15 hours for 286 kilometres: E-car driver experiences terrible trip

A man in the USA switched from a combustion engine to an e-car - and was severely disappointed right from the start. On a planned road trip, it took him 15 hours to cover a distance that normally takes two hours.

Alan O'Hashi from Colorado decided to buy his first e-car in April: a Nissan Leaf. In May, he wanted to take his new car on a road trip of about 4,200 kilometres through Wyoming. But right at the beginning of the trip, the newly minted e-car owner got a nasty surprise. It took him no less than 15 hours to cover the first 286 kilometres. In an interview with the American news channel Fox Business, O'Hashi explained how this happened.

According to his account, there were two reasons for the long journey. Firstly, O'Hashi admits to his own mistakes, and secondly, it was probably due to the lack of charging infrastructure. The driver had already read up on the car and the route in advance and had done some research. However, at that time he still lacked practical experience with e-cars. So he relied on the charging information he had heard so far. In reality, however, charging took much longer than he had initially assumed. And the charging infrastructure left a lot to be desired.

The failed road trip seemed to be a drastic experience for O'Hashi. A short time later, he wrote a book about his experiences: "On the Trail: Electrical Vehicle Anxiety". In it, he draws attention to the current limitations of the charging infrastructure and the possibilities in the future. O'Hashi is certain that his journey would not have been nearly as nerve-wracking with a more expensive vehicle. However, he could not afford another car. Because Nissan Leafs are available in Germany for 33,400 euros.

Rachel Wolfe from the Wall Street Journal had a similar problem. She planned a road trip from New Orleans to Chicago and rented a new Kia EV6. According to the range of just over 500 kilometres, she drew up a detailed plan for the route. She calculated a daily driving time of about seven hours plus one or two charging stops. During the overnight stay, she then wanted to charge the Kia at night in the hotel and start the next day with a full e-car.

But after the four-day trip, Wolfe draws a not-so-positive conclusion. In her case, too, charging took much longer than planned. Some fast chargers, which should generally have a minimum power of 24 kW, only managed 20 kW.

According to Fox Business, neither O'Hashi nor Wolfe find the idea of taking another long-distance trip with an e-vehicle particularly enticing.