Scott Allison could have taken the shortest route from Las Vegas to Reno.
Instead, he drove nearly 50 extra miles through California.
The detour wasn't for the scenery.
It was for the chargers.
Allison and his husband recently set out on a six-day road trip across Nevada in their electric SUV, traveling through Death Valley, Lake Tahoe and Reno before heading east toward some of the state's most remote highways. The goal wasn't simply to see the state.
It was to see whether Nevada's electric vehicle charging network could support the kind of long-distance travel many drivers still assume isn't possible.
"It depends on how much Nevada you want to see," Allison said with a laugh.
From Las Vegas, he bypassed Nevada's Highway 95 — the state's most direct north-south route — in favor of California's Highway 395, where charging stations are more frequent and drivers often have backup options if one isn't working.
"There's like a single point of failure," Allison said of parts of Highway 95. "If one is down, your trip is going to be messed up."
His experience highlights a growing challenge as electric vehicle adoption accelerates across Nevada and the broader Mountain West.
According to the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, the state now has more than 90,000 registered electric vehicles, according to data from the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles. But while more drivers are making the switch, charging infrastructure — particularly in rural parts of the state — hasn't expanded at the same pace.
That challenge became even more difficult this year after Nevada lost more than $12 million in federal funding that had been planned for expanding electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
Assemblymember Howard Watts, a Las Vegas Democrat who also drives an electric vehicle, says the gaps become obvious once drivers leave Nevada's major interstate corridors.
"There is just really limited charging infrastructure," Watts said. "Some of the stations are not operational or fully reliable... and there is just not enough charging to allow people to easily move across the state."
The problem is magnified by Nevada's geography.
Large stretches of highway pass through sparsely populated desert, with some communities separated by more than 100 miles. If a charger is out of service, drivers may have few alternatives.
Watts said those gaps affect more than current EV owners.
Tourism is Nevada's largest industry, and more visitors are arriving in electric vehicles every year.
"People are coming into Nevada from other states and want to get around in their electric vehicles," Watts said. "If they have difficulty doing so, then that impacts our economies, whether it's in Las Vegas, Reno or especially in our rural communities."
Despite those challenges, advocates for electric transportation say the perception that EVs aren't practical in rural states often doesn't match reality.
Lizzie Stears, electrifying transportation policy principal for Advanced Energy United, says many drivers underestimate how capable modern electric vehicles have become.
"EVs are absolutely up to the challenge," Stears said. "People might be surprised how plentiful charging infrastructure already is — or how easy it would be to fit into their life."
She says affordability is another reason more drivers are considering electric vehicles.
While purchase prices can sometimes be higher than comparable gasoline-powered vehicles, Stears says lower fuel and maintenance costs often make EVs less expensive over the life of the vehicle.
"If you look at all the elements that go into owning a vehicle — from that purchase cost, the fueling or charging costs, the maintenance costs — almost always now EVs will come out ahead and will have higher savings," she said.
Back on the road outside Reno, Allison acknowledges that traveling by electric vehicle still requires more planning than many gasoline-powered road trips.
But he says the experience has shown him something else, too.
"I think there's two types of EV drivers," Allison said. "The people who are in the know and do lots of planning and research like I do. And then there's probably a lot more who just jump in the car and go, and then don't realize until it's perhaps too late that they're going to get stranded."
For now, Allison says driving across Nevada in an electric vehicle is possible.
It just takes a little more preparation — and, sometimes, a longer route.
