Check it. . .
Trying -- and kinda succeeding -- at going the distance with an electric car - CNET
In the comments there are already a few accusing the author of deliberately flubbing the trip as a means to attack electric cars. I don't believe it. I think it's a pretty fair article.
Some might say it's unfair to test the Leaf on a road trip, which is something it was never designed for and is clearly unsuited for. Then again, some might say it's helpful (at least for readers who are not EV fans) to test the best-selling BEV in this way and demonstrate that, yes, it is indeed unsuited for road trips.
Some might say it's unfair to drop a reviewer who's never driven an EV before into a Leaf and send him on a road trip. However, there are an awful lot of people who've never driven an EV and are going to be "noobs" real soon. If this is the kind of experience they're in for, somebody should take note.
Some mention of Tesla's longer-range cars and the Supercharger stations would have given the article more balance, perhaps. Even if they dismiss the Model S as too expensive, it still shows what's possible and what will become available for the masses in years to come.
The broken chargers and lack of support on weekends is a serious issue. I myself encountered my first Blink charge point here in Texas a few days ago. There were two chargers: one was indicating a "self-test failure", and both of them had screens so faded by the sun that they were just barely readable at all. Luckily I was there in the Jeep instead of my Roadster needing a charge!
Here's a bit of irony. . . Here in rural Texas there are effectively no charging stations. What every little town has is at least one (often multiple) RV park, city park or state park with 50-amp RV hookups. There's really not much that can go wrong with a RV hookup.
Trying -- and kinda succeeding -- at going the distance with an electric car - CNET
In the comments there are already a few accusing the author of deliberately flubbing the trip as a means to attack electric cars. I don't believe it. I think it's a pretty fair article.
Some might say it's unfair to test the Leaf on a road trip, which is something it was never designed for and is clearly unsuited for. Then again, some might say it's helpful (at least for readers who are not EV fans) to test the best-selling BEV in this way and demonstrate that, yes, it is indeed unsuited for road trips.
Some might say it's unfair to drop a reviewer who's never driven an EV before into a Leaf and send him on a road trip. However, there are an awful lot of people who've never driven an EV and are going to be "noobs" real soon. If this is the kind of experience they're in for, somebody should take note.
Some mention of Tesla's longer-range cars and the Supercharger stations would have given the article more balance, perhaps. Even if they dismiss the Model S as too expensive, it still shows what's possible and what will become available for the masses in years to come.
The broken chargers and lack of support on weekends is a serious issue. I myself encountered my first Blink charge point here in Texas a few days ago. There were two chargers: one was indicating a "self-test failure", and both of them had screens so faded by the sun that they were just barely readable at all. Luckily I was there in the Jeep instead of my Roadster needing a charge!
Here's a bit of irony. . . Here in rural Texas there are effectively no charging stations. What every little town has is at least one (often multiple) RV park, city park or state park with 50-amp RV hookups. There's really not much that can go wrong with a RV hookup.
