I don’t plan my roadtrips. I have always just picked a direction and a goal (normally get to the in-laws in 3 days), and then when I got bored I looked for something to do. When the fuel tank got low I stopped at the next gas - which wasn’t very far.
Now that I have an EV it isn’t that easy because even though chargers are all over, they are not on the main routes and not advertised. Thus I need a navigator to find them - if this is a solo road trip (which now that I’m married I no longer take) I’d have to pull off the road because you cannot find chargers without a phone (and cell signals which are not common in the places I drive, though I guess I can drive to the next town where there is both a signal and the next likely place to find a charger anyway)
Yup, the general distribution of charging networks and discoverability is my main problem, not necessarily the range itself.
If I’m driving more than an hour and a half total, I know I’ll need to find a charger somewhere on my route. Unlike gas stations, chargers are generally not advertised on informational signs, which is why I’ve bookmarked a number of chargers on my typical routes and started using plugshare for discovery on new routes.
I have found that the normal map applications I’ve used only highlight the large networks like Electrify America, EVGo, Chargepoint, etc. if they even have the functionality to show chargers in the first place. For example, google maps doesn’t show many of the chargers I frequently use, like the Kwik Trip charging network. I’ve even tried to add them to the map but the changes have been rejected every time.
The benefit of a standalone app like plugshare is that it’s crowd-sourced and generally more up-to-date. People can add new stations as they come online regardless of network and leave reviews with helpful info like “charger #4 is broken” or “the charging cables are short, you might need to back in”. For the larger networks, active capacity is also shared in the same way that google maps shows (e.g. 6/10 stations in use). It also lets me do route planning based on my expected range and save it for later or or open the route in my gps.
To me, all that is way more useful than what I get out of the built-in google maps in my car, where the charger selection is limited and the gps will arbitrarily select chargers on my route if it’s too long without giving me much choice in the matter.
I don’t plan my roadtrips. I have always just picked a direction and a goal (normally get to the in-laws in 3 days), and then when I got bored I looked for something to do. When the fuel tank got low I stopped at the next gas - which wasn’t very far.
Now that I have an EV it isn’t that easy because even though chargers are all over, they are not on the main routes and not advertised. Thus I need a navigator to find them - if this is a solo road trip (which now that I’m married I no longer take) I’d have to pull off the road because you cannot find chargers without a phone (and cell signals which are not common in the places I drive, though I guess I can drive to the next town where there is both a signal and the next likely place to find a charger anyway)
Yup, the general distribution of charging networks and discoverability is my main problem, not necessarily the range itself.
If I’m driving more than an hour and a half total, I know I’ll need to find a charger somewhere on my route. Unlike gas stations, chargers are generally not advertised on informational signs, which is why I’ve bookmarked a number of chargers on my typical routes and started using plugshare for discovery on new routes.
There are all kinds of gps apps that highlight charge stations, most EVs have then built in.
I have found that the normal map applications I’ve used only highlight the large networks like Electrify America, EVGo, Chargepoint, etc. if they even have the functionality to show chargers in the first place. For example, google maps doesn’t show many of the chargers I frequently use, like the Kwik Trip charging network. I’ve even tried to add them to the map but the changes have been rejected every time.
The benefit of a standalone app like plugshare is that it’s crowd-sourced and generally more up-to-date. People can add new stations as they come online regardless of network and leave reviews with helpful info like “charger #4 is broken” or “the charging cables are short, you might need to back in”. For the larger networks, active capacity is also shared in the same way that google maps shows (e.g. 6/10 stations in use). It also lets me do route planning based on my expected range and save it for later or or open the route in my gps.
To me, all that is way more useful than what I get out of the built-in google maps in my car, where the charger selection is limited and the gps will arbitrarily select chargers on my route if it’s too long without giving me much choice in the matter.