Mainstream news doesn’t understand mainstream EV range
Image Credit: Ruth Milligan
I was excited to read today’s NYTimes piece on mainstreaming of electric vehicles. The story with two separate author bylines could theoretically convince middle America that it was OK to consider buying an EV, even if there were places like “North Dakota, for example, [where] there are just 19 fast chargers.” But I found myself cringing because of incomplete reporting and a strong desire to set the record straight.
The NYTimes story started out innocuous enough:
The first wave of people who bought electric cars tended to be affluent, environmentally aware technology enthusiasts who lived in California. The second wave may be people like Russell Grooms, a librarian in Virginia. Mr. Grooms last year bought a battery-powered Nissan Leaf, spending about $20,000 after government incentives, as a way to save money on gasoline.
But you always need a counterpoint. And they found it with a woman from Columbus, Ohio, who had a bad experience driving her daughter to school in Michigan.
Ruth Milligan, a resident of Columbus, Ohio, tried taking her daughter, Maggie Daiber, to Michigan State University in August. Ms. Milligan calculated where she would need to charge her ID.4 during the four-hour trip.
“I did my homework on the charging network,” said Ms. Milligan, an executive speech coach, “or so I thought.”
But she hadn’t considered that the battery would drain faster when the car was weighed down with her daughter’s possessions and her husband, Dave Daiber, who is 6 feet 4 inches tall.
Less than two hours into the trip, Ms. Milligan realized that the car was not going to make it to Toledo, Ohio, where she had planned to charge. Instead, they got off the highway in Findlay. Of the four chargers in town, one was behind a locked gate; another was at a Toyota dealership that would not let a Volkswagen use its charger; a third would charge only Teslas; and the fourth had been installed recently and was not yet working.
The family wound up spending the night at a hotel and making the rest of the trip in a rented van.
Still, Ms. Milligan says she likes the ID.4, which she bought after waiting 10 months for delivery. “In general I’m happy with the car but I’m going to be cautious as I push its bounds,” she said.
That sounds like a horrible experience and one without a solution. And, with the 250 mile range in a Volkswagen ID.4, you’d think it would be pretty easy to make the trip. This situation will scare a lot of potential EV buyers who are being told they can make road trips.
Details, details
I’m from Ohio, not too far from where she stopped in Findlay, Ohio, so I know those roads are mostly over flat farmland – no big hills to climb. So, even with bad weather, it isn’t that far for a modern 250-mile EV like the VW ID.4. Doing a little Google Maps research, it is 96 miles between Columbus and Findlay, Ohio, where she stopped and, at most, 150 miles between Columbus and Toledo where she planned to fast charge, according to the story.
That said, northwestern Ohio is a bit of a car-charging desert, so ending up with a tow truck situation isn’t uncommon.
Weigh-in
Also, the story mentioned that she had a lot of cargo and people in the car and said that was a major factor in the range problem.
It turns out that weight isn’t a huge factor in EV range calculations for highway driving. I learned a lot about this on my Ford trip in the F-150 last month. It comes down to Newton’s first law of inertia: An object in motion stays in motion. A car on cruise control at 60mph on flat land is going to take the same energy to propel it forward as the same car with 500 more pounds inside it. None of the forces on the car (drag, rolling resistance, etc) are directly related to the weight. Aerodynamics is the biggest force by far. So it turns out there was a lot more to this story. City driving with stops and starts is a somewhat different story.
Fact-checking the journey
So I decided to reach out to Ms. Milligan on LinkedIn to get some clarification on the journey. She noted that the Times put out a call for stories from EV drivers on their experiences and picked hers.
The discussion was illuminating. Here’s an incredibly intelligent woman who clearly has done her homework and also really loves her VW ID.4.
From what she says, the NYTimes authors neglected to mention some important information and, for whatever reason, included the information about the weight of the people and cargo in the car as the reason for uncertain mileage.
The NYTimes writers weren’t interested in the aerodynamics of the bike rack, which play a much bigger role in range.
She told me (and the NYT, though they didn’t report it) the following:
- She started out the journey with only 80% charge (already down to 200 mile range) because of a settings issue.
- She had a bike rack and bike on the back.
- She had a 3×3 foot soft roof rack on the top – multiple backpacks tied down.
- She was driving 65-70mph on the trip and stopped with about a 20% charge in Findlay, Ohio, to look for chargers. At that point, she was SOL because all four level 2 chargers in town were unusable. The closest usable charger was outside of her current range.
So now the range problem makes a lot more sense now. In my experience, adding a bike rack will reduce range by 15-20%. A roof rack will do the same. So starting with her 80% of 250 miles = 200 miles, she really left the house with about 150 miles of range at best. We also know that slowing down will really help when there is a higher coefficient of drag, and she was going close to 70mph.
Why am I calling this out?
I’m not here to shame the NYTimes or its writers on the omissions in their article. I do think the story needs a correction to note that aerodynamics – not weight – is the major factor in range because I think EV and potential EV drivers need to know this information. I think they chose this story because of the harrowing outcome, but that’s speculation.
I’m also not here to fault Ms. Milligan, who obviously is an EV advocate who wasn’t told about the significance of potential range hits when adding bikes and roof rack. A bigger issue, however, is that she trusted the VW ID.4’s internal EVCharger finding map, which told her about potential charging backups but not the reliability of each of these stations. There are still a lot of calculations to make when driving EVs on trips that typical drivers just don’t have to consider. I think her tale can and should be a cautionary one.
However, instead of the POV of the story where there is uncertainty on why the EV didn’t get the expected range, we can have some faith in the numbers that are shown. “Range anxiety” is about uncertainty. Now we know why she couldn’t make the trip.
How to make this trip with a bike rack and roof rack
And heavy passengers and cargo.
In this case, I would have made sure the car was close to the full 250 mile range before embarking on the trip. Driving at normal highway speeds is going to cut off about a third of the range with the bike and roof rack. So at best, you are starting off with about 150 miles of range with a fully charged vehicle. You can get to Toledo from Columbus fairly easily that way with about 25 miles of extra range. If I was running close, I would have slowed down considerably to 55mph.
But I don’t love the idea of stopping at the Chevrolet dealer that shows up as the only fast charger in Toledo on her route. Instead, I would have mapped to the Electrify America station on the I-80 turnpike just outside of Toledo as a first stop. Being in a VW, that’s going to be the fastest and most reliable charging station and, if updated recently, should also do Plug and Charge instant charging. It requires traveling on some smaller roads before entering the turnpike and adds about 15 driving minutes to the trip.
That’s 120 miles from Columbus and takes 2 hours and 20 minutes. She could have charged there to 80% in a matter of minutes, eaten some food and been on her way again. She’s now 138 miles from her destination in Lansing, Michigan (where there is another EA charger), which she might have been able to make on one charge. There’s also an EA station in Ann Arbor where she could have topped off to make that trip.
Electrek’s Take
It turns out Ms. Milligan has already figured all of this out (also missing from the NYTimes piece). Since she took her daughter to school in August, she’s been back to Michigan State with her ID.4. She’s tried my method above with success, though it adds driving time. On the way back, she made it from Ann Arbor to Columbus in one leg (about 190 miles) without bikes or roof racks but with her 6’4″ husband. That’s the route they will go in the future, and they don’t expect to add any extra driving time. Just one stop and no diversion off the Interstates.
More importantly, Ms. Milligan has learned not to trust every EV charger out there. She says she’ll first look for Electrify America stations to make a trip, then look at the less reliable options if she needs to. If she does have to find other charging stations, she’ll look at recent check-ins and won’t trust anything that hasn’t been visited successfully by an EV driver within the most recent 24 hours. Finally, she says that the VW ID.4 EV charging station finder “is dead to her,” and they really need to work on this if they want her to trust this functionality again.
So my point here is to help people who might feel some anxiety from the NYTimes piece or EVs in general. So, some final road trip tips:
- Weight doesn’t matter much unless you are climbing mountains (and you’ll often make most of that up regenerating electricity on the way down).
- Aerodynamics matters a lot. Bike and roof racks may cost 10-20% of your range – each.
- Slowing down, particularly with added drag, really makes a big difference.
- Also deduct 10-20% for very cold weather, mitigate some by preconditioning the vehicle.
- You can go just about anywhere in the US (yes, even North Dakota) in an EV if planned and executed correctly.
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More than 100,000 home batteries across California stepped up as a virtual power plant last week in a scheduled test event, and the results were impressive, according to new analysis from The Brattle Group.
Sunrun was the largest aggregator, Tesla was the largest OEM, and most of the batteries were enrolled
in California’s Demand-Side Grid Support (DSGS) program.
Sunrun’s distributed battery fleet delivered more than two-thirds of the energy during a scheduled two-hour grid support test on July 29. In total, the event pumped an average of 535 megawatts (MW) onto the grid – enough to power over half of San Francisco.
The event, run between 7 and 9 pm, was coordinated by the California Energy Commission, CAISO (California Independent System Operator), and utilities to prepare for stress on the grid during August and September heat waves. And it worked.
Sunrun alone averaged over 360 MW during the two-hour window. The batteries kicked in right when electricity demand typically spikes in the evening, acting just like a traditional power plant, but from people’s homes.
Brattle’s analysis found that the battery output made a visible dent in statewide grid load, when the power is needed most. “Performance was consistent across the event, without major fluctuations or any attrition,” said Ryan Hledik, a principal at The Brattle Group. He called it “dependable, planning-grade performance at scale.”
Residential batteries, Hledik explained, don’t just help shave off demand during critical hours; they can reduce the need for new power plants entirely. “They can serve CAISO’s net peak, reduce the need to invest in new generation capacity, and relieve strain on the system associated with the evening load ramp,” he said.
This isn’t a one-off. Sunrun’s fleet already helped drop peak demand earlier this summer, delivering 325 MW during a similar event on June 24. The company compensates customers up to $150 per battery per season for participating.
Sunrun CEO Mary Powell summed it up: “Distributed home batteries are a powerful and flexible resource that reliably delivers power to the grid at a moment’s notice, benefiting all households by preventing blackouts, alleviating peak demand, and reducing extreme price spikes.”
Read more: The US’s largest virtual power plant now runs on 75,000 home batteries
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Hyundai’s new Elexio electric SUV, which is built in China, could be sold in overseas markets. The CEO of Hyundai Australia calls it “a promising vehicle” that could help the company regain market share from Tesla, BYD, and others.
Will Hyundai’s new Elexio SUV be sold overseas?
The Elexio SUV is the first dedicated electric vehicle from Hyundai’s joint venture with BAIC in China, Beijing Hyundai.
After unveiling it for the first time in May, Hyundai is preparing to launch the new Elexio in China in the next few weeks.
According to a new report, Hyundai’s new electric SUV could be sold in overseas markets, including Australia. Don Romano, the CEO of Hyundai Australia, told journalists (via EV Central) last week during the launch event for the new IONIQ 9 that the company has done a “terrible job” with its EVs so far.
“And the only explanation for that is that we haven’t put enough focus into it,” he explained. However, Romano promises the automaker will do better.
Hyundai plans to boost marketing and support its dealership network, which only began selling IONIQ EV models a little over a year ago.
In what mostly went under the radar, Romano also suggested the new Elexio SUV could arrive in Australia. “It’s under evaluation now,” he said, adding, “it’s definitely a promising vehicle.”
Despite this, it may have a few hurdles to clear. Hyundai’s Australian boss explained, “I still have work to do to ensure that it’s the right vehicle in the right segment at the right price for our market. And I have not reached that level yet.”
Romano told journalists that a final decision needs to be made “in the next 60 to 90 days,” and to check back in three months when he will have a definitive answer.
Hyundai Australia is also looking to launch the IONIQ 2, a smaller, more affordable EV to sit between the Inster EV and Kona Electric.
Romano said, “It’s a potential opportunity,” but didn’t provide any details. He said, at this point, he’s just glad Hyundai is producing it. “Now I just need to get the details and find out, will it fit into our overall product plan and create enough demand to where it becomes a viable option for us? So my initial thought is absolutely. Yep.” Hyundai Australia’s boss told journalists.
The new EVs would help Hyundai, which has been struggling to keep pace in the transition to electric, compete in Australia and other overseas markets.
As of June 2025, Hyundai has sold only 853 EVs in Australia. In comparison, Tesla has sold 14,146 electric vehicles, and BYD has sold over 8,300. Even Kia is selling more EVs in Australia, with 4,402 units sold in the first six months of the year.
Measuring 4,615 mm in length, 1,875 mm in width, and 1,673 mm in height, Hyundai’s electric SUV is slightly smaller than the Tesla Model Y.
It recently underwent three consecutive crash tests among several other global evaluations, consistently outperforming benchmarks. Based on Hyundai’s E-GMP platform that powers nearly all Hyundai and Kia EVs, the Elexio has a CLTC driving range of up to 435 miles (700 km)
Hyundai is set to launch it in China in the third quarter of 2025. Prices have yet to be announced, but it’s expected to start at around 140,000 yuan ($19,500).
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Time’s ticking for snagging a great EV lease deal. With the 25% tariff on imported EVs already in place and the federal tax credit disappearing on September 30, automakers are rolling out serious deals. If you’re thinking about going electric, now’s the moment. Here are some of the best August EV lease deals our friends at CarsDirect found.
2025 Honda Prologue lease from $159/month
Honda’s throwing down a wild lease deal on the 2025 Prologue if you’re in the right state. For a limited time, you can drive off in the all-electric SUV for the equivalent of just $200/month, but there’s a twist. Instead of monthly payments, Honda’s offering a rare One Pay Lease: you drop $4,800 upfront for a 24-month lease. That’s it. No monthly bills, and you save nearly 2% compared to standard rates.
If paying all at once isn’t in the cards, there’s still an option to pay $159/month for 24 months with $1,099 due at signing. Either way, the Prologue ranks among the cheapest new electric SUVs to lease right now.
There are some strings, though. These ultra-low prices are only available in California and other CARB states, and they include a $3,500 loyalty or conquest bonus, so you’ll need to be coming from a Honda lease or ready to ditch another brand.
These deals rely on the EV lease loophole to pass through the $7,500 tax credit. Once that disappears on September 30, expect prices to jump. At that point, buying might make more sense than leasing.
Click here to find a local dealer that may have the Honda Prologue in stock. –trusted affiliate link
2025 Volkswagen ID.4 lease from $129/month
Volkswagen just slashed the ID.4 lease – and it’s a big one. Right now, you can lease the 2025 ID.4 Pro RWD for just $129/month for 24 months with 10,000 miles a year. That works out to an effective cost of only $233/month, making it $264 less than it was before.
This isn’t just a good deal – it’s practically interest-free. The previous lease rate hovered around 1%, but now it’s basically 0%. On top of that, VW is stacking up to $9,250 in lease cash depending on which trim you pick. Even the base Pro RWD gets $7,500 in incentives. This deal only runs through August 31.
Click here to find a local dealer that may have the Volkswagen ID.4 in stock. –trusted affiliate link
2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 lease from $149/month
Hyundai just dropped one of the best EV lease deals of the summer. The refreshed 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 SE Standard Range is going for $149/month for 36 months (10,000 miles a year) with $3,999 due at signing. That brings the effective monthly cost to just $260 – a nearly $100 drop from July’s offer. This deal is available through September 2.
If you’ve got little wiggle room in your budget, the SE Long Range might be worth the upgrade at $189/month with the same upfront cost – only $40 more a month for a lot more range.
Click here to find a local dealer that may have the Hyundai IONIQ 5 in stock. –trusted affiliate link
2025 Hyundai IONIQ 6 lease from $169/month
The 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 6 SE Standard Range is going for $169/month for 24 months (12,000 miles a year) with $3,999 due at signing. That pencils out to an effective cost of $336/month, and with the current lease cash, it’s a solid bargain.
Hyundai is offering up to $11,750 in lease cash on the IONIQ 6, plus an extra $1,000 Inventory Coupon if you lease a car that’s been sitting on the lot for 180+ days. That’s even more than July’s offer.
These offers are good through September 2, so if sleek, efficient, and affordable is your vibe, the IONIQ 6 is a solid choice.
Click here to find a local dealer that may have the Hyundai IONIQ 6 in stock. –trusted affiliate link
2025 Subaru Solterra lease from $279/month
The 2025 Subaru Solterra just became one of the most affordable EVs to lease. It’s going for $279/month for 36 months with just $279 due at signing. That brings the effective monthly cost to just $287, an incredible deal for an all-electric SUV with an MSRP pushing $40,000.
To put it in perspective: the 2025 Honda CR-V Hybrid has an effective monthly cost of $486. So yeah, the Solterra wins this round. This offer’s available through September 2.
Click here to find a local dealer that may have the Subaru Solterra in stock. –trusted affiliate link
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