[i80and]

For a while, if you wanted a long range EV you could actually cross the country with, Tesla was it.

That's just not true anymore -- I'm coming up on year three with my non-Tesla, and it's been perfect, road trips and all.

Tesla still has its brand recognition and inertia in its favor, but it's tougher for them when you can get equally good if not better cars elsewhere.

[solardev]

May I ask what kind of car it is and where the road trips are from/to?

The last time I rented an EV in the SF Bay Area (a year or two ago, a Leaf), I had trouble even finding enough charging stations just to get around the area, like from SF to the South Bay and then to Santa Cruz. The few chargers I did find had several broken stations, multiple people waiting in line for the one working one, and it was very expensive. We wasted hours of time on that experience.

Has it gotten significantly better since then?

[i80and]

VW ID.4, road tripping around the northeast (NJ/NY) and midwest (to/fro Michigan).

In your case, the Leaf is the single EV that should never be or have been sold or rented out since around 2020. It's ancient and is the last EV lacking support for the major fast charging plugs in north America, so I'm not surprised you had charging issues! I'm really sorry they gave you that car!

[solardev]

Ah, I didn't know the Leaf was particularly bad. Guess I was just unlucky / uninformed. Good to know! I'd love to get an EV someday.

[floxy]

The public fast-charging situation is a lot better for anything that that has a CCS1 or Tesla/NACS port. Which is pretty much everything that isn't a Leaf. The 2011-2025 Leafs use the bulky CHAdeMO port for DC fast charging, which didn't catch on. The completely redesigned 2026 Leaf should be transitioning to NACS though.

https://www.motortrend.com/cars/nissan/leaf/2026/

...also, pretty much anything other than the Chevy Bolt will fast-charge at a rate at least 2-3 times faster than the Leaf and possible even faster than that (depending on model).

[i80and]

I am incredibly relieved to hear that the Leaf is finally getting a redesign.

I chatted with a poor fellow in a Leaf trying and failing to charge on the single sad broken CHAdeMO plug at a station, and was just thinking... yeah, Nissan sold you a bad car, I'm really really sorry.

[yumraj]

Which one?

[i80and]

VW ID.4! Definitely not the best car in the segment, but the best car at the time for the price. It's really been a dream of a vehicle!