Range: How much is enough?
I have had my Model 3 for nearly a year. In the summer, I can get up to 330 miles on a single charge, on relatively flat highway, at 65 mph. In the winter, it’s a different story: 0 degrees Fahrenheit drops that range to an even 200 miles (with the cabin heat off).
This is more than enough for almost all local driving, but I make regular cross country trips of 670-720 miles each way. In the summer the Model 3 cross country driving experience is almost as good as in my wife’s minivan, which goes >450 miles on a tank of gas. Almost. In the winter, forget it. I would much rather drive the minivan when the temperature drops below 40 degrees F.
For the Model 3 cross country experience to compare favorably with ICE, I would like to see a 600 mile summer range (360 miles winter). I would be willing to pay for it, too, provided that the extra battery capacity didn’t carry an exorbitant “premium” surcharge.
What do other people think?
This is more than enough for almost all local driving, but I make regular cross country trips of 670-720 miles each way. In the summer the Model 3 cross country driving experience is almost as good as in my wife’s minivan, which goes >450 miles on a tank of gas. Almost. In the winter, forget it. I would much rather drive the minivan when the temperature drops below 40 degrees F.
For the Model 3 cross country experience to compare favorably with ICE, I would like to see a 600 mile summer range (360 miles winter). I would be willing to pay for it, too, provided that the extra battery capacity didn’t carry an exorbitant “premium” surcharge.
What do other people think?
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Realistically, have driven 5 hours without stopping many times. Put that into perspective, over 350 miles between stopping, went to the bathroom, filled the tank and continued going.
That being said, Model Y AWD range is estimating on their site to be 280 miles. Thats really quite small. Gives you about a 3 hour driving window without accounting for environmental variance. Wish it was closer to 350 so i could take a 4 hour drive by myself. So to conclude, 300 miles is fine. Always want more though.
I don’t like to go below 20% because I’m weird like that. Something can always come up, particularly on the freeways here in AZ where all of the sudden you gotta go a different way.
Everything except ‘perfect’ weather impacts range in a bad way.
Charging over 80% takes substantially longer than up to 80%
Capacity degrades over time, so starting off with more is desirable.
My driving is not typical, it’s either under 30 miles a day or 200+ miles with some days of no driving/.
SO, a battery that has 400 miles of range between 20 and 80% would be more than enough to kill range anxiety. In real world usage that might be 300 mile with weather, hills, etc.
That’s a battery with 600 miles rated if my quick math is correct. Perhaps one with 500 miles that charges quickly up to 90% would also be ‘As good’ in the real world.
That kind of capacity is a ways off for a mass produced car! We’re someone to give me a Raven S I’d probably be more than happy for the next 10 years
Do most people NEED that much range? Nope. But perceptions are reality for most out there. I often point out to people that if I plug my car in every day I have a ‘full’ tank every morning. There is no analogy in the ICE world to that. .
That’s just me, but whatever your typical usage is I think it would be best to have that max number be in between 20% and 80% so you can skip charging anywhere else beside home.
If I lived in Europe somewhere I would prolly only want 1/2 of that capacity.
Stops are fun
We miseed your FUD
(not)
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/298907-new-study-details-teslas-million-mile-battery-tech
https://www.wired.com/story/tesla-may-soon-have-a-battery-that-can-last-a-million-miles/
Would take fewer than 300 additional Superchargers.
At $250,000 per station, that’s an insignificant $75M dollars.
Less than Porsche spent on “journalists” for the Taycan junkets.
My previous car was a Grand Cherokee, with 26 gallon tank. Would usually be good for over 450 miles. Liked the idea of the long range until I used it. Biologically I was not able to keep up with the car and needed to drive miles of uncomfortability with a full bladder, and felt worn out after driving so long without a break.
Traded in for a 75X. Largest Tesla, with the smallest available battery. Got quickly used to stopping from time to time on longer trips. It charged slowly and gave me plenty of time for bathroom, meal or grabbing a Dairy Queen
Now I have a Raven 100 Long Range. It seems to glide forever, with plenty of range. It also charges MUCH faster per mile than the 75X ever could.
Now I actually feel a bit rushed to get in my duties while stopped for charging. Usually get prompted to return to my car earlier than I wish, because it is "almost full".
Have adapted well to long distance EV travel. Would never want to go back to smelly gas stations and the horror of paying $80.00 to fill the tank with polluting and toxic gasoline.
I understand that many people have an aversion to change, and will look for justification to avoid giving up their gassers. But the world has indeed changed, and it is no longer acceptable to continue buying gasoline and burning it as a way to move around the Earth.
There is a reason that no ICE vehicles exhaust-pipes run out of the front of their cars. They do not want to breath their own toxins. They, however, happily spew it into the face of the driver behind them
This is exactly what I have been saying about those wishing for even faster charging. On a trip to FL recently, I stopped to charge in Port Orange, FL. It was dinner time and the car said I needed 30 mins to charge to continue my trip. By the time I ordered my food, I was down to 15 mins. Now I wasn’t too concerned about the 15 mins because I had my actual SOC level set to 90%. When I got back to my car, I got hit with $5.50 idling fees because the site per the message was one of those that Tesla caps out at 80% SOC because it was a high usage site and only 6 stalls.
So wait until the V3 sites come on line for those with the newer cars..... What I wish Tesla would do, is when you plug in, a pop up window would ask if you plan on eating, this way it can throttle back the charging. In all of my travels using the supercharging network, never has it been even remotely practical for me to leave a restaurant to hike it back to the car to move it to avoid fees. This is especially true when traveling on your own.
https://www.ucsusa.org/clean-energy/coal-and-other-fossil-fuels/hidden-cost-of-fossils