Maine is a lot farther than it looks — especially if you’re driving in an electric vehicle. My partner, Tim, and I were happy in the back of my friend Erin’s spacious Volvo XC40. We relaxed while she and her husband, Dave, steered us through three states, all the while trying to sync the navigational technology with the battery-charging needs of the car. Managing the latter, we learned, is not as easy as getting gas.
It requires planning, in part because there isn’t an abundance of reliable, conveniently located charging stations along the way and likely won’t be for a while: In February, President Donald Trump halted a Congress-approved $5 billion nationwide build-out of EV infrastructure. A coalition of 16 states, including Vermont, sued the federal government to release the funding already promised to those states, and a judge has since ruled in the group’s favor. But because of a decision made by state Transportation Secretary Joe Flynn, it’s uncertain whether Vermont will get its share of the money: $16.7 million. The federal support would have financed a whole lot of super-fast charging stations in Vermont, making EV operation in the state easier; neither Maine nor New Hampshire was on the list of plaintiffs.
When they travel long distances, Erin and Dave locate the fast-charging stations on the route by looking them up on Google Maps, as well as on the PlugShare and Tesla apps. Leaving Vermont with a full charge, we only had to stop once on the trip east but three times on the return — almost always at the far end of a giant parking lot in big-box land. Each time, the process took about half an hour, during which we explored the area for the usual traveler needs: bathrooms, beverages, food.
Eastbound, somewhere in Maine, we navigated the commercial sprawl and got lunch in a shabby-looking Mexican restaurant that, in different circumstances, we probably would have skipped. Luchador Tacos turned out to be OK.
On the way home, we stopped to charge in a South Portland suburb within view — and walking distance — of Lowe’s, PetSmart, Taco Bell, Texas Roadhouse, Marshall’s, HomeGoods and a weird chain bakery called Nothing Bundt Cakes. Looking for a bathroom, I ventured into my first Walmart Supercenter, a store so enormous I turned to the “greeter” at the door for guidance. When he realized our interaction would require him to remove his earbuds, he looked disgusted, pointed to the left side of the vast space and said one word: “There.”
I staggered off in that direction. En route, I had a clear view of the checkout lines — customers buying food, clothes, appliances, everything under the sun. I’m a Vermonter who likes to shop local, so retail on that scale is not something I witness every day.
Down the road, in the dark, we stopped again and, while the car charged, wove our way through auto dealership parking lots to a convenience store. The 7-Eleven was closed — temporarily — so we walked across the road to the Circle K, where a motorcyclist was filling up at the gas pumps. His Mohawk was eye-catching. More so, his white pit bull outfitted with racing goggles. The dog was sitting up in a wooden box on the seat behind him.
Dave, who used to have a bike, noticed the motorcyclist was wearing an orthopedic boot on his gear-shifting foot and asked about it. We learned he was one year out from a weed-whacking accident that cut through everything but his Achilles tendon. He could no longer work as a builder. In June, his house burned down. He wondered aloud what he had done to deserve such bad luck.
He turned out to be a very sweet guy. If we hadn’t had to stop, we might never have met him. Or his dog Shelby, named for the race car driver Carroll Shelby. The encounter was a reminder: Objects in real life are often more benevolent than they appear. And there are much bigger problems in the world than having to kill time — while the EV is charging — on the way home from a great vacation.
This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 2 2025.
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