In the ultimate EV test drive, volunteers go 2,000 miles with beagles
To truly test-drive a vehicle, trek 2,000 miles with a pack of four beagles in the back.
That's what a group of auto analysts and journalists do for Operation Frodo, an annual cross-country convoy of beagles taken from crowded Midwest shelters to breed-specific rescues in Oregon and Washington.
In June, Animal Rescue Rigs founder Nik Miles led an all-electric SUV fleet ‒ provided by the automakers ‒ consisting of a Hyundai IONIQ 9, Cadillac Escalade IQ, Lucid Gravity and Kia EV9. One reason: About 757,000 animals died in shelters or were lost in 2025, according to a Shelter Animals Count analysis.
"We're trying to alleviate some of that by relocating dogs from one area to another because they're sought-after breeds," said Miles, who has moved more than 100 dogs through Operation Frodo.
Most of the dogs at Seattle Beagle Rescue come from other states, said board member and foster coordinator Connie Wheeler. The foster-based organization pays roughly $300 per dog to fly rescues to Washington, Wheeler said.
"It's an expensive way to bring dogs," she said.
Operation Frodo is a less expensive option ‒ and a test-drive opportunity to boot. Miles' first beagle rescue was in 2021, when ‒ like the namesake hobbit's epic journey in "The Lord of the Rings" ‒ he drove a Jeep Wagoneer through a deadly snowstorm to get beagles Frodo and Galadriel to Portland, Oregon.
"That first journey was almost like the journey to Mordor," Miles said. "It was fraught with difficulties along the way, and tragedy."
Miles said that using EVs made for a quieter ride for the 16 stressed-out shelter dogs transported this year. And going battery-only saved money amid elevated gas prices, said Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market research for Telemetry.
Abuelsamid said money saved on gas "is money that's going into the capital fund to raise to get vehicles equipped to give to rescues and shelters around the country so they can transport animals all year round."
"The real mission of the Animal Rescue Rigs was to try and provide transportation," Miles said. "So that's our new goal now: To try and raise enough money to provide some of these rescues with a permanent form of transport, so they can go and scoop up dogs from kill shelters."
This article was originally published in The Detroit News.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: In the ultimate EV test drive, volunteers go 2,000 miles with beagles
Reporting by Summer Ballentine, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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This story was originally published July 13, 2026 at 2:43 PM.