EV Shopping and Road Trip Observations
By Ellen Bordman
EV Shopping When it was time to replace our 2007 Toyota Prius, it was difficult to decide what to get. Our other car is a 2015 Nissan Leaf EV with a range of about 90 miles. Most of our driving is local. I commute to Brockton. Occasionally we go into Boston. However, this summer we had a road trip to NC planned to visit my parents, and our son will soon be going to college 180 miles away in Troy, NY. Were we ready to go full EV and plan road trips around finding charging stations?
We seriously considered a longer-range EV to replace the Prius. I ruled out any EV with a range less than 250 miles. The Chevy Bolt, which some of my friends have and love, and the Hyundai Kona were contenders due to range and price, and I did some test drives. In July, during our car search, we took a road trip to NYC. Along Highway 95 through CT there are several rest stops. They all had about a dozen Tesla charging stations each, mostly going unused when we passed through. There were none for other types of EVs. A look at the PlugShare app showed that we could get off the highway and find chargers, but not conveniently. We also rarely saw any EVs on the highway. Lots of Priuses, an occasional Tesla, but that’s about it. This trip made us realize that we were not ready for the trials of road trip EV charging -- because the US is not ready.
All things considered, including cost, which is a serious consideration, we opted to lease a 2021 Hyundai Ioniq PHEV. It’s basically a hybrid with an option to plug-in and charge an electric battery for an extra 29 miles of range. It’s advertised as getting up to 620 miles on a full tank of gas with the electric battery charged, or 119 combined MPGe (miles per gallon of gasoline-equivalent). It has the same cargo space as the Prius. The Hyundai Kona EV was more fun to drive, but the cargo space was paltry. The Ioniq drives like… a Prius. We opted for the Limited trim line for the extra safety features and bonuses to make up for the lack of driving oomph. It has Highway Driving Assist, and “when used in conjunction with Lane Following Assist and Smart Cruise Control, is for highway use only and can help keep the vehicle centered in its lane while maintaining a safe distance from the vehicle ahead,” according to the owner’s manual. These proved to be useful on our road trip to NC.
Our thinking is that in three years when the lease is up, there will be better charging infrastructure and EV prices will go down. There are so many more EVs coming on the market. Taking a look at Green Energy Consumers Alliance’s Drive Green website, one can see there are more choices than are obvious from a drive down Main Street.
We had never leased a car before, but given the changing EV landscape, it made sense for us right now. I looked for used EVs, but there aren’t many long-range ones to choose from. Teslas are out of our price range. The battery fires reported in older Bolts and Konas were concerning. We got lucky when we bought our Leaf used. The battery only recently “lost a bar” after we’d had it for three years; I wasn’t sure if we would get lucky again. Carmakers should make it easier for consumers to understand a used EV’s battery quality.When we bought the Leaf, we upgraded the electric service to our detached garage and bought a Level 2 charger. We could handle another for a second EV. Having a detached garage isn’t ideal, but it’s better than no garage here in New England in regards to EV charging. However, I should add that having a garage for charging isn’t mandatory.
EVs on the Road
We recently drove from Sharon, MA to Black Mountain, NC in the Hyundai Ioniq PHEV. We kept a lookout for EVs as we went along. Going through RI and CT, we saw an occasional Tesla, and many, many Priuses on the highway. We did not see any other EVs. Further south in VA, we saw a Tesla, a Chevy Volt and a few Priuses on the highway. In downtown Asheville, NC, we saw one Tesla. It was remarkable how few EVs we encountered. It made me realize the Sharon bubble I am living in. Here, EV drivers, and those who are considering getting an EV surround me. It could be that on the southern highways, we did not see any because EV owners are only using them for local driving. But even driving around Black Mountain and Asheville, we only saw Priuses and that one Tesla.
At rest stops and gas stations in the south, we never saw a single EV charging station. According to the PlugShare app, there is a charging station at the Black Mountain, NC Public Safety Building. That’s the only one. We also saw on the PlugShare app that there are charging stations at several parking garages in downtown Asheville. We wanted to find one and charge the Ioniq’s electric battery while we shopped. But the garage we settled on wasn’t open, and we were directed to another one without a charging station. It didn’t really matter for us, but it’s concerning for EV drivers if stations aren’t readily accessible. It shouldn’t be a hunting expedition.
It also needs to be fast to charge a car, at least to get you to the next charger. Tesla has this figured out. No other carmaker has put effort into charging infrastructure like they have. Car dealerships haven’t put enough effort into providing quick chargers for the EV cars they sell. It’s almost as if they don’t really want to sell EVs at all. In fact, most of the time, while shopping for a new car, I felt as if I knew more about EVs than the salesperson trying to sell me one.
Also, the US highway rest area needs to be reimagined. Bathrooms, food, beverage, free Wi-Fi – we’ve got that down. But maybe they could also have comfortable seating and cellphone charging ports? How about rock climbing walls, playgrounds for all ages, so that drivers can stretch their legs while their cars charge?
If the US is to reach the Biden administration’s goal of making 50% of all new passenger cars and light truck sales zero-emission by 2030, efforts need to reach all parts of the country. Automakers need to appeal to their truck-loving customer base, like the gentleman we saw descend from the cab of his big, pristine, red Dodge Ram at the Dairy King in Black Mountain. I wondered, what would it take to make an EV appeal to him? Even my parents, who live off the grid in a community “dedicated to living and demonstrating a holistic, sustainable culture,” do not believe EVs are a viable option for them or their neighbors. I believe the average US driver will not consider EVs to be practical until EV charging stations are as ubiquitous and as fast as gas stations. The Biden administration’s infrastructure bill “would invest $7.5 billion to build a nationwide network of plug-in electric vehicle chargers along highways to enable long-distance travel, as well as within communities where people live, work and shop,” according to a CNN.com article from August 10. As I write this, the fate of the bill is uncertain. The recent UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report emphasizes the importance of cutting our greenhouse gas emissions immediately. We don’t have time to waste.
For now, we will drive our Leaf as much as we can, and try to save the Ioniq for longer trips. And I will cheer for every new EV that I see out there because I believe they are necessary for the healthy future of our planet.
The Hyundai Ioniq PHEV
