The Nissan LEAF was fun to drive :-) -- but the Chevy Bolt (right) is a complete joy to drive. [Photo by Christof Demont-Heinrich]

Lack of fast charging in much of U.S. makes long-distance electric car travel challenging

There is not a single fast-charger for electric vehicles like my Chevy Bolt along a 511-mile stretch of major interstate highway between Denver, Colo. and Fillmore, Utah.

blog logoI wish that not all CCS/Level 3/”Fast” electric vehicle chargers were in metro areas, especially out here in the American West. I just decided not to drive my Chevy Bolt from Denver to my sister’s in Goleta, Calif. (1,200 miles one way) for Christmas because there is not a SINGLE CCS charger along I-70/I-15 between Denver and Fillmore, Utah, 511 miles west of Denver.

My 2017 Chevy Bolt has 238 miles of range — more than enough to make it a great car for long-distance travel — IF there were an adequate fast-charging infrastructure in place in the USA, which there is NOT. At least not in much of the American West and Midwest.

I would have had to charge seven to eight hours in Rifle, Colo., 190 miles west of Denver — after a four-hour drive to get to Rifle — and then go another four hours to Green River, Utah, where there is an KOA Camping Area with Level 2 charging — and do all of this, which would have taken up to 18 hours, on the same day with my two daughters, 12 and 11, in the car.

This, in order to have any chance of making it from Denver to Goleta in three days and two nights, which is already one day, and one night, longer than the average driver would do this 1,200 mile drive in a gasoline car.



All it would take is two CCS chargers along those 511 miles and we’d be good (Tesla has 4 Supercharging Stations along that 511 mile stretch).

But, no, CCS charging is all going into urban areas, where, frankly, I have no need for CCS. That’s because I, like virtually all EV owners, charge at night at home. It’s when I’m NOT home and I’m on the road that I need CCS.

Why don’t the “big name” EV charging companies understand/see this?

It’s not rocket science — mirror the Tesla Supercharging stations by putting up CCS across the street, and we’re good to go šŸ™‚

C’mon EVgo, Chargepoint, etc.Ā  — let’s get a long-distance highway CCS infrastructure out there — now!