The Sconi

Wall Street Journal consumer trend reporter Rachel Wolfe wants consumers who might be considering an electric vehicle to know what they could be up against.

To make that point, Wolfe recently shared moments from a long road trip she took in an electric vehicle (EV).

"I thought it would be fun,” Wolfe told The Wall Street Journal. “That’s what I told my friend Mack when I asked her to drive with me from New Orleans to Chicago and back in an electric car. I’d made long road trips before, surviving popped tires, blown headlights and shredded wheel-well liners in my 2008 Volkswagen Jetta. I figured driving the brand-new Kia EV6 I’d rented would be a piece of cake. If, that is, the public-charging infrastructure cooperated."

Instead, Wolfe lamented after renting a brand-new Kia EV6 that her "four-day, three-night EV road trip included many charging stops, little sleep—and less junk food than you might expect."

All told, she calculated she and her friend drove some 2,013 miles from New Orleans to Chicago and back, spending at least 18 hours and $175 in order to charge the EV a total of 14 times. The equivalent cost for gas in a Kia Forte would have been $275, based on AAA average national gas price data during the time of their trip.

According to University of California Davis EV Research Center, electric vehicles are now capable of traveling an average of 250 miles on a single charge. When it comes to recharging time, much depends on the size of the battery and type of charging station available. EVs with larger batteries can recharge in up to 20-plus hours at 120V while it might take four to eight hours with a 240V charger.  Additionally, those programmed for fast-charging can receive an 80% charge in approximately 20 minutes. 

As it is, a Consumer Reports survey of at least 8,027 interviews shows upwards of six in 10 Americans now say weak charging station logistics is keeping them from buying an electric vehicle, while more than half (55%) add EVs' limited travel range on a single charge is giving them pause in making such a buy. The current number of EV charging stations in Wisconsin is 1,827.

In the same report, nearly two-thirds (63%) of Americans surveyed said they would not purchase an electric vehicle today. Of those who said they're concerned about cost-related factors nearly just as many (58%) said the high purchase price of an EV is holding them back from buying.

In keeping with his clean energy stand and commitment to having EVs make up at least half of new car sales by the end of the decade, CNBC reports President Joe Biden extended a $7,500 tax credit for buyers of new all-electric vehicles under the new Inflation Reduction Act signed into law this month.

Morningstar Equity Analyst Seth Goldstein warns the tax credit has price and income restrictions, including requiring that sedans be sold for less than $55,000 to be eligible and SUVs, trucks and vans for below $80,000.