[lelag]

Indeed, that's not true that travelling long distance is too much of a hassle for most people, that's just fearmongging from the anti-EV crowd.

Sure, if you are the type with a superhuman bladder who can drive 1000 kilometers with no stop, then an EV will be slower.

But for most people, and especially if you are travelling with kids, the right EV (like the model 3 you suggest), will not make much of difference with a petrol cars. Sure you will be stopping between 20 to 30 minutes every 2 to 3 hours but you should probably do so regardless of the car engine type.

I did saw some unexpected drawbacks however:

- you have less options about where and when to stop

- Tesla chargers are often in malls and shopping centers, and I found those stops can actually become quite expensive when travelling with 2 shopping addicted teenage girls...

- stop often end up being longer than planned due to said teenagers not coming back in time once the car is ready...

[hu3]

What about queues in charging stations?

That 30 minute stop can easily become an unplanned hour stop.

[lelag]

In my own limited experience in Europe, yes, it indeed can happen occasionally, especially during the holiday rush if you are travelling a popular route. I haven't found it to be much an issue in practice. You can avoid the worse of it by planning ahead, shifting your departure time a bit and carefully choosing your route as the situation evolve in regard to charger capacity.

Still, even if that happen and each of your 3 stop adds extra half-hour wait, sure you waited an extra 1 and half hours but it's not like the ICE cars are as fast on those days either. There are traffic jams, 10 min queue at petrol station, 10 minutes queue for the restrooms, 20 minutes queue for your sandwich etc. Your stop in an ICE car will be longer too.

In the end, even on those high traffic days I found the experience of travelling with an EV more enjoyable than with an ICE car.

[yurishimo]

Can I just say, as an American who moved to Europe in 2022, the lines at gas stations are crazy to see! In the US, I had never had to wait for more than 1 or perhaps 2 cars to fill up, even right off the highway. Here, waiting seems to be common from what I've seen if you're traveling on a busy weekend. My experience driving has mostly been confined to the Benelux region, so perhaps it is different elsewhere on the continent.

I do like driving over the border to save 20% on fuel prices though!