Gasoline costs are climbing once more, and if you’re nonetheless reaching to your pockets on the pump each few days, you might wish to hear what one Kia EV6 proprietor simply pulled off. A household drove all the way in which from South Carolina to Louisiana in an all-electric Kia EV6, and the entire charging invoice for one cease got here to underneath $30. That’s lower than many individuals spend on a single tank of normal unleaded lately. When you’ve got been sitting on the fence about whether or not electrical automobiles can really deal with long-distance journey with out turning into a demanding expertise, this story may simply be the one which adjustments your thoughts. In truth, proper right here at Torque Information we now have been intently following the experiences of actual Kia EV6 homeowners on lengthy freeway stretches, and the information retains pointing in a single route. We not too long ago lined how a Kia EV6 proprietor drove 400 miles evaluating 65 mph versus 80 mph speeds and saved practically an hour going quicker, and we now have additionally documented the rising story of real-world cross-country treks within the Kia EV6 that reveal simply how succesful this platform has grow to be.
Alex Gomez, a member of the Kia EV6 Homeowners Fb public group, shared the complete account of his household’s expertise this previous week. He wrote: “Since gasoline costs are going up, our first journey in an all-electric car went tremendous easily from South Carolina to Louisiana. We used apps like PlugShare, Kia Map, Tesla, and ChargePoint to search out charging stations rapidly, and we managed to recharge the automotive in underneath half-hour absolutely. Whereas it was charging, we ate, relaxed, used the toilet, and shopped with none issues. Driving the Kia EV6 was very easy and easy. Charging the automotive prices lower than $30 for a full fill-up, at Buc-ee’s.”
Let that sink in for a second. A full cost for underneath $30, at one of the widespread journey stops within the American South, whereas the household sat down for a meal and dealt with the standard highway journey pit cease enterprise. No pumping gasoline within the warmth. No gas scent. No additional cease only for gas if you find yourself already stopping anyway. That could be a essentially completely different form of highway journey expertise, and extra drivers are discovering it each week.
How Kia EV6 Homeowners Are Utilizing Apps to Plan Stress-Free Lengthy-Distance EV Journeys
Probably the most urgent issues that stops folks from taking their electrical car on a protracted highway journey is the concern of the unknown. The place do I cost? What if a station is damaged? What if I run out of vary between stops? That is what the automotive business calls vary anxiousness, and it is rather actual for first-time EV highway trippers. The excellent news is there’s a concrete answer, and it comes within the type of good journey planning with the precise apps earlier than you ever again out of the driveway.
Alex talked about utilizing PlugShare, Kia Map, Tesla, and ChargePoint, which is a strong mixture. Group member Jay Martin had a superb piece of recommendation for future journeys, including that A Higher Route Planner (ABRP) would make the method even smoother. Jay defined that ABRP tells you particularly the place to cease and the way a lot to cost at every station, making the general journey quicker and extra environment friendly. He advisable utilizing PlugShare primarily to confirm that the deliberate stations are literally working on the time of journey. This two-app technique, ABRP for route intelligence and PlugShare for real-time charger standing verification, is one thing skilled EV highway trippers swear by. Proper right here on Torque Information, we now have explored how managing a number of EV charging apps and charger networks is an actual problem that EV homeowners face on each lengthy highway journey, and the group consensus is obvious: plan forward, have a backup, and confirm charger standing earlier than you depend on it.
The Kia EV6 can be a part of Kia’s Cost Go community, which provides homeowners entry to greater than 35,000 DC quick chargers throughout North America, together with greater than 25,000 Tesla Superchargers with the suitable adapter. That community attain is a game-changer for lengthy haul journey within the American South and Southwest, the place charging infrastructure was once the weakest. With that form of protection, discovering a working station in underneath half-hour is more and more the norm, not the exception.
The 80 % Rule: Why Skilled EV Drivers Cease Charging Earlier
Right here is one piece of recommendation from the Fb thread that deserves its personal highlight, as a result of it may prevent actual time on the highway. Group member Harold Maude put it plainly: don’t cost previous 80 % until you particularly want the additional vary to achieve your vacation spot or the subsequent charging station. If you do not want the electrons, you’re simply losing your time sitting on the charger.
This isn’t a unusual opinion. It’s rooted in how lithium ion batteries cost. The Kia EV6 is constructed on Hyundai Motor Group’s 800-volt E-GMP platform, which permits it to go from 10 % to 80 % in roughly 18 to twenty minutes at a appropriate DC quick charger. That velocity is spectacular. However when you cross the 80 % threshold, the charging price slows significantly because the battery administration system steps in to guard the cells. Sitting at a charger ready to go from 80 to one hundred pc can take practically so long as your complete 10 to 80 % session. Until you want that additional vary, you’re doubling your cease time for a comparatively small acquire.
Skilled EV highway trippers plan their legs in 70 to 80 % increments, stopping when they should eat or relaxation anyway, and leaving when the automotive hits 80. That strategy, mixed with ABRP for route planning, means charging stops genuinely align with pure human breaks. Now we have seen this identical sample play out in detailed studies proper right here, together with the story of a 2022 Kia EV6 Wind AWD that lined 275 miles on a single cost from San Diego to Los Angeles and again, the place the driving force’s self-discipline round power administration made all of the distinction between arriving confidently and sweating out the previous few miles.
Reserving Accommodations With Stage 2 Chargers: The In a single day Charging Technique That Modifications The whole lot
Maybe the neatest piece of knowledge to emerge from Alex’s put up got here from group member Karen Campagna, who supplied a technique that turns your complete charging dialog on its head. Karen wrote that each one of her household’s vehicles are electrical, and that they all the time guide accommodations with Stage 2 chargers. The result’s easy: plug in at night time, get up with a full cost, and pay nothing for the electrical energy. Most chain accommodations throughout the nation now have at the least one Stage 2 charger, and lots of have a number of, typically accessible at no cost to visitors.
Take into consideration what this implies for a multi-day highway journey in a Kia EV6. If you’re overlaying 250 to 300 miles per day, which is a snug day of driving for most individuals, you may deal with a big portion of your charging wants just by selecting the best resort. You arrive, plug in, sleep, eat breakfast, and go away with a full battery. The one DC quick charging you want is in the course of the day once you cease to eat or relaxation anyway. The mathematics turns into very favorable in a short time. At Torque Information we now have already proven in detailed value comparisons that most drivers who cost primarily at house or at accommodations spend roughly half what they might pay for gasoline over the identical distance, and the distinction solely grows as gasoline costs rise.
For a deeper take a look at the best way to navigate the generally complicated world of resort charger varieties, adapters, and compatibility, Torque Information has beforehand reported on what can go improper once you guide a resort anticipating J1772 charging and uncover Tesla Vacation spot Chargers as a substitute. The lesson there’s easy: all the time name the resort or examine PlugShare earlier than you arrive. Don’t assume. A five-minute cellphone name can prevent a really irritating night.
Is the Kia EV6 Actually Prepared for Cross-Nation Journey in 2025?
The quick reply, based mostly on 15 years of overlaying the automotive business right here, is sure, with good planning. The EV6 has confirmed itself as one of the succesful long-distance electrical automobiles available on the market. In our personal ongoing protection, we now have documented a high-mileage Kia EV6 that was nonetheless delivering 344 miles of vary at 105,000 miles, which says an incredible quantity about battery longevity. The 2025 EV6 has an EPA-estimated vary of as much as 319 miles on the rear-wheel-drive long-range trim, and real-world homeowners persistently report vary that meets or exceeds the EPA estimate in reasonable circumstances.
Group member Alex Theodossi put the larger image into phrases that many EV drivers really feel deeply: there are many choices, EVs are the longer term, and relying on the Center East for oil can’t be the long-term reply. Whether or not you agree together with his enthusiasm or you’re nonetheless weighing your choices, the financial argument is turning into tougher to dismiss. Our personal protection evaluating EV charging prices versus gasoline costs throughout completely different areas and driving habits exhibits that house and vacation spot charging, the type Karen and Alex’s household used on this journey, persistently gives a powerful monetary benefit over gasoline in most American markets.
Our mates at Edmunds, who carried out their very own unbiased EV vary check on the Kia EV6, discovered that the GT-Line mannequin delivered 296 miles of real-world vary versus the EPA’s 270-mile estimate for that trim, and measured a charging velocity equal to 592 miles of vary added per charging hour. That efficiency places it among the many fastest-charging non-Tesla EVs you should purchase in the present day.
It’s also value studying the expertise of Kia EV6 homeowners who’ve charged on Electrify America and encountered billing surprises that may quietly value you cash if you’re not paying consideration, notably when switching between automobiles or charging plans. Being knowledgeable about how the billing works at every community, and selecting a subscription plan the place it is smart, can meaningfully cut back your highway journey power prices.
Lastly, for brand new EV6 homeowners questioning whether or not highway journeys in winter or difficult circumstances are manageable, we has lined what occurs once you check the Kia EV6’s vary in snow utilizing Snow Mode and good effectivity methods. The core lesson there echoes what Alex and his household discovered on their South Carolina to Louisiana run: when you already know your car, plan your route, and use the accessible instruments intelligently, the EV highway journey turns into a genuinely pleasant expertise quite than a supply of stress.
The Ethical of This Street Journey
There’s a life lesson woven into Alex Gomez’s story that goes past kilowatt hours and charging apps. Actual development, whether or not in expertise, habits, or considering, requires a willingness to attempt one thing new, even if you’re unsure the way it will go. Alex and his household had by no means taken a protracted all-electric journey earlier than. They deliberate nicely, saved an open thoughts, stopped once they wanted to, and got here house with a narrative value sharing. The world is stuffed with folks ready for good circumstances earlier than they fight one thing completely different. Excellent circumstances not often arrive. The household that merely determined to go and determine it out collectively is usually the one which finally ends up with one of the best story, and essentially the most cash nonetheless of their pocket.
Selecting to learn quite than fearful, and selecting to share what you study with others, makes the entire group smarter. That’s what good highway trippers and good neighbors do.
Now I wish to hear from you. Have you ever taken your Kia EV6 or one other electrical car on a protracted highway journey and located charging to be simpler than you anticipated? What apps or methods made the most important distinction in your expertise? Share your story within the feedback part under.
Photos by Alex Gomez and Armen Hareyan (from one in every of my newest Kia EV6 evaluations).
About The Writer
Armen Hareyan is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Torque Information and an automotive journalist with over 15 years of expertise writing automotive evaluations and business information. Now based mostly within the Charlotte area (Indian Land, SC, he based Torque Information in 2010, which since then has been publishing knowledgeable information and evaluation concerning the automotive business. He may be reached at Torque Information on X, Linkedin, Fb, and Youtube. Armen holds three Masters Levels, together with an MBA, and has grow to be one of many recognized voices within the business, specializing within the panorama of electrical automobiles and real-world tales of precise automotive homeowners. Armen focuses on offering readers with clear, data-backed evaluation bridging the hole of complicated engineering and automotive purchaser practicality. Armen often participates in automotive occasions all through the US, nationwide and native automotive reveals and personally test-drives new automobiles each week. Armen has additionally been printed as an automotive knowledgeable in publications just like the Transit Tomorrow, discussing how will autonomous automobiles reshape the availability chain, and rising applied sciences in car upkeep.
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