We drive a Kia Niro EV which we really enjoy. But until recently we’d never tested it on a long-haul trip involving fast charging. We finally decided to take it on an extended drive from the San Francisco Bay Area down to Los Angeles this summer. We thought of this first long-distance trip in our EV as our “charging adventure.” Here’s what we learned.

Pre-Game: Get the Apps

Overall, as it turned out, we found fast charging on the road to be easy! I think the key to the success of the charging during the trip was the advance preparation that we had done.

Initially we opened accounts with two charging services: Electrify America and EVgo, and installed their apps on our phones. We also installed the handy Plug Share app, which allows you to see accurate, crowd-sourced, near-real-time status of charging stations of multiple networks.

Practice Makes Perfect

Starting a couple of weeks before our trip, we did “practice charging” four different times at stations close to home (three times at Electrify America stations, and once at an EVgo station). We did this to familiarize ourselves with charging activities — since we didn’t want to get all the way down to, say, Salinas, and then try our hand at public charging for the very first time!

The local practice charging paid off: We learned how to accomplish the charging, and it gave us a feeling of confidence before we started our journey. During the practice charging we ran into a couple of “first-time user” difficulties, but we were able to handle them by calling the 800 “Help” number displayed at each station. By the way, we found the 800 “Help” numbers to be quick in response, and very helpful.

Route Planning

Prior to leaving for L.A., we broke the trip down into several “segments”, identifying Electrify America and EVgo stations at locations along our route – namely at Gilroy, Salinas, Soledad, King City, Pasa Robles, San Luis Obispo, Pismo Beach, Santa Maria, Goleta, and Santa Barbara (we wanted to go down Highway 101, and not down Highway 5). Identifying and mapping this many locations might seem like overkill, but it gave us multiple options to pick and choose a location, based on which charging stations were in use at any given time (the Electrify America and EVgo apps were great for providing this information regarding station availability, as was Plug Share).

Ready to Go

We left our house with a full 100% Level 2 charge, using our garage charging unit.

We encountered no difficulties at any of the locations. There were always available stations at each of the locations that we chose — we never had to wait in line. At only one location (Electrify America at Pasa Robles) did we notice a broken station, indicated as such at the station, and identified as such on the Electrify America app.

(Note, with regard to current station availability: although there appears to be good availability at all these locations at the present time, it is apparent, as EV’s become more and more popular, that many more charging stations will be required – at these specific locations and of course elsewhere).

We ended up charging twice on the way down (Soledad and Santa Maria), and four times on the way home (Goleta, San Luis Obispo, Pasa Robles, and Gilroy) (the greater number of charges coming home was due to side trips that we were making as we travelled northward).

Pro Tip: Level 2 Charging

Also, in L.A., we were able to do a Level 2 charge at our hotel. This was helpful, because we could then charge our battery up to a full 100%, since we were always restricted to just 80% at all fast charge stations. When you charge at Level 1, experts recommend prolonging the car battery’s life by not frequently charging all the way to 100%.

Overall, we relied more on using Electrify America stations, as opposed to EVgo stations, since there were significantly more Electrify America stations, at least along the routes that we took on this trip. But one thing that was nice about EVgo was the use of the “RFID” card, which you just tap on the tap plate of the station. This would be handy if you were ever at a remote station location where cell phone coverage was bad. (I was told by an Electrify America representative that Electrify America is considering also employing “RFID” cards in the future).

Final Thoughts

We now feel able to travel far, without (too much!) concern about the possible lack of charging stations along the way!