Road Trip: Unfiltered Truth About Fast Charging Electrify America vs. Tesla

Part 5 of 5 - The recap and all the fun details.

In this video we breakdown and I share all the insights and details into how Electrify America stacks up against Tesla's supercharger network. Reliability, costs, time, charge rates, and placement. I break it all down so you can decide if this is a viable replacement.

Question I was asked about time for the gas (ICE) car: (Google maps 14 hrs = 860 + 70 minutes (breaks+fuel) = 930 minutes +/-

Average Speed Down: 62 mph
Average Speed Up: 65 mph

Electrify America: 1,000 mile Trip down Dayton, Ohio to Orlando, Florida

Tesla Super Charger: Return 1,000 mile trip Orlando, Florida to Dayton Ohio


Can Electrify America be a viable alternative to Tesla's supercharger network? I aim to find out on this epic 1,000 mile journey. Come along as I drive straight through the night from Cincinnati Ohio to Orlando Florida. You'll experience the adventure first hand to see reliability, charge times, and costs.

Electrify America is working to create a national network of electric car charging stations. With this network, they hope to challenge Tesla's dominant position in the electric car market. In this video, we explore how Electrify America's network could compete with Tesla's Superchargers, and see how likely it is that they will be successful.

The trip down will be broken into 2 parts. Trip south will be only using Electrify America.
The Return trip we will use Tesla's supercharger network so we can put the two head to head and find out who wins.

The trip is in a 2022 Tesla Model Y Performance. Equipped with 19" Tesla Gemini wheels with aero caps.

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[bluebiplane]

Excellent comparison video. Succinct and real life practical info. This year I 'stepped out' and did a round trip Maryland to Austin TX and Maryland to Cape Canaveral trip. Other trips in previous years were to Cleveland, Troy NY, Myrtle Beach SC. 2018 Model 3. We never traveled with the 2012 or 2016 LEAFs as the non-Tesla networks were just not mature enough.

[brandenflasch]

If I was in a Tesla and I wasn’t on a time crunch, I would probably use EA for the bit of “adventure” and and cost savings, but if I had a time crunch at all, it would be Superchargers the whole way.

[brandenflasch]

Great video. Good to see as close to an apples to apples comparison as possible. Did you primarily charge in time based or kWh billing states?

[barryredman]

Imagine this headline, “Family Freezes to Death at Montana Electrify America.”

[bmoore]

The CCS gives you option for fast charging in remote areas without Superchargers, example is the Yukon, Northern BC, and Vancouver Island. We have taken several long road trips with a Model Y, and Superchargers are great method for charging.

Great video Paul! We are going to take our 2023 ID. 4 to Gatlinburg this weekend for its first "mini" road trip. I can make it with 1 stop pretty east but I am going to try out 3 of the EA chargers along the way just so I know that my wife would be ok visiting her mom. Tesla is a road trip beast for sure! We took our MY from Nashville to Hilton Head for the last 2 years and the first time was 4 stops but last year since they added a SC in McDonough GA we were able to do 3 stops very easily. Totally agree that EA has got to do something to make it reliable. 60% is terrible! Especially vs 100%. Over the last going on 3 years we have only had one problem with a tesla charger unit. Moved to the next one and it was fine. thats it! 99% relaibility since we have owned the car. Major advantage for the tesla. Holding my breath for the ID. 4 this weekend! HAHAHA

[karengeyman]

Thank you for a wonderful breakdown…this is what I needed living in Indiana and many vacations to WDW each year.

[genxin]

Thanks for your efforts and charts. I'm thinking of a trip from Houston to Chicago in my 2020 Model Y.

[chriswestenskow]

I would advocate that the "free charging" that come with new cars should not be free if you are within 35 miles of your home address.
Congestion at some Superchargers is becoming a big concern, but the Tesla navigation being smart enough to adjust to avoid the congested stations is great.

[KenniqueReynolds]

When EA stations say they will be complimentary don’t activate from the app. Just plug in otherwise it gets confused and will give an error.

[jb]

I'm curious how the end to end trip time would compare. ICE fuels up faster than an EV charges. But you can't walk over to the nearby restaurant and grab a meal and/or use the rest room while it fills up. You can charge an EV while you are doing other things where an ICE would just spend in a parking lot. You can arrive much sooner in an ICE if you keep your stops to a minimum and eat in the car while driving. But that isn't always possible, especially with kids (or most people).

[allenbaylus]

we do a drive from MD to ME every summer - normally 1 or 2 gas breaks needed but most of teh driving is overnight so the kids do not need to stretch their legs.

10 hour drive plus 2 fuel stops (MA Turnpike and off I95 in ME) puts us at 660 miles and in under 11 hours but I normally take a longer rout to avoid the NYC traffic area which is 723 miles and 11 hours (under 12 hours with fueling stops).

Running the same (I95 Rout) changes me from 11 hours to over 13 hours any my bypass runs more then 15 hours.

This is using a M3 Long Range for computing.

[Bum_Hip]

I use EA often. I COULD charge at home (other than road trips) instead, but my Ioniq 5 as well as other Kia, and Genesis EV’s come with 2 years free charging. What would you do if you had that option?

[marcotokoku]

great video, the only time I use EA is to park at Walmart where has EA and use the charging time for shopping and food

[jimpaggi]

Would have liked seeing your stops! Film them next time!

[sribashdey]

Very good and thorough analysis. Thank you.

[bcarify]

This is why Tesla will continue to dominate. Their superchargers are second to no one. It’s all factored into the price of the car.

[Qrail]

Great attention to detail. For the additional $65, you gained 2 hours. Supercharger over EA. Or, you could say that the EA charger price of $37 is about 1/4 of the ICE price. But you lose 2 hours to a Tesla driver. I did not see an average speed. Thanks. And Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to you and yours.
Part 2. What would I do? I am heading out for my holiday trip. I intend to use ChargePoint at my first stop, I will use the free city charger at my second stop, and charge at home at my third stop. 820 mile trip (one way) that will take me 13 hours to drive, and 2 hours to recharge. It will cost me $1.85 to charge, and I will use 16 gallons of gas at $5 per gal. ($80) 8 gallons in Tehachapi, and 8 gallons in Parker. I won’t drive faster than 75 mph, for best economy…. I will use my Audi e-tron hybrid. I expect to get 51 mpg, and use 24 kWh of electric. Since this is a regular routine, that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

[radiioman]

Excellent video comparing gas vs EA vs tesla! But, for me, I will only do about two 7 day road trips a year, and assuming 4 travel days per trip, that means out of 365 days, I will only be on a road trip for 8 days. That is 2 per cent of my driving in an EV for road trips. That means my EV is used for 98% of the year doing the regular driving that I do each day, or each week.

I'm not going to fuss over Tesla (more expensive) vs other EVs (can be as expensive) for something I will only do 2% of the time.

So, I chose my EV in favor of the 98% and ignored the 2%.

Great points though and good to know for those that do want to choose between gas, Tesla or other EVs.

One last point: Even at a 60% efficiency you still made the trip using EA. You were not stranded. So that's a plus, in some strange manner.

[berthogendoorn]

The CCS adapter is great for unserviced areas especially here in BC or Alberta Canada where superchargers are not all over.