Last week, thinking “it would be fun,” Wall Street Journal reporter Rachel Wolfe drove a Kia EV6 from New Orleans to Chicago. She wrote a story about her trip, which she titled, “I Rented an Electric Car for a Four-Day Road Trip. I Spent More Time Charging It Than I Did Sleeping.”
The bottom line is that the trip was not fun. Wolfe spent $175 on charging fees. Although she would have spent $275 on gas for the trip, the $100 savings weren’t worth the 18 hours she had wasted just waiting for the 14 charges the car required.
She learned the hard way that some “fast charges” take longer than others and that the range advertised to the consumer is higher than the actual range. Moreover, until the government installs its promised charging stations on routes across the country, EV drivers will sometimes be forced to go out of their way to find one.
Upon her return to New Orleans, Wolfe was “exhausted and grumpy.”
The bottom line is that the trip was not fun. Wolfe spent $175 on charging fees. Although she would have spent $275 on gas for the trip, the $100 savings weren’t worth the 18 hours she had wasted just waiting for the 14 charges the car required.
She learned the hard way that some “fast charges” take longer than others and that the range advertised to the consumer is higher than the actual range. Moreover, until the government installs its promised charging stations on routes across the country, EV drivers will sometimes be forced to go out of their way to find one.
Upon her return to New Orleans, Wolfe was “exhausted and grumpy.”
