People often overestimate the range they need... Wildly.

[Crissa]

Ignoring that this is a truck forum and we're going to be doing things that obviously need more range: Hauling heavy things up mountains, into the wilds, and/or towing awkward things that just can't be aeroshelled. That's why the Cybertruck will be getting the big batteries.

A German poll recently showed just how wildly people over-estimate how much range they use on a daily basis.

Crazy, right?

I know my longest day-commute I do regularly is 180 miles round trip. And I know the longest camping loop I do is about 188 miles without a charger. Of course, these are mostly highway miles, not street or offroad miles (which EVs are super-efficient at). But I only know that because I've double-checked. And I know I don't tow crazy things, but I do love my camping in remote places ^-^ Amazingly, there's a new Supercharger only thirty miles from my favorite primitive Big Sur campground. So I'm sure a 250mile range would fit me perfectly. And I can make do for the local stuff with a 100 mile highway range. (The new Zero SR/S is sooo close.)

-Crissa

Advertisement

 

[rharl]

my main thing is we go to the beach a lot it is about 250 miles door to door. This is all hwy miles so much less regenerative breaking. I would like to be able to get there without stopping at a super charger.

 

[SSonnentag]

These types of write ups are misguided. How little someone drives on a daily basis is irrelevant to their range needs. You have to look at the long drive needs when determining how much range you need in an EV. Nobody want to have to rent a car every time they want to take a trip.

 

[Crissa]

Germany is 650 kilometers wide.

You literally cannot get 250 kilometers from a charging station.

Nor can you consume that much energy, even on the autobahn, in the span that you shouldn't be peeing or taking a break from driving.

-Crissa

 

[TheLastStarfighter]

Germany is 650 kilometers wide.

You literally cannot get 250 kilometers from a charging station.

Nor can you consume that much energy, even on the autobahn, in the span that you shouldn't be peeing or taking a break from driving.

-Crissa

Yes, but do you want to take a pee break at the same spot, every time? I think 250 miles works really well, for a lot of people. But there are also a lot of people who do a regular long drive and need more range. Many have a particular drive they do a lot, to a specific medical apt, a family member, a cottage. Adding a 30 min charge stop to that drive may be very inconvenient.

For me, my daily driving is irrelevant. My office is 10km round trip. But almost every week I do a long drive. 90% of those are into the city, 400km round trip. Highway driving. My current car can do that easily without a gas stop. There is a supercharger on route, but I'd rather not stop there every single time I drive. I like to mix up my pee and snack breaks at different locations. And my kids are 2 and 3, and only have so much patience for a pit stop like that. With no stops I can make the trip easily without any tears or carseat escape attempts. Factoring not wanting to charge to 100% (or drain to 0%), Canadian winters and degradation, I wouldn't consider a vehicle with less than 400 miles of range. 500 miles is perfect, so I'm hoping I can swing the 3-motor when my number in the queue is called.

One thing that, I think, many people do underestimate is that they don't need to fully charge when they charge. In my weekly trip above, for example, I wouldn't need to fully charge a Model 3LR to make it in Feb. A 10 minute top-up would be enough, and that's pretty much like stopping for gas. Pre-kids I would have been all over that car. But with toddlers and all of their crap I want range and space, and the CT3 is perfect for that.

 

[Vrakpant]

...and apparently this is still a thing. Electric vehicles work differently when it comes to "fueling". You dont need to "fill it all the way up" at charging stations. You top up the battery while you pee. fifteen to twenty minutes is enough to get you to 50% or more. Leave home with 90%. drive til your bladder bursts. break, top up while you pee. repeat last step until destination.

 

[Ehninger1212]

Yeah one of my buddies planned his first trip from Houston to Austin in his M3P and planned to stop at every station (2) along the way just to add some charge. Long story short he left without a fully charged battery ~87%, drove like 85mph and didn't stop once in order to make it to their favorite restaurant before it closed. Still arrived to the hotel with 32 miles left... His consumption was obviously very high.. but my point is he drove it just like his ICE except he didn't have to stop at any gas stations to fuel up, just a plug into the hotel upon check in

 

[Crissa]

Anyone who doesn't stop with kids in the car is a sadist ^-^ My spouse has stories of her parents doing that. Yuck! Weirdly, they have the same stories. 9-9

Have some pity, they have smaller bladders! ^-^

-Crissa

 

[TheLastStarfighter]

Anyone who doesn't stop with kids in the car is a sadist ^-^ My spouse has stories of her parents doing that. Yuck! Weirdly, they have the same stories. 9-9

Have some pity, they have smaller bladders! ^-^

-Crissa

They wear diapers

Seriously, stops with them are a nightmare. I'm a big "stopper", I like to take my time and enjoy the drive anywhere I go. But my two little angels give me about 2 hours of driving until they turn to demons. They will sleep for the drive contently, but a stop wakes them up. This will change in time of course - and probably well before a cybertruck arrives - but in my current life a forced 30 min stop would be a nightmare.

 

[MEDICALJMP]

Ignoring that this is a truck forum and we're going to be doing things that obviously need more range: Hauling heavy things up mountains, into the wilds, and/or towing awkward things that just can't be aeroshelled. That's why the Cybertruck will be getting the big batteries.

A German poll recently showed just how wildly people over-estimate how much range they use on a daily basis.


Crazy, right?

I know my longest day-commute I do regularly is 180 miles round trip. And I know the longest camping loop I do is about 188 miles without a charger. Of course, these are mostly highway miles, not street or offroad miles (which EVs are super-efficient at). But I only know that because I've double-checked. And I know I don't tow crazy things, but I do love my camping in remote places ^-^ Amazingly, there's a new Supercharger only thirty miles from my favorite primitive Big Sur campground. So I'm sure a 250mile range would fit me perfectly. And I can make do for the local stuff with a 100 mile highway range. (The new Zero SR/S is sooo close.)

-Crissa

Daily commute is irrelevant. I don't buy my vehicles for the daily need but for the opportunity drives. My daily commute is 28 miles/45 kilometers in solitude. I could own a Yugo (if I were crazy), but I don't.

I need to pack a family of 5 in weekly or more for various activities. Then family trips. Too many here live where chargers are all over; in the Midwest and mountains, not so much. With a tri-motor I have one route available to go to my brother's house. Going to the Sandhills will turn into a multi-day affair from lack of charging options instead of a day trip. I have friends with M3s who cannot visit their family in their home towns north of me without staying multiple days to charge on 110v because of a lack of charging stations.

When EV charging options become similar to petrol stations this discussion can finally be muted.

Germany is more like California than Nebraska or S. Dakota in terms of population density and infrastructure.

 

[Cyber_Dav]

Daily commute is irrelevant. I don't buy my vehicles for the daily need but for the opportunity drives. My daily commute is 28 miles/45 kilometers in solitude. I could own a Yugo (if I were crazy), but I don't.

I bought a commute specific EV in 2011. My wife had a minivan if we needed a big car.

For the rest of the argument, all I can say (again) is: "if an EV doesn't fit your needs, don't get one."

 

[azjohn]

With the thinking of " I don't need a car with X amount of range" Some things come to mind

A. You never know how many miles you will be driving from day to day
B. What might effect your mileage ( weather, might be towing)
C. Trying to convert ICE owners to a BEV ( you will need to have at least as much range as an average ICE vehicle)

 

[Crissa]

I have friends with M3s who cannot visit their family in their home towns north of me without staying multiple days to charge on 110v because of a lack of charging stations.

That's... Highly improbable.

-Crissa

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

Germany is 650 kilometers wide.

You literally cannot get 250 kilometers from a charging station.

Nor can you consume that much energy, even on the autobahn, in the span that you shouldn't be peeing or taking a break from driving.

-Crissa

I thought you wanted us to ignore the whole Germany aspect and focus on the inflated evaluation of range need, so mentioning Germany confuses that. I will always think of charging my car as reducing lifetime of the batteries, so I want a longer range partly to charge less often. It is a form of neurosis implanted by lots of research about battery longevity. After that I am like others and consider the tasks I will use the car for and their impact on SOC. Towing a trailer, or a boat, or carrying large or heavy things all impact range. Everyone here says that towing will reduce range by half, and then there is the percent of full and empty charge Tesla wants us to use on a daily basis, which is currently 60% of full charge (20%-80%). I fill my truck up once a week for about 400 miles. So where is the inflated notion of range need? How do we know the Germans aren’t thinking the same way?

 

[Crissa]

I thought you wanted us to ignore the whole Germany aspect...

No,

Ignoring that this is a truck forum and we're going to be doing things that obviously need more range...

If you 'charge less often' you're charging longer.

The topic wasn't about towing.

-Crissa