Photo Credit: iStockA New Jersey driver's road trip in a Ford Mustang Mach-E raised a familiar issue that many EV owners don't talk about often.The driver was met with a range that was well below the estimated range on the manual, and an absence of chargers at the hotel or within walking distance of their destination.Here's what to knowAccording to a post on Reddit, the driver was getting only about 2.4 miles per kilowatt-hour, instead of the roughly 3 to 3.2 miles per kilowatt-hour the driver says they usually get at 65 mph on the highway.The trip was done in cold, windy rain, and was about a 270-mile round trip.By the time they finished the hotel stay and local driving, the poster said the car was at 32%. They had hoped to make a quick fast-charging stop before reaching the highway, but the only option there was Tesla-only, so they continued on to a charger at a turnpike rest stop, which did not go as planned.The station was marked 250 kW CCS, but the poster said the Mach-E was taking only around 35 kW. It took 40 minutes to add the roughly 29% needed for the trip home.The frustration was about the gap between expectation and reality. "Was it a major issue? No, but it was inconvenient and made us late to a party," the original poster wrote.More backgroundThe driver emphasized that this happened in New Jersey near New York City, not in a remote place with barely any charging options.They also said there was no charging at the hotel, none at nearby hotels either, and no Level 2 chargers within walking distance of where they were headed.One commenter addressed the slow charging issue: "35kw is indicative of the charging station throttling because the cable cooling is malfunctioning on it."Even with road trip inconvenience, EVs can still save drivers money over time because home charging is often cheaper than filling up with gas, and electric vehicles generally require less routine maintenance since they do not need oil changes.Access still depends on whether a charger is available to multiple brands, works properly, and is located where drivers actually need it.What can be done?The thread also produced a list of ways drivers might avoid this kind of delay. Among the most common suggestions was battery preconditioning. They said warming up the battery before reaching a fast charger matters because it can take power faster, especially in cold or wet weather.Commenters also said that if charging power looks abnormally low while the battery is still at a low state of charge, trying a different stall may help.Another suggestion was to charge the night before a trip. Another commenter recommended logging bad charging sessions on PlugShare, so other drivers can avoid the same surprise.A commenter in the thread looked ahead: "Once we get to a point where the charging infrastructure is both 99% reliable and ubiquitous, then these types of stories go away."Where can I learn more?These articles look at the same charging headaches and infrastructure gaps that turned this New Jersey trip into a hassle.• Across the U.S., drivers say level 2 charging where cars sit overnight would ease road-trip stress.• In Los Angeles, copper theft at charging stations has made public fast charging even less dependable.Get TCD's free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.