It's not a major thing, as far as I can tell... I don't do a lot of driving - maybe 25 miles across town and back twice a week, plus local stuff like to the grocery or to restaurants in the evenings... and it's not been an impact for me... I have taken a few "day trips", in which case I do plug in, as BT streaming music, Waze, phone calls and text can be a bit much for an all-day trip.How badly does wireless CarPlay impact battery life? I just got an adapter with fairly good ratings on Amazon. Seems to do the conversion via Bluetooth and then a hidden Wi-Fi network. I know from past experience using Bluetooth can kill battery life, although I last used Bluetooth before getting a CarPlay device.
If the battery usage isn't too bad, I guess it's fine. If it's drastic, I might still need to keep a power cable in the car.
YMMV