Electric vehicles have come a long way in terms of design, performance, and everyday usability. Around town they make perfect sense, offering instant torque, quiet rides, and the convenience of home charging. But when the journey stretches across hundreds of miles of highway, the cracks begin to show. Long distance driving exposes the very real limitations of EVs, and despite the hype, they are still far behind gas powered cars when it comes to road trip practicality. Here are eight reasons why electric cars remain a poor choice for long distance travel, along with some real world context from drivers who have tried to make the most of them.
Limited Range Anxiety
On paper, many EVs now boast ranges over 300 miles, but those figures are best case scenarios. Real world conditions paint a less optimistic picture. Drive a Tesla Model Y across Montana in winter, and that range can plummet to under 200 miles due to cold temperatures sapping the battery. A Ford F 150 Lightning towing a small trailer can see its range cut in half, forcing a stop every 100 miles. While a gasoline car can be driven confidently without much thought about where the next fuel station is, EV owners on long trips are glued to the range meter, constantly recalculating whether they will make it to the next charger. That constant low level worry takes away from the enjoyment of a road trip.
Charging Times Are Long
The biggest headache of long EV drives is the time it takes to recharge. Filling a gas tank takes five minutes, but even the fastest chargers require 30 to 45 minutes to bring a battery close to full. Tesla owners making cross country runs across the United States have often noted that they spend more time waiting at Superchargers than they expected. Rivian drivers have shared similar stories of arriving at a charger low on power only to sit through a 40 minute top up before being able to continue. Multiply that by several stops on a full day’s drive, and a trip that should have taken ten hours in a gas powered car easily stretches into twelve or more.
Charging Stations Aren’t Everywhere
Infrastructure is improving in major cities and along well traveled routes, but the gaps remain obvious once you step off the beaten path. Try driving across rural Canada or through the northern Great Plains in the U.S., and you will quickly discover long stretches of road with no chargers at all. A family road tripping in a Hyundai Ioniq 5 from Toronto to northern Ontario recounted having to carefully map every stop and in some cases detour dozens of miles out of the way just to find a functioning charger. A gas car, by contrast, can roll into almost any small town and find a pump within minutes. That convenience gap makes long distance EV travel far less carefree.
Inconsistent Charging Networks
Not all charging stations are created equal, and this inconsistency becomes painfully obvious on long trips. Some fast chargers deliver the promised 250 kW speeds, while others limp along at half that rate or less. Worse yet, some are simply broken. Drivers recount pulling into a station only to find every charger offline, leaving them scrambling for an alternative with a nearly empty battery. To add insult to injury, different networks require different apps or accounts, adding confusion and wasted time. Gasoline stations, by comparison, are standardized and universally usable. This patchwork of charging networks adds layers of stress to long EV journeys.
Reduced Range with Cargo or Towing
Many families hitting the road for a long trip load their cars with luggage or even tow small campers or trailers. EVs handle the added weight poorly compared to gas powered cars. Owners of Ford F 150 Lightnings have reported range dropping by 50 percent or more when towing modest loads, forcing them to stop every 100 miles for a recharge. A road trip with a boat or camper that would be effortless in a diesel truck turns into a frustrating exercise in planning with an EV. Even without towing, simply filling the trunk and loading up passengers can noticeably reduce range, making every mile feel like it needs to be calculated in advance.
Climate Control Drains the Battery
Long trips often mean crossing regions with extreme weather, and here EVs suffer another disadvantage. Running the heater in freezing conditions or blasting the air conditioning on a hot summer day draws heavily from the battery. Drivers in Minnesota have reported losing up to 30 percent of their Tesla’s rated range during deep winter road trips. In Nevada, summer highway drives in a Polestar 2 showed noticeable drops in available miles when the air conditioning was running full blast. In a gasoline car, heating and cooling are essentially free byproducts of the engine, but in an EV they take a serious bite out of your distance.
Higher Costs on the Road
At home, charging an EV overnight is cheap and convenient, often costing pennies per mile compared to gasoline. On the road, however, the story changes. Fast charging is far more expensive, sometimes nearing the same cost per mile as a fuel efficient gas sedan. On top of that, you are paying in time as well as money, since each charging stop adds 30 to 45 minutes of waiting. A family driving a Mustang Mach E from Chicago to Florida discovered that by the time they paid for multiple fast charging stops, their fuel costs were on par with a Toyota Camry making the same trip—except the Camry did it faster with less planning.
Unpredictable Real World Conditions
Paper specifications rarely match reality on the open road. Headwinds, steep climbs, or even heavy rain can dramatically reduce an EV’s efficiency. A Tesla Model S making the climb through the Rocky Mountains may see its predicted range cut by a third. Drivers heading across the windy plains of Kansas often note that their range calculations fluctuate wildly, leaving them less confident about reaching their next stop. While gas powered cars also see mileage affected by terrain and weather, the difference is minor compared to the massive swings in range an EV can experience. This unpredictability adds one more layer of stress to long trips where smooth progress should be the goal.
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