[TheIX]

As a first time EV driver and driving the iX for about ten days the thing I miss most about a petrol car is the freedom that comes with it.

When driving an ICE vehicle, I don't have to be concerned about the existence of a charging infrastructure and there is no planning involved in making a trip. I can get up in the morning and drive anywhere I want in the country knowing that I have access to fuel and can refuel in a few minutes.

I didn't realise how important this would be for me personally. It's not so much that I would just get in my car and drive off to points unknown, but knowing I can do it is what's important.

Definitely a first world problem, and mostly an observation.

Interesting to see if this feeling 'wears off' over time as I get used to the differences between a petrol and electric car.

[Paladin1]

Probably the same uneasiness felt by pre-turn-of-the-(20th) century horse owners with the new "horseless carriage." How will I even get there when there's no road it will fit that's not washed out? And not a single fuel station within 50 miles. Just a day's ride on my horse, and I may end up camping the night if I get stuck in the Flivver. Ah, progress!

[TheIX]

Originally Posted by Paladin1

Probably the same uneasiness felt by pre-turn-of-the-(20th) century horse owners with the new "horseless carriage." How will I even get there when there's no road it will fit that's not washed out? And not a single fuel station within 50 miles. Just a day's ride on my horse, and I may end up camping the night if I get stuck in the Flivver. Ah, progress!

Lol!

[sahajesh]

Originally Posted by TheIX

As a first time EV driver and driving the iX for about ten days the thing I miss most about a petrol car is the freedom that comes with it.

When driving an ICE vehicle, I don't have to be concerned about the existence of a charging infrastructure and there is no planning involved in making a trip. I can get up in the morning and drive anywhere I want in the country knowing that I have access to fuel and can refuel in a few minutes.

I didn't realise how important this would be for me personally. It's not so much that I would just get in my car and drive off to points unknown, but knowing I can do it is what's important.

Definitely a first world problem, and mostly an observation.

Interesting to see if this feeling 'wears off' over time as I get used to the differences between a petrol and electric car.

Be interested to see how you feel about this over time - hopefully it's an early feeling.

Once you have made some longer/unplanned journeys, that nervousness will go.

[Paladin1]

Roads? We don't need roads where we're goin'!!

[razor488]

as a non EV owner I don't think I would have a lot of anxiety about road trips save and except the fact that I have a 2 and 4 year old. Charging woes with screaming children and a flustered wife could be stressful.

[TXSchnee]

This is why I will be keeping my PHEV for road trips. If you have 2 vehicles, that worry is really lessened. I understand the anxiety though.

[NomoTesla]

The problem w/ non-Tesla EVs, unfortunately, is that half the time you show up to a charger it isn't working. Or it's blocked by an ICE vehicle and nobody around or willing to do anything about it. When was the last time you pulled into a gas station to find a pump not working or blocked by an EV?

The fear will quickly transform into frustration. Give it time.

[Paladin1]

Although a fraction of the number of gas stations, many EV power suppliers have plans to expand their networks significantly in the next few years. EA (significant to BMW owners because 30 minute charging sessions are free for the first two years of ownership), is one example:

https://www.greencarreports.com/news...-upper-midwest

This appears to be an accelerating trend (pun intended), and the concern is will the expansion of EV production exceed the expansion of charging stations. Right now only about two percent of cars on the road are EVs. If that only doubles in two or three years, that cuts availability in half for existing stations with no expansion. Tesla owners are already familiar with waiting in line. Different in different countries, but hopefully charging station growth will exceed the demand by the time we get there with cars. One drove the other in the case of gasoline autos, but time will tell....

[NomoTesla]

Originally Posted by Paladin1

Although a fraction of the number of gas stations, many EV power suppliers have plans to expand their networks significantly in the next few years. EA (significant to BMW owners because 30 minute charging sessions are free for the first two years of ownership), is one example:

https://www.greencarreports.com/news...-upper-midwest

This appears to be an accelerating trend (pun intended), and the concern is will the expansion of EV production exceed the expansion of charging stations. Right now only about two percent of cars on the road are EVs. If that only doubles in two or three years, that cuts availability in half for existing stations with no expansion. Tesla owners are already familiar with waiting in line. Different in different countries, but hopefully charging station growth will exceed the demand by the time we get there with cars. One drove the other in the case of gasoline autos, but time will tell....

In the US, at least, no Tesla can use a CCS DC charger because there is no adapter sold here that is supported by Tesla to provide compatibility. Moreover, not until recent builds did Tesla's US software even allow for CCS charging. Which means cars built prior to 2021 will not be CCS compatible in the USA.

At least outside of the Tesla ecosystem we will have competition and a battle for our dollars. Tesla owners, however, are singly dependent upon Tesla. As many know, there are not enough Tesla superchargers to support the number of cars being delivered and long waits, especially at holidays, is commonplace.

[stealth.pilot]

We don't really do road trips any longer than 4 hours door to door which is about 250 miles. And even that length might be once every 2 years. So not something I think about.

But what I don't miss is the anxiety of not having enough fuel in the tank. With petrol you procrastinate on filling it up because you'd rather just get to your destination. Then every couple of weeks you are at 17 miles of range and you have a meeting 10 miles away, and you debate should you chance it or fuel up and be late.

Never experienced this monthly range anxiety with EVs, only with ICE.

[NomoTesla]

Originally Posted by stealth.pilot

But what I don't miss is the anxiety of not having enough fuel in the tank. With petrol you procrastinate on filling it up because you'd rather just get to your destination. Then every couple of weeks you are at 17 miles of range and you have a meeting 10 miles away, and you debate should you chance it or fuel up and be late.

Excellent point! Imagine the gas tank filling overnight... that's an EV!

[stealth.pilot]

Originally Posted by NomoTesla

Excellent point! Imagine the gas tank filling overnight... that's an EV!

Exactly. Not only does it eliminate day-to-day range anxiety, but also saves an hour of my time every month when you add it up.

[cruzer666]

Originally Posted by TheIX

Interesting to see if this feeling 'wears off' over time as I get used to the differences between a petrol and electric car.

I have been told by others who recently made the transition that the feeling wears off.
I think a lot to do with it is using either the built in trip planner on BMW nav or Apple Maps with EV integration. How's that going by the way?

[hugo_nz]

Originally Posted by cruzer666

I have been told by others who recently made the transition that the feeling wears off.
I think a lot to do with it is using either the built in trip planner on BMW nav or Apple Maps with EV integration. How's that going by the way?

It wears off until you get behind the wheel of an ICE car again, then the feeling is renewed ;-)

[sor]

I felt like this until recently when I had to stop in a fairly rural area where I thought there was no infrastructure.

I ran into a horrible storm with a massive headwind, 40mph gusts. I had accounted for it somewhat but combined with a ski rack it was sapping my range and I thought "gee it would be nice to be able to stop and charge in Rexburg, ID rather than going all the way to the EA station in Idaho Falls." My buddy in the passenger seat opened up PlugShare and said, "let's see, there's are two 125kw chargers at the Chevy dealership in Rexburg, a 22kw station, a 25kw station, and a bunch of 7-11kw stations." I was floored. I had been totally ignoring anything that wasn't EA. So we stopped in Rexburg and topped it off just to be safe.

Also, in Driggs, ID population 1,800 - we didn't need to top off but there was a Tesla destination charger 200 yards from our hotel that I used that evening just because it was available. The hotel also had RV plugs I could have plugged my travel charger into overnight but I didn't even notice them until we were checking out. These sorts of chargers are not what you want when you're in the middle of a trip, but just pointing out that there are options even in remote places.

I'd still recommend planning, but I honestly didn't think charging had penetrated as much as it has. I think in particular it seems to be a trend for dealerships to put in good charging, even in remote areas.

There are eight DC fast chargers in my metro area on a network I hadn't heard of called EV Gateway, in places like schools and the Harley Davidson dealership that I never knew existed because I've been accustomed to just using EA. EA alone is pretty competitive it's the Tesla Supercharger network so it's amazing to get updated on the others. EV Gateway was also the 125kw at the Chevy dealership in Rexburg.

[sor]

Ah another thing I should add - we booked a vacation rental last year at Sand Hollow, UT, easy driving distance for an EV through Zions. Was totally not expecting this but the rental had a ChargePoint home charger in the garage!

Maybe we have just had good luck but things really seem to be coming along recently. I'm sure for my anecdotes there are going to be several who didn't fare so well. It's still best to plan and have buffer and backup.

[cruzer666]

Originally Posted by sor

Ah another thing I should add - we booked a vacation rental last year at Sand Hollow, UT, easy driving distance for an EV through Zions. Was totally not expecting this but the rental had a ChargePoint home charger in the garage!

Maybe we have just had good luck but things really seem to be coming along recently. I'm sure for my anecdotes there are going to be several who didn't fare so well. It's still best to plan and have buffer and backup.

The level 2 chargers are likely in the hundreds of thousands in the US if you take into account private ones. Also, let's not completely eliminate the good 'ol Level 1 charger that gives you about 4 miles of range per hour (96 miles per day of continuous charging). My family has a Chevy Volt PHEV that gets used every day, has about 53 miles range on EV-only, it gets charged fully every day with a Level 1 charger and the car barely gets any hybrid miles, it's all EV.

[TheIX]

I'm still not convinced about the 100% EV route given my circumstances and the current infrastructure.

I'm wondering if perhaps something like an X5 45e might not be a better solution for me.

[ggalanis]

Originally Posted by TheIX

I'm still not convinced about the 100% EV route given my circumstances and the current infrastructure.

I'm wondering if perhaps something like an X5 45e might not be a better solution for me.

What part exactly has you worried? Do you do regular long trips that are not catered to well by the charging network?

[chowser51]

I thought about this but my plan is always to keep an ICE vehicle for trips. An EV for me would always just be a daily where I come home every night to charge.

I actually asked my boss if I could plug in at work since I’m on night shift and he was like, nope, that’s theft, it’s bigger than a cellphone. Lol

[NomoTesla]

Non-Tesla EVs are still not very good road trip cars due to the lacking infrastructure. Tesla has this covered, unfortunately they still don't know how to make cars. Electrify America doesn't appear to be an adequate substitute given how many of their charge points do not work for whatever reason, or are ICEd. EA is also owned by Volkswagen and I don't trust it to properly maintain a network that it was forced to develop as a legal settlement born out of the dieselgate scandal.