Range anxiety is not as significant a concern as it once was among electric vehicle owners, and many take their battery-powered cars on extended trips that you could only really do in a Tesla a decade ago. You are spoiled for choice if you’re looking for an EV with enough range to allow you to drive for hours on end without having to stop to juice up.
However, your range quickly drops if you want to use some of the performance your EV offers, which you might, given how quick and fun these battery-powered cars have become. When you also factor in spotty charging networks, planning an EV road trip often has its challenges, and there’s a chance it may end up being a more stressful experience than if you had done it in a combustion car.
“Roughly half of Americans take trips over 150 miles only four days or fewer per year,” according to Ford’s internal research published by CEO Jim Farley. With many EVs capable of delivering 300 miles or more on a charge, which is probably more than what some people are willing to drive without stopping, switching to an EV wouldn’t require owners to adapt to any significant changes.
If you know that you go on more and longer road trips than that and still want to go electric, there are plenty of long-range EVs to choose from. Buyers of higher-end, bigger-battery EVs have a broader selection to choose from, especially in the U.S., where the affordable EV is a rare beast.
Range Vanishes At Higher Speeds
There is a reason why we value 70 mph range tests so much: they show what an EV’s real-world range is when driven constantly at highway speeds. This realistically tells you how far you can expect to go before you need to charge when driving mostly out of town.
Many EVs fail to meet their EPA range rating in the 70 mph range test, but there are a few that actually exceed it. However, if you drive them above the limit, even by a margin that will not get you a speeding ticket, it will impact your range.
Factoring in the fact that your EV may be fully loaded with people and luggage, the extra weight will further negatively affect its efficiency, bringing range down. So the combination of driving an EV at higher speeds with a car full of people and their bags, maybe with a drag-producing and range-sapping roof box on top where you’ve stored additional stuff, will result in higher energy consumption and less range.
If you live in Germany and are used to taking full advantage of the unrestricted parts of the autobahn, then an EV makes less sense for long-distance travel. Something like a Porsche Taycan can exceed 160 mph, but if you drive it at top speed, its efficiency will plummet, and you probably won't even get 100 miles out of a full battery. Driving a 2025 Taycan at 70 mph, though, you shouldn't have trouble exceeding its conservative EPA estimate.
The Charger You Are Driving To May Be Offline
Then there’s also the issue of driving to a new and unknown area whose charging network situation you are unfamiliar with. Most areas around the U.S. and Europe offer at least Level 2 AC chargers, allowing you to go pretty much anywhere, at least in theory. The problem is that chargers in remote places may not be working, and there may not be anyone to tell you that they’re offline.
So you could find yourself driving to a charger that should be working according to your route planning app, but when you get there, you realize it’s not functioning. If you’re driving to said charger with very little current left in your battery and no other charging station around for dozens of miles, you might become stranded and need to call to have someone tow your car (or charge it in areas that offer such a service).
Charging networks are slowly becoming more reliable, and there are several apps that you can check to make sure a specific charger is working. Some EVs can even do this with their built-in navigation apps, although it's best to double check on a third-party app that's popular in that area.
Some Areas Are Not Well Covered By Charging Networks
If you live somewhere like California or New York, where charging stations are more abundant, you can pretty much go anywhere in the state knowing you will have nearby charging options. Montana, Delaware, Idaho and the two Dakotas are among the states where you might struggle to find a charger, so it’s best to do thorough research and plan ahead for a road trip that goes through less EV-friendly areas of the country.
Europe is also pretty well covered, especially the western part, but you can cross the breadth of the continent relatively easily. What you need to do to ensure you have a surprise-free trip is to get all the apps that grant you access to the various charging networks. There are still a lot of chargers that don’t simply allow you to plug in, swipe your card and start charging. Some won’t work if you don’t have the correct app installed on your phone.
When you research an area that you want to travel to in your EV, you should look at what charging networks are in the area and along the way and what you need to find out what you have to do to make them work. Some may require an account, which you will have to confirm through your email, and it may not be something you want to do after you’ve arrived at a charger in an unknown area.
A Cold Snap Could Leave You Stranded
Another thing that could make road-tripping in an EV more challenging is the nature of how lithium-ion batteries react to temperature extremes. For instance, if you plan on driving your EV up into the mountains, you need to consider that the temperature might drop significantly as you ascend, which could reduce range.
Factoring in the fact that going uphill in an EV also eats up the range miles faster, and a sudden cold snap could potentially even leave you stranded. Running the heater inside the car on a higher setting will sap additional electrons, only adding to the already higher drain. Using the air conditioner in summer reduces range less than the heater in winter, even in EVs with heat pumps.
Parking your EV overnight when it’s really cold outside without plugging it in will also result in range loss, so this is another thing that you need to be aware of.
Mechanics May Refuse To Work On Your EV If It Breaks Down
Not all mechanics are qualified to work on electric vehicles whose high-voltage electrical system (that can run up to 800 volts or more in some EVs) makes them dangerous to handle. This means that if you break down somewhere far from a specialized EV service shop (of which there aren’t that many anyway), you may have to call a flatbed to take your broken EV back home instead of having it fixed locally and potentially continuing your journey.
Unless it’s wheels, tires, suspension work or anything that doesn’t have to do with the powertrain, electronics and battery, a regular mechanic may be unable to help you.
