I tried making a 1000-mile journey in an EV and FAILED… charging is a nightmare & petrol is better
A CAR expert put EVs and petrol cars to the test on a 1000 mile road trip – here’s everything you should know.
Marques Brownlee conducted the experiment to see which model came out on top during long journeys as more drivers lose confidence in electric cars.
The motor whizz put a Tesla, Mustang Mach-E and Audi Q5 to the test as his teams hit the road, which was filmed on his YouTube account.
Tesla was set to provide 398 miles on a single full charge, and the Mach-E was due to offer 305 miles.
Meanwhile, the Audi Q5 claimed to deliver 460 miles on a full tank.
The different teams went head to head on a road trip around the US, stopping off at Lake Placid, Niagara Falls, Ithaca, New York, and Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Their goal was to see how much time charging adds to road trips, and which model could make the journey fastest.
After the first day, the Audi Q5 managed to complete the stint to Niagara Falls in 11 hours, eight minutes with some short breaks on the way for food and re-filling the tanks.
Following shortly behind was the Tesla, which made same journey in 11 hours 55 minutes with one 45 minute charge break to reach 100 percent, and then eight minute top up for safety.
Coming in last place, was the Mach-E, which ended up diverting to find a charger that worked when the in-car navigation too the team to a broken one.
They then had to sit and wait for two hours to get a full battery and stopped a whopping sex times in total due to faulty chargers.
In the end they actually cut the route down, and still arrived after a whopping 16 hours and 40 mins on the road, about five hours behind the gas car.
On the second day, the Audi took 7 hours 51 minutes, and the Tesla wasn’t far behind, with an impressive eight hours and five minutes.
The second leg of the road trip went better for the Mach-E, but there was still major problems with faulty chargers and it took the team eight hours, 49 minutes.
So, how much times does switching to electric add to the road trip?
Marques said: “Plus or minus 10 per cent, the Tesla added one hour 32 minutes per 1000 miles of road tripping, which is really not that bad.
“The Mustang Mach-E added seven hours and 32 minutes.
“It’s safe to say, if you do a lot of road trips, the Tesla experience is currently quite far ahead of the other electric cars.”
Although, the car guru did highlight that: “The Tesla had dropped down to 0.3 per cent after 293 miles when it says it comes with 348 miles on full charge.”
Marques also shared the costs spent on this road trip.
The gas car spent $84.79 on fuel, while the Tesla cost $66.35 for charge and the Mach-E required $61.25.