First, some stats:

• Total miles: 7,033
• Avg consumption: 3.1 miles/kWh
• Avg Speed: 57mph (combined driving & charging time)
• Longest day: 840 miles & 16 hours (St. Louis—>Denver)
• 24 States visited

Best roads: Kansas, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, Utah,

Worst roads: Colorado (I-70 is an embarrassment), Eastern Maryland (Western not bad)  almost every urban area is in dire need of significant road upkeep/replacement  I think this may be one reason everyone drives SUVs  Our cities are 4-wheel drive/big tire territory  

Single worst road quality experience: a pothole just a couple of miles west of Indiana's eastern border on  I-70.  This beast could swallow a motorcycle with room left over for dessert  This was so bone jarring, I bit though my tongue and my Stinger control panel—that I have difficulty prying loose from its magnetic mount—was popped into the back seat. 5 seconds after hitting it, Waze announced: “Attention  Pothole ahead.” (Yeah, it’s the nature of that model, but it was still funny.) I pulled over, certain I would find major damage, but no. Everything appeared intact. I was amazed and would have been less surprised to find a cracked axle or broken shock. 

Best charging availability: Colorado?

Worst charging availability: West Virginia 

 Some observations:

1. We’re still driving “to the power,” instead of a destination. In an EV, you need to make sure you have enough power to get to your destination, and to get to the next charging source after that. It changes shat it means to be on a road trip  

2. California is, right now, on the wrong side of the infrastructure growth curve. More EVs are being sold than chargers are being installed  I saw more queues in  California, and I saw more nonfunctional chargers  

 3. There is better capacity throughout the rest of the country, but increasing EV sales could change that. Didn’t see too many lines, but that could change quickly. 

 4. If we’re going to incentivize against fossil fuels, we need to incentivize PHEV’s more than EVs. Using less oil can be good, but we don’t have to drive cars that can’t use it in order to do so. PHEVs with 50 miles or so of range could quickly shift a lot of driving to electricity. 

5. we’ll have to do something about the grid.