this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2026
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Electric Vehicles
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Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about reframing your travel mindset.
I’ve had my 2026 Silverado EV LT Extended since last summer and love it. 10 minutes on a 300kW charger will get me from 20% to 80%. Just took a weekend trip with the fam - I can get from New York to Boston on a single charge (starting at 85%). Like you said we stopped anyway to have a bite and use the rest rooms, etc. with the truck at about 50%. Of course the charge was completed before we were done. I’ve also driven 6 hours up to Lake Placid and only had to stop once at a fast charger while I grabbed a bite at a diner - a 30 minute stop that had the truck charged up in 20 minutes.
That’s the reason I’m harping on the capacity, because it makes a difference when reframing your travel mindset. At 280 miles (which will real-world at 250 miles @ 100%, which will likely get taken down a bit more due to the recommended 80% cap under daily conditions), there’s no avoiding having to stop multiple times on those trips which, like you said, would be expected, more or less, when traveling long distance. But the fact that I simply don’t have to charge that often is a game changer for my life style. I run my own business and have to travel a lot. I never have to think about range anxiety at all, and barely ever have to use the myChevy route planning unless taking a long distance trip (which works wonderfully). Throughout this past winter, with single digit temperatures and tons of snow, I didn’t have to think about range reductions at all, just kept to my regular daily habits.
My point is that - yes. Let’s get those charging times down, I love it. But I need 350+ miles of range for it to feel natural as a traveler. Because the SEV is such a beast, I’m able to think more about taking advantage of energy storage for my home with solar, battery storage offsets, VTH and other fun new energy strategies for my lifestyle.
Just my two cents, love hearing about the advancements and looking forward to see where we’re at 5 years from now.
Daily drive a smaller vehicle, rent a longer range vehicle.
For most people that's the sensible answer. But a lot will try to justify it with ridiculous reasons.
If you're only doing 1-3 trips per year, you should be separating the needs. You don't need the same vehicle for both, and rentals are not hard to get for the oddball situations. Just like you'd rent a Uhaul to move. If you only need a truck 5 days a year, don't buy a truck and drive that big thing around the other 360 days wasting money.
Rental companies have every type of vehicle imaginable. Heck, Lowes rents trucks the same way they rent tools. No need to buy a table saw if you just need it for one project. Same thing with a truck to get stuff home from the store once .
If you need that capability more often then that's totally fine, you get what fits your needs. That may not be a current EV. But the reality is that's just not 99% of people, don't expect your 1% use case exception to determine the entire industry.
I agree with you on the long-distance drives really needing the battery range. My EV is older and has about a 200mi real-world range and it’s fine for my extensive every-day urban driving for work but I wish I didn’t have to stop so much on long roadtrips.
My own experience going long distances in an electric car is less rosy. We drove from Ottawa to Toronto, about 500km, in two days. Our car is a Hyundai Ioniq 6, with a maximum range of just over 500km. However, in cold weather we are lucky to get 400 km.
On the first day, we drove about 200 km and there was only one charging station. That charging station could handle two vehicles, but one of them was not working. There were three cars waiting in line to use it. We kept going.
The next day, we drove another 50 km to get to a charging station. It had three days open, but the maximum charging speed was 100kW, and we managed less than that. It took almost 90 minutes to get a full charge. It could have gone faster if we had pre-conditioned the battery, but we were worried we wouldn't be able to reach the charging station if we had done so.
Between Ottawa and Toronto, there wasn't a single charger that could do more than 150kW. In ideal conditions, the ionic 6 can charge up to 80% in under 20 minutes, but in the winter, when there are no 350kW charging stations, that's a dream. And there are so few charging stations that it's common to have to wait for one or two cars to finish before you can even begin.