Driving Cross Country in a Non-Tesla Electric Vehicle is Not Pleasant

And it should be.

I want to tell you that it is time for you to buy an electric vehicle and that it doesn’t have to be a Tesla. I want to tell you that you have many choices of vehicles that are ready to take you across the country without using an ounce of gasoline. I want to tell you that America’s electric vehicle charging network is ready for whatever kind of electric vehicle you buy. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you any of those things.

I’m on my first long electric vehicle road trip from Virginia to Michigan this weekend, and I knew it was going to be different. But I thought it would be a little easier.

I am optimistic about the future because of President Biden’s infrastructure plan that includes 500,000 new electric vehicle chargers. But the present reality is worse than I thought. 500,000 electric vehicle chargers is just a number. That has little to do with some of the struggles of the current charging network.

Here are 5 things I’ve noticed in just 2 days driving across the country from Virginia to Michigan in an electric vehicle:

1. Not all chargers are created equal.

And even if they were created equal, they would then deteriorate unevenly. They are…