Driving an electric vehicle across a country changes how a route is planned rather than whether it is possible. The charging network, not the road network, becomes the constraint.
Charging speed falls as the battery fills
Batteries accept high power comfortably when relatively empty and taper sharply as they approach full, to protect cell chemistry and manage heat.
The consequence is that the final portion of a charge takes disproportionately long, and a driver waiting for a full battery spends most of the stop gaining little range.
Efficient long-distance driving therefore uses shorter, more frequent stops in the fast part of the curve rather than fewer stops charging to full.
Route planning starts from the chargers
Conventional route planning picks destinations and finds fuel along the way, because fuel is effectively everywhere and takes minutes.
Electric planning reverses that, fixing the charging stops first and then choosing what to do around them, since a stop lasts long enough to be an activity.
Well-chosen stops at towns with somewhere to eat convert dead time into part of the trip, while a stop at an isolated site is simply waiting.
Reliability matters more than coverage
A map showing dense coverage can still produce a difficult journey if a meaningful share of units are out of service or occupied on arrival.
Sites with several units carry a queue far better than sites with one or two, so unit count per location matters more than the number of locations.
Experienced drivers plan with a fallback charger within reach of the primary one, which converts a failure from a crisis into a detour.
Terrain and weather change the arithmetic
Sustained climbing consumes energy quickly, though much of it returns on the descent through regenerative braking, so a mountain crossing costs less overall than the climb suggests.
Cold weather is the harder problem, since battery chemistry is less efficient at low temperatures and cabin heating draws directly from the same pack.
Headwinds and roof loads have outsized effects at motorway speed, because aerodynamic drag rises steeply with speed and dominates consumption above a certain point.
The pace of the trip changes
Drivers accustomed to long uninterrupted stretches find the rhythm imposed rather than chosen, with a stop every few hours whether wanted or not.
Many report that the enforced breaks make long days less tiring, which is a genuine benefit rather than a consolation.
The trade is control over timing, and it is a poor trade on a tight schedule and a reasonable one on a trip where the driving is part of the point.