A 1,482-Mile Road Trip in a 2024 Kia EV9 Delivers 3.3 mi/kWh, $350 in Charging, The Owner Says “I Might as Well Have Been a Passenger in the Backseat 75% of the Trip”, Even Through 60-MPH Kansas Crosswinds

If a GMC Acadia, which cost $10k - $20k less depending on trim level, averages 22 MPG and gets about 400 miles to a tank, assuming you don't run it all the way down between full ups, that's less than half the stops to refill, which take a fraction of the time, and would cost $100 less; gas would have to be >$5/gal to approach comparable cost.
I like the electric car concept but this does not seem to sell me on the value... Also seems like the article should have presented some comparison math rather than just take the OP's "comparable" assertion.

$350 for 1,482 miles is not comparable to real-world gas equivalents unless you are driving a 1994 Chevy Silverado for the trip. At roughly 2.85 a gallon that’s 12MPG. Ride may have been semi-autonomous but it was hardly cost effective.

The price is the same if not worse than gas. The ride comfort point is not unique to EV over traditional ICE. I guess we have a ways to go.

How long did the wonderful trip take? You conveniently omitted that very important info.

Driving another 3 row SUV on this trip, a kia telluride, would have cost about $140, so I don't know how this can be stated "...energy costs for long gasoline road trips can easily match or exceed Hart’s $350 total, especially with today’s fuel prices." 1482 mi/26 mpg = 57 gal x 2.50/gal = $142.50.

The math here is eye-opening. Spending $350 to go 1,482 miles gives this EV an effective 10.58 mpg (based on $2.50/gal gas). That’s nearly double the cost of driving a 20-mpg gas SUV. Public DC charging rates are clearly struggling to compete with midwest gas prices.

For that amount and miles driven, your cost is 12 mpg gas equivalent. Add the 13 times charging compared with 3 to 4 fuel stops, you have to be delusional to think this was a good experience.

The fuel cost is insane. Spending $350.00 to go 1500 miles is essentially a 12 mpg rating at best. A civic can go atleast 4000 miles with $350 on gasoline.

That would have only been $185 dollars in fuel in my Hybrid Highlander and I'm calculating at $4 a gallon because I live in California.

The vehicle got 4.23 miles per dollar (1482 miles/$350) - and the article is unclear, but sounds like he started from home fully charged, and we don't know if it was charged up upon returning and if these were included in the $350; but let's take best case scenario of 4.23 miles per dollar. If gas was $3/gallon that means he got 12.75 miles per gallon. At $4/gallon, he got almost 17 mpg. The current average gas price in Colorado is $2.60 (Kansas is $2.45) , meaning he got the equivalent of 11 mpg at the Colorado price - not too financially sound. Maybe at California's gas prices this would make sense.

Our Audi Q6 Etron is a great road trip SUV; fast, efficient and quiet. By my arithmetic you probably paid more in fuel costs over an ICE, because gas prices in Oklahoma and the Midwest are pretty low. If you buy an EV to save money you will be sadly disappointed. Once highway taxes are added to EV travel, as they must be at some point, gas travel will be cheaper, per mile. Also, EV’s can eat up their expensive tires at an alarming rate, especially if you enjoy the rapid acceleration too much. Even if you take it easy, the increased lateral force from normal cornering with a 1000 pound battery is not helpful for tire longevity.

Gas vehicle have been doing these trips for year and not having to wait for charging. No problems running AC and heat.

How is more then double the cost and having to stop more then 3 times as often "comparable".

That's like 78 cents per kwh. Something is off here.

That same trip in my 2018 Camry hybrid XLS would have been faster and a lot cheaper. At 45 mpg and over 500 miles per tank, the trip would require two stops for fuel. And at $3/gallon, cost about $100......that's $250 cheaper! I'm just not there yet.

Stunningly poor Mileage - to travel 1,500 miles at a cost of $350?

I do that trip of 1,500 miles for under $120 in my Honda CRV at $2.70/gallon.

Whatever happened to the supposed EV fuel savings - definitely not with a KIA EV9!!

WOW!

Stunningly poor Mileage - to travel 1,500 miles at a cost of $350?

I do that trip of 1,500 miles for under $120 in my Honda CRV at $2.70/gallon.

Whatever happened to the supposed EV fuel savings - definitely not with a KIA EV9!!

WOW!

Yeah the math isn't mathing here. He spent $350 of charging up (or fueling if you will) this thing to go approximately 1500 miles. I have a 2017 Dodge Journey with a V6 engine that gets about 525 miles a tank before I have to refuel (that's 25 mpg for those wondering). That means I could do this same trip with three tanks of gas. National average is $2.86 a gallon so even if I refilled at 20 gallons a stop that's $57.20 a tank, times three is $172. That's about half what it cost this EV9 and oh yeah, it only takes me about 5 minutes to fill up. Not hours to recharge. So not only could I do this same trip and spends less on fuel I can also do it faster. Tell me again why EV's are so wonderful?

While it is novel, it's actually less efficient in range and energy costs than many ICE vehicles currently on the market. Now add 10 charging stops for a 1500 trip?! What is your time worth to you?

My Nissan gas vehicle would have used 160 dollars worth of gas. Something is askew here. Electricity is supposed to be cheaper, not twice as much. Not to mention over 2 hours of down time for recharging. Check your numbers.

How do we see other comments?

That's only 3 tanks of gas! 13 charges?!! No thanks! I'd like to get there faster than that!

I could have done that trip for a much lower cost in my 2022 Subaru Outback, without having to stop all those times to recharge. Estimate 32 mpg or 46.25 gallon @ $2.75=$127. I thought electric would be less. Guess that's why I am not yet an EV advocate.

So about $0.20 per mile or roughly twice the cost of a typical gasoline car?

Assuming gas at $3.00/gallon and 30mpg, most gasoline cars would deliver $0.10 per miles or less. Sounds like EV's are doomed. They are simply not economical when electricity is at or above $0.30/kWh.

My Forester gets over 500 miles to a tank and it only takes 5 minutes to fill up. My cost of gas would have been around $150. EV's can be great, but are not for long road trips.

1482 miles. 5000 lbs (according to Kia).
447.95kWh
$350

Let's do the math: $350 / 447.95 = $.78/kWh (and that includes some home charging at, what, $.15/kWh?).

So let's use $.80/kWh for what you can expect to pay at charging stations. You'll pay way more to charge your EV than a small, high MPG HEV uses in gas.

Drove my Kia EV9 Land from Ft. Worth, TX to Frederick, MD in November 2024 and had similar pleasant experience. Yes, you have to plan it out, but it’s not horrible like some claim. Kudos to Electrify America for their charging stations along the way on major highways.

The 350.00 charge for a 1500 mile road trip seems expensive. Say the ICE vehicle is getting 30 mpg at a rate of 3.10 per gallon. The 1500 mile road trip divided by 30 mpg = 50 gallon of gas used for the trip totals roughly 155.00. The dollar cost of the trip in an EV should be 40 to 50 % of the total cost of an ICE vehicle, so maybe around 70.00.