Lessons Learned from Our EV Road Trip

Guest Blog Post: By Hannah Malus & Zainab Mirza, Watts the Tea

We all know the feeling – no matter how deeply you love the city of Washington, DC, sometimes a break is necessary. Like all complicated but enduring relationships, distance can make the heart grow fonder. 

At least, that is how we – Hannah and Zainab, co-hosts of the new clean energy social media brand, Watts the Tea – were feeling. One beautiful, sunny afternoon, we felt the peaceful towns along Maryland’s Eastern Shore calling. But we did not hear the same call coming from the gas stations advertising prices of more than $4/gallon.

Luckily, our friend loaned us her electric car for the day, and we set out on our very first EV adventure. Never having driven one before, we had a lot of questions – and ended the day with plenty of answers.

Three Lessons Learned

1. Apps made finding chargers easy, which made our range anxiety vanish. 

Like most EV-curious drivers, we were unsure how the DMV’s charging infrastructure would hold up when tested. But apps like EVGo and Electrify America eliminated all the guesswork – they showed a map of available chargers and even connected to our Google Maps to navigate us directly to them. 

2. Charging on-the-go is fast, but charging at-home is cheaper.

Once we arrived at the charger, we plugged in the car, ate lunch, and had enough juice to finish our road trip: in 45 minutes for $26. Charging at-home, especially when opted into Pepco’s program that only charges your car during off-peak hours, is much slower – but costs as little as $3 per month.

3. Older EVs are still super fun – and are rapidly approaching price parity. 

We borrowed a 2023 Chevy Bolt for this experiment. EVs have come a long way in the past few years, and while newer models may have more bells and whistles, we loved driving this car! Data shows that used EVs now cost nearly the same as comparable gas-powered cars – great news for drivers looking for a good deal.

Turns out, you can get away from the city without emptying your wallet at the gas pump. Check out our full electrified adventure on this new episode of Watts the Tea!

About Watts the Tea 

The conversation around clean energy is often inaccessible, overly technical, and disconnected from people’s real experiences. Watts the Tea spills “the clean energy gossip” by turning complex concepts into the kinda drama we can all understand. Join Zainab and Hannah for new episodes weekly on Instagram and LinkedIn.

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