EV Road Tripping

If you are looking to embark a road trip, you need to plan your route before you hit the road. It is critical to understand where chargers are located and the ratings for these chargers to plan the amount of time required. I would recommend planning your trip in the PlugShare App. You can filter by charger speed and input your estimated vehicle range to plan your stops.

Do not skip chargers. It can be tempting to think you have enough range to get to the next charger and skip one, but I would not recommend this. Highway driving pulls more on the battery and other things can happen that can impact your range, like if it starts raining and you are facing more drag.

Many chargers are at shopping centers. This can be convenient for picking up basically anything you might have forgotten and using a clean and safe restroom. Some have restaurants nearby that you can easily walk to while your car charges.

Chargers at shopping centers as opposed to gas stations right off the highway tend to have more power available from the electric grid. You usually have to drive into the town though. On our road trip from Chicago to Tampa, we battled heavy traffic outside of Chattanooga, TN that added ~20 minutes to our trip because we had to drive into town and charge at a major shopping center while it seemed most people were trying to get some last minute holiday shopping done.