⚡How the Electric Avenue Team set a new WORLD Record 🏆

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Happy Friday! Welcome to this special edition of Electric Avenue⚡

Here’s what we have for you today:

• 🏆 Setting the EV World Record on the Cannonball Route 🇺🇸

• Key Findings on Charging in the U.S. 💡

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Let's dive in!

🏆 Setting the EV World Record on the Cannonball Route 🇺🇸

We did it! After teasing our “secret EV record” for the past three weeks in the newsletter, Twitter/X and on Linkedin - we can finally reveal everything!

What was the record?

We set out on a 2,800 mile journey across the US. The goal was to set a World Record for the least number of charging stops to cross the US.

The route followed the famous Cannonball Run start/end points in LA and NYC, where so many cross-country driving records have started or ended.

A Classic Cannonball is about the shortest time driving from LA to NYC or vice versa in one consecutive run. With an ICE vehicle, that time is about 25 hours and 39 minutes.

In terms of EV’s with the shortest driving time, Ryan from the Kilowatts holds the record for a Tesla vehicle crossing the U.S. in 42 hours and 17 minutes (Link). Kyle from Out of Spec crossed the U.S. with a Porsche Taycan, relying on just CCS charging networks, in roughly 44 hours (Link).

We figured we can set the record in our category for “least charging stops” rather than “shortest time”, as the two other teams needed 20+ charging stops on their runs. We knew that the combination of the Lucid Air’s efficiency and more reasonable driving speeds would result in a much lower, single-digit number of stops.

Records for our category had been set in other regions already, for example in 2023 a VW ID.4 team crossed Canada in 18 stops (Link), but as far as we know there was no official record for the USA! 🇺🇸 

What vehicle did we use?

We rented a 2022 Lucid Air Grand Touring with a 112kWh battery. The Lucid Air is the vehicle with the highest efficiency and one of the largest batteries for sale in the U.S., making it the perfect car for this category of record.

We knew that if we set an ambitious record for the fewest charging stops using the Lucid Air, it would be extremely hard to beat with another Air, and basically impossible to beat with any other electric vehicle for sale!

How did it go?

When we initially planned out the trip with ABetterRoutePlanner, we estimated that we could do the 2,800 miles with 8 charging stops.

But once we started driving, we noticed that we were achieving a higher efficiency than predicted and a goal of just 6 charging stops was ambitious, but realistic!

To find out exactly what happened next, and why we ended up setting the record with a total of 7 charging stops, check out our full trip video:

After you watched that, come back here for more nerdy details about the trip and our key takeaways!

Stats for all charging stops on the trip📊

Key Findings on Charging in the U.S. 💡

• It’s possible to drive with an EV from coast-to-coast 🇺🇸: There is sufficient coverage to cross the U.S. and to set this record. Density was key for us to stretch each leg and drive the car as close to 0% SoC as possible. 

• User Interface (HMI) of Chargers 📲 : User guidance on the charger display is much more customer-centric compared to EU Chargers. Credit card prices are displayed transparently on the standby screen and the integrated FAQ and the sequence on how to start a session are helpful. Showing current total session costs also helps to know what costs to expect before the session is finished.

  

  EVgo Charger HMI

• 100% Availability of Credit Card Terminals 💳️ : Credit card terminals are present at every station which eases access & authentication. We mainly used the App authentication of the CPOs to get some remote information about the ongoing charging session as we needed to compensate for the missing vehicle app access.

• Less Price Complexity 💵 : Pricing in the U.S. is much simpler than in Europe because the price applied by the CPO is also charged when the MSP service (of other CPOs) or credit card is used. However, some CPOs still find ways to add complexity.

  

  EVgo pricing table on the charger screen

   

• Promotions 🪧 : Cross-promotion to earn reward points and advertise products in nearby stores is much more common in the U.S., showing that charging is seen as an opportunity to cross-sell to customers. Ads are displayed on cardboard on protective posts or the screen of the charger. Even promotional videos are played, as seen on a Chargepoint unit (check out the video on YouTube).

  

• Routing & Planning 🧭 : ABRP is really good for rough trip planning. It leaves some room for fine-grained planning, as the consumption data is not that accurate for certain vehicles, like in our case because there is no 3rd party telematics interface to the Lucid Air. Another drawback was that ABRP did not have all the POI data for all the chargers along the route. It is really important that POI data is openly shared by CPOs to ensure that users are aware of their locations and to increase utilization.

• Utilization Boost through Ride-Hailing 🚀 : Ride-Hailing customers are attracted by granting additional discounts for charging frequently with the same network - we showcase this in a separate bonus video that we took in NY. Subscribe to our Youtube channel to get updates once we release the video.

• Charging Convenience ☔️ : Canopies and lighting provide a much safer and more comfortable charging experience at night, and help to spot charging stations early.

  

  GM Energy / Pilot&Flying J charging station in Ohio (operated by EVgo eXtend)

What were our “not so good” experiences? 👎

• Infrastructure Density needs to improve 🗺️: With smaller batteries, some parts, especially in the middle of the US are becoming challenging with the current CPO networks. 

• Missing Remote Connectivity 📶 : No way to remotely monitor the charging session when starting a charging session with a credit card. Especially challenging for cars without remote connectivity or rental cars without mobile companion apps. QR codes with mobile websites like Kempower’s “Drop-In QR code” offers can easily solve this problem. Alternatively, the current SoC of the vehicle at a given chargepoint could be displayed in the CPO’s app (similar to the dynamic availability status of the chargepoint).

• Charging Station Reliability 🛠️ : We expected to have some problems with charging stations on our trip. But we were surprised by the actual number of problems we encountered. Charging station reliability is still the biggest area of improvement to make EV charging mass market-ready in the U.S. Below are the problems we encountered on the trip:

  • Charger Hardware struggles with heat 🥵 : Charging in the middle of the day at over 100 degrees Fahrenheit / 39 degrees Celsius was a gamble, and much of the energy is needed for cooling. We had early charging stops at Electrify America using an ABB station and the FreeWire charger from EVConnect. The FreeWire station stopped working completely, so we needed an additional charging stop on our record attempt.

  • Charging cable didn’t work 🔌 : When we switched the cable, the station worked at Electrify America in Nebraska. We are not sure what was wrong with the first cable, but luckily there was an alternative cable at the same station.

  • Missing Error Codes & Feedback 🆘: We were unable to start a session and did not receive meaningful feedback as a user at the Tritium charger in Indiana (see video).

What did you find most interesting about the trip? What did you expect?

Thanks again to our sponsors for the trip: Siri Electromotive, Pionix and S44 Energy.

Cheers,
Janek & Julius

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. The Electric Avenue team may hold investments in or may otherwise be affiliated with the companies discussed.