Featured Americans insist on 300 miles of EV range. They’re right

Currently. The Ioniqs and EV6 can make use of 350kW chargers. The downside is that there is currently less of those.

 

3 hours between biology breaks is too long for a considerable portion of seniors. Our favorite niche tour operator, which caters to a group of healthy active middle-age people to still-hiking seniors, makes sure to keep such facilities or stops no more than 2 hours apart. Which is about what my spouse (also older than me, but not by as much as your first spouse) has long needed. Though frequently, her first stop on a trip needs to be at just 1 hour.

When on major highways, our biology breaks are very often at state highway rest areas. I had never noticed EV charging stations at them until yesterday afternoon:



A review of the state's Rest Areas revealed why I had never seen them before: of the 48 WSDOT locations, only 2 have EV chargers, both at places we hadn't used during the EV era, until stopping at one yesterday. For both areas, the Chargehub map's icons are gray, which is not called out in the map's legend.

Do remember that much of our travel is off the major highway network. E.g. Chargehub shows nothing on the direct path from Susanville to Klamath Falls, though service is available by detouring to Alturas. I don't know if the Tesla we passed on that route yesterday had longer range than yours, or was planning to take that detour, or was babying it maximize range on that somewhat mountainous route.


BTW, Mammoth Lakes had a good Tesla Level 3 lot near our hotel, a larger planned lot across the street from where we did our grocery shopping, and smaller Level 2 stations at the two lower elevation ski lodge parking areas -- but not at the higher lodges still operating this late in the season.

 

and then there's this problem:

44017910

we can't even manage our public transportation here, never mind ev chargers

 

‘Inside EV’ live podcasts reported most CCS chargers down Friday morning before a 3-day weekend. Superchargers are working.

Bob Wilson

 

makes a case for private takeover of public facilities

 

um, most of them are private.

 

Then I guess they should all be. New Ma gov wants a million ev’s on the road by 2030, but I don’t see her doing anything yet

 

Most people don't need this much EV range. If you do, you must travel a lot and so the EV experience will suck for you.

I drive more than a majority of people, about 25,000-30,000 miles a year. I pay about 10 cents per kWh. It's all local driving so it makes cents for me.

 

I often do small day trips that are 50 miles each way and then I’ll drove 20-40 miles at the destination, so possibly 140 miles in one day. I do this every 2 weeks or so.

I know a model 3 technically gets 270 but the thought of this makes me a little nervous. More rarely I do longer road trips that would require filling up before or immediately upon reaching the destination, im not sure hoe practical it is to go from Stony Brook, NY to Ithaca NY for example? Or to do car camping in the mountains upstate or in vermont

 

On that route it will be pretty easy in a tesla. The other networks are still being built out, my guess in 3 years they may be there.

mountains in vermont, it depends on where. I really have no idea.

 

Do you know if it is a lithium iron phosphate battery? The reason I ask is the earlier NMC battery like mine have different charging characteristics:

To determine if your vehicle is equipped with an LFP battery, navigate to Controls > Software > Additional Vehicle Information. If your vehicle is equipped with an LFP battery, "High Voltage Battery type: Lithium Iron Phosphate" is listed. - Tesla​

With my older, NMC battery, I typically charge to 75%, 160 miles, each day for ordinary driving. It is still enough range to reach the nearest SuperChargers to the North, East, South, and West if I want to take a quick trip. From each SuperCharger, I add just enough charge to reach the next with a 30-40 mile reserve. So I typically consider 700-750 miles a good, 14 hour day of driving and charging. BUT I am driving for the NMC battery characteristics.

I take a biology break every 1.5 to 2.5 hours or 120-180 miles. So I do my biology break, pickup a snack, and go to the SuperCharger to eat, stretch, walk the dogs, or cat nap. About 15-20 minutes later, I'm on the road again. I've done this for 108,595 miles over the past four years.

Bob Wilson

 

Sounds like it wirks for you…but the thing that worried me is that it sounds like those biology breaks are not really spontaneous. You need to plan that out especially if you are venturing into rural regions where chargers are not on every corner. And that can introduce some distraction when you are trying to just enjoy your road trip rather than constantly plan stuff out.

i want to stop to pee when i need to pee…not when my car needs to fuel. I want to eat when im hungry, not when my car needs a charge. I know i can stop more often…but then it becomes a waste and you are really wasting time charging. Not to mention money—it is more costly to supercharge than to fill a hybrid like a prius with gas.

Right now it seems electric is only economically viable if you do local driving with home charging and you are eligible for the tax incentives.

the networks need to be improved and the msrps simply need to come down. A model 3 that costs 27500 msrp with superchargers on every corner where it costs $10 to go from 0-272, now THAT would make sense. If it costs the same or less than a prius to insure…which it does not.

as much as im tempted to spring for a m3 because of dealer markups on the prius 23 my brain tells me these electric cars are so cool but theyre just not there yet.

it is frustrating tho, no dealer seems to have the colors i want for the 23 prius either… (well they have it but rhey want to charge me a 5-7500 dealer adjustment)

 

The growth of SuperChargers has opened many long distance corridors.

It evens out in the end. Preventative biological breaks avoids stress and 'road side' relief: Holding pee: Is it safe?

It is not advisable to regularly hold urine, as it can result in problems. Holding in pee may cause a urinary tract infection (UTI), pain, bladder stretching, and more.
. . .​

Last 30 days.

You get your wish:

• "Tesla Supercharging Network: 269 Stations Added In Q1 2023 The total number is approaching 5,000 stations and close to 50,000 individual stalls."
• "Tesla’s latest US price cuts bring the Model 3 below $40,000"

. . .

The reality of owning a 2019 Tesla Model 3 Standard Range mocks inaccuracies.

Bob Wilson

 

Maybe I should disclose that I plan ahead for my gasoline refueling the same way Bob plans his electric refueling. Though mine is mostly for price arbitrage reasons, and only infrequently for very large distances between dead-dinosaur fuel stations in the rural intermountain west.

But Bob also has a very different travel style than me, and apparently you. He travels just point-to-point, not taking in the journey along the way. Twice now, when I have asked about a cross-continent off-Interstate route typical of my household's travel, Bob's recommendation was to simply abandon our desired historic and scenic sights and sites and activities and State and National Parks along that journey, and replace them all with a busy and less enjoyable Interstate rat-race route. Ignore the journey, focus on just a destination. A Procrustean solution.

That Supercharger map in the preceding post may look impressive to those unfamiliar with the rural West. But for us, it had a huge 1700 mile gap when we went fully cross-continent in 2015. This year, it is now 'improved' to just a 4-state, 1480 mile gap, not counting our numerous side trips to places with no services whatsoever, not even a 120V outlet.

 

A retired engineer, I see curves as a set of segments. So trips are a set of segments to my goals and objectives. But I’m open to amendments and curious distractions that become new line segments.

Bob Wilson

 

yup this is insightful. Also that map looks good but when you zoom in pretty much anywhere it is underwhelming. I dont own an ev but ive used several apps/websites including teslas own supercharger map to plan out routes and it looks anything but pleasant. Some of the chargers have nifty restaurants or shops near them but most have establishments i would frankly never care to visit if i didnt need to charge.

i think i will let pioneers to the work of pioneering for this…


Reality is that if you arent concerned with the lowest price getting gas requires no planning in most of america, at least the parts ive been to. I dont know about the rural areas but if you think you are doing work planning around arbitrate just wait until you see Kilowatt hour prices!

Public charging prices vary tremendously and it is generally very expensive!!

 

Which is balanced by the generally cheaper home charging used for daily driving. For most, it works out costing less than gasoline over the car's lifetime.

Of course, that doesn't help if there simply isn't any chargers where you want to go.

 

I've driven long distances in all three, diesel, gasoline and electric.

The diesels and hybrids I've driven in were the kind you fill up right as you leave and then you fill up again after 12 hours of driving. There were times I had a hard time finding a station that would sell diesel.

The electric took a lot more planing, But even back in those days without DC fast charging I still managed a couple long trips of 700 miles and 400 miles respectively.

Personally I could make any of them work. I think 200 miles or more is enough for an EV. But a PHEV would be an excelent middle ground.

 

My signature route is described back at post #14 of this thread. I-90/94 was already covered back in 2015, Trans-Canada Highway is covered now, but in between is still a Tesla Supercharger desert. And shifting to the suggested I-90/94 route was effectively a complete abandonment of our plans for that half-continent portion. Slow charging choices are available, but the mostly 6.5kW choices are ... slow, and not located near where we were planning to spend the bulk of our stationary tourist time.

Out West, not just off the beaten paths but even a few places on-Interstate or Trans-Canada Highway, there are a few very long segments where it is highly advisable to check your gas gauge before proceeding, especially in non-ideal weather where you might be forced to stop or turn back. Here is a small sampling: