Road Tripping and Overcoming EV Range Anxiety

With electric vehicles inching closer and closer to price parity with gas-powered and hybrid vehicles, interest in EVs has skyrocketed. However, many prospective buyers — and even current EV owners — are hesitant to go fully electric. Instead, many are opting to keep at least one gas-powered vehicle in their personal fleet. In fact, CDK found that nearly seven out of 10 EV owners say they’ll always own a gas or hybrid along with their EV, and 23% said it was the range issue specifically for long-distance trips that’s preventing them from going all in on electrics.

According to CDK data, the average EVs on the road today offers between 250 to 300 miles of driving range — enough to drive two to three hours down the road. Many models, such as the Chevrolet Silverado EV and Rivian R1T, offer ranges that exceed 400 miles.

Road-tripping with an EV is different than road-tripping with a gas-powered vehicle, and salespeople shouldn’t shy away from this fact. But there’s data that shows the road trip is becoming easier for EV owners, which can help dealer staff answer one simple question:

Are EVs Good for a Road Trip?

It's true that some early EV drivers faced frustration when road-tripping, but those stories aren't necessarily applicable today. CDK found that 45% of EV owners faced no challenges at all while road-tripping.

Yes, that leaves a majority still running into something. And the main thing holding them up is busy charging stations with 26% saying they were occupied, leaving them to wait for a spot.

Yet, infrastructure and EV charging networks have grown significantly. More than 60,000 charging stations with more than 200,000 ports are now available across the U.S., and thousands are being added monthly. J.D. Power recently reported that charging experiences improved last year, breaking a negative trendline.

Apps like PlugShare, ChargePoint or Electrify America can help demonstrate how many charging stations exist along a corridor from your city to popular vacation destinations. And many will tell you how many chargers are available or occupied.

EV Planning Apps Help Simplify Road Tripping

Many EV buyers have little to no experience with EVs, and while they may have researched the vehicle or charging options, they likely haven't taken a deep dive into finding apps and services that will make EV ownership easier. Salespeople can show shoppers how to use both the car’s native built-in navigation system and apps like A Better Route Planner, which factor in range, real-time traffic, current battery level, and the availability of fast chargers to plan optimal routes.

There are also services that generate “range maps,” which show how far each specific EV model or even used EVs, based on their current battery health, can travel. 

Fast-Charging Capabilities

Charging times vary depending on the vehicle, charger type and battery levels, but many customers overestimate the inconvenience. Modern EVs with fast-charging capabilities can often add 150 to 200 miles of range in just 15 to 20 minutes — roughly the same time it takes to use a restroom, grab a coffee, and stretch your legs. 

This is still a fundamental difference between filling up with gas and charging an EV, however.

While our study found that many EV owners said their road trips take about the same or less amount of time as they did with a gas-powered vehicle, 37% said it did add 30 minutes to an hour onto their journey.

A road-trip mindset may need to be implemented that makes use of this downtime more in the planning stages so these charges come with planned meal breaks or even sightseeing destinations. And EV owners should always check to see if their hotel or rental has overnight charging options.

Reduce EV Range Anxiety in the Needs Assessment

Many buyers may be overstating how often they take long road trips, just like they do with towing requirements, but it's still an important consideration to overcome. By simply asking how far and how often an EV shopper travels, you could break down hesitation to the powertrain entirely.

The average EV owner only takes two trips per year that exceed 200 miles one way according to our study. Asking these simple questions, along with local knowledge of popular road-trip destinations, makes it possible to show them that their favorite routes are already well-equipped with charging stations.

Bring the EV road-trip experience down to a personal frame of reference to help consumers understand that the all-American road trip can be electric.