Having owned an EV now for
Having owned an EV now for over 10 years the author makes some good points. EVs are not the most practical vehicles for long trips in a hurry.
If you only have one vehicle and you do not have access to home charging Plug in hybrids or e85 vehicles are your best bet. Before switching to all electric vehicles 7 years ago we averaged 68mpg in our 2012 Plug in Prius. It had a 12 mile electric range and my wife used it for commuting and we used it for long trips. We also had a EV we could do all our local commuting in.
EVs are outstanding commuter vehicles and second family vehicles. If you can charge at home you never have to F*** with gas pumps and gas pump diseases, panhandlers, oil changes, and waiting 10 minutes for heat in the winter time. Most all new EVs have instantaneous heat, heated seats and steering wheels. I'm always impressed with how hot my wife's Leaf is in winter.
Regarding range. Consumers need to find an EV that has twice the range of your daily commute. You need extra range for heat, AC, headwinds, rough roads, rainy weather, and extra errands just like gas cars.
In winter in snow country it doesn't matter what kind of car you have when travelling, you need a sleeping bag and some granola bars just in cast. 50 years ago I used to commute between Denver and Grand Junction about ten times a month for work one winter. I never left home in Denver without being prepared. I wouldn't hesitate to go anywhere in my wife's 225 mile range EV in winter. We just finished a trip a few months ago to 18 National Parks and 11,000 miles travelling. EV travel is much easier now than 3 years ago when we did a 15 National Park trip. There are over 7000 combined Chademo/CCS quick charger locations, about 1200 Tesla Supercharger locations, and thousands of RV campgrounds we can stay and charge overnight.
If your family has more than one car you are wasting a lot of money and fun and adventure if one of those vehicles isn't electric. Remember, twice the range of your daily commute, that allows for spare range and it doesn't stress the batteries. For example, my EV is over 10 years old and it had a 75mile range when new. My commute before retiring 3 years ago was 36 miles. My EV still has 65 miles range or 85% battery capacity. It has literally saved 90,000 miles on my expensive 4x4 crew cab and saved me thousands upon thousands upon thousands of dollars not pumping 28 gallons into that beast every week.
EVs are great commuter cars so much better than gas cars, only takes 2 seconds to plug it in and the next day it is ready to go.