Generation180 connected with Ryan and Terri Watts a year ago. We first talked with them when their family-owned business, Van in Black, added an EV to its fleet. And we’ve stayed in touch as Ryan has done two consecutive road trips from North Carolina to Alaska in his Rivian R1S. Ryan shares how his trip compared in 2025 vs 2024, and his three main takeaways. 

On my 2025 EV road trip, which covered 11,000+ miles, I purposely took the “road less traveled.” I have been to some amazing and very remote places in my Rivian, with little issue. This summer, I used all levels 1-3 and a variety of kWh charging to my benefit, not my detriment. I used the charger that was appropriate for my needs at the time. At a hotel in Grande Cache, Canada, which was advertised as having EV charging, what was on offer was a 110V regular outlet to plug into – one like you’d plug a toaster into. Yellowstone National Park has chargers, but only up to 6.6kWh. I largely used Level 3 chargers on this trip that charged at 50 kWh or higher. In a few remote parts of Canada, however, there were a couple 25 kWh chargers that I had to use. Most of the time, especially in the larger  cities I was able to use superchargers (150 kWh or higher).

Even in remote areas of Canada and Alaska I was able to find L3 chargers the majority of the time but there are some campgroups that cater to EV owners and have a pricing structure in place to use their 240V RV hookups. I did this one night and overnighted at a campground in Tok, Alaska. While I was there, I noticed that they had EV charging stations purchased and ready to install but they weren’t live yet. The same was true in Cantwell, Alaska, right at the start of the Denali Highway. I charged in Cantwell using a 50 kWh charger and noticed a nice bank of Tesla superchargers that were being installed. Places know there is a demand for them and revenue to be made – and they are responding. 

One change for me in 2025 is that I had Rivian’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) adapter and access to the Tesla super charging network, which I did make use of. Some Tesla chargers have the CSS adapter built in, which is convenient but having the adapter made all of them available to me. One challenge, however, is that the Rivian charge port is in the front left side of the vehicle and most Tesla charging locations are designed for the plug to be on the right side. You have to pull in alongside the charger, which means taking up multiple spaces to charge. Only once was this a problem, in Jasper, Canada, where the Tesla chargers were in high demand. I hopped out of my vehicle when I saw an incoming Tesla that wanted to charge, but before I could even move my car, another EV was pulling out, leaving another empty spot for them to easily charge. 

The three takeaways that I noticed from my 2025 EV road trip vs the one I did in 2024 are:

1. There were a lot more EV chargers along the route. In just a year, it was noticeably better, and some routes were easily available to me that were not driveable last year.

3. There were a lot more EVs on the road and a lot more making long-distance trips – I noticed this at the charging stations but there was only one time on the entire trip that I had to wait for a charger. I pulled in as another vehicle was finishing up and my wait was only a couple of minutes.
4. With the very rare exception (maybe the Dempster Highway, on which I drove 100 miles), there are not too many places an EV can’t go where a regular car could.

I encountered two challenges on my 2025 trip. One of the chargers I was depending on in Glennallen, AK was offline and this was really the Achilles heel of the entire trip. It is the only charger between Anchorage and the first chargers available in Canada. The charger in Glennallen is run by ReCharge Alaska and I did call and speak to their support team. They acknowledged the problem and told me they were working to resolve it as quickly as possible.  They also mentioned steps they were taking to improve things so that it was more reliable in the future. While this presented a challenge to me it was nice to actually speak to someone who sounded committed to both resolving the issue and continuing to this much needed service.

My original plan was to leave Anchorage, charge in Glennallen and make the very long trek via the northern route to Dawson City, YT.  Due to the charger in Glennallen being offline, I had to extend my trip by a day and travel to Fairbanks first so I could get a full charge there before continuing. I did that and ended up overnighting it in Tok, Alaska and topping off at a 220v RV hookup. This gave me the range I needed to continue with my plan to visit Dawson City without too much inconvenience. I was pleasantly rewarded with a drive through the Denali National Park and Preserve on my way up to Fairbanks, which was absolutely stunning.

Secondly, the 12-volt battery on my Rivian went out at the worst possible spot on the trip, on the Dempster Highway. Apparently most EVs have a 12-volt battery much like a standard gas/diesel vehicle would. While this can happen in any car, my challenge was getting to a Rivian Service Center, which for me was 1,700 miles away in Calgary! I contacted Rivian support and the team was amazing. They gave me some parameters to operate within that safely got me back to Calgary four days later. I was able to call them on a Sunday evening as I was driving through Banff and scheduled the repair in Calgary for early the next morning. I rolled into the service center at about 9 am and they had me fixed and ready to roll before lunch. Amazing!

Will I do this road trip again in an EV? Absolutely! I have family in Alaska, including grandkids. I really enjoy the drive and change of pace a road trip offers, plus I want to do the full Dempster Highway in my Rivian someday. This was the first time I’ve ever done the trip to/from Alaska completely alone and it was amazing. You’re out amidst immense beauty, cruising along in the quiet; it’s a spiritual experience.