Tesla's 700 Mile Battery Is Coming Sooner Than You Think

[Jhodgesatmb]

Yes, usually off road is more range, since the speed is slower.


It's the Porche of electric bikes, though. It's supposed to be.


Yeah, they need more dealers. Their service response is really good, tho, they're willing to ship bikes at times.

-Crissa

It is hard for me to see Harley Davidson as the Porsche of anything. Technology and performance wise I'd say that Zero is the Porsche and just about everyone else is a copycat and certainly Harley Davidson has been one of the last to jump in. Maybe they are expensive because of all the licensing fees. That said I have really only followed Zero closely and the other electric motorcycle manufacturers by headlines.

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[jerhenderson]

You could just click his username and see his location like I did. It was easy. Try it.

I wanted him to say.

 

[CyberMoose]

I think a big benefit of bigger batteries will be less people stopping at supercharge stations because they were able to reach their destination where they can hopefully charge at home. That is assuming that most people charge their Tesla's at superstations primarily because they are on a Roadtrip or at least aren't able to make it home with their current charge.

This is significant because we have more people buying all types of EV's (we are just worried about Teslas) with a lot of people still waiting for their Model Y. Right now it's not so bad at superstations, most of the time there isn't a wait and you have access right away. However that could change in the near future with more Factories being built and how many more Teslas are coming out of them.
It's not like we can convert that many gas stations to EV charging stations that quickly, there is the initial cost, the space required for cars to sit until their charged, and there is still obviously a high demand for gas stations.

Either the Tesla Supercharger Network will need to expand in densly populated areas, the speed of charging will need to increase (as it is) or people will need to charge more at home, which is already the best and cheapest choice.

 

[ldjessee]

If I had a choice between paying for a 400-500 mile range battery and a 600-700 mile range battery and knew the differences in other performance (like more mass making stopping take longer, turning less responsive, etc), I would pick the 400-500 mile range battery because that is what I need and I do not need to pay more for it.

I get that others might want to pay more for it and be willing to carry around that extra weight all the time.

Now, if the big use is while towing a trailer, to me the solution seems put the extra batteries on the trailer (or in the bed while towing), as then it is there when you need it, but not when you do not?

 

[CyberMoose]

If I had a choice between paying for a 400-500 mile range battery and a 600-700 mile range battery and knew the differences in other performance (like more mass making stopping take longer, turning less responsive, etc), I would pick the 400-500 mile range battery because that is what I need and I do not need to pay more for it.

I get that others might want to pay more for it and be willing to carry around that extra weight all the time.

Now, if the big use is while towing a trailer, to me the solution seems put the extra batteries on the trailer (or in the bed while towing), as then it is there when you need it, but not when you do not?

That's an interesting thing to think about but I don't know how well it would work. My conserns with using a exterior battery from the bed or a trailer in tow is the size and how well it would work.

When you look at the size of a tesla battery, they take up most if not the entire bottom of the car and they weigh a lot. If we are looking at the Cybertruck which will be bigger, heavier, and have the option to tow up to 14000+ pounds, i'm going to assume that the battery is going to be quite significant. So an external battery is going to be either really heavy to set up or put in storage, or it's not going to add much of an external range. Another thing to think about is how the Battery in the cars and will be in the Cybertruck are both cooled in the summer so they don't overheat and heat in the winter so they don't die. If you had one in the back of your Truck, you could never leave it in exteme temperatures, and then you are going to have to take it out and put it in over and over...don't forget about how heavy it is.

Finally, how will it charge your Cybertruck? If this can only charge the truck while the truck is stopped...i'd rather stop at a Supercharger to charge the truck than have to stop somewhere to get that little extra range and then have to charge my truck and exterior battery at a supercharger. If this can charge my truck while driving than i'd have to have the charge port connected while i'm driving down highways or city streets which would look dumb and increase the chance that a passing car could rip it off my truck.

The only way I could think of this as possibly working is if another line was put through the bed of the cybertruck that connected the external battery to the Cybertruck battery. I don't think this would ever happen because the cybertruck will already go up to 500+ miles which is already enough for nearly everyone, their battery technology might increase this range before the truck even comes out, and they are constantly working towards improving their battery technology so we don't have to have to carry around a big battery to go farther distances.

Another big point that I didn't mention is the growing network of tesla chargers and third party chargers that are becoming faster and faster. Within the next 5 years I could see people getting 50% of their battery (of most standard range EV's) within 10 minutes with these super fast chargers and we know that Elon is very competitive (thankfully), so when they bring out those hard numbers that they mentioned at the Cybertruck release about how fast it can actually charge, i'm sure it'll make charging a much shorter duration at these supercharging stations. Making an external battery similar to rigging an extended gas tank just so you can drive by more gas stations.

 

[ricinro]

On a daily basis, few. If someone IS hauling, you need it. And frankly what I want or need is my business.

If you want a 100 mile Cybertruck or Nio, God bless you and live long and prosper. Your opinion of what I NEED or WANT is of zero concern.

Nobody NEEDS a Cybertruck, especially not a $70,000 Cybertruck. I don't. No way. But God I WANT that Trimotor bad boy and as many kilowatt-hour as it can get. I could buy a gas guzzler for a lot less. Just as Carissa's neighbors with their 'barely legal, barely working, one step away from the junkyard' POS mountain trucks they use when they need something to haul whatever.

WANT versus NEEDS spurs innovation. Period.

Nobody needed to go from east coast to west coast in under 60 days. They wanted to do so and made the transcontinental railroad a reality. Nobody needed to drive 70 miles an hour from NYC to LA, they wanted to and we got the interstate highway system.

Nobody needs a Roadster gen 2 that does 250 MPH....

Nobody needs air conditioning. Every husband from 1945 until today knows that their wives want air conditioning or life will be hellishly unbearable (speaking from personal experience when no a/c). ?

Need? Whatever. F... need. Want drives progress. Elon wants a badass apocalypse truck. He's getting it. God bless that crazy SOB!

regarding getting from point A to point B. It is based on fundamental needs not "wants". transporting perishables, mail, people etc. time matters as much as the cost.
I am sure everyone would "want" supersonic or hypersonic transport but it didn't last long.
The interstate highway system was sold to Congress for military reasons not because people wanted to go faster.
This reminds me of an old argument that innovation is driven by the wealthy who desire better toys and this is true somewhat because wealthy people blow money on frivolous things. However, the vast amount of innovation is just solving immediate problems for billions of people.

 

[ricinro]

My current Tesla (X) has range about the same or a bit more than my Lexus. I never even thought about range with the Lexus. Why do we obsess so much over it with these BEV? Two reasons, I suppose, the first being that fueling stations are not as numerous. This problem is going away. The second is probably because the days of 200 mi or less range are only a year or so in the past. That problem has gone away.

range is mentioned as a knee-jerk criticism of EVs by folks who for some bizarre reason hate EVs and bitterly cling to ICEs. It is not rational and I think it may be an American "culture war" remnant. As if EVs in 2020 are associated with peaceniks, environmentalist tree huggers and hippies.

the average EV doing the average commute, where there is a charging option at home would be better served with a smaller battery. When planning the family vacation or a business trip etc. it would make more sense to lease/rent additional batteries and/or a range extender.

My dual CT will rarely be driven for more than 50-100 miles any given day as I retire but perhaps Tesla or someone else will develop a small, towable 100kwh trailer with some luggage room that will also help with the aerodynamics. I would gladly lease a device like that for an occasional road/camping trip.

I guess we could ask tesla if the electrical hookups for such a device was possible.

 

[cyberhunter]

I think most people just want the capability and be done with it. Rarely does anyone use the 500 mile range in a gas tank. Day to day, I don't need all 30 gallons in my diesel 3/4 ton truck, but when I go on long trips several times a year where I may or may not be towing, I sure enjoy not having a 5 gal fuel tank. If the truck was only sold with a 5 gal fuel tank but I could rent a add-on fuel tank or whatever...I'd go buy a different truck. All the EV manufacturers just need to give as much range as possible without compromising on capability. That is the only way that you will get mainstream consumers to buy an EV vs. ICE.

 

[TruckElectric]

What about using the electrical outlets? For those that would use them regularly that will deplete range from the battery. So if you are also towing a trailer and using the outlets you would want more than a 500 mile range in some cases.

If you want to use the outlets while camping this will reduce your range.

If you use the air compressor it depletes the battery. All these usages start to add up.

700 mile range is not excessive in so many cases.

Give me more, more and more range!

 

[MEDICALJMP]

Agreed, and if you are evacuating from a mountain side fire with your worldly possessions, using the air filtration system (working overtime), you may have a journey ahead. You'll wish you did not opt for the 100 mile battery. Stuck in traffic during the evacuation? Plug in your George Foreman and grill a burger. Drink a fresh glass of water from that distiller Elon hinted at on Twitter. All the hotels filled up? No worries. Your CT is climate-controlled. Need to bug out, way out? No problem.

 

[TruckElectric]

Agreed, and if you are evacuating from a mountain side fire with your worldly possessions, using the air filtration system (working overtime), you may have a journey ahead. You'll wish you did not opt for the 100 mile battery. Stuck in traffic during the evacuation? Plug in your George Foreman and grill a burger. Drink a fresh glass of water from that distiller Elon hinted at on Twitter. All the hotels filled up? No worries. Your CT is climate-controlled. Need to bug out, way out? No problem.

I can just imagine the uses for the outlets people will find them handy for.

 

[Crissa]

It is hard for me to see Harley Davidson as the Porsche of anything.

And that's why their brand is having problems. They took a big chunk of those profiles from the 90s and 00s boom and invested it in R&D. Now they supply some of the most capable multi-axis controllers for ABS and Traction Control, not to mention ride stability or motors. Their top-end bikes should be the safest on the road.

They made the sportscar of electric bikes. Not first, not farthest, not fastest, not cheapest - but most optimized for beating it in curves. Like a Porsche.

If the truck was only sold with a 5 gal fuel tank but I could rent a add-on fuel tank or whatever...

What do you think reserve tanks and jerry cans are? The option to go 700 miles in a go is an add-on you pay for qith an F-150. If you had a spigot of gasoline at every house, would you really want to carry around a hundred liters of the stuff when you only needed a liter to do the day's errands?

That's over 2000 lbs of weight you're lugging around that could be put to cargo in a hundred mile range.

Isn' t that a nice option?

-Crissa

PS, evs love being stuck in traffic. They barely use any range operating at a standstill.

 

[TerryMack]

I think a big benefit of bigger batteries will be less people stopping at supercharge stations because they were able to reach their destination where they can hopefully charge at home. That is assuming that most people charge their Tesla's at superstations primarily because they are on a Roadtrip or at least aren't able to make it home with their current charge.

This is significant because we have more people buying all types of EV's (we are just worried about Teslas) with a lot of people still waiting for their Model Y. Right now it's not so bad at superstations, most of the time there isn't a wait and you have access right away. However that could change in the near future with more Factories being built and how many more Teslas are coming out of them.
It's not like we can convert that many gas stations to EV charging stations that quickly, there is the initial cost, the space required for cars to sit until their charged, and there is still obviously a high demand for gas stations.

Either the Tesla Supercharger Network will need to expand in densly populated areas, the speed of charging will need to increase (as it is) or people will need to charge more at home, which is already the best and cheapest choice.

Unless of course if "AT HOME" means an apartment or most condominiums , you are out of luck!!! Why do so many people forget the millions and millions of Tesla wannabes who don't have the availability of charging "AT HOME"? This number of US, people who want to buy a Tesla but have trepidation about being able to charge it!!! We are out here! Hello!!!!!?
In this circumstance, the larger the capacity the battery, the better! If you are lucky enough to find a spot available at the supercharger in the near future where EV's are everywhere, you would only need to charge your car once a month or every two weeks. Less hassle!

 

[CyberMoose]

Unless of course if "AT HOME" means an apartment or most condominiums , you are out of luck!!! Why do so many people forget the millions and millions of Tesla wannabes who don't have the availability of charging "AT HOME"? This number of US, people who want to buy a Tesla but have trepidation about being able to charge it!!! We are out here! Hello!!!!!?
In this circumstance, the larger the capacity the battery, the better! If you are lucky enough to find a spot available at the supercharger in the near future where EV's are everywhere, you would only need to charge your car once a month or every two weeks. Less hassle!

I know quite a few Tesla owners that Live in Downtown Toronto. Most of them were able to speak with the management in there building and I have a few friends that have been allowed to charge in the outdoor parking and one that their building actually installed a public charger in their parking lot, well it's for residents but that hard to enforce 24/7.

The one person I know that lives in a building with no charging option just shops at Loblaws because they actually have a free charger in Toronto, or they charge while they are at work. If I didn't have access to charging at home, I would still do my best to avoid supercharging as my only means of recharging. The network of public chargers is quickly expanding and by the time Cybertruck comes out, we will probably have a lot more EV's on the road from every make and i'm excited to see just how the world will charge around that.

 

[Crissa]

If you have an apartment, how are you affording a car with a 700 mile battery? And why are you, instead of a place you can add charging to?

-Crissa