road trips
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Wiebe Wakker took one very long drive in an electric car—for a total of 1119 days, covering 59,000 miles and traversing portions of 33 countries on the way from the Netherlands to Australia. It was, by just about any standard, an epic road trip. Wakker reached Sydney last Sunday, April 7, and was welcomed with a parade of EVs, across the Harbour Bridge, through the city, to the Royal Botanic Garden. He claims to have made the trip “without money”—with the fuel for his trip revolving around the goodwill of electric-vehicle fans and people along the way, as he aimed...
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Mountain hardware: Testing the 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV on a high-country day trip
Colorado, which is taking steps to adopt California’s EV mandate, has always had a different wildcard factor affecting road trips: altitude. The state has the highest portions of the Interstate highway system, including routes spanning past 11,000 feet and varying several thousand feet. Even...
Andrew Ganz -
Driving a converted electric car from Holland to Australia, relying on gifts
What do you do when the year you planned for your round-the-world trip in an electric car turns into two—and you still haven't reached your destination? If you're taking such an ambitious trip, it helps to have a name as whimsical as Wiebe Wakker. He's the Dutchman undertaking this adventure...
Eric C. Evarts -
Why I traded my Chevy Bolt EV for a Tesla: one reader's story
As a nation, the U.S. takes lots of road trips, because most of the country has no viable mass transit between city pairs. If electric cars are ever to enter the mass market in North America, they have to be usable on those road trips. Last year, our reader Jay Lucas of Alexandria, Virginia, wrote...
John Voelcker -
2018 Nissan Leaf electric car: four-day winter road-trip review
The first generation of mass-priced electric cars with ranges of 60 to 90 miles simply didn't have enough range to be used outside predictable daily commute duties and local errands around town. Sure, four-fifths of vehicles in the U.S. cover less than 40 miles a day—but that other fifth...
John Voelcker -
Self-driving Tesla to make LA to NYC trip this year, Musk says, without lidar
In June 2013, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced he would drive a Tesla Model S electric car across the U.S. to show off the company's new Supercharger fast-charging network. Indeed, two Tesla Model S sedans successfully completed the run from Los Angeles to New York City in February 2014. Last year...
John Voelcker -
One of the reasons I traded in my 2013 Tesla Model S 85 last summer for a new Model S 100D was to get extra range. The newer car’s 100-kilowatt-hour battery gives it an EPA-rated range of 335 miles—70 miles more than the old car’s rating of 265 miles. Over four-plus years and 76,000 miles of driving, the 85-kwh battery in my first car had lost about 7 percent of its capacity, eroding my actual range to about 245 miles. DON'T MISS: Life with Tesla Model S: assessing my new 100D vs old 2013 electric car Moreover, the new car would have Tesla’s Navigation app, which not...
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Note to (a few) electric-car advocates: get off your high horses
Any movement produces passionate advocates and angry detractors, even as the vast mass of people pay it little or no attention. When that movement involves most people's second most-expensive purchase, and plays a role in reducing manmade carbon emissions to alleviate the worst effects of climate...
John Voelcker -
Electric-car road trip: lessons learned in Chevy Bolt EV over 1,300 miles
Launched in December, the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV is the first mass-priced electric car to go on sale with a rated range of more than 200 miles: 238 miles combined, according to the EPA. Most owners use their Bolt EVs for daily commuting and trips, just like any other car. But road trips are an...
John Voelcker -
Driving a Chevy Bolt EV electric car across Canada, all the way
To celebrate Canada's 150th birthday, Barb Hetherington and Buddy Boyd embarked on their maiden voyage to prove electric car travel is feasible in a very large country with some very sparsely populated areas. With a 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV as their chariot, and their dog Piper for company, the...
Sean Szymkowski -
Driving a Chevy Bolt EV electric car halfway across the U.S.: what it takes
How badly do you want a new, affordable, long-range electric car? Badly enough to drive it more than 800 miles without a unified fast-charging infrastructure? That's exactly what Bill Massmann, a professional land surveyor in St. Louis, Missouri, did to become the proud owner of a new 2017...
John Voelcker -
Chevy Bolt EV: 800-mile trip in 238-mile electric car shows challenges remain
With about twice the range of any non-Tesla electric car, the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV has generated a great deal of excitement and won numerous awards over the last year. In combination with a nascent DC fast-charging infrastructure, it offers the possibility of much longer road trips powered solely...
John Voelcker -
In September, Chevy scored quite a publicity coup for its Bolt EV long-range electric car. The car's chief engineer, Josh Tavel, took a pre-production 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV to show Steve Wozniak, cofounder of Apple Computers—universally known as "Woz." He's a big electric car fan, and had driven a Tesla Model S since he picked one up his first one in October 2013. DON'T MISS: Apple's Woz likes Chevy Bolt EV better than Tesla Model 3, he says Woz seemed quite impressed after Tavel gave him a ride. "I expect to be switching cars soon," he wrote on Facebook, posting a photo of himself...
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Nissan Leaf electric car on scenic coastal, rural drives in Europe: video
Nissan takes its Leaf electric car on a European tour.
Stephen Edelstein -
Tesla 3,300-mile Australian camping trip, sans Superchargers
An Australian couple traverses 3,300 miles in a Tesla Model S.
Stephen Edelstein -
2017 Hyundai Elantra Eco gas mileage road-trip report
Road trips are an integral part of the American myth, with writers from de Toqueville to Jack Kerouac setting out to experience the variety and beauty of the huge country. Vehicle launch events, on the other hand, are heavily scripted—with pre-set drive routes often designed to highlight a...
John Voelcker -
Autopilot drives Tesla Model S Electric Car Coast-To-Coast (More Or Less)
A team takes an Autopilot-equipped Tesla Model S on a cross-country drive.
Stephen Edelstein -
Electric-Car Driver To Plant Trees In 48 States On Cross-Country Trip
A Nissan Leaf owner plans to drive across 48 states in support of National Drive Electric Week.
Stephen Edelstein -
Neste sends a car across the U.S. with just one tank of its renewable diesel.
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Tesla Supercharger Network Growth Surges Over Last 14 Months
One of the main advantages of the Tesla Model S is its relative freedom from “range anxiety,” at least in the 85-kilowatt-hour battery pack of the higher-end versions. Rated by the EPA at 265 miles, that range compares to ratings of 62 to about 90 miles in less expensive plug-in...
George Parrott -
Tesla Model S Cross-Country Trip, Without (Many) Superchargers: Days 8-10
After seven days of traveling cross-country in my Tesla Model S electric car--including routes without Supercharger DC fast-charging sites--I had made it as far as Texas. The trip demanded both forward planning and considerable thought toward contingencies, should conditions not permit the Tesla to...
David Noland -
Tesla Model S Cross-Country Trip, Without (Many) Superchargers: Days 4-7
A cross-country road trip in a Tesla Model S electric car requires a fair amount of forward planning and contingency research. Still, I made it from New York's cold, snowy Hudson Valley into the warm, humid climes of Alabama in my first three days--as I wrote about yesterday. Then, waking up on Day...
David Noland -
Tesla Model S Cross-Country Trip, Without (Many) Superchargers: Days 1-3
With our daughter off to college, my wife and I recently became empty-nesters. Suddenly, there was no more reason to endure the wretched winters in New York’s Hudson Valley. California, here we come: We rented a cottage for February and March in the small beach town of Carpinteria, an hour...
David Noland -
BMW i3 REx: Road-Tripping With 72 Electric Miles, 1.9-Gallon Gas Tank
An owner takes his range-extended electric car on a 462-mile road trip.
Stephen Edelstein