Tesla fast charging station at mall

I've never run out of fuel either.....BUT IT HAPPENS.
I almost did once....in the middle of the desert in New Mexico. I swear to dog, we put 14.999 gallons into a 15 gallon tank at that gas station....

 

i've run out of gas a couple times, my bad.

 

The only time I ever came close was because of a defective gas gauge on an American rental car.



Merged........

If you have a 200 mile round-trip to go skiing in the mountains, you're far less likely to run out of gas in a conventional car with a 400 mile range that can refuel almost anywhere than in a 200 mile range BEV that gets 120 miles in the winter and can recharge in only two places in the state.

 

Sure, you can make up all the scenarios you like.
But you can't turn around and say the reverse "never" happens.

I've been driving electric for 150,000 miles, all over the place, and have never run out of charge.
Does that means nobody ever has? Of course not.
But your made up scenarios and extending your personal experiences and rather unusual driving patterns to everyone is just odd.

 

Going skiing is far from unusual here in Colorado. But I also got stranded on I-25 when a truck accident blocked the entire road on Thanksgiving day. After sitting still on the highway for an hour, we used the shoulder to get off and go backwards via the frontage road. It was snowing and about 15 degrees. Of course, since I was in my Prius, no problem. In a Model 3 - you're looking for a tow.

I realize these situations are unusual. I even said they have only happened three times in my life. However, that's three times in my life a low-range BEV like a Model S would have put me in a life-threatening situation due to its lack of energy.

 

And for you, that is perfectly valid.
For the majority of U.S. drivers, highway closures are much rarer. Especially those that would not allow an additional charging nearby.

That is all I'm saying, that those reasons are good for you to consider. But don't apply your unusual situation to everyone.

 

My experience is far, far more common than never once having such a situation occur in your entire lifetime. I hear such stories on the news at least a dozen times every winter. And the time I got stranded on I-70 coming back from skiing, I was with about 3,000 other cars, all of which had to take a 90 mile detour through the mountains at night in the snow.

 

Perhaps, but most people in the U.S. don't have to deal with that. I'm sorry you do.
Just don't take your experience as typical for everyone.

 

Yes I know but I won't stop me from buying one !
I will try to charge as often as I can,but the good thing about Toyotas Plug-in Hybrids is that they stay,unlikely to probably all of their competitors (Ioniq remains to be seen !) extremely efficient even if the main battery is depleted.
So if there are times I am not able to charge,who cares I'll drive it like a normal hybrid !

 

People get stranded all the time in the US. This is near me:

Stranded Drivers Clog Snowy Streets As Major Roadways Close « CBS Denver

This is in Minnesota:

 

That BEV has too many places to charge than I care to count, but you should. It will keep you busy for a couple of days and reduce the noise.

 

Yeah...if you have 8-48 hours to charge.

Here's the Chargepoint map from that area. Impressive.

 

Nice, what is that, about a 15 mile map?
Try this one, it is about 23 miles from Georgetown to Silverthorn. The whole map is probably about 60 miles across.
Unless you are traveling due south, there seem to be lots of chargers around.
The above is also from Chargepoint.

Again, it is fine if you don't believe a BEV would work for you. You seem to have done a good job convincing yourself of that.
Just stop trying to tell everyone else that a BEV won't work for them.

 

No.

Why the FUD ? At MOST you might add 80 miles that the winter has sapped.
Here are HPWC (grey) and SC (red) for Colorado



32 Amp L2 are too numerous to count and would replace 80 miles in about 3 hours.

 

So, none at all where I got stranded (I-70 between the Eisenhower tunnel and Denver), exactly as I posted.

And don't forget, we had to take a roughly 90 mile diversion, in addition to the losses from winter and the hours we spent idling with the heat on waiting on the highway.



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I was trapped just west of Denver, but the highway was closed Eastbound. I would have either had to drive all the way back to Silverthorne, or do what I actually did - drive westbound (in the eastbound lanes!) for a while until I could divert south through Conifer and then on east into Denver.

Without stopping to charge anywhere, I got home about 10pm (after leaving at about 3:30pm).

 

I'm not saying this didn't happen to you.
What I am saying is that is extremely rare for most U.S. citizens.
If that happened to me, I'd either drive all the way because I had a full charge when I started, or stop at the charger listed in chargepoint in Evergreen right on the route you mentioned.

However, I don't think I would choose to live in an area where 7-8 hour rerouted are common

 

It's called "what if" thinking! AKA, "range anxiety." That's why I drive the Prime.

 

That wouldn't work. You'd have already driven 141 miles in freezing temperatures and snow, and sat for an hour with the heat running while not moving. Now you have to go 60 miles in 4 1/2 hours, all with the heat on. I seriously doubt you'd make it.

Along with some fraction of the other 3,000 cars with you on that same diversion? What if 20 people beat you to it?

Not common - three times in my lifetime.

This is what neither producers nor supporters of BEVs get - it doesn't matter if it works just fine 99% of the time. Would you get in an airliner that works just fine 99% of the time? The failure rate of airliners isn't 1 in 100, it's 1 in 10 million, and for a very good reason.

A BEV would work fine for me 99% of the time. And that's not nearly good enough. I've been truly stranded exactly zero times in my life. Came close about three times (defective fuel gauge, broken trailer hub, blowout in the Utah desert). A BEV would have stranded me three times in life-threatening conditions. That's three times too many. Needs to be more like once per 1,000 lifetimes.



Merged again, use multi quote

I hate the term "range anxiety". It makes it sound like it's some sort of mental problem. But it's not. It's real - you can fail to get to your destination or be unable to even start a trip because you know you'd never make it. It's not imagined.

 

Which is why I have agreed, a BEV is not for you.
Luckily, your requirements are very unusual, and there are plenty of people out there that don't have such odd requirements.
Please not, I'm not saying the reliability percentage is odd, your trips through areas with 5 hour delays combined with 200 mile trips with no charging is).

 

I disagree that my situation is odd. It's odd not to be in my situation. My situation is common.