Blazer EV owner here: I think EVs are good commuter cars, but not a road trip replacement yet. Yes you can do an EV road trip but the charging infrastructure isn’t quite there yet. Maybe it’ll be there in 5 years.
Did a road trip from Southern California to Oregon in my wifes mustang Mach-E and while it did add a few hours to the trip you have to learn you're not in a hurry. I have to stop every so often to pee and get snacks, we would plug in and head into the walmart/store where the charger. By the time we got out walmart we were at 80% and ready to head to the next stop. with bigger batteries you get a greater distance also most EVs you shouldn't charge past 80% once the voiltage drops its time to go. If you were charging to 90%+ that could also have been the reason for some of the extra costs and time waiting.
Several comments. First, I'm not sure it was available when Jason got his car, but Genesis offers 3 years of free 30 minute charging at EA, so if he had taken the time to set up the app, he should have gotten all his charges for free. Second, even if charging were not free, had he signed up for the monthly pass+ plan ($7), he would have cut his charging cost by 25%. Third, pulling into a charger with 30 or 40 percent and charging to 90+ percent is about the slowest way to make a trip. He should pull in with a low state of charge, but enough to get to another charger if the first one is inop, say 10 or 15 percent, and then charge enough to get to the next charger. For the GV60, the optimum performance is to charge to about 70 percent and then move on (about 140 to 150 miles at 65 mph and little or no elevation gain). Fourth, concerning the inaccurate mileage estimate, I'm guessing he did not enter his destination into the navigation system. The car would have no way of knowing where he was going, the speed limits, or the terrain. It would assume level ground and about 65 mph. Had he entered the charger at Edwards or Glenwood Springs, the estimate would have been much more accurate. An additional benefit of doing that is that the battery would be pre-conditioned for optimum charging. Please don't make a post about the "Truth" if you haven't done any research.
Thanks, Bob for the tips! This wasn't my car, so I had no skin in the game either way. Just a regular person's experience road-tripping in an EV for the first time. It was a good experience regardless of the drawbacks!
You ate up more battery going from Denver to Edwards because it was all uphill. How much did you use going downhill from Edwards to Grand Junction? Also, how many road trips do most people do in a year? Not that many and the savings you get with your home charging station more than offsets the higher prices you pay at the occasional public charger.
This shows why the plug in hybrid is the best all around choice. No range anxiety, runs on electricity for the daily commute, runs on gas for the long trip, and uses way fewer batteries than a BEV.
We bought a Rivan R1S last year. It's our first BEV. We will take our first road trip with it this coming summer. We are retired; so we don't have to get anywhere fast. Rivians now have access to the V3 and V4 Tesla superchargers, which are quite reliable, as well as having access to the Rivian Adventure Network. Those chargers are quite reliable as well. Because we seldom road trip, we aren't concerned with the extra time charging on a road trip, since between road trips--when we're home--we spend zero time filling up the vehicle at gas stations; we just take a minute and plug it in at home, in our garage. I expect the net time wasted fueling our Rivian over the course of a year (including road trips) is substantially less than the net time fueling our other ICE car, if it were to be used for road trips as well. (By the way, my understanding is that the average length of time for fuel stops for ICE vehicles is about 20 minutes.)
You really think they would. Most people want to do their trip while they relax, not worry about every mile they cover. EV junkies seem like the type of people that would try to recycle thread out of old jeans.
@@mattamuskeetrecyle them. Just likr the lead acid in your ICE, they get recycled. When home charging it is cheaper than ICE. Road tripping is slightly cheaper, especially with these $4 gas prices.
Gas Truck/Car/Motorcycle Owner. Rented a Model Y. I drive the same 1,750 Mile trip twice a year and I've been considering getting a Tesla. I rented a Model Y through Hertz to see if the experience was like other Tesla road trip videos on YT. It turned a 27.5 hr trip into 30.5 hrs and used $200 in supercharging. Taking my 30 MPG car is about $200 in gas. Adding 3 hours over that distance seams reasonable. I would travel with my family in the gas car and we'd take stops and see attractions along the way and it would be way over 30.5 hrs. After doing this long trip regularly, I've been getting that rushed feeling whenever I drove my gas car, but when I took the Tesla it felt good to walk around for 15 mins every couple hours. The trip felt like it was more about the stops along the way, instead of crushing the miles to get to my destination. I liked stopping in the small towns along the way, those "fly over states." It gave me the "driving route 66" vibes that you felt from the movie Cars. Some charging stations were added onto gas stations that were right off the interstate and others were by restaurants, museums and parks. I think more of the superchargers should be installed around attractions to get customers through the doors to buy stuff. That trip was 9 months ago and I haven't bought anything yet, only due to the math on a new car vs my working vehicles. The depreciation & insurance are still keeping me in my current vehicles, but here's what I have seen. Tesla has their manufacturing figured out. They are the only ones making money selling electric vehicles. Their purchasing experience is way better than going back and forth with a dealer. Building them in a way that allows the company to expand. With depreciation and insurance in mind, I'm considering a 3 year old off lease Model 3 with RWD. The AWD Long Range is a performance car, it's a rocket ship (no pun intended), and leads to higher insurance rates, but the slower Model 3 (6.6sec 0-60) should be cheaper to buy and insure. Thanks for the video!
I've driven a PHEV for the past seven years ... 80% of my driving around town is done on electricity from a home outlet at $0.126 per kWh (my car gets about 3.5 miles / kWh avg). If I need to road-trip, I just gas it up. I've never had to use a public charger (which often cost >$0.47/kWh). One of the misconceptions about PHEVs is that you have to maintain two drivetrains but, in my driving loop - even if I put 400,000 miles on my car, the ICE engine will barely have 100,000 on it. I wouldn't choose a pure EV if I had to do a lot of road trips under the current state of tech but for some people, it's a price worth paying.
I checked your route on a service called a Better Route Planner. Looks like you would have had a faster time going thru Wyoming. As others have said, planning is essential with EV road trips. Also, have your apps and accounts for charging networks ready to go before leaving. We've had an EV for nearly 3 years, and we mostly drive around town which works great. Our 1-2 road trips a year are certainly doable with planning but DC fast chargers are now about the same cost or even more when compared to buying gas.
First step of buying a EV is learn how to charge it and how long, you never fully charge a EV when on a road trip, you charge enough to get to the next charging area . 15 to 20 min is all you need per stop.
It makes sense if you're rich enough to afford the car, rich enough to have a modern house with a garage with a level 2 plugs and rich enough to own more than 1 car to take your road trips on. Also if you like performance.
Never charge more than 80%. Above that the charging curve drops dramatically. Also, when you buy the vehicle you buy the infrastructure. CCS is lacking horribly in America. I have Tesla and road tripping is easy and cheaper than gas.
The biggest problem in terms of Electrify America is pretty simple. It was punishment to Volkswagen for their epa falsification of their vehicles. The fact that they installed them and didn't maintain them would be like a prison road crew unsupervised.
EV vehicle's depreciate in price fast. Insurance is extremely high. There is about no one to repair them. A replacement battery is thrown the roof. The range is no good. To find a charger is about impossible. Yet. They do have a place. For around town driving. Short trips. Not in a snowstorm. So. You have to watch the weather. No floods, either. I never drove one. Yet. I still won't one. If they can get the bugs worked out. The one I want is the Honda. I don't care about the huge price drop after buying. I want it for in town driving. For around 65 mile one way trips. Drive it in town. Take something else out of town.
It kind of cracks me up when I see videos like this when they take whatever they’re trying to use and put it to the extreme possibilities. That’s the same reason why you don’t get in a four-wheel-drive truck and drive across the country with it right you actually take your car cause it gets better gas mileage, so why would you get in a vehicle that’s not designated to be a road trip or and do a road trip in it like getting on a moped because it gets really good gas mileage in it and driving it from one side of the country to the other it makes no sense But if you took the vehicle you’re in right now. And use it as an every day car going back-and-forth to work into the grocery stores. It would totally blow away any gas or diesel vehicle that you could buy but instead you purchased the vehicle and even though it says it gets 500 miles or whatever it might be, you put it to the extreme just so it would fail. I’m curious how many people drive their gas powered vehicle fill it up. Look at it. It says it gets 531 miles with a full tank drive I don’t hear anybody saying hey I only got 412 miles I only got 385 miles in real world time nobody ever does that with gas powered vehicles their reason why because it’s called estimated miles per gallon or an EV. It would be estimated EV range not a guarantee folks.
Tesla probably would be cheaper and faster. I also notice you were mostly at EA chargers, you should have gotten the pass+ to save money. I have 2 EVs, a model 3 and Blazer EV. I prefer the Tesla for longer distances because the charging is more reliable, cheaper, and faster than non Tesla charging stations. I routinely drive from upstate NY to Philadelphia and I have no issues. We make 1 stop and the car is always ready to go in 20 minutes at worst. You should also aim for 20% or less charge when you reach a charger to maximize the curve and only charge enough to get to the next charger, with some buffer of course. Waiting until you're at 90% is a waste of time. EV road tripping requires a different mindset from ice vehicles in the sense that waiting to fully charge the battery is a waste of time.
I would rather drive a gasoline car. I would drive an ev for work 30 miles round trip. It's not a trip. My brother in law travels 300 miles in a Telsa S model. He was sweating bullets the last miles..way too soon for America.. Maybe in 30 years for the technology to make it possible
Do not speed over 70 miles/hour for EV. And use eco mode. You drove the worst case scenario. EV isn't the road trip cost saving. But, EV uses a home charger, it saves costs in daily uses.
Do yourself a favor and take a Tesla next time. Everything else in the EV space just absolutely blows for road trips right now. I’m taking a 1000 mile (1 way) trip in July and we’re only going to have to stop for a total of 1hr 40mins each way. We’d probably stop for a combined hour during the day of driving anyway for meals and restrooms, so it realistically only adds 40 minutes to the trip each way. The heartache you experienced is because the non Tesla fast chargers suck ass 🫤
If the market wants EV's, the market will dictate it, but the market DOES NOT WANT THIS! Not with the current prices of EV's and ownership, safety concerns with vehicle crashes and difficult to put out fires, range issues that will continue to plague EV's for the foreseeable future, charging stations (especially operable ones) being a major issue infrastructure wise, and the power grid that will not be able to support a massive shift to EV's. Issues like functionality in extreme weather, battery longevity and replacement expenses, cost and environmental issues related to battery waste disposal, and if that isn't enough, the cobalt & lithium mining for batteries is neither green, or sustainable. And to the 800 pound gorilla, the EV market failure after failure. The news cycle is littered with failed or failing EV companies that just could not deliver, such as Aptera Motors, Bright Automotive, Canoo, Coda Automotive, Detroit Electric, Dyson EV, Electric Last Mile Solutions, Faraday Future, Fisker Automotive, LeEco, Lightning Car Company, Lordstown Motors Corp, Nikola Motor, Nio, Proterra, Sono Motors, and Think Global. Traditional brands such as Toyota, Ford, GM, and VW are already retreating back to ICE based vehicles, since that's where the demand exists. EV's are very cool technologically speaking, and they're a great idea for dense urban areas, but nobody forced the automobile on the horse and buggy owner, there was a natural evolution built on supply and demand, convenience and practicality.
Except for Tesla. Tesla works in town, on the roads, in all weathers if you're familiar with their charging requirements. And Tesla was already a viable car company before the current government in its wisdom pushes the green agenda without ensuring adequate recharging infrastructure us in place. You just don't see a Tesla driver putting out a video like this and that speaks volume about the car and company business plan.
Blazer EV owner here: I think EVs are good commuter cars, but not a road trip replacement yet. Yes you can do an EV road trip but the charging infrastructure isn’t quite there yet. Maybe it’ll be there in 5 years.
Did a road trip from Southern California to Oregon in my wifes mustang Mach-E and while it did add a few hours to the trip you have to learn you're not in a hurry. I have to stop every so often to pee and get snacks, we would plug in and head into the walmart/store where the charger. By the time we got out walmart we were at 80% and ready to head to the next stop.
with bigger batteries you get a greater distance also most EVs you shouldn't charge past 80% once the voiltage drops its time to go. If you were charging to 90%+ that could also have been the reason for some of the extra costs and time waiting.
That's how we roll on road trips too. 90% of the time the car is at the desired charge level before we're done in the store - Liv
Several comments. First, I'm not sure it was available when Jason got his car, but Genesis offers 3 years of free 30 minute charging at EA, so if he had taken the time to set up the app, he should have gotten all his charges for free. Second, even if charging were not free, had he signed up for the monthly pass+ plan ($7), he would have cut his charging cost by 25%. Third, pulling into a charger with 30 or 40 percent and charging to 90+ percent is about the slowest way to make a trip. He should pull in with a low state of charge, but enough to get to another charger if the first one is inop, say 10 or 15 percent, and then charge enough to get to the next charger. For the GV60, the optimum performance is to charge to about 70 percent and then move on (about 140 to 150 miles at 65 mph and little or no elevation gain). Fourth, concerning the inaccurate mileage estimate, I'm guessing he did not enter his destination into the navigation system. The car would have no way of knowing where he was going, the speed limits, or the terrain. It would assume level ground and about 65 mph. Had he entered the charger at Edwards or Glenwood Springs, the estimate would have been much more accurate. An additional benefit of doing that is that the battery would be pre-conditioned for optimum charging. Please don't make a post about the "Truth" if you haven't done any research.
Thanks, Bob for the tips! This wasn't my car, so I had no skin in the game either way. Just a regular person's experience road-tripping in an EV for the first time. It was a good experience regardless of the drawbacks!
You ate up more battery going from Denver to Edwards because it was all uphill. How much did you use going downhill from Edwards to Grand Junction?
Also, how many road trips do most people do in a year? Not that many and the savings you get with your home charging station more than offsets the higher prices you pay at the occasional public charger.
This shows why the plug in hybrid is the best all around choice. No range anxiety, runs on electricity for the daily commute, runs on gas for the long trip, and uses way fewer batteries than a BEV.
We bought a Rivan R1S last year. It's our first BEV. We will take our first road trip with it this coming summer. We are retired; so we don't have to get anywhere fast. Rivians now have access to the V3 and V4 Tesla superchargers, which are quite reliable, as well as having access to the Rivian Adventure Network. Those chargers are quite reliable as well. Because we seldom road trip, we aren't concerned with the extra time charging on a road trip, since between road trips--when we're home--we spend zero time filling up the vehicle at gas stations; we just take a minute and plug it in at home, in our garage. I expect the net time wasted fueling our Rivian over the course of a year (including road trips) is substantially less than the net time fueling our other ICE car, if it were to be used for road trips as well. (By the way, my understanding is that the average length of time for fuel stops for ICE vehicles is about 20 minutes.)
Do it again in a Tesla.
Completely agree.
You really think they would. Most people want to do their trip while they relax, not worry about every mile they cover. EV junkies seem like the type of people that would try to recycle thread out of old jeans.
@@happyinfidel1 ok.
EVs were never about cost savings, but all about feeling virtuous while driving one.
agreed, i always dump my used oil down the gutter
As of right now I drive a hybrid and I’m saving about $2200 a year in gas in my real world experience
@@joelwillis2043And what do you do with your used batteries?
@@mattamuskeetrecyle them. Just likr the lead acid in your ICE, they get recycled. When home charging it is cheaper than ICE. Road tripping is slightly cheaper, especially with these $4 gas prices.
@@mattamuskeet they get recycled and turned into solar panels what happens to your ice car after it goes to the junk yard?
Did you do ANY homework before getting an EV?
I didn’t buy this car. Someone just had us drive it from Colorado to Utah.
This is how most people will do it when they get an EV, figure it out as you go. I can relate and appreciate the honesty.
Gas Truck/Car/Motorcycle Owner. Rented a Model Y.
I drive the same 1,750 Mile trip twice a year and I've been considering getting a Tesla. I rented a Model Y through Hertz to see if the experience was like other Tesla road trip videos on YT.
It turned a 27.5 hr trip into 30.5 hrs and used $200 in supercharging. Taking my 30 MPG car is about $200 in gas. Adding 3 hours over that distance seams reasonable.
I would travel with my family in the gas car and we'd take stops and see attractions along the way and it would be way over 30.5 hrs.
After doing this long trip regularly, I've been getting that rushed feeling whenever I drove my gas car, but when I took the Tesla it felt good to walk around for 15 mins every couple hours. The trip felt like it was more about the stops along the way, instead of crushing the miles to get to my destination. I liked stopping in the small towns along the way, those "fly over states." It gave me the "driving route 66" vibes that you felt from the movie Cars. Some charging stations were added onto gas stations that were right off the interstate and others were by restaurants, museums and parks. I think more of the superchargers should be installed around attractions to get customers through the doors to buy stuff.
That trip was 9 months ago and I haven't bought anything yet, only due to the math on a new car vs my working vehicles. The depreciation & insurance are still keeping me in my current vehicles, but here's what I have seen. Tesla has their manufacturing figured out. They are the only ones making money selling electric vehicles. Their purchasing experience is way better than going back and forth with a dealer. Building them in a way that allows the company to expand.
With depreciation and insurance in mind, I'm considering a 3 year old off lease Model 3 with RWD. The AWD Long Range is a performance car, it's a rocket ship (no pun intended), and leads to higher insurance rates, but the slower Model 3 (6.6sec 0-60) should be cheaper to buy and insure.
Thanks for the video!
This was very interesting details of the trip. Thanks
Thank you!
This is honest and feels real, than those cinematic or animated feel from other popular channels.
It’s 100% real. It was a crazy experience!
Exactly, but going thru the mountains from Denver to Utah is a big uphill stretch, consumes a lot of gasoline too.
I've driven a PHEV for the past seven years ... 80% of my driving around town is done on electricity from a home outlet at $0.126 per kWh (my car gets about 3.5 miles / kWh avg). If I need to road-trip, I just gas it up. I've never had to use a public charger (which often cost >$0.47/kWh). One of the misconceptions about PHEVs is that you have to maintain two drivetrains but, in my driving loop - even if I put 400,000 miles on my car, the ICE engine will barely have 100,000 on it. I wouldn't choose a pure EV if I had to do a lot of road trips under the current state of tech but for some people, it's a price worth paying.
I checked your route on a service called a Better Route Planner. Looks like you would have had a faster time going thru Wyoming. As others have said, planning is essential with EV road trips. Also, have your apps and accounts for charging networks ready to go before leaving.
We've had an EV for nearly 3 years, and we mostly drive around town which works great. Our 1-2 road trips a year are certainly doable with planning but DC fast chargers are now about the same cost or even more when compared to buying gas.
First step of buying a EV is learn how to charge it and how long, you never fully charge a EV when on a road trip, you charge enough to get to the next charging area . 15 to 20 min is all you need per stop.
It makes sense if you're rich enough to afford the car, rich enough to have a modern house with a garage with a level 2 plugs and rich enough to own more than 1 car to take your road trips on. Also if you like performance.
Never charge more than 80%. Above that the charging curve drops dramatically. Also, when you buy the vehicle you buy the infrastructure. CCS is lacking horribly in America. I have Tesla and road tripping is easy and cheaper than gas.
The biggest problem in terms of Electrify America is pretty simple. It was punishment to Volkswagen for their epa falsification of their vehicles. The fact that they installed them and didn't maintain them would be like a prison road crew unsupervised.
Will you remake this video in February?
I sure hope not.
That sounds like fun..NO THANKS,,,JOE
EV vehicle's depreciate in price fast. Insurance is extremely high. There is about no one to repair them. A replacement battery is thrown the roof. The range is no good. To find a charger is about impossible. Yet. They do have a place. For around town driving. Short trips. Not in a snowstorm. So. You have to watch the weather. No floods, either. I never drove one. Yet. I still won't one. If they can get the bugs worked out. The one I want is the Honda. I don't care about the huge price drop after buying. I want it for in town driving. For around 65 mile one way trips. Drive it in town. Take something else out of town.
In the city they make sense for local driving. Distance wise nooooope.
It kind of cracks me up when I see videos like this when they take whatever they’re trying to use and put it to the extreme possibilities. That’s the same reason why you don’t get in a four-wheel-drive truck and drive across the country with it right you actually take your car cause it gets better gas mileage, so why would you get in a vehicle that’s not designated to be a road trip or and do a road trip in it like getting on a moped because it gets really good gas mileage in it and driving it from one side of the country to the other it makes no sense But if you took the vehicle you’re in right now. And use it as an every day car going back-and-forth to work into the grocery stores. It would totally blow away any gas or diesel vehicle that you could buy but instead you purchased the vehicle and even though it says it gets 500 miles or whatever it might be, you put it to the extreme just so it would fail. I’m curious how many people drive their gas powered vehicle fill it up. Look at it. It says it gets 531 miles with a full tank drive I don’t hear anybody saying hey I only got 412 miles I only got 385 miles in real world time nobody ever does that with gas powered vehicles their reason why because it’s called estimated miles per gallon or an EV. It would be estimated EV range not a guarantee folks.
Nothing extreme here. Just a regular drive back from Denver to SLC by a regular person driving how a regular person would drive.
Realistic. Costs and charging times vary per vehicle, but this is what the EV lifestyle is all about. Short trips and touring while you car recharges…
Very limited range to usher in 15 minute cities ...
I would spend $44 more for convenience. But actually I would spend $200+ for the inconvenience of flying to get to destination faster.
Yes.
Tesla probably would be cheaper and faster. I also notice you were mostly at EA chargers, you should have gotten the pass+ to save money. I have 2 EVs, a model 3 and Blazer EV. I prefer the Tesla for longer distances because the charging is more reliable, cheaper, and faster than non Tesla charging stations. I routinely drive from upstate NY to Philadelphia and I have no issues. We make 1 stop and the car is always ready to go in 20 minutes at worst.
You should also aim for 20% or less charge when you reach a charger to maximize the curve and only charge enough to get to the next charger, with some buffer of course. Waiting until you're at 90% is a waste of time. EV road tripping requires a different mindset from ice vehicles in the sense that waiting to fully charge the battery is a waste of time.
I would rather drive a gasoline car. I would drive an ev for work 30 miles round trip. It's not a trip. My brother in law travels 300 miles in a Telsa S model. He was sweating bullets the last miles..way too soon for America.. Maybe in 30 years for the technology to make it possible
Why didn't he stop at 250 miles for five minutes to load enough to make the rest of the trip easy?
Do not speed over 70 miles/hour for EV. And use eco mode.
You drove the worst case scenario.
EV isn't the road trip cost saving.
But, EV uses a home charger, it saves costs in daily uses.
If I never left my town or the immediate surrounding area, and could charge at home, totally!
I wish you had just expressed the cost per mile......
I'll express it here: It was way too much!
Do yourself a favor and take a Tesla next time. Everything else in the EV space just absolutely blows for road trips right now. I’m taking a 1000 mile (1 way) trip in July and we’re only going to have to stop for a total of 1hr 40mins each way. We’d probably stop for a combined hour during the day of driving anyway for meals and restrooms, so it realistically only adds 40 minutes to the trip each way. The heartache you experienced is because the non Tesla fast chargers suck ass 🫤
You are right about that. The chargers were garbage!
I'll keep my gas vehicle's
More people whining about nothing.
If the market wants EV's, the market will dictate it, but the market DOES NOT WANT THIS! Not with the current prices of EV's and ownership, safety concerns with vehicle crashes and difficult to put out fires, range issues that will continue to plague EV's for the foreseeable future, charging stations (especially operable ones) being a major issue infrastructure wise, and the power grid that will not be able to support a massive shift to EV's. Issues like functionality in extreme weather, battery longevity and replacement expenses, cost and environmental issues related to battery waste disposal, and if that isn't enough, the cobalt & lithium mining for batteries is neither green, or sustainable. And to the 800 pound gorilla, the EV market failure after failure. The news cycle is littered with failed or failing EV companies that just could not deliver, such as Aptera Motors, Bright Automotive, Canoo, Coda Automotive, Detroit Electric, Dyson EV, Electric Last Mile Solutions, Faraday Future, Fisker Automotive, LeEco, Lightning Car Company, Lordstown Motors Corp, Nikola Motor, Nio, Proterra, Sono Motors, and Think Global. Traditional brands such as Toyota, Ford, GM, and VW are already retreating back to ICE based vehicles, since that's where the demand exists. EV's are very cool technologically speaking, and they're a great idea for dense urban areas, but nobody forced the automobile on the horse and buggy owner, there was a natural evolution built on supply and demand, convenience and practicality.
Except for Tesla. Tesla works in town, on the roads, in all weathers if you're familiar with their charging requirements. And Tesla was already a viable car company before the current government in its wisdom pushes the green agenda without ensuring adequate recharging infrastructure us in place. You just don't see a Tesla driver putting out a video like this and that speaks volume about the car and company business plan.