How will an EV do in the vast, sparsely-populated western US, compared to a conventional gasoline ICE vehicle? Consider only
time to travel (ignoring
cost to recharge vs refuel). After all, time is money, right?
Suppose I want to drive from my home in Reno, Nevada to my mother's home in Lewiston, Idaho. Using possibly the most popular "EV route planner" web site (ABetterRoutePlanner.com) for the Tesla Model 3 Long Range's trip, and Google Maps for a generic vehicle (my Tacoma), both pick the fastest route (assuming speed limits are observed.)
The EV route includes time to recharge, while Google does not, so assuming two gasoline stops of ten minutes each (with a quick visit to the lavatory) we can add, say, 22 minutes (not a random figure, as we'll see) to the ICE trip. Here's how the 705-mile EV route (on the left) compares to the 664-mile route my Tacoma (on the right) could do (adding the 22 minutes):
Tesla: 13h 9m
Taco: 11h 9m (10h 47m + 22m)
That's
exactly 2 hours longer in the Tesla (and why I chose 22 minutes for refueling.)
But wait: Notice the Tesla trip assumes letting the battery drain down to only a 10% charge (in Hines, OR) and 13% (in Pendleton, OR). Yikes! To avoid that precarious situation in sparsely populated E. Oregon, you'd need to spend
additional time charging in Alturas and/or Hines, where each recharge was aborted at only 73% and 74% respectively. When on a road trip in an ICE, you top off, you don't just add enough fuel to get you to the next gas station! You want a safety reserve at all times.
Also, the battery recharge schedule assumes optimal ambient conditions, and
not having to use the cabin heat or A/C. These
significantly affect EV range, but only minimally affect ICE vehicle range and refuel time.
Finally, arriving in Lewiston the battery is down to only 15% (not shown below) so even
more time should be spent charging in Pendleton (
not stopping at 57% charge) to have a
larger reserve upon arrival. These EV scenarios always omit the time required at the
destination to build up enough charge to actually drive around there! For an apples-to-apples comparison, we really should add a destination recharge to the end-to-end ET, since a gas vehicle is likely to have enough gas in the tank to drive around a couple of days. In my case I'm refilling in Payette, Idaho, and will have about half a tank when I arrive in Lewiston. In fact, I won't need to add fuel for the entire week I'm there.
Notice if I'd driven the
same route the Tesla had to take (for access to charge stations!) it'd taken me only 12h 16m (plus 22m refuel time) equals 12h 28m vs Tesla's 13h 9m.

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