Within a week of taking possession of “Mo,” our Nissan Ariya EV, we took a family trip to New York City, driving to Albany and catching an Amtrak into the City. We figured we’d have plenty of time upon our return to Albany to find a charger, figure out how to work it, charge up, and get home. We were mostly right.

We started at the closest charging station. It was in a public parking garage that charged a $20 flat rate for some event that evening. In addition to the charging rates, we’d have to pay the extra $20 just to spend a few minutes at the charger. I am way too cheap to fall for that one. The next option was a few miles away, so we plugged the address into the GPS and off we went. Everything was as advertised, and the charger worked fine, but it was in a seriously sketchy part of town. We hung close, playing with knobs and buttons trying to figure out more of the inner workings of our new toy.

Once the dashboard showed that we had 100 miles of excess driving capacity to get home, we bolted.

LESSON: When the dashboard says 100 miles, don’t count on.

We had driven south on a flat 2-lane road, toodling along at 55 or 60 on a warm afternoon. “Mo’s” computer calculated the 100-mile margin based on that trip. We drove back north on a cold evening through big mountains on an Interstate … with no chargers nearby. We planted the cruise control at 75 and enjoyed the ride. Then I noticed the 100-mile margin beginning to disappear. Cold weather, high speeds, and mountain roads, we learned, suck a lot more electricity than warm, slow, and flat. By the time we got home, the dashboard was blinking red warning lights at me screaming that we only had 20 miles of battery capacity left.

I guess I’ve experienced plenty of times when the gas station I thought would appear around the next bend never materialized. Fortunately, we made it home safely, and if all goes well, we will not experience that sort of “Oh shit, what are we going to do?” moment again.