Is Tesla still the default for road trip charging, or are you branching out?

I've had a Mach-E for about two years now and I mostly stopped renting a Tesla for long trips around a year ago. Last summer I did a run from Denver to Chicago and back and used a mix of networks, including a Rivian pull-through site off I-80 that was honestly nicer than plenty of Superchargers I've sat at. The long cables made a real difference since my charge port is on the passenger side and I didn't have to nose in sideways like I used to at older stalls.

That said I still plan trips the paranoid way. ABRP route, two backup stops marked, and I check PlugShare reviews the night before to see if anyone reported a dead cabinet recently. The variance between sites is still the issue more than the brands themselves. One EA station near Salina was flawless, another near the Kansas line had two of four units down and I only made it because my buffer was big. For me the answer to 'which EV for road trips' is less about the badge on the car now and more about wheather the adapter situation is settled for your specific model. Once I got my hands on a NACS adapter everythign opened up and the stress dropped a lot. I'd still tell anyone shopping to look at the corridor coverage along the routes they actually drive, not the total count on a map.

I've owned a Model 3 since 2021 and I'll be honest, the open network thing has cut both ways for me. Around here the holiday rush used to be manageable, but last Thanksgiving I pulled into a stall near Kettleman and there were six non-Tesla vehicles queued up, two of them blocking lanes while fumbling with the app. I waited maybe 35 minutes for a 250kW stall that used to be open every time I rolled thru. That said, I don't blame the other drivers. If I had an Ioniq 5 or a Blazer EV I'd want access too, and money from outside drivers is presumably why Tesla keeps expanding the network faster than it otherwise would.

Where I push back on the rosy takes in this thread: the new players are still thin where I acutally drive. Ionna has exactly one site within 150 miles of my in-laws, and Mercedes hubs seem to be clustered in wealthy metro corridors. Ask me again in three years, but for now my route planning still starts and ends with the Tesla map.

I drive an Ioniq 5 and my setup now is basicly the same routine every trip. I do one charging stop at a place I alredy know works, then wing the rest off PlugShare checks that morning. Did Atlanta to Nashville last month and hit an Ionna site on the way up that had real canopies and pull-through stalls, first time I didn't have to back a trailer situation out of a spot. My worry is more about winter though. The fast chargers near the mountain passes get thin fast, and that's where I still rent a Tesla. Curious if anyone else plans around cold weather stops differently.

For me it came down to a cheap little 12v fan and a folding chair. Sounds dumb but I spent so many 40 minute stops standing in a hot parking lot near Phoenix that I nearly gave up on road trips entirely. Now I back in, pop the fan on the dash, sit in the shade with the AC running off the battery and the stop actually feels like a break. The network stuff matters but honestly the comfort side changed my attitude more than any new charger bank did. Still rent a Tesla for the realy remote stretches though.

Update: reading these replies basically settled it for me. The guy doing Denver to Chicago in his Mach-E on a mix of networks is exactly the data point I was after, and the Ioniq 5 owner's routine of one known stop plus fresh morning checks sounds like a sane way to do it. Guess the old buying advice really is outdated. Now I just want that dash fan setup.