The couple took the electric car on a 1,500-mile trip, stopping 12 times to recharge and not using the interior heating in freezing weather.

The couple drove across the country in an electric car and now spoke about the problems they encountered on the road, in an electric car, in the cold.

On Tuesday, Axios published an article by reporter Joanne Mueller describing the experience she and her husband had when they drove their Kia EV6 1,500 miles from Michigan to Florida.

While Müller says the ride was “leisurely” overall, she also pointed out a few downsides to a long EV ride, especially in bitter cold.

First, the cold weather caused the battery to drain faster, which meant the couple had to stop 12 times to charge the car. “We stopped 12 times to recharge on a 1,500 mile journey. Charging times ranged from 20 to 55 minutes, depending on the condition of the car battery and the speed of the chargers we used,” Muller said.

This means they spent between four and eleven hours charging their car. That’s an insane amount of time to add to an already long journey.

Then there was the fact that when the husband started the trip in Detroit, where the temperature was below 30 degrees, he was worried about the extra strain that cold weather might put on the battery.

Therefore, his solution was to refuse to use cabin heat while driving. “During driving, I only used the heated steering wheel and seats – there was no interior heating,” he said.

Consider for a moment that in the freezing cold of the middle of winter, a man was forced to stop using his car’s heating system to ensure the car wouldn’t stall. Sure, it used a heated steering wheel and heated seats, but the fact that it didn’t heat the cabin means the ride must have been less than pleasant considering the weather.

In addition, the couple had severe “range anxiety” during the trip, which meant they constantly thought about how far the car could go and where they could stop to recharge. According to Muller, this thought haunted them during the trip: “We constantly thought about where to charge next. It occupied our minds more than where to eat or sleep.”

This meant they couldn’t really enjoy the ride as they were constantly thinking about keeping the car charged. This has never been a problem with gas cars. You can always be sure that in every town along the way there will be a place where you can stop and fill up, thereby making sure that you do not find yourself in a difficult situation.

Finally, they answer the question of whether America is ready for long-distance electric vehicles. Her response: “Not really, but we’re making progress.”

Their solution to the problem is that you need to plan ahead carefully so you don’t get stranded. It doesn’t sound like a fun trip at all.

Despite her claims that the trip was “doable” and “unhurried,” it doesn’t feel like a pleasant trip in the least. It seems to be riddled with anxiety about where to stop and recharge, and how long the car can last.

Our government and climate change activists tell us that electric vehicles are the way of the future and that they are needed to prevent the threat posed by climate change.

But what they may not have considered is whether these vehicles are efficient and reliable. We find time and time again that they are not as efficient as petrol cars, especially in the cold.

In addition, these cars are very expensive, sometimes exceeding $100,000. This doesn’t even take into account the maintenance costs that come with it.

All in all, electric vehicles are the future, but this trip and countless other examples have shown that they have a long way to go before they can be considered a real, viable alternative to gasoline cars.

This article originally appeared in The Western Journal.

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