• by Tanya Gazdik , Staff Writer, October 14, 2024

I love exposing my non-automotive friends to the vehicles I test drive.

Their reactions and questions provide valuable anecdotal information about how regular folks feel about electric vehicles, semi-autonomous features and other types of technology. 

I’ve already established I’m a fan of the Kia EV9, and driving it again has given me a chance to put it through different use case scenarios and to discover new features I hadn't used previously.

This time I had the chance to take it on a bit of a road trip — from Detroit to Ann Arbor — to visit a cat sanctuary I support. It’s about a 45-mile drive each way. 

By the time I arrived, I was down to about 15% charge -- well below the quarter of a tank I strive never to let my gas-powered vehicles drop below. However, I wasn’t concerned because Ann Arbor is a progressive college town with no shortage of public chargers. It’s not like I was out in the middle of the country. 

My friend, the executive director of the cat sanctuary, had never ridden in an electric vehicle or been to a charging station, and she was interested in learning more about EVs because she is beginning to consider vehicle choices. I think the EV9 could be a possibility for her and the shelter, since there's incredible amounts of cargo space, with both rows of seats folded down, which would allow for the hauling around of cats, cat food and kitty litter.

The EV9 is helpful in that it repeatedly alerts the driver when the vehicle fall below 20% charge. A few clicks later and up comes a map of the closest charging stations, including details on what kind of chargers are available. 

If you select one of the stations as your destination, the vehicle begins to precondition the battery to receive the charge, which can help cut down on charging time. It’s a truly remarkable feature that I often forget to use, because I have a couple of preferred fast chargers that I regularly use when in need of a quick “fill up.” 

Unfortunately, the first charger we went to -- a brand-new one in a new apartment complex a few miles from the cat shelter -- was not working properly. It was supposed to be a 62.5 kW “fast” charger but was barely delivering 20 kW. After a few minutes, a message flashed on the screen letting us know that Chargepoint was aware of the problem and was going to be attending to it. Of course that did us no good in the moment. I only added 14 miles in 9 minutes for $2.20.

I took my friend back to the sanctuary and set off finding another charger.  The next one, a 125kW fast charger behind a gas station, was working, but slowed down when a second vehicle plugged in next to me. I stuck it out and got the vehicle up to 80% charge after 56 minutes. I added 320 miles of range for $28.65.

My friend observed that you have to plan more when you own an EV and have to be ready to deal with charging station issues. That is not untrue, but I told her that most owners invest in a level 2 home charger or else have a level 2 at their work locations so that they aren’t often at the mercy of random public chargers except on a road trip. We might be able to get assistance to install a metered level 2 EV charger at the cat sanctuary so other volunteers could potentially be inspired to consider an EV purchase. 

She like the looks and the size of the Kia EV9, but I don’t know if the experience helped sell her on EVs.

Even though EVs have been around for more than 20 years, we are still early in the process of consumer interest and adoption.

According to the latest findings from the 2024 Path to EV Adoption Study by Cox Automotive, a second wave of shoppers ready to consider buying an electric vehicle is poised to begin entering the market in the second half of the decade.

The findings indicate that nearly half of all vehicle shoppers in market today are not even considering an EV – a group the study identifies as skeptics, shoppers who are only considering vehicles powered by traditional internal combustion engines.

But the skeptics are coming, the study suggests. 

As technology improves, the U.S. charging network expands and prices moderate further, 54% of current skeptics will become EV considerers within three to five years. Within the next 10 years, 80% of today’s skeptics will be ready to consider an EV as more barriers fall.

If my recent experience is any indication, we still have a ways to go, but time will tell.