The Myth: EVs Are Stuck in the City

Many of you who know me also know how much I love my electric vehicle (EV). It is my daily driver, and I use it for all the same activities I used to use my internal combustion engine (ICE) car, such as picking up my son from school, going to the grocery store, making trips across town, etc. So, it baffles me when I hear people say, “EV’s are great, but you can really only use them in the city.” In my experience, this claim does not hold up. The reality is EVs are not stuck in the city.

There is a misguided perception of what EVs are capable of, and an exaggeration of their shortcomings. Electric vehicles face the same dilemma as ICE vehicles. If you run out of gas, you need a station to refuel. The same is true for an EV - just replace “gas” with “electricity” and “refuel” with “recharge.” The biggest naysayers to this claim will bring up cold weather.

ICE fans have always claimed that cold weather is the EV killer. They are not wrong that cold weather does affect EV range. For instance, a study by dashcam company Geotab found that at 5 degrees Fahrenheit EVs drop to 54% of their rated range, meaning a car that is rated for 250 miles will only get on average 135 miles. Even in this extreme circumstance, 135 miles is plenty for your average driver.

To put this in perspective, the average ICE car gets about 300 miles out of a full tank. According to the United States Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, the average person drove 14,263 miles per year in 2019. That’s roughly 1,200 miles per month per driver or about 39 miles per day. Using the Tesla Model Y as the example, which is the highest-selling EV according to Car and Driver , an EV owner would only need to recharge to a full tank once a week, which is roughly equivalent to how often your average ICE vehicle fills up with gasoline.

The real issue is one of perception, rather than technology. This perception is fueled by maps of EV charging stations, such as the one below from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics .

Currently, EV charging stations are clustered around cities because that is where the demand is. For for-profit businesses like Electrify America, Volta Charging, or EVgo, it is not lucrative to install charging stations where EV adoption is low. However, it is my strong belief that this will change shortly, and you will start to see a shift with an increase in suburban and rural EV ownership. 

A solid indication of this trend is the launch of the new 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning, an EV truck with an EPA-estimated 300-mile range, 10,000 lbs. towing capacity, ample storage space, lower lifetime maintenance costs, and priced lower than many new trucks.  The F-150 Lightning is the first EV targeted at those blank spaces on the map, and it will set the tone for future EV adoption.

Mass EV adoption is coming. It is not a question of if, but a question of when. Consequently, we must invest in the smartest and safest EV charging infrastructure if we are going to meet this growing demand.