this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
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Futurology
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Wonder what ludicrous range will get folks to buy an EV for their 20 miles of total driving in a day
Not all of us are living in and near a city. Those properties are very expensive, and becoming less affordable each year. For those of us with longer commutes, and especially those of us with only one car and with family and friends further away, range is really important. We like to take weekend trips away, and unfortunately an EV (long range Model 3) adds about 30% travel time to the trip. I’ve rented them several times to see if it’s worth the change but it’s not. Yet. The future of battery tech is bright.
Yeah im nowhere near a city
Yeah but a car with ludicrous range used for short commutes gets less stress on the battery than a car with a smaller battery since you need to charge it less often and don’t even need to charge it to 80-100%. Which means the battery will still have very good range when the car enters the used market.
Not to mention the few times a year people typically go on holiday, during which time the range actually does get used.
The 1% trips drive sales. With a gas car I can drive 300 miles and then find fuel anywhere and get another 300 miles. Most of the time I don't make those long trips, but I do a few times per year.
This is a wild realization. Like I don’t need to go 300+ miles more then once a year or so but I WANT THE OPTION TO.
Realistically - give me a 100 mile range cheap good EV and let me rent something for the rare road trip.
Have you priced the cost of a rental car? It quickly is cheaper to just buy a car for allowed trips.
Before I bought mine, I decided if there's enough coverage by charging networks then the occasional long trip doesn't matter.
If you don't have enough range to cover your regular trips, that's a pain. Those yearly trips, though? It's okay if they take a little bit longer. Stretching your legs every couple of hours makes for a nicer trip anyway.
If you add up all the times that you charge while you're asleep instead of diverting and stopping at a filling station, you probably save time overall with an EV, even with half hour charging stops on long trips.
If you only have 100 miles range then there isn't enough chargers. Even if you have 300 you have to check where chargers are, as unlike gas stations chargers are not everywhere - yet. In 20 years I expect driving a gas car on those long trips mean check for where gas is first.
Yeah other places have things like trains for the longer trips
Maybe ,it depends on where you are going. Trains are good where they go, but most trips don't have that option. Even in Europe try getting from Italy to Sweden, a distance - this distance is much less than how far I have to go to visit some relatives. And since i'm driving my whole family goes for one price (the cost of plane tickets for my family mean I don't fly often)
You can definitely take the train from Italy to Sweden. This summer we took the train back and forth from Denmark to Italy, with children.
I drive about 90 miles in a regular work day, up to 150miles to 250miles at least once a week throughout the summer.
I would maybe feel comfortable once the ranges reach double that to make sure I can get there and back if I don't quite have a full charge, so 500 miles is probably my minimum requirement just so I can do my job.
You don't need all the extra range if you have charging network coverage to bail you out, though. If you could just stop for 20 minutes and add two hundred miles whenever you needed to, then you only need the range to cover your regular travel. 350 miles should be fine.
My company probably won't be a fan of paying for me to sit around for 20 minutes waiting for a charge when I should be working
I can't imagine twenty minutes once a week being a huge deal.
You do realise people go on holiday, right?
Yeah so do people with EVs. And people without cars in places sane enough to have public transit.
Yeah, EVs that have decent enough range for a road trip, and good luck catching a bus to a remote campsite with all your gear.
You can easily cut the range of an EV in half by towing etc, a vehicle like this will still have decent range even when towing.
How much towing and camping do you do
A few trips a year, typically. This can be a few hundred KM one way though.
And if I'm buying a brand new vehicle, I'd expect it to be able to do something my existing vehicle does.
I'm in a strange position where I pretty much only use my car for long trips. I would love to switch to an EV, but I'm not really sure when it will make sense as I'm only putting ~3000 miles on it per year.