Nathan Heinrich wanted an adventure when he rented a Ford Mustang Mach-E SUV for a Northern California road trip. Instead, he got a misadventure.
"The car operated beautifully," remembers Heinrich, a horticulturalist and podcaster. But a day later he heard the "BLING BLING!" warning him his battery level had dipped below 20 percent. He pulled into a Walgreens for a quick charge.
"When I came back an hour later, there was only a 30 percent charge," he says. For the next week, he frantically hopscotched between charging stations, looking for a little extra juice.
"Often, there was only one charging station that worked," he says. "And it took hours to recharge."
Why road trips with an EV are challenging
When it comes to long road trips, EVs are thrilling, nerve-wracking -- and infuriating.
It's thrilling, the first time you pass by a gas station and realize you don't have to pay those high prices at the pump. It's nerve-wracking when you can't find a charging station on a long road trip. And it's infuriating when you realize it will be hours before your battery is charged.
Heinrich's experience will be shared by millions of other drivers during the upcoming vacation season. Taking your EV on a long journey still demands a leap of faith. A recent survey by Mazda suggested that while 21 percent of North Americans planned to take some type of electric vehicle on a road trip, 26 percent of respondents felt "neutral" about the prospect of driving long distances in an EV, and 7 percent admitted to extreme anxiety.
But with the right mindset and tools, that leap lands you squarely in the future – saving money, reducing emissions, and discovering a new rhythm to the open road.
My white-knuckle road trip through Germany
I learned this lesson firsthand barreling through Germany recently. No sooner had I driven my Škoda Enyaq iV on the autobahn than my battery life indicator turned into a countdown clock, ticking mercilessly toward the red zone. And yes, when you hit 20 percent, you get a warning that sounds like you've breached Fort Knox.
By the time I reached my destination in rural Rheinland-Pfalz, I was down to 30 percent of my battery. I thought: What if I can't find a charger in time? I quietly panicked.
The Germans have a word for that: Reichweitenangst. Range anxiety never sounded so scary.
I found a charging station in the small village where I was staying, but like Heinrich, the process was painfully slow and there were access hurdles. Many stations demanded a specific charging card or app that required a German address to register. Using a credit card meant filling out all your details and hoping the transaction went through. The vehicle recommended that I only charge to 80 percent, but even that took five hours and cost about $30. Worse, the charging station took a $90 deposit from my credit card. Ouch!
It wasn’t just low battery warnings and restrictions. It was infrastructure confusion.
Nobody told me about the fast-charging stations or where to look for them. I discovered them myself, hidden in rest stops, lurking near autobahn exits. I'll never forget getting to Karlsruhe and hearing that dreaded klaxon: My battery was below 20 percent again. I white-knuckled it to a charger near my rental apartment with less than 10 percent to spare.
Would this be the last EV road trip for me? I'll tell you in a minute.
Are you ready for an EV road trip this summer?
So, how do you know if your adventure is EV-safe? It boils down to route, range, and real-time readiness. Ditch the guesswork. Here's what experts say:
Prep like a pro. Sean Tucker, lead editor for Kelley Blue Book, advises a full pre-trip charge: "Reset the cap and charge to 100 percent," he says. Also, download all necessary network apps and set up accounts payment before leaving. Tesla owners have an advantage because they can just plug in, unplug, and leave. For non-Teslas, prepayment setup is important. Carry physical charging cards as backups.
Consult the right sites. Sites like PlugShare and A Better Routeplanner, which allow you to plan your EV road trip, are a must. "You can plot out your trip ahead of time," says James Morin, an automotive journalist and longtime EV owner. The sites use Al to determine how many people have charged and any issues they faced. That can help you avoid situations like a closed charging station or one blocked by construction. Also, use your car's nav system, since it will show you the next charging station. (I should have done that with my rental Škoda; instead, I used Google Maps.)
Set your range. "Don't take an EV over a journey where maps don't show a charging station at least every 200 miles," warns Carl Rodriguez, founder of NX Auto Transport, an auto shipping company. He says multiple charging stations are a must. "I've heard clients complain about vandalism, which renders charging stations unusable," he warns.
Make strategic charging stops. Kirsti Scott, who recently took an epic, 10,000-mile U.S. trek in her VW ID.Buzz, says you have to plan around your charging stops. "When we stop to charge, we get out, get a coffee, snack or lunch, take a bathroom break, toss out the car trash, wash the bugs off the windshield, check emails and socials, and talk with the other EV owners who always want to see inside the van," she says. And in less than half an hour on a fast charger she's back on the road.
By the way, knowing the difference between charger types is important for trip planning. DC Fast Chargers (including CCS, CHAdeMO, and Tesla Superchargers) deliver 50 to 350 kilowatts (kW), replenishing 80 percent of a battery in 20 to 45 minutes. They feature thick, hose-like cables with bulky connectors. Most public "Level 2" chargers (often found at hotels or shopping centers) deliver only 6 to 19 kW and take a patience-testing 4 to 10 hours for a full charge. They use slimmer cables with smaller connectors, resembling a beefed-up version of a household outlet. While Level 2 chargers dominate 80 percent of public ports, fast chargers are essential for road trips -- yet currently comprise just 20 percent of U.S. public infrastructure.
But even with these proven strategies, I still wouldn't give anyone a green light for an EV road trip. The reasons are more personal.
Don't take an EV on a long road trip, unless …
If you own an EV and are driving through well-developed areas, you probably already know that the drive is no problem.
But anywhere else? Problem.
In Germany, I couldn't quite figure out how to download an app that allowed me to charge my car. So I often had to navigate to a website on my phone, enter my payment details, and pray that it worked. The system was often counterintuitive. For example, on a charging station with several plugs, it wasn't always clear which outlet I should use.
I used my phone and Android Auto to navigate, but it didn't really play nice with the Škoda -- not like a Tesla, which tells you when to recharge and sends you to a fast-charging station nearby. I had to do the math -- how many more kilometers of charge versus how far to my next charging station.
I remember checking into a hotel in a small town in Brandenburg with just 7 percent charge. I knew it had a charger, and I struggled, in the pouring rain, to enter my payment details. I failed twice -- and saw two charges for $70 on my credit card -- before succeeding a third time.
The next morning, I got in the car, relieved to have a full charge. Except, I didn't. The payment had failed a third time. I made it to the next charging station with just 4 percent battery and a very severe case of Reichweitenangst.
And that's how I became an EV road trip skeptic. If you're driving in familiar territory in your own EV, you'll be fine. A little planning will ensure you have a stress-free trip. But if you're renting an EV abroad, driving on unfamiliar roads, you could end up with a severe case of range anxiety.
Christopher Elliott is an author, consumer advocate, and journalist. He founded Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps solve consumer problems. He publishes Elliott Confidential, a travel newsletter, and the Elliott Report, a news site about customer service. If you need help with a consumer problem, you can reach him here or email him at chris@elliott.org.
