Ned/KFMW
Around this time every year, my friend Kyle and travel on our annual trip to Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio….cause roller coasters are fun.
Last year, you may remember I wrote about my trip to Ohio and driving there in a rented Tesla Model Y Long Range EV, which if you missed that? You can read that all RIGHT HERE.
This year we went back and forth, do we rent another car to make this trip again? Considering we are both trying to preserve our cars from wear and tear, we decided to have another bout of fun and rent an EV….but this time, we tried something different….we rented a non-Tesla EV to try something new! Tesla is still the leader in this country for Electric Vehicles, so we decided let’s try and see what the others are providing like Ford, Hyundai, etc. So this time we decided to rent though Avis….I will mention, we had to rent in Grand Rapids, MI (where Kyle lives) as around here in Iowa don’t seem to have EV’s as an option for some reason, maybe market size or something. Hertz does rent EV’s from their locations in Iowa, but man….their prices have shot up for some reason and I just couldn’t justify that cost.
So Kyle reserved us an EV to drive from Michigan to Ohio and we ended up with a Hyundai Ioniq 5. This thing was roomy as all hell and very sleek….unlike Tesla where everything is just controlled on a screen, the Ioniq was more like your standard vehicle….with buttons, dashboard, and a more familiar experience and just easier to operate overall. Tesla required a bit of a learning curve when you drive one, but this Hyundai lets just say ‘made more sense.’
Now what is the BIGGEST difference in Tesla VS Standard EV? Charging! This car used a J1172 charger and had CCS. The J-Charger is basically anything that is not Tesla charger…so no, we could not use the Tesla superchargers to charge the vehicle unless those Tesla places HAD a Magic Dock…but then that becomes a convoluted and confusing issue that required signing up for an account and I’m just renting the damn thing….so no. But what is J1172 and CCS? The CCS is the equivalent of a Supercharger, allowing you to quickly charge at compatible stations….so if you’re on the go or road tripping? Plug into CCS….if you’re sitting for awhile? Plus into just a J1172…pretty simple, and many times are free.
Now here’s the biggest difference….Tesla you type in your trip on the dashboard and it will PLAN out your charges and you’re done! This one? Not the case…you need to look for chargers and plan your trip….now before you freak out….it’s much easier than you think….there’s a free app named PlugShare that all EV users use and is basically REQUIRED if you’re gonna have a J1172 EV. Type in your route, and it will highlight compatible chargers with your EV and just choose where to go. I actually had a bit of fun with this app as it was unique to find them. You can also get updates if the charger is working, how to work it, and how well it’s working.
Here is where it got a little hairy…we reserved a Tesla through Avis right? BUT…there is a chance you could get something that is NOT a Tesla, which are 2 VERY different vehicles. So before you even think about renting an EV? Do your research cause you never know what you might get, which is exactly happened to us. However, since it happened to me previously? I was able to take the time to research and understand how a non-Tesla EV chargers works. But if you go into it THINKING you’re getting a Tesla and get say a Chevy Bolt unexpectedly? Be prepared.
The range on it was roughly around 230 miles per full charge at 80% (the peak performance for the battery), which required one charge to Ohio. Pulled it up on the app, found our charger and away we went….but there was a slight problem. To use the charger, you need to do the RFID chip in your credit card to activate it, which was fine….but over time, the protective screen over the touch screen had been damaged resulting in us REALLY trying to get the dumb thing to work! It eventually did…..but what if it didn’t? The hell was I supposed to do? I can see where the complaints come from with these or they need to figure out a different interface. Now, if I HAD THE APP…it’s not an issue, but I rented a car, I’m not signing up for apps and accounts I don’t need in the future…so these chargers REALLY streamline the experience if you have the app.
When we took air conditioning breaks cause it was a sweltering 98 degrees at the theme park, there was little to NO battery reduction which people fear a lot when it comes to EV’s…it’s the driving that eats your battery, not really the internal stuff we discovered.
On the way back home, we charged at a dealership and that was the best…it was $10 for as long as you wanted to charge! Think about filling up your entire gas tank for $10! That was epic...then we discovered something interesting. What if someone else is on the same charging line as you? This is where I can get a little peeved at this ‘charging’ thing….
The higher the kilowatt limit? The faster the charging! Unless, someone else is charging too….one charger over was a Ford Mach-E doing their charge, so we plugged in where you are supposed to get 120KW, but because there was 2 of us charging? We got a MEASLY 30KW with an estimate of 1 hour to charge…..W……T…..H……THIS is where Tesla strives, cause even though it may slow a little on a Tesla Supercharger, it’s barely noticeable…but here? That’s insane…THEN when that guy was done, we shot up to 120KW and were done in 10 minutes.
Basically if you are in a rush and someone else is charging at the same time? Yea….and you can’t really PLAN ahead for that cause people gotta charge right? I feel like this is something that I hope is rectified down the line, or at least reduce the price per kilowatt if someone else is charging to rectify the cost.
In conclusion…
We both own gas vehicles and have no plans to ditch our gas cars anytime soon, but this experience is really having me re-evaluate my desire for my next car. I really enjoy driving an EV, I like having to stop to charge the car, I like idea of charging my car overnight in my garage, I enjoyed finding charging stations on our route, I like the adaptive cruise control that they offer….my previous blog I did I said that it was not for me, but after driving a different type of EV…I’m pretty sold on them.
As I have had to explain hundreds of times before….I don’t care about the politics about them. The moment you mention an EV online, you’ll get a barrage of negativity and I’m ruining the environment or whatever. The next concern is having to replace the battery at $15,000 or so? As EV’s get older and you understand how to care for your vehicle and battery, batteries are being reported on lasting over 250,000 miles and more. Like any kind of car, gas, hybrid, EV…if you take care of it, it’ll last. Like anything though, there is always going to be exceptions.
The way I see it, I like the technology and the ability to plug in my car….like Marge Simpson said about the potato….”I just think they’re neat.”
