Monday, March 27, 2023

The Electric Vehicle Driving Test

Electric vehicles are becoming increasingly popular, as people look for ways to reduce their environmental impact. But what are the pros and cons of electric vehicles compared to gas cars? And are all electric vehicles created equal?

The San Franicisco Chronicle has created an interesting route planning tool which can help drivers compare the likely travel time and cost of taking any car journey in the USA. If you click on your starting point and destination on the interactive map in How Teslas and other major EVs perform you can discover how long the journey woild take in both a gas powered car and an electric vehicle. You can also find out how much the journey would cost in terms of gas or electric charging costs. 

The Chronicle talks about the map being used to plan California road trips but the map actually works for any road trip in the USA or Canada. If you do use the map outside of California just be aware that the gas and electricity costs of a journey are calculated based on the average gas & electric charging prices in California on March 1 2023.

The Chronicle map can be used to compare the performance of four different models of electric vehicles (the Tesla Model Y, the Polestar 2, the Ford F-150 Lightning truck and the Chevy Bolt). Select one of these electric vehicles (using the buttons at the top of the map) and you can discover the estimated journey time for that vehicle, the number of potential charge stops and the estimated cost of the journey.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Problem is, you have to be a Chronicle subscriber to see the map.

Keir Clarke said...

Sorry about the paywall. I do try to avoid maps hidden behind paywalls. I don't subscribe to The Chronicle so I'm not sure why I was able to see the map and you can't.

Keir Clarke said...

I just clicked on the link in the post and I can still see the map even though I don't subscribe to The Chronicle.

Anonymous said...

amazing