Car rentals are a thing for that once a year road trip. I’m making the assumption your aren’t driving 1500 miles each way every other weekend.

Every new EV sold today can charge from 0% to 80% in an hour. You can drive 250 miles before lunch and 250 after.

Or you can buy an ICE vehicle and charge to 100% in one minute. Your choice, really.

That speed is just not useful. You need a lunch break in your 8 hour drive.

(Also, the entire pit stop time for ICE is much more than a minute, so it's a false comparison)

Do you eat or work at the gas/charge station? If no, then you also need to add trip travel time from work to the charger and back. And possibly city transport ticket fees for two trips if the charger is far away.

The overlap between places with lots of charging stations and places I would really like to spend and hour for lunch while on a road trip isn't huge.

I'm not saying you cannot road trip with an EV. Lots of people obviously do. But there is something about having to plan your route in detail before you leave and having all your stops dictated to you by your GPS which feels unappealing.

And if you want to spend your hour break somewhere where your restless kids can safely run around, it norrows it down even more.

> having to stop for hours while waiting for your car to charge is much, much worse

So will this never get any better? Will it still take hours to charge, 5 years from now? What was it like 5 years ago?

your username says it all. ugh is what I always think when someone complains about roadtrips.

I personally do not have kids, but I love roadtripping my Tesla. With my ICE car, I used to drive as fast as possible, as long as possible thinking that's the way, but I'd also end up so burnt out after 8 or 9 hours of driving.

I'm going to make a 12 hour drive this weekend, it'll end up being around 13 hours with a Tesla, but my Fiancé and I are making a list cool things we'll do when we make the stops, and we'll actually enjoy making the trip over the 13 hours. Each stop will be around 15-20mins every 3 hours which is perfect for getting a stretch, snacking, or going to the washroom.

I'll also have the newest updated FSD11 for the highway which has been a large improvement over the previous autopilot on highways - the biggest for me is that it now bias's over to the left (or right), if I'm passing a large semi (or if the semi is passing me)

I'm sure it will get better. But the parent said EVs are better now. My point is they aren't for everyone. I purchased a vehicle in recent past, I looked into getting an EV, and came to the conclusion that none of the options, especially ones I could buy used, would fit my needs. Five years from now? Maybe, but I wouldn't bet on it. And I really hope I won't need a new car that soon.

> having to stop for hours while waiting for your car to charge is much, much worse

Have you done this? I picture burning some kid-energy during those breaks. I'm genuinely curious about how that ends up impacting the trip experience.