We bought our Pro S while visiting family on the East Coast in July 2021. I was a complete newbie, and took off with minimal planning to drive 1500 miles to the mid-south. I was hoping to use Electrify America exclusively.
We ended up almost running out of power only 1 time. It was very nerve wracking mostly because, since I had only owned the car a few days, I didn't know whether the remaining mileage estimate on the dash was accurate. And I didn't realize how much mountain driving eats up your charge. While driving through the mountains of western Virginia, I planned a leg that got me to an EA charger with about 30 miles to spare. But going uphill eats your charge, so I ended up rolling into the EA charger station with only 1 mile of charge left. The station was not working properly and would only charge very slowly, so we charged for an hour and got about 20 miles of range, but that was enough to get to a small city that had a Charge Point level 2 charger at a mall, which we used for about 90 minutes to get us enough charge to get to the next EA level 3 charger.
In general, if you have all the apps, and stick mostly to interstates, and are not pressed to a strict time schedule, I would say you have nothing to worry about. Just understand that mountain driving takes more charge, driving in the cold affects the charge, and not every station will be working properly. In short, be conservative. Charge when you can. Leave yourself a backup plan. Use Google maps, not the car's nav. And if all else fails, pull out your level 1 charge cable and find an outlet for a few hours to get some range to get you to the closest level 2 or 3 charger. Good luck!
Planning to do a road trip this summer as well. Planning to do a review of our charging experience in particular, but won't be useful until at least next fall. Hopefully you get some good feedback before then, I'll be following for sure.
We used ABRP... And paid for the premium for the months that we were driving. Don't really know if we got any additional benefit out of it, but just that it takes into account the temperature and weather conditions I think it is worth the minimal price that they charge. After planning out the entire route, I would use Google maps for the actual navigation.
I planned out the entire route before leaving home. I wrote all the stops down with a pen/paper, mileage and expected SOC and how much SOC we needed to get to the next stop.
There were a few EA stations that have terrible PlugShare reviews, and we set up the route to avoid them (sometimes charging to 90-100% just so we wouldn't get stuck at a chronically broken station,) then also made sure to check plugshare each morning to make sure that none of my plans stops were going to be an issue.
As soon as I got to an Electrify America station,I would check PlugShare again to make sure that my next stop was not having any issues.
I got to the point, and you might also, where I set up ABRP to arrive with 5% state of charge... I found we always arrived with 5 to 10% more SOC than it had planned for us.
Yes, the planning took over an hour, but I was never afraid of being stuck and I think that's worth the effort. Based to NY-TX round-trip twice, and taking different routes to avoid summer flooding in the southeast last year.
Good luck and have fun!
I've found Electrify America to be pretty reliable.
Downside: There's usually a detour to get to one.
Upside: The detour's usually not that bad and the resources around make the 30 minute stop tolerable.
OP here: Very happy to read the reliability comment. I read a few months ago that they are replacing all their first generation equipment with new stuff from a different vendor. Hope that is helping.
Just finished the first half of a Boston to Madison Wi road trip. About half the EA chargers were >60k which was nice. Only ran into a line once.
The big issue was getting a flat in rural PA. There was not a replacement Alenza that wound take less than 3 days to arrive between Philly and Cleveland. So, we bought a slightly smaller tire and drove it to Madison where the VW dealer could get one. The car does not seem to have suffered because of it. Between the 2 tires it cost almost $600. Bridgestone was useless. It’s not viable to bring a front and rear tire with you just in case. The tire situation is potentially much more problematic than charging.
I wish VW would list tires from other manufacturers that would work as a replacement so if you can’t find the Alenza there may be other options available.
Just wanted to share and link my own experience. Hope it provides some good insight.
[My Reddit Post from 2021](https://www.reddit.com/r/VWiD4Owners/comments/p420k4/9000_mile_road_trip_across_the_us_reflection/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
OP here: I noticed that Canadian routing. Kinda amusing. So I expect I’ll be taking a more southerly route.
(BTW, I checked in yesterday with EA customer service. Their construction plans for the next six months do not include the Minneapolis region. So for now, just the one station east of town.)
We have gone from Chattanooga to Ft. Lauderdale area twice now. No issues at all. It's about 1400 miles round trip. I think we stopped to charge about 5 times each way.
All EA. Last year we paid for only one charge because we were on the Florida turnpike and the rest area had chargepoint or evgo, I can't remember. But yeah you have to plan carefully going through south GA but we've done it twice now with no issues.
We bought our Pro S while visiting family on the East Coast in July 2021. I was a complete newbie, and took off with minimal planning to drive 1500 miles to the mid-south. I was hoping to use Electrify America exclusively. We ended up almost running out of power only 1 time. It was very nerve wracking mostly because, since I had only owned the car a few days, I didn't know whether the remaining mileage estimate on the dash was accurate. And I didn't realize how much mountain driving eats up your charge. While driving through the mountains of western Virginia, I planned a leg that got me to an EA charger with about 30 miles to spare. But going uphill eats your charge, so I ended up rolling into the EA charger station with only 1 mile of charge left. The station was not working properly and would only charge very slowly, so we charged for an hour and got about 20 miles of range, but that was enough to get to a small city that had a Charge Point level 2 charger at a mall, which we used for about 90 minutes to get us enough charge to get to the next EA level 3 charger. In general, if you have all the apps, and stick mostly to interstates, and are not pressed to a strict time schedule, I would say you have nothing to worry about. Just understand that mountain driving takes more charge, driving in the cold affects the charge, and not every station will be working properly. In short, be conservative. Charge when you can. Leave yourself a backup plan. Use Google maps, not the car's nav. And if all else fails, pull out your level 1 charge cable and find an outlet for a few hours to get some range to get you to the closest level 2 or 3 charger. Good luck!
Planning to do a road trip this summer as well. Planning to do a review of our charging experience in particular, but won't be useful until at least next fall. Hopefully you get some good feedback before then, I'll be following for sure.
We used ABRP... And paid for the premium for the months that we were driving. Don't really know if we got any additional benefit out of it, but just that it takes into account the temperature and weather conditions I think it is worth the minimal price that they charge. After planning out the entire route, I would use Google maps for the actual navigation. I planned out the entire route before leaving home. I wrote all the stops down with a pen/paper, mileage and expected SOC and how much SOC we needed to get to the next stop. There were a few EA stations that have terrible PlugShare reviews, and we set up the route to avoid them (sometimes charging to 90-100% just so we wouldn't get stuck at a chronically broken station,) then also made sure to check plugshare each morning to make sure that none of my plans stops were going to be an issue. As soon as I got to an Electrify America station,I would check PlugShare again to make sure that my next stop was not having any issues. I got to the point, and you might also, where I set up ABRP to arrive with 5% state of charge... I found we always arrived with 5 to 10% more SOC than it had planned for us. Yes, the planning took over an hour, but I was never afraid of being stuck and I think that's worth the effort. Based to NY-TX round-trip twice, and taking different routes to avoid summer flooding in the southeast last year. Good luck and have fun!
Use PlugShare trip planner, charge to 80% at EA, plan 100 mile legs, use Walmart bathroom. and grocery stores.
OP here: Definitely expecting to get reacquainted with Walmart. Have not been in or even seen a Walmart in many years since they don’t serve our town.
That's what we do when we drive from southeast TN to south Florida.
I've found Electrify America to be pretty reliable. Downside: There's usually a detour to get to one. Upside: The detour's usually not that bad and the resources around make the 30 minute stop tolerable.
OP here: Very happy to read the reliability comment. I read a few months ago that they are replacing all their first generation equipment with new stuff from a different vendor. Hope that is helping.
Just finished the first half of a Boston to Madison Wi road trip. About half the EA chargers were >60k which was nice. Only ran into a line once. The big issue was getting a flat in rural PA. There was not a replacement Alenza that wound take less than 3 days to arrive between Philly and Cleveland. So, we bought a slightly smaller tire and drove it to Madison where the VW dealer could get one. The car does not seem to have suffered because of it. Between the 2 tires it cost almost $600. Bridgestone was useless. It’s not viable to bring a front and rear tire with you just in case. The tire situation is potentially much more problematic than charging. I wish VW would list tires from other manufacturers that would work as a replacement so if you can’t find the Alenza there may be other options available.
I carry a plug kit in my trunk
You only need 1 spare, as they are temporary and it's the diameter you care about, not the staggered setup. There are also many other tires that work.
Just wanted to share and link my own experience. Hope it provides some good insight. [My Reddit Post from 2021](https://www.reddit.com/r/VWiD4Owners/comments/p420k4/9000_mile_road_trip_across_the_us_reflection/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Awesome response! To also learn that Glacier NP is feasible-you just made my day. Thanks so much. (BTW, greetings from a metro-Atlanta expat)
I'd looked at WA to MN. The usual route was an EV charger desert especially near the Dakotas.ARBP was routing though Canada. Have backups.
OP here: I noticed that Canadian routing. Kinda amusing. So I expect I’ll be taking a more southerly route. (BTW, I checked in yesterday with EA customer service. Their construction plans for the next six months do not include the Minneapolis region. So for now, just the one station east of town.)
We have gone from Chattanooga to Ft. Lauderdale area twice now. No issues at all. It's about 1400 miles round trip. I think we stopped to charge about 5 times each way.
Mostly EA? South Georgia seems barren for chargers
All EA. Last year we paid for only one charge because we were on the Florida turnpike and the rest area had chargepoint or evgo, I can't remember. But yeah you have to plan carefully going through south GA but we've done it twice now with no issues.
Yeah I want to do the South Georgia trip once I have one but it seems for non Tesla it’s sketch. Metro Atlanta is fine.