Drove from NoVA to the NW part of SC today in my 22 Bolt EUV. I used ABRP to route to chargers and put the addresses into Google maps to check reviews and GPS me there. The car is J1772/CCS, but I bought an adapter ahead of time to make use of Tesla/NACS chargers.
Unfortunately, this car only has a max charge rate of 55kW, so my refueling stops are either more frequent or longer than I would like, but I don’t do road trips often and this car was half the price of the ioniq I wanted.
I had one issue today. A Tesla supercharger I stopped at just wouldn’t initialize the charge. I even tried plugging into another one right next to it, but no dice. I’ve since learned that V2 superchargers won’t work with my car even with an adapter, so I guess that’s what that one was? I have no way of knowing. ABRP and Google maps don’t specify. Maybe the Tesla app does? Thankfully, there was an Electric America charger just a couple miles away, but I was pretty stressed out since I was pretty well drained and didn’t know where I was.
The hotel we’re at has level 2 chargers, so I shouldn’t need to deal with unfamiliar chargers again until we head back to NoVA. In the meantime, I’ve deselected NACS chargers from my ABRP vehicle options. It’s possible that my adapter just died after only a few successful uses, but the location I had an issue with had a review of somebody else being unable to charge, so I think it’s just that V2 issue.
In summary, the difference has been that it takes a little longer, it takes a little more planning and preparing, and there is a risk of some anxiety, but it’s easier to drive, less chance of “car trouble” events, and especially right now it is significantly cheaper to refuel. But get something that accepts at least 100kW charging lol. I think the ioniq does like 240kW? With that, you basically plug in, use the bathroom, grab a coffee, and you’re ready to go.
I have had tons of problems with my VW ID4.
But all of them are related to the stupid “smart” features and “entertainment” system that drive the cost up 1.5x. Android auto taking literally up to 15 minutes to connect to any phone, air conditioning glitching constantly because of extremely bad touch buttons, crashing entertainment system, false range estimation, quasi-unusable backup camera quality compared to my old 2015 Nissan Altima, the app saying the car was unlocked when it wasn’t. The car unlocking automatically when I walk past to walk the dog and then not relocking when I am gone, false tire pressure warnings, poor quality plastics and really stupid LED lighting strips that will cost 2000€ to fix when they inevitably break.
The car part of it worked quite well and very quiet except for the complete bullshit that is the range estimation.
Sadly most of these problems are just the auto industry bullshit and would also occur on new combustion cars also.
VW has had a rough time with EVs of late and they’ve partnered with Rivian in an attempt to share knowledge and improve. It doesn’t help at all that the German government seems to flip-flop on EV regulations, but I think VW already had many problems of their own making.