Ever since I picked up my first electric vehicle – a 2025 Porsche Taycan 4 Cross Turismo – I had been planning my first road trip with it. The car is fantastic – comfortable yet great driving dynamics; super fast charging; it’s a shooting brake (aka wagon) so very practical. I watched a lot of Out of Spec Motoring, who posted a lot of videos about EV road trip (Bonus point for them because Kyle is a big Taycan fan). I’ve also learnt a lot about EV efficiency and charging. Kyle of Out of Spec said he doesn’t plan for EV road trip any more because the charging infrastructure in the US has been vastly improving. But for my first one, I needed to plan ahead.
Planning
First of all, it’s necessary to know the approximate range of the EV in real world. 2025 Taycan 4 CT has EPA rated range of 277 miles. In real world when I drove a lot between Boston and Provincetown which is about 110 miles, it consumes about 30% of battery. So in that condition where traffic is mixed on mostly highway, a full 100% charge should give me 330 miles range, which is significantly higher than Porsche’s EPA range. That is not surprising if you’re familiar with official data from Porsche. They almost always overdeliver.
However, driving conditions differ hugely in different times and locations. And it impacts the range significantly. Weather, terrain, traffic, speed etc.. I learnt it in a good way on this road trip.
Once I was clear about the range, I needed to plan the charging stops. There’s also the tolerance of State of Charge (SoC) upon arriving at a charging stop. Kyle of Out of Spec arrives at charging stop dead. I don’t want to do that. I was thinking about 10% which balances extra miles to go and charging speed. Remember, battery charging is like sponge absorbing water. The emptier the battery is, the faster charging is.
I started with Porsche Charging Planner, which allows me to specify how low SoC I want to arrive at a charging stop, and how low SoC I want to arrive at my final destination. Another very popular app to use is ABRP. But I adjusted it with my own preference based on how reliable (PlugShare score) they are and the amenities nearby (bathrooms, food). Here is what I came up with:
- Leaving Boston with 100% SoC
- (158 miles) 200kw ChargePoint at West Gardiner Service Area
- (214 miles) 350kw Electrify Canada in Woodstock, NB
- (211 miles) 350kw Electrify Canada in Amherst, NS
- (121 miles) Hotel in Halifax
I was a bit worried about the second leg and the third leg, as Porsche app indicated that I’d arrive with low SoC. I intended to charge to 90% at the first and second charging stops.
On the way back:
- Leaving with 100% SoC from the hotel
- (258 miles) Oromocto Gateway Plaza, NB (I chose this because this has many food options nearby, and I only needed to top up to reach the next faster charger)
- (73 miles) 350kw Electrify Canada in Woodstock, NB
- (203 miles) Tesla Supercharger at Comfort Inn Civic Center, Augusta, ME
- (165 miles) Home in Boston
The first leg is a bit of a stretch, but I was confident that we could arrive without any problem (which turned out to be naive of me).
I downloaded a lot of apps for charging:
- PlugShare – Very important and popular, useful to find chargers and look up reviews
- Electrify America / Electrify Canada
- FLO
- ChargePoint
- Petro-Canada
- Tesla
I also selected the hotel in Halifax with EV charging. The Four Points by Sheraton in Halifax downtown is just two blocks away from the waterfront, and the parking for the hotel has two sets of chargers. Thanks to the PlugShare reviews, I was able to find the charger that is free (after paying for parking, of course) provided by the hotel. And it turned out to be a huge value.
The Dog
We travel with our dog as much as we can, so we took our corgi with us. I bought an inflatable dog crate (small) that fits in the boot of the Taycan CT perfectly.
Travel Day
The first leg was fairly uneventful. Beautiful fall colors along I-95. We had to stop to pee before arriving at the first charging stop. It turned out the travel time of EV road trip was limited by our bladders, not the car or charging.
When we arrived at the first charging stop at West Gardiner, there was a Ford F150 Lightning charging at the slower charger. That particular charging stop has 4 chargers: two 200kw and two 62.5 kw. We pulled in at the 200kw one. Battery was preconditioned and I tapped my ChargePoint card in Apple Wallet. It worked like a charm. We took the dog out and went in the service building for food.
The Dunkin’ here was SLOW! The car was charged to 90% before we got our food and coffee. When I unplugged, all four chargers were occupied. I was happy that we arrived a bit earlier. The car was ripping 190+ kw all the way till about 70%, which was great. I also really like ChargePoint because it gives you the charging curve. I wish its horizontal axis is SoC instead of time.
When we were leaving, the two faster chargers became available again. I was pleased to see no one was hogging the charger.
And we headed to the second charger in Canada. When we just left West Gardiner, the car reported the SoC upon arrival would be 14%. And it just kept dropping as we drove into the hillier terrain (I-95 between Boston and Portland is mostly along the coast, so it is very flat) until it stablized around 7%. I started to get anxious and concerned. But I also reminded myself that even at 7%, I was able to drive at least 20 miles. And the charger at Woodstock NB has really good PlugShare score. I was a bit worried the car would enter “Turtle Mode” where the power is significantly reduced so we would only be able to drive at 30-40mph. When we crossed the US-Canada border, the Canadian border agent didn’t even ask for the document for the dog (Rabies certificate) because my dog was very quiet didn’t make any noise.
OMG Woodstock NB is windy and cold. It was no fun to battle with the thick and heavy CCS cable in the wind. But after we plugged in, my Porsche app said “Authorisation error” and the payment screen on Electrify Canada station popped up. So – the free charging Porsche gives out for Electrify America doesn’t work for Electrify Canada, though they’re the same company. However it was absolutely ripping when the charging started. Three seconds in, the car was pulling 300+kw – that was a new record for the car.
We went to the Tim Hortons next door to use washroom and got coffee. We were gonna get some food, but the Tim Hortons there was disgusting and they didn’t even have enough rice to make my meal. So we got refund and walked the dog. The car was charged quickly to 90% and we were on our way to the next stop at Amherst, NS.
Very uneventful all the way to Amherst. Again, beautiful fall foliage along Trans-Canada Highway. The car was better at estimating the SoC at arrival now after the terrain change. The Electrify Canada at Amherst is in a huge parking lot with A&W across the street. This one has 6 stalls and all working properly according to the app. Three was being occupied when we arrived. And it was already dark outside. So my partner went to get food while I sit in the car with the dog. We didn’t need to charge to high SoC at this stop, but we needed to eat something anyway. I snapped a quick pic – I thought it was a beautiful sight with the glowing green chargers and the Porsche Taycan taillight!
The last leg of the trip was quick and easy. I didn’t find the free charger for the hotel guest at first – there are two chargers from another company that are not free. I walked around in the garage and found the free one! It was a ChargePoint level 2 shared. There was a Ford Lightning charging already. So I took the other one and was charging at 3.3kW. I can’t complain since it’s free, and we didn’t plan to use the car for another day. When I woke up the next morning the car was pulling 6+kW which meant the Lightning left!
Return to Boston
Like I said, I was fairly confident we could arrive at Oromocto Gateway Plaza, NB (258 miles away from Halifax) leaving Halifax with 100% SoC. We’d arrive at low SoC, but not completely dead. However I miscalculated! We hit a short but heavy rain storm, and it hurt the efficiency so bad because of the water on the road. The estimated SoC upon arrival dropped from 9% to below 5% instantly.
And the terrain again worked against my calculation. Even though I was mostly driving at speed limit (or a little above), the estimated SoC upon arrival kept dropping. Sometimes it showed 3% and sometimes 2%. The cold weather probably hurts a bit too – ambient temperature was around 40-50 F. I’d be lying if I say I wasn’t panicking a bit. When we entered NB, I told myself I’d stop to charge briefly if the estimated arrival SoC drops to 1%. Shortly after that, it went to 1%. So I found the next DC charger at Youngs Cove. And of course someone was using it! How lucky. I only needed to charge for about 10 mins so I could make it to Oromocto travel plaza. It is eCharge network using FLO charger, only 50kW but better than nothing.
I plugged in the level 2 and activated with FLO app (worked like charm, great app), used the washroom and walked the dog a bit. It was cold and windy, so we waited in the car. 10 mins later, the driver who was charging at DC left. I can’t describe how happy I was! Even though I was only pulling in 40kW but 10 mins was all I needed.
We were on the way to Oromocto shortly. I saw a KIA Kona on the highway approaching the charging stop, and I made sure I passed them so I’d arrive at the charger before them. There are three 100kw stalls there, but I didn’t want to risk. Again FLO app worked flawlessly. Though I was only charging at 60-70kw 🙁 I knew FLO chargers are really reliable, but the charging speed is a bit disappointing. We were charging for a while since we’d have food at McDonald’s and coffee from the Starbucks next door.
Next stop was the same one I used before – the Woodstock Electrify Canada. Again it was charging at amazing speed. Peak was 314kW! Another new record for me!
I could use the West Gardiner again, but I figured I’d want to check out the new Tesla Supercharger with MagicDock in Augusta. It has v4 dispensers and I was curious if the cabinet is also v4. So it turned out the cabinet is still v3 – max 500V DC output. So Taycan being a 800V car, we don’t get full speed of 250kW that the charger can do. We still get around 130-140kw though.
The Tesla Supercharger is across a very busy street from a gas station and a KFC. We used the bathroom in the gas station and had KFC for dinner. Also played fetch with the dog. The car was dirty, but I am pleased. It is well travelled!
And we were headed home in Boston. I switched to Google Maps for navigation as it has better traffic information and plans routes better. The car indicated that we’d arrive with 14% SoC. But when I got home, SoC was 19%! Terrain really has a huge impact!
What I learnt
I really enjoyed the EV road trip. Taycan is a fantastic road trip car. It is so comfortable yet very engaging to drive thanks to the air suspension. Active Lane Keeping and Adaptive Cruise Control with InnoDrive worked great on the highway. Cross Turismo is very practical with luggage and the dog crate.
As for charging and EV, the only thing is to have a plan to make unexpected charging stop. You’ll never get stranded from the charging perspective. Don’t panic. Most of places have plenty of DC chargers to get you to the next one.
Thank you for reading and let me know what you think!
