Jeep’s Recon Is not Astronaut Diaper Rated. It is Path Rated.

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Again in 2007, an astronaut reportedly placed on Most Absorbency Garment (aka MAG, a flowery identify for the diapers astronauts put on on spacewalks), hopped in her automobile, and drove 900 miles straight from Houston to Orlando to assault her ex’s new girlfriend. Whereas she says the media exaggerated the story (and that she didn’t truly put on a diaper), it was a very wild story that gave us the phrase “astronaut love triangle.”

It additionally appears to have secretly turn into the usual by which automotive journalists decide electrical autos.

Each time a brand new EV comes out, reviewers instantly have a look at absolutely the 100 to zero % freeway vary. Something that may’t rival Tesla effectivity on the freeway and hold you driving for 4–6 hours is subpar.

Automobile and Driver simply put the 2026 Jeep Recon Moab launch version via its 80 mph freeway check, and it managed 160 miles. Over at The Autopian, they’re already calling the automobile a spectacular failure for having such poor freeway vary.

Oh man, I hope there is a charging station on the trailhead –> tinyurl.com/jzmy2azs

— The Autopian (@theautopian.bsky.social) 2026-10-02T19:44:26.305Z

However, right here’s the truth: No person truly drives like that. Except you’re an astronaut attempting to cross state traces with out a lavatory break, you don’t drive an EV from a full cost all the way down to zero in a single single agonizing stretch. Whether or not you may replicate this check is determined by whether or not you’re carrying Relies upon.

For some motive, too many EV writers appear to assume all of us drive like we’ve got a diaper on and a vendetta to settle. Whereas that may make for excellent media sensation, interstate journey is proscribed by each persistence along with your touring companions and the scale of the smallest bladder within the automobile.

Pee isn’t the one limiting issue. People, we get stiff backs. We have to cease and stretch our legs.

In the event you’re driving throughout I-10 in Texas (which is precisely the sort of place you’d truly lock in at 80 mph for hours on finish), 160 miles of complete vary means you may comfortably do 90-mile hops between chargers. At 80 mph, that’s simply over an hour of driving.

For the Recon and its 94 kWh battery pack, that 90-mile hop interprets completely to the ten to 60 % battery window and roughly matches the gap between the higher charging stations between El Paso and San Antonio.

Maintaining the battery in that particular share vary is the candy spot for street journeys. DC quick chargers provide the most energy when the battery is low. We already know the Recon can pull round 200 kW at peak speeds. In the event you roll as much as the charger at 10 %, plug in, and stroll inside to make use of the restroom and seize a drink, you’re pulling most charging velocity the entire time you’re away from the automobile.

By the point you end doing regular human issues, the Jeep is again as much as 60 % and prepared for the subsequent leg. You utterly skip the agonizing trickle cost that occurs on the prime of the battery pack. Maybe extra importantly, you’re not in search of a bush to cover behind when nature’s name can’t be ignored any longer.

Sure, the Recon may be very inefficient on the interstate. It will get 1.7 miles per kWh on the freeway as a result of it’s formed like a yard shed on stilts. It’s obtained knobby 33-inch tires, over 9 inches of floor clearance, and a 15:1 closing drive ratio within the rear for exact off-road torque.

The Jeep Recon isn’t constructed to set continuous, bladder-busting, piss bottle-filling Cannonball data. It’s constructed to get you down the freeway comfortably whereas preserving the flexibility to crawl over rocks when the pavement ends.

If Stellantis smoothed out all of the corners and put it on skinny eco-tires simply to attain 300 miles on a freeway check, it wouldn’t be a Jeep anymore. It’d lose the method angles, the open-air functionality, and the precise rock crawling efficiency individuals purchase a Jeep to get and are prepared to sacrifice effectivity for.

The Recon isn’t Astronaut Love Triangle Rated. It’s Path Rated. And that’s precisely what a Jeep needs to be, whether or not it runs on low-cost electrons or costly gasoline.

Featured picture by Jennifer Sensiba.