I just got back from a 2200 mi (3500 km Round trip) visit to relatives that provides some insight into the position of EVs in the market in the Western US. The trip is one I make multiple times a year and as many have pointed out these long trips often have better alternatives than a car. But it seldom works that way for me. In this case, associated with Christmas, there would have been significant costs, concern about delivery schedule and concern about handling for the Christmas gifts involved. One of the stops is an elderly relative where I do the maintenance that she no longer can do, nor can she properly vet local tradesmen. So tool transport is also involved. Multiple stops hints at why some of the other options are less appealing. My use case isn't the issue here.
The meat of the observations is as follows. Of the hundreds of vehicles observed, I only recognized 5 full electric vehicles - all Teslas. Four were on the interstate between cities. Not surprisingly, all four were within 200 miles (320 miles) of the San Francisco Bay area. Clearly they are practical for some long distance trips. There may have been others, but I would have recognized the common ones like Bolt, Leaf and electric Prius. But then those shorter range vehicles are much less practical on long trips so I wouldn't expect to have seen them out on the open road. I also saw one Volt.
Based on the license plates of cars surrounding me a significant percentage were making somewhat similar treks. In the stretches between cities somewhere between 10 and 20 percent were from at least one state away. While some of these may have been transplants who had not changed their plates yet, the fully loaded cars, some with roof top carriers and other clues indicate that most were in transit. In California, where most of the mileage occurred, same state plates don't necessarily indicate a short trip. The long leg of my trip described next is almost entirely within California.
The longest leg of the trip is just over 600 miles (960 km). With an ICE vehicle I do it in roughly 12 hours. One fueling stop if trip is started with full tank, usually do two to get better fuel prices and more leg stretching. Two meals. Two or more comfort breaks. Hypothetically may involve long stretches driving 20% or more faster than posted speed limits to save time for more of those stops. Also to keep up with average traffic flow. I'm not sure if the best EVs can come within half an hour of that time or not. Depends if they can combine their best range with those hypothetical speeds. Maybe so, maybe not. But the real kicker at the moment is that this trip was holiday season. A lot of people on the road. Lines of varying length at everything. SWMBO needed Starbucks at the first stop and it took over half an hour. (Good news for electric if there wasn't a line at the charging station and if the Starbucks is within walking distance, it gives time to charge.). But with all of that, the longest stop for fuel was under 15 minutes, including the wait in line, and what seemed to be a slow pump. I timed the delivery rate at 6 gallons per minute, which according to Google is at the low end of what stations try to deliver since their business model demands high sales. Legal limit in US is 10 gal per minute. Right now, with so few EVs on the road there probably isn't too much waiting in line for a charger. But as market penetration grows, you would expect the same market forces that drive gas stations to prevail. The system will be sized for typical use or a little more, and during high demand periods will get saturated.
I draw two conclusions from this. One, in spite of the rather impressive sales and sales growth of electric vehicles, they are still a just barely noticeable presence in the US market. On par with the exotics, but still something that causes a double take when seen. Second, while the best EVs will satisfy some of the long range demands of the US driver, they will be challenged to meet the holiday treks common to Americans in the western part of the country.