BOSTON GLOBE • January 10, 2023
Our journey started in Portland, Maine, with doughnuts and an app designed to guide us across New England while keeping our electric vehicles in motion. Our question: Are there enough chargers around to make EVs a realistic choice for long-distance rides? EV drivers cannot rely on the century-old ecosystem of a gas station around every corner. They need to plan their trips based on the availability of a growing but still spotty network of charging stations. Tesla has built its own network of widespread and speedy chargers but for now, they’re only accessible to Tesla EVs. The build-out of charging infrastructure is critical if the region wants to successfully entice millions of car owners to make the switch to electric and slash climate-warming emissions. The Kia had more issues on the road than the Tesla. But neither one of us ever came close to running out of power as we enjoyed a perfect day and some nearly perfect doughnuts.