you take this trip, you’ll travel more than 2,700 miles through 11 states and many major cities, including Indianapolis, IN; Columbus, OH; Denver, CO; and Kansas City and St. Louis, MO. The route even passes through Las Vegas, the perfect place to pull over for a night of revelry. Charging stations are located an average of 70 miles apart throughout the entire route.

Photo: Electrify America

“Electrify America’s primary goal has always been to advance electric vehicle adoption in the U.S., and that starts by instilling feelings of confidence and freedom in consumers when it comes to EV ownership,” said Anthony Lambkin, director of operations at Electrify America, in a press release . “The completion of our first cross-country route is a significant step towards that goal — by making long-distance travel in an EV a reality, we hope to encourage more consumers to make the switch to electric.”

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A missed reservation and long charging times: A woman's 4-day road trip shows the difficulty of taking an electric car cross-country

• Reporter Rachel Wolfe's 2,000-mile EV road trip turned into a stressful experience.
• She said in a story for The Wall Street Journal the car spent more time charging than she did sleeping.
• Wolfe's story highlights an advantage Tesla drivers have over other EV owners.

Electric cars may not be the best option for road trips quite yet — unless you want to risk spending hours stuck at charging stations.

Rachel Wolfe, a reporter from The Wall Street Journal, took a Kia EV6 on a four-day road trip and said the car spent more time charging than she did sleeping. During the 2,000-mile round trip between New Orleans and Chicago, Wolfe said she struggled to find fast chargers and spent much of the trip waiting for the car to recharge.

She said that while there appeared to be a multitude of chargers along the route, she quickly discovered that not all chargers are created equally. She detailed instances when she waited for as long as 3 hours for a 30-mile charge and moments when her car's battery ticked down at an alarming rate.

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On her way home, Wolfe said her car wasn't able to make it more than 200 miles on a single charge amid a tornado warning, despite an advertised range of up to 310 miles.

"To save power, we turn off the car's cooling system and the radio, unplug our phones and lower the windshield wipers to the lowest possible setting while still being able to see," Wolfe wrote. "Three miles away from the station, we have one mile of estimated range."

Insider's Tim Levin previously reported a similar experience during a road trip to Vermont last year when the battery of his Mustang Mach-E plunged rapidly in an environment where he had little access to charging infrastructure. Though, Levin ultimately said the experience did little to dampen his interest in buying an EV.

In contrast, Wolfe said the experience made her thankful for her gas-powered 2008 Volkswagen Jetta. She said a lack of efficient charging infrastructure caused her and a passenger to miss a dinner reservation and led to a nail-biting return trip that left them with only four hours of sleep in their haste to return home on time. 

Skyrocketing gas prices have made electric cars even more attractive , but Wolfe she paid for the $100 she saved by avoiding gas pumps with wasted time lingering at charging stations.

Driving-range anxiety has been identified as one of the main issues the US faces when it comes to electrifying transportation, and Wolfe's story highlights an advantage Tesla owners have over other EV drivers. In a tweet on Sunday, Wolfe noted she believes her experience would have been "easier" in a Tesla.

While increasing charging infrastructure is a top priority for the Biden administration, Tesla has a jump on the market, especially when it comes to fast-charging stations.

Tesla Superchargers account for about 58% of all available fast-charging stations in the US, according to February data from the Department of Energy. Regular Tesla stations can be used with non-Tesla EVs through a special adapter , but not all supercharging stations are compatible with other electric cars. Tesla has only opened the option in select markets in Europe.

Read Wolfe's full story over at The Wall Street Journal.

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We took the Great American Road Trip—in electric cars

A cross-country journey in electric cars reveals how alternative energy sources could help power us into a sustainable future.

On a weathered promenade at the edge of the Pacific, near the photo booths and the pretzel stand and a man molding busts of tourists out of clay, spins a Ferris wheel that draws electricity from the sun. A few hundred feet away, a sign marks the end of old Route 66. The Santa Monica Pier, where green energy meets automotive history, seemed like the perfect spot to kick off a cross-country road trip in electric cars.

Route 66, one of America’s first all-weather highways, began in Chicago. From the 1930s until it was rendered obsolete by interstates, it funneled millions of Midwestern migrants past motor lodges and trinket shops toward the sparkling shores of California. It helped reshape that state from a rural paradise to a series of sprawling cities. Along the way it came to symbolize so much: the transformational power of cars, the freedom of the open road, the magic of combining the two in a road trip. Today Americana-hungry travelers, after rolling through more than 2,200 miles of old 66, line up at a wooden hut on the Santa Monica Pier for signed certificates.

The pier is also a good place to reflect on the world we’ve created, in part through our love affair with the internal combustion engine. To the east lies Los Angeles with its seven million gas-guzzlers, which emit more carbon dioxide than a dozen states. To the south there’s Venice Beach, which in the 1940s was crowded with oil derricks—and where in recent years starving sea lions washed ashore, victims of ocean heat waves worsened by climate change. To the west and north lie Malibu and the hills above it, where the Woolsey fire raged in November 2018, after years of drought and rising temperatures. The blaze killed three people, forced a quarter million to evacuate, and destroyed 1,075 homes.

The Santa Ana winds “blew that fire incredibly fast, right down to the coast in a day,” Dean Kubani recalled on a hot day last fall, as we stood beneath the Ferris wheel. Kubani had recently retired as Santa Monica’s sustainability chief, after 25 years with the city; he had watched the Woolsey fire from the beach. “Normally fire season is September, October,” he said. But it lasts longer now “because we’re not getting the rain, and we’re not getting the cool weather.”

For anyone wondering what living in California, America, or the world will be like in 2070 , this is a critical moment—and a confusing one. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says we must slash greenhouse gases to zero over the next half century, if not sooner, to forestall a climate disaster. Instead the world is producing more fossil fuel, not less. Oil and gas companies in the United States, already the top producer, plan to boost development 30 percent by 2030. President Donald Trump has moved to take the country out of the Paris climate accord, which aims to start weaning the world off fossil fuels.

Yet we also are undergoing a green energy revolution. Globally, renewable energy in the next five years is on track to increase by an amount equal to the electric power capacity of the United States. The fastest growing U.S. occupation in the next decade, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics? Solar panel installer. (Number two: wind turbine service technician.)

Across the nation, cities and states are pledging to change. This year California began requiring solar panels on new homes. The city of Berkeley has banned natural gas in new buildings; Santa Monica and others are taking similar steps. Los Angeles wants to install 28,000 electric-vehicle charging stations in just eight years; Santa Monica is looking at 300 by 2021.

The furnaces at SSAB America’s steel mill in Montpelier, Iowa, are electric—and by 2022, the company says, they’ll be heated by renewable energy. The iron and steel industry, which usually relies on coal, accounts for about 7 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. Heavy industry is especially hard to wean off the cheap heat that fossil fuels provide.

“When I first started here, the city had one electric car, and it was a converted Ford Taurus, I think, a station wagon,” Kubani said. It had solar panels on the roof. “You could drive it about 10 miles.” Photographer David Guttenfelder and I were planning to drive more than 4,000 miles in a series of electric cars. Loaded with bananas (for me) and beef jerky (for Guttenfelder), we left Santa Monica, bound for the East Coast, with one pressing question: Can we as a nation get where we need to go—meaning, can we get off fossil fuels fast enough to keep 2070 livable?

North of Los Angeles, in Kern County, petroleum is still pumped from large oil fields. But to the east, beyond the dusty Tehachapi Mountains from Bakersfield, the local oil capital, a cleaner future shimmers in the heat. We rolled into the desert town of Mojave in our rented Hyundai Kona and parked in a clothing store lot, where gusts of wind whipped the dresses around headless outdoor mannequins. Across rusty train tracks, we could see wind turbines towering over fields of solar panels, in what may be the country’s densest concentration of renewable energy.

Ben New, vice president of construction for 8minute Solar Energy (named for the amount of time it takes sunlight to reach the Earth), led us to a 500-acre cluster of solar modules that produce 60 megawatts of power, enough for 25,000 California homes. Wiry and silver-bearded, New spoke hurriedly, like someone used to racing the clock. “Twenty years ago, a solar panel was so expensive that nobody would have ever thought you could ever do anything like this,” he said.

The Santa Monica Pier is linked to Chicago by old Route 66—and by its solar-powered Ferris wheel. The 1893 Chicago world’s fair showcased the first Ferris wheel, along with a new form of energy: electricity. To millions of Americans, the future looked exciting.

Today solar is a steal. The price of photovoltaic modules has plummeted 99 percent since the 1970s, thanks in large part to public policy and research—in Germany, Japan, China, and the United States. As governments pushed utilities to boost renewables, demand skyrocketed. Production got more efficient. Prices fell. Installing a watt of solar costs New a fifth of what it did 10 years ago and takes half as much space.

It took four decades, until 2016, for the U.S. to install a million solar-power systems, from home rooftops to utility-scale solar farms. It took only three years, until 2019, to install the second million. By 2023, the number is projected to double again. The U.S. now has enough solar power for 13 million homes. Projects are getting larger: New’s company has announced a deal for another 400 megawatts, with battery storage for 300. These and other 8minute projects will provide clean energy to one million Angelenos.

Impressive as these numbers are, however, they’re nowhere near enough. Today less than 2 percent of U.S. electricity comes from the sun, and another 7 percent or so from wind. The global numbers are comparable. To cap warming at 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius), a recent UN report estimated, global emissions must fall 7.6 percent annually for the next decade. Last year they rose again. Getting renewables to fill the gap, the report said, would require them to grow six times faster than they’ve been growing.

Can solar power spread fast enough? Experts have underestimated its potential before, and technology can bring rapid change.

That would mean massive mobilization and infrastructure investments—in steel and cable manufacturing capacity, in batteries and electric transmission lines. In the U.S., where the grid is split in three—one each for the East, the West, and Texas—it would require a major overhaul to ship power from sunny Arizona to coal-rich West Virginia. For now, New said, we’d have to produce many gigawatts “in areas of the country that have never done it before.” That would entail permitting challenges in places where fossil fuels are popular. Eager as New is for a swift transition to solar, he doesn’t see it happening in time. A 30 percent tax credit for solar investment, in effect since the George W. Bush administration, is to begin phasing out this year.

Could solar spread at the needed pace with the right encouragement? Experts have misjudged its potential before. In 2008 Harvard professor David Keith predicted we’d be lucky to see 30-cents-a-watt solar by 2030. It will hit that price in 2020. “We were totally wrong,” Keith said recently. “Cheap solar is real. It is stunning.”

As we said goodbye to New, I thought about how quickly technological change can come to America, from the rise of smartphones and social media to the spread, in just the past few years, of plant-based meat substitutes to burger joints across this beef-eating land. Later that evening, Guttenfelder and I pulled into the Mojave Air and Space Port, a testing and launch facility not far from where Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in 1947.

The spaceport attracted us because it had installed electric-vehicle charging stations. We plugged in our Kona, and a message appeared on the dash: Charging would take nearly six hours. Leaving the car for the night, we hiked, foreheads tucked in against the gritty breeze, almost a mile to the nearest motel.

The American road trip began with a bet. In 1903, before interstates and filling stations, a patron in a California private club wagered $50 that Horatio Jackson, a physician, couldn’t drive an automobile to the East Coast. Four days later, according to Horatio’s Drive: America’s First Road Trip, a 2003 film and book by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns, Jackson and a mechanic bounced out of San Francisco in a 20-horsepower Winton touring carriage. They adopted a bulldog named Bud and fitted him with goggles to protect his eyes from dust. They roared up mountain passes on unpaved tracks, splashed through streams, broke down and got towed by horses, and waited for spare parts to arrive by train. Jackson hit New York 63 days later, completing the nation’s first cross-country car journey.

The road trip is now woven into the American psyche—as a vehicle for discovery; as a chance to remember, forget, move on, or get lost. Guttenfelder and I, both Midwesterners—he’s from Iowa, I’m from Kansas—had taken our own cross-country journeys as young men. Mine introduced me, at 21, to the craggy landscapes of the West: the Tetons, the Olympics, the Sierras, the Grand Canyon. It changed my life. Less than a year later I moved to Wyoming. I’ve lived less than an hour’s drive from mountains ever since.

For now, cross-country travel by electric car requires retooling expectations. Fully charging can take an hour—or up to 24, depending on the battery and the charger. With the exception of Tesla’s more than 750 proprietary supercharging locations, there are few places in the U.S. to juice up quickly, whereas there are close to 150,000 gas stations. But most electric vehicles can charge at night, at home. And Tesla, with the country’s most robust fast-charging network, also has around 3,800 slower charging stations.

After Mojave, we blew past salt flats and glided into the narrow Panamint Valley. Under ideal conditions, our Kona could travel about 260 miles on a charge. But we were chugging up mountain passes and cranking the air-conditioning against hot winds that rattled the doors. I’d read that each could undercut battery life, which sparked our first of several bouts of “range anxiety.” It ended uneventfully in Death Valley, where we found a lavish lodge with a charger.

The next day we topped off in the lot at the World’s Tallest Thermometer, a towering pillar commemorating the global temperature record: 134 degrees Fahrenheit, set in 1913. Killing time in the gift shop among the T-shirts and ball caps, I thought back to the hut on the Santa Monica Pier where road trippers got their Route 66 memorabilia. Ian Bowen, the manager, told me he had grown up “the bored kid in the back seat,” as his family blitzed across Nebraska and Iowa on vacations, whizzing past roadside temptations. “I never understood as a kid why we would drive if we weren’t going to take our time,” Bowen said. To him, road trips are for slowing down and exploring. For now, extended stints at charging stations “really fit into that.”

Pushing cars and trucks onto the grid is a central part of the strategy for getting America and the world off fossil fuels. In the coming decades it will dramatically increase demand for electricity. Once, the market would have responded with more coal-fired power plants, but no more. The new 8minute project, for example, will deliver energy to Los Angeles for less than two cents a kilowatt-hour—much cheaper than coal.

We came upon Russell Benally one evening as he was checking on his horse on a rocky overlook outside LeChee, Arizona, a small Navajo community near Lake Powell. In the distance, silhouetted by a dying sun, was the Navajo Generating Station. With its trio of columnar stacks, the largest coal plant west of the Mississippi resembled a beached riverboat.

This 45-year-old plant, which had produced enough electricity annually to supply two million homes—Los Angeles got some of its power from here until 2016—was shutting down because it could no longer compete with cheap gas and renewables. The closure would eliminate hundreds of jobs, almost all held by Native Americans. And while the Navajo and Hopi tribes didn’t own the plant, they received millions in royalties and lease payments, money that will be hard to replace. But the plant had been a big polluter, generating 14 million metric tons or more of CO 2 a year. Galling to some in the Navajo Nation: That bad air came from energy that mostly went elsewhere. “A lot of people here still don’t even have electricity,” said Benally, a retired Navajo plumber.

We followed him home to meet his wife, Sharon Yazzie. She grew up in LeChee and remembers life without the station. She said she won’t miss it at all. “It’s always provided for the outside rather than for ourselves,” she said.

The coal plant closure is part of a trend that seems unstoppable. More than 500 U.S. coal-fired plants have closed since 2010, and dozens more closures are expected. U.S. coal consumption in 2019 was the lowest it has been in 40 years; in April, renewables generated more electricity than coal for the first time. China and India are still adding coal plants, but there are hints of a shift there too. Many Chinese plants now run only sporadically; India in 2018 added more renewable energy than coal.

A few miles from LeChee, in Page, Arizona, we parked our new rental, a white Tesla Model S, at Horseshoe Bend, a majestic meander in the Colorado River. Hundreds of visitors swarmed an overlook. The coal plant closure was a blow, Judy Franz, director of the Page Chamber of Commerce, told us, but tourism is up. More Navajo families were starting guide services and restaurants.

“There was a little bit of fear at first for a lot of people,” Franz said. But “we’ll be fine.”

In 2007 a tornado wiped out Greensburg, Kansas. The rebuilt town runs on renewable energy—a return to the self-reliance of prairie pioneers.

Over the next several days we drove a giant S curve through the future and the past as they coexist in uneasy tension. Crossing into southern Utah, we glided past sparse forests and mounds of white stone. We worked through the remote terraced earth of Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, the last region in the lower 48 states to be mapped. After a lengthy stop at a slow charger in Boulder, Utah—population 240—we pushed toward Colorado.

At the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) outside Denver, a driverless electric minibus recently had begun shuttling scientists from the parking garage to their offices. Guttenfelder and I watched one of them, David Moore, in lab coat and gloves, slather liquid with a paintbrush onto a credit card–size conductive glass square, transforming it instantly into a tiny solar cell. The liquid contained dissolved perovskites, a kind of semiconducting crystal that is unusually efficient at harvesting sunlight. Some believe perovskites could prove as transformational as the iPhone, making solar power ubiquitous and dirt cheap.

“There is no reason that I can’t deposit all of those materials on the side of a brick wall, on the side of a wood wall, on a south-facing wall … anything the sunlight hits,” Moore said. “The top of a car. Wearable clothing. Wearable backpacks.” He envisions solar cells printed on rolls of thin film, like newspapers on presses, making them easy to mass-produce quickly. Industry insiders are intrigued but skeptical. Breakthroughs often fail outside the lab.

Many will arrive between now and 2070—the bigger question is how fast the vested interests will let old technologies die. In Texas we confronted that dynamic.

One muddy morning southeast of Lubbock we watched a flatbed truck haul a wind turbine part across cotton farms. It, like us, had just crossed the Texas plains to reach Sage Draw, a 41,000-acre wind project under construction. We donned hard hats and stomped around an earthen pit where a latticework of rebar would soon brace a wind tower, one of 120 that together will generate 338 megawatts.

Texas, so synonymous with oil that the state flower could be a bobbing pump jack (it’s actually the bluebonnet), now generates more wind energy than all but four countries. The legislature ordered utilities to spend billions upgrading the state’s electric grid, stringing thousands of miles of new transmission lines so that wind projects in gusty West Texas could sell power to eastern cities such as Dallas. It worked spectacularly. By 2017, the Lone Star State was producing a quarter of the nation’s wind electricity.

At the same time, though, the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico was becoming one of the world’s largest oil plays, thanks to advances in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Texas now produces more than twice what Alaska did at its peak, in 1988. Just the excess natural gas that companies burn or vent, for lack of pipelines to sell it, tops 800 million cubic feet a day, according to Rystad Energy—enough to cover consumption in the entire state of Washington, where I live. Flaring gas releases CO 2 ; the vented natural gas is mostly methane, which warms the planet even more powerfully.

At Sage Draw, the Texas wind and oil booms meet. ExxonMobil plans to increase its oil development in the Permian by 80 percent in four years. To help power its operations, it has agreed to buy most of the renewable electricity produced at Sage Draw and a nearby solar farm, both of which are owned by Denmark-based Ørsted. Frank Sullivan, head of strategy at Ørsted’s American onshore business, called the agreement “a powerful indicator” of clean energy’s new competitiveness. It’s also an indicator of our strange moment. In Texas, clean energy is helping to extract more fossil fuels—when it needs to replace them altogether.

Of course, most of us still buy what ExxonMobil sells. And crossing this divided nation makes clear that some Americans aren’t eager for change. In Tucumcari, New Mexico, near the lovingly maintained Blue Swallow Motel, drivers can find a small EV charging hub at an old Conoco filling station. The day we arrived, someone had blocked it with a Ford F-250 pickup.

In Kansas a truck carrying a giant wind turbine blade failed to negotiate a corner, blocking traffic. As vehicles backed up, a pickup peeled out and turned around, belching black smoke. The frustrated driver was “rolling coal.” He’d modified his diesel engine to spew extra exhaust at the flip of a switch—an anti-environmentalist protest also known as Prius dusting.

Yet attitudes are changing; Americans embrace the energy transition when it works for them. Wandering through the amusement park glare of Las Vegas, with its illuminated fountains and floodlights sweeping the sky, I gawked at the energy profligacy. But a new law requires that half the state’s electricity come from renewables by 2030. Next door in equally sunny Arizona, a utility spent $38 million in 2018 defeating a ballot initiative with similar aims. This year, though, it changed course, announcing a goal of going 100 percent renewable by 2050.

In Colorado we met software engineer Kevin Li as he charged his 2018 Tesla Model 3. He’d just picked it up in California and was driving home to North Carolina. When I asked what role climate change played in his going electric, Li looked confused. I repeated the question: Did he buy a Tesla out of a deep-seated concern for global warming?

“Nope,” Li said.

“Speed,” Li said, smiling. “It’s fast—really fast.”

In western Kansas we spent a day in Greensburg, population 790. In 2007 a tornado wiped out more than 90 percent of this farm town, killing 11. When it came to rebuilding, some suggested Greensburg become sustainable—a “green burg.” That sounded rather hippie to Bob Dixson. “All I could think about was 1968, powder blue bell-bottom pants, tie-dyed shirt, big white belt buckle, hair down to here, maybe on mind-altering chemicals, hugging a tree,” the onetime mayor has said.

But, Dixson told me, he came to see it as a return to the virtues of his prairie-settling ancestors. Kansas pioneers built windmills to power wells, lived in sod houses—early green-roofed buildings—and stored food in root cellars. Greensburg’s new school uses solar and geothermal heating, and the rebuilt community generates electricity from wind. Greensburg’s grid is now 100 percent carbon free.

This sign in Menlo, Iowa, was erected in 1934, on what was then U.S. Highway 6. Photographer David Guttenfelder drove by it often as a kid on the way to see his grandparents in Menlo. The gas station closed when I-80 diverted traffic south of town, but the sign, restored in 2008, waves again: Goodbye to the old car culture. Hello to something new.

One night in Des Moines, Iowa, as I settled into a hotel room, Guttenfelder texted from across the hall. An unexpected visitor would be speaking two hours away the next day: Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg. She was crossing the country in a Tesla too, but in the other direction.

We pulled into Iowa City as thousands were gathering. I saw a hand-drawn picture of the planet captioned “Help Me I’m Dying.” Thunberg joined local students on stage. “Right now the world leaders keep acting like children, and somebody needs to be the adult in the room,” she said. The crowd roared.

Thunberg had sailed to the U.S. instead of taking a plane; one flight can produce more CO 2 than some people produce in a year. With climate stakes rising and air travel increasingly popular, some Europeans and Americans, including scientists, have curtailed jet travel. Guttenfelder and I talked about how deeply fossil fuels permeate our lives.

Earlier in our trip, I’d even flown home for my daughter’s 11th birthday. I felt guilt at contributing to a slightly less livable world for her. I felt frustration at being forced to choose between her present and future. But the goal has to be to build a world where people can travel without carbon guilt. At NREL, teams are researching jet fuels made from algae or food waste. In December the first electric commercial airplane, a six-passenger seaplane, made a successful test flight in Canada.

Across Iowa wind turbines turned in the corn; tax credits have made them valuable income sources for farmers. Iowa is now second, after Kansas, in the portion of electricity it gets from renewables. In Newton, population 15,000, turbine towers are made in a former Maytag washing machine factory. In Montpelier, SSAB, a Swedish steel company, forges turbine parts. The massive heat comes not from coking coal, as in most steel mills, but from electric arc furnaces. In two years the furnaces will be powered entirely by clean energy, Chuck Schmitt of SSAB Americas told me. A steel mill in the heartland using wind to make wind turbine parts: It felt to us like a milestone.

As a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Robert “RJ” Scaringe strung clotheslines in his apartment and did other “time-consuming and challenging” things to minimize his carbon footprint. Urging people to forfeit modern conveniences, he determined, wasn’t a winning strategy. “It’s too hard,” he told us. Today Scaringe runs electric vehicle start-up Rivian, which plans to release a sport utility vehicle and a pickup this year. It also has a deal with retail giant Amazon to build 100,000 electric delivery trucks by 2030.

What’s true of renewables is also true of electric vehicles: Things are changing fast, just not yet fast enough. Globally, there are five million electric cars, an increase of nearly two million in one year. Volkswagen alone plans to build 26 million more in 10 years. But that’s in a world of roughly 1.5 billion cars and trucks. EVs are just 2 percent of the U.S. market.

Tesla isn’t the only company trying to make EVs cooler. Ford has unveiled an electric Mustang, Harley-Davidson an electric motorcycle. But worldwide, drivers are favoring heavy, more polluting SUVs; there are now more than 200 million on the road, six times as many as in 2010. Scaringe is aiming for that market.

At Rivian’s Plymouth, Michigan, engineering and design plant, we watched workers zip about on skateboards. Scaringe, 37, is focused on vehicles for active, outdoor lifestyles. He plans, with partners, to build high-speed charging stations in less traveled places, near the “edge of the trail.” Much as teenagers can’t imagine life before social media, Scaringe expects his own children—all under age five—will never know a world “where charging wasn’t ubiquitous.”

Over the next few days Guttenfelder and I raced toward our destination: Washington, D.C. We stopped in Ohio to tour First Solar, the biggest U.S. manufacturer of solar panels. In Pennsylvania we drove past the Three Mile Island nuclear plant. Forty years after the notorious accident that shut down its first reactor, the other one had just closed as well, because it is too expensive to run today. Seven other American nukes have shut down since 2013; seven more plan to by 2025. Much of their carbon-free electricity will be replaced by emissions-rich natural gas. The debate about the future of nuclear is complex and increasingly ideological.

So is the debate around climate change. “Unfortunately, for reasons that are hard to understand, sustainability has become a very political issue,” Scaringe had told me. Yet policy shifts at all levels of government are needed to speed our transition to clean energy. Can a polarized nation be brought together around solutions?

Days before starting our trip, I’d visited a man who’d run for president proposing to do just that. On an afternoon when CNN was hosting town halls on climate with Democratic candidates, I’d driven a Nissan Leaf south from my Seattle home to Olympia, the state capital, to meet Washington governor Jay Inslee. Inslee had mapped out plans for everything from a national renewable energy policy for utilities to a zero-carbon building standard. But his presidential campaign never caught on, and he’d recently ended it.

Seemingly unbowed, he told me a story about the nation’s ability to move quickly when the will is there. In 1940 the U.S. Army asked automakers to design a brand-new “light reconnaissance” vehicle. By the end of World War II, five years later, workers had built nearly 645,000 Jeeps.

“We are in a movie where we have not seen the final reel,” Inslee said. “And we have the capability of having this be a happy ending.”

A month after leaving Santa Monica, Guttenfelder and I arrived in Washington. Ducking into the National Museum of American History, I spotted Horatio Jackson’s red Winton carriage—complete with a replica of Bud the bulldog in goggles. The exhibit, about American road trips, also highlighted an arduous 1919 cross-country convoy of military vehicles that had included a young lieutenant colonel, Dwight Eisenhower. Later, as president, Eisenhower would champion the interstate highway system.

A display nearby traced the history of how highways became necessary. Within a quarter century of Jackson’s journey, cars had become a fixture of American life. Twenty-three million roamed the U.S. by 1930, as Route 66 was being paved. More than half of American families owned one, maybe even some who’d initially dismissed them as “devil wagons.”

Americans adapt quickly, once convinced that change is necessary, even useful. It could happen again. By 2070, clouds of “rolling coal” might be barely remembered wisps on the wind.

Related Topics

• ELECTRIC CARS
• SUSTAINABILITY
• RENEWABLE ENERGY
• SOLAR POWER

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Everything You Need to Know About Road Tripping in an Electric Car This Summer

Your eco-friendly adventure awaits.

As someone who's driven a 2001 Isuzu Trooper most of her life, getting the keys to an electric car made me feel like I was trading in a Blackberry for an iPhone. With electric cars exploding in popularity, I traveled to sunny California last summer for a weeklong trip in Palm Springs where I rented an Audi E-Tron Sportback and took it all the way to Joshua Tree National Park .

Since this was my first time getting behind the wheel of an electric vehicle (EV), I wanted to make sure I was in an area filled with charging stations. To my surprise, I lasted the entire week without needing to use one. This was due to a combination of limiting myself to short drives and being able to charge up at my hotel — the Parker Palm Springs — but also because many of the latest EV models also have a median range of more than 250 miles .

All in all, there are many benefits to going green. Not only is opting for an EV great for the environment, but it even allows you to use the HOV lanes in certain states. Plus, you'll save on gas — basically a selling feature in itself these days with gas prices soaring to more than $4 per gallon on average nationally and even topping more than $6 per gallon in California — and don't get me started on how useful it is to have two separate trunks (thanks to no engine).Convinced and ready to hit the road ? Here's everything you need to know to take the best EV road trip based on tips and tricks from my own time behind the wheel, guidance from experts, and even advice from my friends who drove a Tesla from Virginia all the way to Yellowstone National Park .

You can travel across the country.

As a first-time EV driver, I decided not to push the limits by only going from Palm Springs to Joshua Tree. However, it is possible to get your electric car across the country. Electrify America , one of the largest networks of EV charging stations, is set up in many states and continues to expand. "You can also search for EV chargers in Google Maps or Waze," Lauren Matison reported in the July 2023 issue of  Travel + Leisure . "Networks such as ChargePoint and Electrify America have helpful apps, too."

Certain states also allow EV drivers to use the HOV lanes , a great way to get to where you're going faster and save power. A popular long-haul route is from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. via Interstates 15 and 70; another is from San Diego to Jacksonville, FL., through Interstates 10 and 8.

Newlyweds and Tesla owners Wes McLaughlin and Emily Martin took a road trip from Virginia to Yellowstone, and back again.

"For our honeymoon, we drove from Richmond through the Midwest to Colorado, where we stayed for a few days before continuing north to Yellowstone," McLaughlin said. "We stayed near west Yellowstone in Idaho, and there was a charger just outside the park. We drove through snowstorms and buffalo herds without issues or worry that we wouldn't be able to get to a charger."

Choose hotels with charging stations.

When considering where to stay, opt for a hotel with a charging station. This way, you can park the car when you're done for the day and power it up overnight. PlugShare offers an easy-to-use map that shows accommodations with free charging stations alongside ones you have to pay for. Keep in mind, depending on the type of electric car you have, you may need an adapter to plug in (like plugging a Tesla into a non-Tesla charger, for example).

Fortunately, the Parker Palm Springs offered a charger, which fully juiced up the car battery overnight. For more options across the country, travelers can also search for electric charging as an amenity when looking for a place to stay on hotel search engines like Expedia.com .

RV parks are made for EVs.

One of the best ways to save during your trip is by stopping at RV parks along the way. In addition to giving you a place to camp and park as well as eliminating the need to pay for a hotel, RV parks allow you to charge your vehicle.

"Level 2 chargers are the same ones used by RVs for power," McLaughlin said. "If you rent a spot for an RV — typically $35 to $50 — you get a full charge and a good night's rest for a decent price. We spent several nights camping in the car when we just needed a place to sleep before continuing on the next day."

Know the different types of EV charging stations.

Not all EV chargers are the same. In fact, there are three different tiers. Level one is the slowest (think a standard 120-volt plug), according to the U.S. Department of Transportation . If your battery is nearing empty, it could take up to 50 hours to power it all the way up.

Level two is the most common and delivers a full charge from empty in anywhere from four to 10 hours. As for cost, it varies, but is typically significantly cheaper than paying for gas — especially these days.

"Shopping centers are popular places for EV charging stations — some even offer preferred parking spots," said Jason Zehr, a Chase Auto product strategy director. "You can have a meal and/or run errands while the car is charging, and some stores offer free charging to shoppers."

Level three, also known as Direct Current Fast Chargers, is the quickest option and gets you back on the road with a near-full battery in as little as 20 minutes. Again, the cost can vary and some Tesla Supercharger locations, for example, even offer on-peak and off-peak rates.

To conserve power, drivers can "[switch] off the heat or AC, [select] eco mode, if available, and avoid hard acceleration," Matison reported.

The warmer, the better.

Similar to your phone, EVs lose power quicker in cold weather, proving that summer road trips are the way to go. For those who end up hitting the open road in the winter, you're going to have to charge your car more often.

"If you're driving to a destination in cold weather, make sure to have an extra charge to get you there," Martin said. "We drove at 17 degrees Fahrenheit and lost battery fast."

Matison noted that chargers can fill up quickly in the summertime and advises travelers to "always keep some juice in reserve in case you need to find another plug-in."

Test the waters by renting an electric car.

If you don't own an EV — and aren't quite ready to commit — a road trip is the perfect way to try one out. Rental companies like Turo , Sixt , Hertz , and Enterprise all have their own electric car fleets, making it easy to set up a rental .

Understand the pros of buying an electric car.

There are incentives for investing in an electric vehicle of your own. Car owners can snag up to $7,500 in federal tax credits on plug-in EVs, according to the Internal Revenue Service , depending on the make of the car and how many vehicles have been sold. There are even more possible tax incentives at the state level.

Beyond not having to waste money on gas, you'll also save on maintenance. "I don't miss oil changes or replacing alternators and belts," McLaughlin said. "As someone who has never been a 'car guy,' it's nice to know that I can actually do all the maintenance on my car by myself, which is just adding windshield washer fluid."

When you're venturing out on long distances, it's also reassuring to drive something that has a lower chance of breaking down. Even when I was imagining a worst-case scenario of the EV running out of battery, I relaxed after remembering that Audi offers complimentary towing .

"Should a customer run out of battery unexpectedly, Audi roadside assistance will dispatch a tow truck and bring the customer and vehicle to the nearest charging location to ensure they can get back on the road as soon as possible," said Matt Mostafaei, an Audi E-Tron product manager.

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Electric cars have a road trip problem, even for the secretary of energy

Camila Domonoske

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is working hard to convince more Americans to embrace electric cars — and she knows this means the country's charging infrastructure needs to improve, fast. Drew Angerer/Getty Images hide caption

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is working hard to convince more Americans to embrace electric cars — and she knows this means the country's charging infrastructure needs to improve, fast.

When Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm set out on a four-day electric-vehicle road trip this summer, she knew charging might be a challenge. But she probably didn't expect anyone to call the cops.

Granholm's trip through the southeast, from Charlotte, N.C., to Memphis, Tenn., was intended to draw attention to the billions of dollars the White House is pouring into green energy and clean cars. The administration's ambitious energy agenda, if successful, could significantly cut U.S. emissions and reshape Americans' lives in fundamental ways, including by putting many more people in electric vehicles.

Granholm approaches a charging station to charge the Cadillac Lyriq she was riding during a four-day road trip through the southeast early this summer. The electric vehicle had charging problems due to an "isolated hardware issue," Cadillac says. But Granholm's team encountered plenty of not-so-isolated problems too. Camila Domonoske/NPR hide caption

Granholm approaches a charging station to charge the Cadillac Lyriq she was riding during a four-day road trip through the southeast early this summer. The electric vehicle had charging problems due to an "isolated hardware issue," Cadillac says. But Granholm's team encountered plenty of not-so-isolated problems too.

On town hall stops along her road trip, Granholm made a passionate, optimistic case for this transition. She often put up a photo of New York City in 1900, full of horses and carriages, with a single car. Then another slide: "Thirteen years later, same street. All these cars. Can you spot the horse?"

One horse was in the frame.

"Things are happening fast. You are in the center of it. Imagine how big clean energy industries will be in 13 years," she told one audience in South Carolina. "How much stronger our economy is going to grow. How many good-paying jobs we're going to create — and where we are going to lead the world."

Going along for the ride

The auto industry, under immense pressure to tackle its contribution to climate change, is undertaking a remarkable switch to electric vehicles — but it's not necessarily going to be a smooth transition.

Not every vehicle in Granholm's caravan was electric. The Secret Service, for instance, rode in large traditional SUVs. Camila Domonoske/NPR hide caption

Not every vehicle in Granholm's caravan was electric. The Secret Service, for instance, rode in large traditional SUVs.

I rode along with Granholm during her trip, eager to see firsthand how the White House intends to promote a potentially transformative initiative to the public and what kind of issues it would encounter on the road.

Granholm is in many ways the perfect person to help pitch the United States' ambitious shift to EVs. As a two-term former governor of Michigan, she helped rescue the auto industry during the 2008 global financial crisis, and she's a longtime EV enthusiast. (Her family recently switched from the Chevy Bolt to the Ford Mustang Mach-E.)

That makes her uniquely well positioned to envision the future of the auto industry and to sell the dream of what that future could look like.

But between stops, Granholm's entourage at times had to grapple with the limitations of the present. Like when her caravan of EVs — including a luxury Cadillac Lyriq, a hefty Ford F-150 and an affordable Bolt electric utility vehicle — was planning to fast-charge in Grovetown, a suburb of Augusta, Georgia.

Her advance team realized there weren't going to be enough plugs to go around. One of the station's four chargers was broken, and others were occupied. So an Energy Department staffer tried parking a nonelectric vehicle by one of those working chargers to reserve a spot for the approaching secretary of energy.

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As carbon removal gains traction, economists imagine a new market to save the planet.

That did not go down well: a regular gas-powered car blocking the only free spot for a charger?

In fact, a family that was boxed out — on a sweltering day, with a baby in the vehicle — was so upset they decided to get the authorities involved: They called the police.

The sheriff's office couldn't do anything. It's not illegal for a non-EV to claim a charging spot in Georgia. Energy Department staff scrambled to smooth over the situation, including sending other vehicles to slower chargers, until both the frustrated family and the secretary had room to charge.

This charging station in Grovetown, Ga., was overcrowded. An electric school bus that was driving on a statewide clean-energy road show needed one charger; another charger was broken. Camila Domonoske/NPR hide caption

This charging station in Grovetown, Ga., was overcrowded. An electric school bus that was driving on a statewide clean-energy road show needed one charger; another charger was broken.

Getting it together

John Ryan, a driver of an electric BMW, pulled up after everything was settled. It was his turn to wait.

"It's just par for the course," he shrugged. "They'll get it together at some point."

Federal money is now headed to states for building up fast EV chargers on highways

"They" would be the government, the automakers, the charging networks like Electrify America and ChargePoint, and the companies like Walmart, Shell and 7-Eleven that are entering the charging game.

And they are, in fact, desperate to get it together. Carmakers have hundreds of billions of dollars of investment on the line, and they are embracing Tesla's technology and teaming up with rivals to try to tackle the charging problem. Meanwhile, the U.S. government is pouring billions into a nationwide network of electric chargers, trying to fix the very problem Granholm was encountering.

I drive an electric vehicle myself, and I've test-driven many more as NPR's auto reporter. I know how easy it can be to charge when everything goes well and how annoying it can be when things go poorly.

Riding along with Granholm, I came away with a major takeaway: EVs that aren't Teslas have a road trip problem, and the White House knows it's urgent to solve this issue.

Solving the road trip problem

The road trip has long loomed large in the American automotive imagination.

Road trips are a tiny fraction of the trips Americans take; drivers mostly commute or drive around town. And at home, charging an EV is much easier (not to mention cheaper) than fueling up with gasoline; you just plug in overnight, and you're good to go every morning.

On a practical basis, making sure everyone can charge at home would seem much more important than building road trip chargers. And this is a real concern for some drivers.

But for many drivers, it's not charging at home that worries them: It's what they'll do on the road.

An electric vehicle charger stands in front of an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union hall and training center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Camila Domonoske/NPR hide caption

An electric vehicle charger stands in front of an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union hall and training center in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

According to the auto-data giant J.D. Power, worries about public chargers are the No. 1 reason why would-be EV buyers are reluctant to make the switch, even outranking concerns about high prices. And driver satisfaction with public chargers is getting worse, not better .

Tesla chargers are significantly better than the competition, and most of the electric vehicles in the U.S. are Teslas.

Tesla is opening up its exclusive network to more vehicles, which could transform the charging experience as soon as next year, but not all automakers have embraced Tesla's technology. And although Tesla dominates the EV market, the Biden administration wants every automaker to go electric quickly and every driver to have access to fast, reliable charging.

"Ultimately, we want to make it super-easy for people to travel long distances," Granholm told me.

But as she knows, long-distance travel in non-Tesla EVs is not always "super-easy" today.

Problem 1: Planning is cumbersome

The secretary's trip had been painstakingly mapped out ahead of time to allow for charging. We stopped at hotels with slower "Level 2" plugs for overnight charging and then paused at superfast chargers between cities.

That required upfront work that a gas-powered road trip simply doesn't require. My car can hypothetically locate a nearby charger on the road — as with many EVs, that feature is built into an app on the car's infotainment screen — so I shouldn't have to plan ahead. But in reality, I use multiple apps to find chargers, read reviews to make sure they work and plot out convenient locations for a 30-minute pit stop (a charger by a restaurant, for instance, instead of one located at a car dealership).

At a stop in South Carolina, Granholm told audiences she recognized the importance of making chargers easy to find on apps.

For chargers to qualify for new federal money, the energy secretary explained, "they have to be every 50 miles and within 1 mile off the charging corridor, and they have to be app enabled. So you have to be able to see with your phone, is this charger available so that I can go use it, right?"

Granholm talks to executives from Albemarle, a maker of lithium, a vital component of electric vehicle batteries, in Kings Mountain, N.C. Pictured behind her is NPR reporter Camila Domonoske. Conor McCabe/Department of Energy hide caption

Granholm talks to executives from Albemarle, a maker of lithium, a vital component of electric vehicle batteries, in Kings Mountain, N.C. Pictured behind her is NPR reporter Camila Domonoske.

Problem 2: Not enough chargers

One reason road trips take so much planning: Some parts of the U.S., including much of the southeast, simply don't have many high-speed chargers, also called DC fast chargers.

I happen to live on the edge of a charging desert. In my Virginia hometown, there are no DC fast chargers except for a Tesla Supercharger station, which I can't use ... yet. That's not a problem, since I charge at home. Much more problematic is that if I want to drive through West Virginia, I can access only 11 fast chargers in the entire state. That's actually progress; three weeks ago, there were only eight.

Where chargers are in short supply, drivers sometimes have to wait — like Granholm's team did in Grovetown, Georgia. The experience could get even worse as the number of electric vehicles on the road increases in coming years.

"Clearly, we need more high-speed chargers, particularly in the South," Granholm told me at the end of her trip.

Big carmakers unite to build a charging network and reassure reluctant EV buyers

She emphasized the $7.5 billion investment that the Biden administration is making in building more public chargers — money that's currently being distributed to states.

"By the end of this year, I think we'll start to see [those chargers] popping up along the charging corridors," she said.

Problem 3: Not fast enough

There was another DC charging station about a 10-minute drive from that stop in Grovetown. But that station's chargers were nowhere near as fast. In fact, aside from chargers reserved for Teslas and one charging station just for Rivians, it was more than an hour's drive to the next actually-fast fast charger.

And that brings us to the next problem with America's fast charger network: It's too slow.

When DC fast chargers were first built, 50 kilowatts (a measure of charging speed) was considered speedy. Times have changed. Many newer vehicles can charge at least three times faster than that. But those older chargers remain on roads, making up a sizable chunk of the country's fast-charging infrastructure.

A common sight for electric vehicle drivers: This station is not operating at full speed. Camila Domonoske/NPR hide caption

A common sight for electric vehicle drivers: This station is not operating at full speed.

That doesn't matter much for cheaper vehicles that can't charge very fast anyway, like my Bolt. But for newer, faster-charging vehicles, especially big ones with giant batteries, it could be the difference between waiting 20 minutes to charge — or waiting an hour.

This problem is easing over time. Most new chargers are on the faster end of the spectrum, and the federal incentives are available only for chargers that are 150 kilowatts or faster.

Problem 4: Not reliable enough

Of course, having a superfast charger doesn't do you any good if the dang thing doesn't work.

On the secretary's road trip, that stop in Grovetown included a charger with a dead black screen. At another stop in Tennessee, the Chevy Bolt that I was riding in charged at one-third the rate it should have. Electrify America says that's not an isolated problem; a faulty component has caused a number of chargers to be "derated" while the company works on a fix.

Companies like Electrify America — funded by Volkswagen as part of its penalty for the Dieselgate scandal — are among the private players that have helped build out America's current charging infrastructure. But reliability is proving to be an issue.

How fast can the auto industry go electric? Debate rages as the U.S. sets new rules

J.D. Power found that when non-Tesla drivers pull up at a charging station, they leave without charging 20% of the time, because the chargers were either all busy or not functioning.

The federal government has responded with a new requirement: Highway chargers that get federal funds will have to prove they're operational at least 97% of the time.

The good news: Charging can be great

Despite overcrowding, broken chargers and slow speeds, charging on the road worked most of the time for Granholm's team.

"I think two days in, I would totally buy an EV," an Energy Department staffer who was driving an EV for the first time mused halfway through the trip. "Like, it would be pretty easy to do a road trip. You have to stop for lunch anyway, so you stop, charge, keep going."

Road trip charging can be cheap too. Granholm's 770-mile trip cost one of the Energy Department's drivers just $35 total, less than half of what gasoline would have run in a similar vehicle.

On a more basic level, Granholm's team was ultimately able to charge in every town it stopped at. There was no risk of being stranded, which was the fear of very early adopters of EVs, back before public chargers were available.

And if you have a garage, a driveway or EV chargers at your workplace, day-to-day charging is even easier. Personally, I plug my Bolt into a standard outlet when I'm home and into a Level 2 charger at NPR's headquarters when I'm in Washington, D.C. I don't sit around and wait for it to charge; I just go about my life. And when I'm ready to go, so is the car.

That's not "just as easy" as filling up a gas-powered car. It's significantly easier.

Tesla Superchargers in San Rafael, Calif., on Feb. 15. Tesla invested in chargers as a way to sell cars, building them where people would want them, regardless of whether the chargers could individually be profitable. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

Tesla Superchargers in San Rafael, Calif., on Feb. 15. Tesla invested in chargers as a way to sell cars, building them where people would want them, regardless of whether the chargers could individually be profitable.

Tesla's super Superchargers

And then, of course, there are the Tesla chargers, which simply work better than the other chargers out there.

J.D. Power has found that Tesla drivers successfully charge at 96% of the Superchargers they visit.

Tesla invested in chargers as a way to sell cars, building fast, reliable charging stations where people would want them, regardless of whether the chargers could individually be profitable.

Tesla also defied the rest of the auto industry in using its own charging technology rather than the carefully negotiated industrywide standard.

Opening up the walled garden

The strategy paid off. For years, Tesla kept its network of Superchargers as a walled garden. Tesla drivers raved about them, but no one else could use them.

That started to change this year when Tesla struck a deal with the White House to open some chargers to the general public. And the walled garden blew wide open after Ford announced it was adopting Tesla's charging technology. Future Fords will come with the Tesla-style plug, and starting in January, existing-Ford owners can buy an adapter and plug in.

The idea was born — where else? — on a road trip.

Ford CEO Jim Farley recently told NPR he was driving with his kids on a family vacation, past a huge, conveniently located Tesla Supercharger station. His kids wondered why Farley, who was driving a Mustang Mach-E, couldn't just stop there to charge.

Ford is losing a lot of money in electric cars — but CEO Jim Farley is charging ahead

Farley explained that they couldn't because those were Tesla chargers.

When he explained why they couldn't charge there, his kids were blunt, as he recalled to NPR in an interview in August: "'Well, that's stupid. They have, like, a lot of free open spots there.'"

And the idea for the Tesla deal was born.

Other private sector solutions

Ford's announcement kicked off an astonishing shift. In the weeks after, General Motors, Rivian, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz and Nissan all announced that they too were adopting Tesla's technology. This means that as soon as next year, the EV road trip experience could be dramatically different for non-Tesla drivers.

And then, in a separate surprise move this summer, seven legacy automakers — BMW, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis (formerly known as Fiat Chrysler) — announced they were banding together in a joint venture to launch a new , as-yet-unnamed, charging network.

They plan to build 30,000 superfast 350-kilowatt chargers — even bigger and faster than the Supercharger network.

Meanwhile, existing companies like ChargePoint are clearly feeling pressure to fix their unreliable and underperforming chargers. ChargePoint just announced it's spending millions of dollars on a new operations center and other programs meant to "deliver near-100% charging reliability."

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm tests out an electric leaf blower at a Home Depot stop near Atlanta. In addition to promoting electric vehicles, the federal government has funded new rebates for low-income households that buy cleaner appliances or other upgrades. States are still working on the details for administering those programs. Camila Domonoske/NPR hide caption

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm tests out an electric leaf blower at a Home Depot stop near Atlanta. In addition to promoting electric vehicles, the federal government has funded new rebates for low-income households that buy cleaner appliances or other upgrades. States are still working on the details for administering those programs.

The road to the future

Those private-led efforts — as well as the muscle and money provided by the government — could prove a game changer.

"The private sector has stepped up," Granholm told me toward the end of her road trip. The response to federal incentives has been, as she put it, "a blockbuster."

Granholm has long been an energetic and optimistic pitchwoman for the electric vehicle future, even before her current position.

On her road trip this summer, she made the case again and again that switching to green energy and clean cars will save money, create jobs and promote national security, on top of being a crucial component in the plan to fight climate change.

"If you're not persuaded by climate change or you think it's not happening, well, you should be persuaded by lowering the costs," she told me.

And as Granholm knows, the cars themselves can be persuasive. Stop me if you've heard this from an EV driver before — but a quiet, speedy vehicle that never needs an oil change is just plain nice to drive, charging headaches and all.

Or ask Holmesetta Green. I met her when she was sitting on a curb in the back corner of a Walmart parking lot, parked right next to Granholm, waiting for her Volkswagen ID.4 to charge.

Green, a 79-year-old retired teacher, frequently makes the six-hour drive from her home in Louisville, Ky., to her hometown in Holly Springs, Mississippi.

Biden administration proposes new fuel economy standards, with higher bar for trucks

It was hot that day. Hot hot. "You ever fried an egg on a sidewalk?" Green asked me. She wished out loud for a charging station in a park, with a bench in the shade.

I asked her how she likes her SUV. And her answer summed up the anxieties and the hopes of both the Biden administration and the auto industry at large.

"It's not enough chargers over on the major highways," she said. And charging is "kind of slow."

"Other than that, I wouldn't take $100,000 for this car," she said, smiling ear to ear. "We love it. We love the electric."

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The 15 Things to Pack for a Cross-Country Road Trip

T here are few things as freeing as a good, old-fashioned road trip. Load up the car, grab a friend or two and head into the open road . Curated playlists, gas station snacks, random stops for photo opportunities along the road … it’s an experience as American as apple pie. From the iconic cross-country Route 66 to Vermont’s famed Scenic Route 7 to the Pacific coastline along Highway 1 in California, seeing the countryside from the car window provides time for conversation, thought and exploration on your own schedule.

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Everyone has their own unique method of packing the car for a road trip, and a few items you just won’t leave home without. After all, what’s a long ride in the car without quality snacks , a bit of entertainment and a few toys to play with once you reach your destination? Whether you’re just heading a few hours down the highway or making an epic cross-country trip, bringing along the right gear can make or break a road trip.

Here are a few core road trip items to keep you cool, collected and outright chilled on the road this summer:

YES Cacao Brain Power Bar

YES Cacao crafts clean, raw bars with adaptogens, super herbs and botanicals, designed to help your body perform at its peak while also tasting downright scrumptious. The Brain Power Bar is ideal for the thoughtful road-tripper: the taste is golden and buttery with just a bit of warming spice. Turmeric, gingko, lion’s mane and other additions help memory and overall brain health.

Aura Bora Sparkling Water

Soda on the road does no one any favors, but sipping something fresh and fizzy can help the miles soar by. Enter Aura Bora, whose sparkling water includes extracts from herbs, fruits and flowers for a grounded, refreshing taste with no calories, no sugar and no sodium. Sip, chill and feel good throughout.

Bean & Bean Downtown Blend Coffee

Aeropresscoffee maker – clear.

Caffeine is a road-trip classic. Start with the organic, fair-trade, medium/dark roast Downtown Blend from Bean & Bean, a mother-daughter craft roastery. Make fresh cups on the go using the time-tested, compact AeroPress, whose 3-in-1 brew technology makes a smooth, grit-free cup in a matter of minutes. (And the new clear version of the AeroPress is pretty enough to display once you arrive home.)

Tahini-based Phat Fudge just might be the ultimate road trip food. Paleo, organic and keto-focused, the squeeze packs were created by a performance chef as an alternative to energy gels and bars with synthetic ingredients. The original flavor carries notes of dark chocolate, cinnamon and spice. Bite it right from the pack, or freeze it into a block to nibble. It’s also excellent squeezed into coffee!

My Medic MYFAK

My Medic’s MYFAK (My First Aid Kit) fits a lot into a compact bag. More than 140 first-aid items are in the thoughtfully-designed bag, which features a folding page design for organization and a MOLLE panel on the outside to easily secure any additional supplies you’d like to add. Plenty of strap options give road-trippers various ways to mount the kit in your vehicle — it’s a good idea to keep this one in your car year-round.

Costa Men’s Lido Sunglasses

Costa waterwoman 2.

Costa del Mar’s sunglasses offer excellent protection from UV rays on the road. The Lido has top and side shields that keep the sun out, and the comfortable nose pads and temple tips avoid pressure points during long driving days. For the ladies, the Waterwoman 2 offers excellent, broad coverage to block sunlight. We like the glass lens options in both frames (as opposed to poly) for the best clarity on the road.

YETI Hopper Flip 18 Soft Cooler

YETI’s Hopper Flip 18 cooler holds 30 cans (without ice) or 28 lbs. of ice (ice only), and has enough space for a six-pack plus snacks, or a day’s worth of lunch for a few people. The footprint is small enough to easily fit in the backseat, and the shoulder strap makes it easy to carry, even when fully loaded.

Rand McNally 2024 Road Atlas – 100th Anniversary Collector’s Edition

Sure, we all have maps on our phones and car displays, but there’s nothing like a good, old-fashioned paper map. Rand McNally’s Road Atlas is perfect for highlighting routes, taking notes, and just generally marking down memories as you travel. This centennial edition offers a look back at 100 years of cars, roads, culture and the U.S. highway system.

Paper Shoot Camera

Paper Shoot Cameras took home Time’s “Best Inventions” Award in 2021. The company’s unique digital cameras are compact, which is ideal for the road. The cameras run on AAA rechargeable batteries and 128GB SD cards. You can take photos using four filters — sepia, black and white, blue and normal. Using the included USB cable, you can easily recharge your camera and reuse your SD card, meaning you can take unlimited photos while on the road.

Garmin inReach Mini 2

If your road takes you into areas without cell service, it’s a good idea to pack along a backup satellite communicator. Garmin’s inReach Mini 2 connects with a monthly subscription which allows users global satellite messaging, emergency SOS messaging to Garmin’s coordination center and up to 14 days of battery life.

Dometic Hard Storge 50L

This 50-liter hard storage from Dometic helps keep car life organized. Aluminum walls are teamed with a high-impact resistant polymer lid and bottom to keep gear free of dust, water and mud while keeping items from being crushed in a cramped car interior. It’s easy to pull out of the car and set up in camp, hotels, or right back home where you started. It’s Grab-and-go storage that is durable enough for outdoor adventure.

Destination Items

Nomadix original towel.

These high-performance towel packs are small, have a soft feel, and are versatile enough to go from cleaning up spilled drinks in the car to a short hike to roadside hot springs. The towel washes well and dries quickly. You can also expect a variety of fun and festive prints for every personality. And, if you’ve ever stayed in an old hotel with less-than-clean towels, you can appreciate the value of bringing along your own, just in case!

ENO TravelNest Hammock + Straps Combo

This kit packs small, breathes well in hot summer weather and at nine feet long is roomy enough to comfortably sleep in overnight. ENO’s TravelNest sets up quickly using the included straps, and the integrated stuff sack makes it easy to keep things organized once you’re back in the car. Included stainless carabiners connect the hammock to the straps — so the kit truly has everything you need to get swinging.

Tenkara Rod Company Sierra Kit

What’s a summer road trip without stopping to cast a line in a scenic stream or river somewhere? The Sierra kit from the Tenkara rod company offers a reel-less fishing experience for anglers looking for a minimalist experience. The kit includes a 10.5-foot rod, rod tube, Tenkara line, three Tenkara flies, a wood line holder, 5X tippet and a lifetime warranty — pretty much everything you need to get started.

Helinox Speed Stool

When you pull off the road for a lunch break, it’s nice to have a place to sit that’s not inside the car. Helinox’s Speed Stool offers a stable sitting surface with a super-simple setup. It packs down to a tidy 16.5 inches in length and holds up to 220 pounds.

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The post The 15 Things to Pack for a Cross-Country Road Trip appeared first on InsideHook .

THE 10 CLOSEST Hotels to Electrostal History and Art Museum

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