Does MORE RANGE MATTER? Which EV is the FASTEST on a 2,500 mile road trip?

Does more range really matter on an EV Road trip? In order to answer that question, I tested out a number of cars from ones with low range all the way to the range leader, on a twenty five hundred mile virtual road trip. Find out which EV was the fastest – you’ll be surprised by the results.

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CREDITS:
VIDEO FOOTAGE & IMAGES
Air by Lucid
Model Y Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.
Mach-E by Ford
XC40 by Volvo

[unauthac]

From experience over here in Europe, there is an absolutely massive difference between owning an EV and owning a Tesla.
There just aren’t enough EV charming stations, you most often have to wait and/or the charging speeds are slower than indicated.
However, Tesla stalls are always available, easy to use, output maximum charging rate.
They are also much more common and cheaper.

Your analysis is excellent, but the reason the Tesla isn’t first is because these factors cannot be reproduced by the system. (Wait times, availability, charging speed).

After watching other road trips in EV vs Tesla in the US, I ca. Safely say the Tesla network is much more reliable.

[jorgevieiro]

I have an ID.4 and did a similar trip, but a bit shorter one, from Austin -> Albuquerque -> Santa Fe -> Taos -> Santa Fe -> Albuquerque -> Austin and I had a very similar experience. In theory the ID.4 can go 250 miles and can charge at 125KW. However, in reality, it can only go ~200 miles (with the AC and very high temperatures in TX/NM). Also given the distribution of charging (EA) stations, and that only about 3/4 of them really work, you have to stop in at each EA stop (which currently are around 130 miles apart). To be able to use more effectively the range EA stations would have to be minimally 50 miles apart. There is stretch from El Paso TX to Albuquerque that is 266 miles, which is beyond the ID.4 range, so I had to stop for a couple of hours at Charge Point in a NM state park. However there is Tesla SuperCharger perfectly located half way in between, which unfortunately I could not yet use. So, at least for now going long distance in an EV requires careful planning and a lot of patience. BTW, very good video, it shows that you do a lot of research on what you are going to talk about and are fairly balanced in your opinions.

[hermanwooster]

There was a real roadtrip race done, but it wasn't with the Lucid Air. The Porsche Taycan won easily, but the Ioniq 5 (sister car to the EV 6) came in close 2nd place followed up by the Tesla 3 and X lastly followed by a very worn-out driver in the Mach-E. It was eye-opening to see that the Ioniq 5 and EV6 are only a fraction of the cost but can hold their own. Fast charging is a necessity.

[nealpitts]

I came to similar conclusions on my 600+ mile road trip this summer, using in-car Tesla suggested charging stops. I’d some times hit a charging stop with 40% battery, wondering when I was going to do with the rest of it 😂 charging every 130-200 miles worked out for my physical need for breaks, so no complaints there. Had I been traveling with less patient kids or adults, it might have been a different story

[benhauber]

This is what I began to discover on a several hundred mile trip last week. When I was car shopping, range was my top priority. I now realize that the combination of range and charging speed is what really matters. My range anxiety when I first purchased was VERY high, but now that I've put on a little more than 1k miles, I realize how unfounded my fears really were. If anybody reading this hasn't pulled the trigger yet because you're worried about your range vs an ICE car, you can relax. It's not the bogeyman people have made it out to be.

[Rhaman]

Hi. I have an Ioniq 5 long range RWD EV. A recent trip of 95 miles each way showed plenty of of range at over 40 miles. That’s a comfortable 200 miles at 64 mph in flat Ohio. Topography must make a huge difference as to range. Very informative comparisons and the data is excellent. Thanks.

[emilycorona]

loved this video and stats provided...this had a lot of hours put in to make this video...thank you so much for doing this for those interested in EVs and their performance to make informed decisions....I do think we will be seeing more charging stations as the demand for them increases and more switches to EVs occur

[BrianHoJazz]

Great video. Another consideration is that nobody would probably drive the full trip without stopping to sleep so destination charging would come into play and change the overall stops.

[JohnByron-lkxg]

You give the most informative information ! Thank You so much ...

[joeyferrer]

Thank you very much for this video and all of the research behind it. My next vehicle will definitely be an EV but I’ve been hard-pressed on determining which one. This really helps! My four biggest factors in my next purchase: Styling, price, performance and range (in that order). Thanks for all your content, it’s much appreciated!

[outbackigloo]

Another car to have considered would be another EV6, but with the RWD powertrain with 310 miles of EPA range.

[jeffbransky]

You said Tesla is biased toward longer charging stops. However, you can set the parameters in ABRP to have more short stops with any car. You can set the starting and arrival State of charge to reduce overall time for the trip also. Kyle Conner knows how to game the system with any car. Watch the Out of Spec Motoring channel to see how it’s done. He does mental calculations on the fly and he’s not afraid to arrive at a stop with 5% and leave with 35% depending on the charging stops displayed on the map.

[LUXGaming]

Hi Mahesh, great video as always. Very interesting stats. Keep going 👍

[ram-ckti]

Unfortunately, the maximum distance between charges is limited by the fact that the chargers are so few and far between, not because the EV does not deliver on its estimated EPA range. In other reviews of the EV6, for example, while highway speed range was below the 274 miles they were closed to 250 to 260 miles. So if chargers, like gas stations, were widely available, the EV6 would still have amazing total travel time numbers if they only need to stop for a charge at around 240 miles.
P.S. Picked up my EV6 GT-LINE AWD Aug. 10th and am learning new things about how to set it up almost everyday. It is a techie wonder. Rides much better than my 2015 Model S. which I traded. Thanks for this analysis.

[rncondie]

This is why I purchased a Toyota Rav 4 Prime plug-in with 42 miles of EV range

85% of my driving is in EV and the 15% in gasoline at 40 mpg and 5 min per fill ups.

Vacations are for relaxing. EVs on road trips are not relaxing.

[dangrass]

agree that any EV with a range of ~250 miles is more than adequate. Having done quite a bit of long distance travel in a Tesla 3 and a Chevy Bolt what becomes clear is that what really matters is efficiency, battery capacity, charge speed, and charger availability/reliability.

While cars such as the Porsche Taycan can (theoretically) charge at 270 kw, their poor efficiency effectively negates this potential advantage. It's even worse for a vehicle like a Rivian or F150 Lightning. Efficiency really matters.

As for charge speed, while all EVs must adjust speed based on fullness of the battery, there are big differences. In the case of the Bolt versus Tesla comparison, the difference is stark. While the Bolt maxes out at about 50KW, the Tesla will do 250KW. Both taper as they charge, but if you keep the Tesla in the sweet spot the charge rates are pretty impressive. On a recent trip I charged the car for 6 minutes and got 95 miles....

But the bigger issue is real world charger availability/reliability. What's missing from an ABRP virtual trip is what happens in the real world. With the Bolt (and any other non-Teslas) the biggest issue is that each charging location has maybe 4 chargers and maybe half of them actually work....this is with Electrify America. By comparison, with our Tesla we can count on a minimum of 8 stalls with all of them working. Additionally, with the Tesla we already know if stalls are available before we get to the charger, and the car is smart enough to re-route to a different charge location if that would be faster. With the Bolt it's pretty much hit and miss.

So, while the information you presented is interesting, it's not really indicative of what one would expect in the real world. In the real world efficiency is as important as charge rate, infrastructure quality is hugely important, and connectivity between the car and the charging infrastructure makes a huge difference.

As Tesla has concluded, anything more than 350 mile range is basically just bragging rights, and there is a substantial cost for those rights. I would argue that the Lucid would actually be a substantially better car if it had a 400 mile range. Vehicles like the Taycan, BMW EVs, Audi EVs, Mercedes EVs, and the current electric trucks are severely penalized in real world usability by their poor efficiency.

Interesting topic, and thanks for taking the time to do the experiment you did.

[ShawnSAW-]

Thank you for sharing your research. Good quality thoughts for someone shopping for an EV.

[Thylacine]

hi, great video. It would be gr8 to see the difference based on the speed comparison like on your previous video. As you showed there was a difference of 41% based on doing a slower speed, which means less charging stops. :)

[hippopotomonstro]

Another very interesting comparison.
I fully agree that giving a range which you cannot use more than 70% without damaging your battery is not very honest.
Just reming also that LFP batteries are allowed to be used between 10 and 100% without damaging the battery. Even more, it's advised to charge them to 100% at least once a week. On the other side, those batteries, with equivalent power, give a little short range and are less efficient when it's cold.

[skyemalcolm]

Because ABRP is such an amazing resource for EV owners and prospective EV buyers I am very happy to support their efforts by paying a yearly subscription to them. I am not affiliated with ABRP, just an avid user. Before I bought my Kia EV6 Light (small battery RWD) I used ABRP to do “what if” scenarios with several used and new EV models such as an older Model S, a new Model 3, a Chevy Bolt and others. I put in specific destinations that I valued for road tripping and compared the trip times and it was very enlightening. In my case the West Virginia CCS black hole was significant for non Teslas but it turned out that even a small battery EV6 can make that jump in ABRP theory and in reality as I have now proven to myself in real life after 3 times traveling through there this spring and summer.

Thank you for bringing this to more people’s attention and thank you for the well reasoned, high quality content that you produce. It’s always a pleasure watching your videos and I am more well-informed afterwards.