The $342 EV Road Trip
/ 3 min read
Updated:When I tell people I moved and drove my EV all the way from Charlotte, North Carolina to Seattle, Washington, the reactions are usually a mix of awe and immediate skepticism. The first two questions are almost always the same: “How many times did you have to stop to charge?” and “How long did it take?”
I put together this post to answer exactly that. But before you dive into the line-by-line data below, here is the high-level story of what a cross-country EV road trip actually looks like.
The Trip by the Numbers
Over the course of six days—leaving the evening of July 18th and rolling into Seattle on the night of July 23rd—I made 20 charging stops across 10 states.
- Total Time Spent Charging: 524 minutes (about 8 hours and 44 minutes).
- Average Stop Duration: Just over 26 minutes.
- Total Charging Cost: $342.81 (an average of $17.14 per stop).
The Rhythm of the Drive
If nearly 9 hours of charging sounds like a lot of waiting around, it helps to look at the daily breakdown. Averaging about 26 minutes per stop completely changes the rhythm of a road trip. By the time I navigated to the charger, plugged in, walked to a nearby restroom, grabbed a coffee or a snack, and stretched my legs, the car was usually ready to go before I was.
Driving through the Midwest and the vast, open stretches of North Dakota and Montana (which required six separate charging stops alone), those mandatory half-hour breaks were actually a lifesaver. Driving an EV forces you to pace yourself, breaking up the monotony and preventing the kind of highway fatigue that comes from driving a gas car until the tank is completely dry.
To cross the entire country, my total “fuel” cost was under $350—a fraction of what a moving truck or a traditional gas SUV would have cost.
If you are planning a similar route or are just curious about the pacing, here is the exact breakdown of every stop, how much energy the car took, and what it cost.
| Map ID | Location | Cost | Energy | Charge Time | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Charlotte, NC | ||||
| B | Mt. Airy, NC | $19.11 | 49 kWh | 27 min | July 18, 2024 6:33 PM |
| C | Marmet, WV | $16.38 | 42 kWh | 18 min | July 18, 2024 9:44 PM |
| D | Chillicothe, OH | $17.94 | 46 kWh | 24 min | July 19, 2024 12:44 AM |
| E | Spiceland, IN | $18.62 | 49 kWh | 28 min | July 19, 2024 3:12 AM |
| F | Merrillville, IN | $23.79 | 61 kWh | 39 min | July 19, 2024 6:54 AM |
| G | Janesville, WI | $14.82 | 39 kWh | 21 min | July 19, 2024 11:44 AM |
| H | Black River Falls, WI | $23.18 | 61 kWh | 29 min | July 20, 2024 10:09 AM |
| I | Menomonie, WI | $11.02 | 29 kWh | 21 min | July 20, 2024 12:08 PM |
| J | Alexandria, MN | $21.60 | 60 kWh | 35 min | July 20, 2024 4:05 PM |
| K | Fargo, ND | $15.12 | 42 kWh | 39 min | July 20, 2024 6:32 PM |
| L | Bismarck, ND | $13.68 | 38 kWh | 16 min | July 21, 2024 8:07 AM |
| M | Dickinson, ND | $16.92 | 47 kWh | 26 min | July 21, 2024 8:53 AM |
| N | Miles City, MT | $22.05 | 63 kWh | 34 min | July 21, 2024 11:46 AM |
| O | Billings, MT | $17.15 | 49 kWh | 25 min | July 21, 2024 2:16 PM |
| P | Big Timber, MT | $12.25 | 35 kWh | 22 min |