There’s something very comforting about the open road.
For decades, long-distance travel has been symbolized by the gentle thrum of an engine, the smell of stale coffee wafting from gas stations, and the banging of the best road trip playlist from your car stereo.
But as battery-powered vehicles start to appear in greater numbers on highways, the way we experience long-distance travel is slowly changing.
That’s not to say that the humble road trip is facing extinction just yet, but the advent of the electric vehicle is set to revolutionize the way we travel in several key ways.
A New Listening Environment
The absence of engine noise in an electric car creates a new listening environment for the music, podcasts, audiobooks, and other audio that we listen to while traveling.
And, let’s be honest, there is lots of background noise in a car traveling down the road with an internal combustion engine.
Most of the noise is from the engine itself, but there are also sounds from the tires, wind, road noise, and other external noises.
The sound of the engine typically masks all of these noises in a car with an internal combustion engine.
In an electric car, the lack of constant background noise allows listeners to more fully appreciate the sounds of the music and other audio they are listening to while traveling.
This takes a lot of the energy out of your traveling.
Typically, you spend so much time trying to drown out road noise when you are traveling in a gas-powered car.
I guess that is something that people never even think about until it is gone.
The absence of constant background noise in a gasless car allows for a deeper focus on the material conveyed through the speakers.
Listeners notice things about their favorite songs that they never knew were there before – hidden bass lines, subtle percussion, and more.
Even the most complex of spoken word materials are digested by listeners with greater ease and focus than ever before.
Sound matters more when everything else gets quiet.
The silence in the new cars creates opportunities that were previously unavailable to us.
For one, it changes how we listen to music and what we listen to, and for another, it changes how we experience the world around us while we’re traveling.
Rethinking the Pace of Travel
However, in terms of actual travel, the traditional road trip is being drastically changed by the energy required to travel long distances.
This is not simply a matter of filling up at a gas station and then hitting the road again.
Now each stop, for fuel or for other purposes, can take as long as twenty to forty minutes to complete.
Often this will involve a twenty-to forty-minute stop in the middle of the day to charge up, when before there would have been only a few minutes to refuel.
If a traveler had to fill up their gas tank, wait for the pump to finish, pay for the fuel, and then drive off, that would take about five minutes.
But during that time, they’d be standing outside in the cold and rain.
Charging an electric vehicle takes about twenty to forty minutes to complete.
Still, for most of that time, the traveler can be inside the vehicle or in a nearby café or store, relaxing and doing something else.
This means that instead of shivering in the cold and waiting for their gas tank to be filled, they can be stretching their legs, enjoying a break from driving, or listening to an album that they’ve been meaning to hear for months.
One can spend time at a charging station, for example, by taking a walk, eating a meal, or listening to an album or podcast in its entirety.
To get the most out of long-distance travel, one must give up the constant rushing to reach a destination on time.
So what happens when speed is no longer the ultimate goal of a road trip?
The entire culture around highway travel begins to soften, adapt, and mature.
Navigating the Practical Realities
These are also some of the changes that have impacted how people manage their vehicles.
Because electric vehicles are very different from their gas-powered predecessors, people must be aware of several details when traveling long distances.
This includes planning charging stops along the way, as well as being aware of features of the car that distinguish it from other vehicles on the road.
In addition to becoming familiar with the tech-focused features of your vehicle, you also need to become familiar with the more typical, day-to-day aspects of running a vehicle, such as looking into specialized electric vehicle insurance, how to figure out your car’s battery range in cold weather, and the like.
This vehicle requires thorough preparation and planning before hitting the road to make sure that you can drive safely and without issues.
New owners can focus on enjoying their long-distance travels knowing that they have done their best to prepare their vehicle for the road.
All the factors that could normally cause stress while traveling, such as oil levels, tire pressure, and other vehicle maintenance issues, can be addressed before hitting the road.
Using a tool such as a vehicle log to track necessary items can help ensure that all items have been taken care of.
So while it is certain to be different from older vehicles and may present some challenges for new owners at first, it quickly becomes second nature.
You will find that after the very first long trip, you are just as comfortable and at ease behind the wheel of your electric vehicle as you would have been in a gasoline-powered car.
The Cultural Shift in Audio Content
Modern physical travel combined with old ways of listening to audio is being turned on its head.
Long-form content is no longer relegated to the confines of your home, and now a whole new genre of content is opening up – Deep-dive audiobooks, narrative podcasts, full-length album playthroughs, and so much more are being made for the modern traveler.
Sitting and listening for long periods is something modern life does not allow.
However, the long periods spent sitting at charging stations for electric cars can be used for such purposes.
This is why many audio creators are now producing long-form audio content for travel. This can include audiobooks, podcasts, and more.
But music curation is also shifting to serve up the perfect road trip mix, with tracks going from loud enough to cut through the cacophony of traffic to creating a great backdrop for quiet introspection while cruising down the highway in a car with great sound.
And that’s in no small part due to the dynamic tracks with soft, quiet sections, often featuring acoustic guitars and/or intimate vocals – perfect for getting lost in a good road trip tune.
Most of all, it permits us to slow down.
Embracing a Mindful Journey
There is a growing sense of awareness about the need to bring greater mindfulness to our road travel, and that is one of the many very positive effects of electric mobility, bringing a halt to the earlier ‘faster is better’ culture, and bringing a quieter, more thoughtful way of traveling on the roads.
The noise of the vehicle has fallen away, and all that is left is music, landscape and the time to really appreciate both on the long journey.
When you return home after a trip in an electric vehicle, you will be a lot less tired than if you had been traveling in a conventional vehicle, and that’s because the calm, thoughtful environment of your vehicle allows you to truly appreciate your time on the road.
