Roman from TFLEV has a meltdown trying to road trip their new VW I.D. Buzz

AZjeff

$50 Site Donor 2023
Joined
Jan 14, 2011
Messages
10,108
Location
At 5000’ in Az where the Deer and Antelope play
They traded their CyberTruck to a dealer in eastern Pa for the VW and are trying to get back to Colorado. Problems with inoperative charging stations and decreased range in the cold have Roman frustrated and grumpy. It took 12 hours to go 500 miles to Chicago O'Hare airport. Only 1000 more miles to get home.

 
But yet-the boards are full of those who have taken their Teslas on cross country trips.
"quote"
One thing that stood out to me on the trip was just how sparsely used the Superchargers were in many locations. On multiple charging stops, I had the entire Supercharger station — sometimes up to 15 charging stalls or more — to myself. EV critics like to complain about “insufficient infrastructure” for long distance trips in EVs, but that was not my experience on this trip or others in a Tesla. Other than that little charging glitch in Illinois, the Navigation system took me to each charging stop with plenty of power to spare. And I never had to drive more than a couple of miles off the highway in order to reach a Supercharger.


https://cleantechnica.com/2024/02/19/road-tripping-in-a-tesla-model-3-coast-to-coast-back-again/
 
The vehicle isnt a great winter tourer, but more than that its a scathing indictment of the CSS network, which should be no surprise to anyone whose road tripped an EV.

The original VW bus was also a lousy winter rig, so things haven't changed in that regard.
 
The vehicle isnt a great winter tourer, but more than that its a scathing indictment of the CSS network, which should be no surprise to anyone whose road tripped an EV.

The original VW bus was also a lousy winter rig, so things haven't changed in that regard.
Did you read my above post?
 
Last edited:
They traded their CyberTruck to a dealer in eastern Pa for the VW and are trying to get back to Colorado. Problems with inoperative charging stations and decreased range in the cold have Roman frustrated and grumpy. It took 12 hours to go 500 miles to Chicago O'Hare airport. Only 1000 more miles to get home.


He paid $72K for that?? I hope he's making a lot of money on his YT videos!!
 
But yet-the boards are full of those who have taken their Teslas on cross country trips.
"quote"
One thing that stood out to me on the trip was just how sparsely used the Superchargers were in many locations. On multiple charging stops, I had the entire Supercharger station — sometimes up to 15 charging stalls or more — to myself. EV critics like to complain about “insufficient infrastructure” for long distance trips in EVs, but that was not my experience on this trip or others in a Tesla. Other than that little charging glitch in Illinois, the Navigation system took me to each charging stop with plenty of power to spare. And I never had to drive more than a couple of miles off the highway in order to reach a Supercharger.


https://cleantechnica.com/2024/02/19/road-tripping-in-a-tesla-model-3-coast-to-coast-back-again/
I am assuming it was not Thanksgiving week or even a weekend.

Peak is the issue. When most people wish to travel, is the time everyone else is the same.
 
I am assuming it was not Thanksgiving week or even a weekend.

Peak is the issue. When most people wish to travel, is the time everyone else is the same.
It's like this. Strong anti EV sentiment on this board. I think we agree. Next (on posts like these) comes the "band wagon" of the hate, from those who will never own one-probably won't even own a Hybrid because these exceed the threshold of price for beaters of what most are willing to pay on here.

My post was meant to provide a counter point to the "band wagon" crowd.
 
It's like this. Strong anti EV sentiment on this board. I think we agree. Next (on posts like these) comes the "band wagon" of the hate, from those who will never own one-probably won't even own a Hybrid because these exceed the threshold of price for beaters of what most are willing to pay on here.

My post was meant to provide a counter point to the "band wagon" crowd.
Yeah, the YT guy should have been listening to the BITOG EV expertise! Ha! ;)
 
You know ... hmmmm ... well ... the guys experience with his VW Van EV was real.
So the people who talk about "haters" in here seem to be the proponents of all things EV instead of just admitting that some people do drive Vans in cold weather and in this case of the VW van a gasoline vehicle would have been a much better experience.

Im not sure why all the other blabber. Im not a hater and at the same time I see proponents glossing over factual information in cases like this. Even defending and I am not sure why? They are all vehicles with 4 wheels, two different types of engines. Right now an EV carries a more narrow area of usefulness for some people. Not sure why all the hate from both sides.

So ends my sermon of the day *LOL*
 
I mostly enjoy TFL videos but I can't say I would put it past them to embellish a story a little bit in order to generate some views. They knew full well going in that this situation is not ideal for that vehicle.
Mostly agree. He has experience with range loss in the cold. I think it's more a statement of the state of EV charging. The hotel advertised charging but only had Superchargers. He got to the next stop and the chargers were down but it wasn't indicated on the app. Ironically it was at a Sheetz convenience store where people were happily coming and going with their ICE cars. Had to download an app to use another charger. He loves the VW vehicle but not using it at this point. Maybe the rest of the trip will be better.

Embellished or not it's a look at how things can go sideways.
 
It's like this. Strong anti EV sentiment on this board. I think we agree. Next (on posts like these) comes the "band wagon" of the hate, from those who will never own one-probably won't even own a Hybrid because these exceed the threshold of price for beaters of what most are willing to pay on here.

My post was meant to provide a counter point to the "band wagon" crowd.
I would be fine with an EV as a second vehicle I charged at home. I might actually use it often locally. But they would have to be a fraction of current prices. I suspect I will end up with a well used Tesla in the future, assuming they provide proper parts support for them.
 
He definitely pushes for click-baity stuff.

A good example is the Hummer EV. The headlines were that it “broke down in traffic”. But the real story was he shut it down intentionally in traffic and it wouldn’t restart after the truck gave them a warning to stop and shutdown in a safe spot.
 
It isn’t unheard of to take 12 hours to go 500 miles. I don’t even know if I could do that miles in a day anymore.
I saw he paid $45 at the first one, expensive. Why bother. A plug in can use gas on the road, and electric locally.
An economical plug in can probably make that trip without getting gas.
 
Last edited:
Did you read my above post?

Yup, although I didnt read the link yet.

My reply is partly addition to yours, half continuation of discussion in the EV6GT forum.

Although the CCS network may be just great for WS6, not working well on a supercharger severely reduces the cars desirability for people road tripping elsewhere.

This video demonstrates perfectly why the existing CCS/ 800V architecture blows chucks comparatively.

It shows exactly why (pretty much) every manufacturer except VW ready decided to put a NACS port on their car.
 
Back
Top Bottom