That's true. The issues with EV is drag. The miles per percent is not great at Western state highway speeds. In town the Tesla was very efficient. On the highway I was panicking watching the charge drop and slowed from the traffic flow speed of 75 down to 65 just to reduce the losses. Micromanaging charge is not a fun thing. I couldn't imagine driving an EV across the country at this point.
Dodge Reveals EV Muscle Car
- Thread starter agcy68
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Sounds like you live in a city and never plan to leave it. If you are in a Western/SW state EVs will absolutely not do it for the longer commutes. The Model 3 I drove wont get close to 400 miles at highway speeds before crashing below Teslas recommended charge minimum of 20%. They also recommend you dont go above 90%, and it defaults to that charge maximum. I was getting about 2 miles/% at 75 MPH. That sound like 400 miles of range to you?
You can't charge your daily commute overnight? I don't claim to be master of #s which is why I typed 200-400
The point is charging is more convenient most days.
I don't think the average consumer even realizes that yet. I do think the latest gas price explosion tipped them off to the fuel price difference, but they still mistakenly think charging is a hassle when it's really more like how netflix brought the video store into your living room.
I've been saying this for a long time but most households have 2 cars. It will make a lot of sense to have one be an EV for daily use and one be a ICE for those unique circumstances when you drive around.
That said, when we went out to Utah/Colorado/Nevada last spring break the # of Tesla's from the east coast out there shocked me. It's clearly possible it might just take a little more planning.
I've driven more than 300 miles to a destination exactly one time in my own vehicle in like the last 4 years.
I have 15k miles on my Kia. Took it on a road trip to Yellowstone and a road trip to Austin. The Austin trip was about 2,000 miles round trip. Yellowstone was about 2,200. I've probably driven up to see my mother in northern Iowa 5 times in the last couple of years. That's 240 miles round trip and probably wouldn't be an issue but EV's lose a lot of range in cold weather. So that's another 1,200 miles. Been to KC once, that's another 400. Been to Omaha once so that's 260.
So that's 6,060 miles out of 15,000 miles that I would have to worry about it. So 40% of the time, I'd be worrying about it.
Now keep in mind that we always take my Kia instead of my wifes VW because it's a better road trip car. My wifes VW probably does 90% under 100 miles. I also work from home a lot more now.
This kind of shows that the best bet right now for us would be to have a mix of one EV and one either ICE/HEV. The one thing I don't want to do is pay an extra $15k just for the privilege of owning an EV. There are some EV's out there right now that have interiors that are embarrassingly bad for their price range.
I hardly see them anymore with the exception of the newer Challenger and Charger, those must have done pretty well for them. I probably see those as much as I see Mustangs and Camaros.
He's full of **** and being a jackass. They were doing this crap a few years ago with our large racing haulers (RV's) in Iowa. The was one particular officer up in the Highway 3 area (Waverly to Independence) that we all knew by name. Then a few racers went to the Iowa legislature and got the Motorsports RV law passed so they would quit harassing us.
Dodge, (and Chrysler) scaled back their vechicle offerings massivly in the last 5 years. Besides the Challenger and Charger, they only offer the Durango. They even dropped the Grand Caravan.
The trucks were spun off into their own brand. Ram.
I've done many long road trips in my Tesla with no issues. Drove to Orlando and back last year, about 1,400 miles each way. The Supercharger network makes it easy. If you do just a modicum of research and planning, you can figure out the best route and the chargers you can skip along the way and the ones you need to hit. Sure, weather can and does change plans and may increase the amount of charging stops, but I've never had an issue that caused gnashing of teeth about getting to the next charger.
Other EV's, eh, I wouldn't take those on long road trips right now. Not until the fast charger networks are built up more.
It would've been nice to have taken these, or even traditionally hybrids, more seriously and made them more commonplace before trying to leap straight to EVs. A PHEV is the perfect vehicle for the average person with very little needed compromise either way.
I just don't know why these haven't been what has taken off. Does the average commuter need a 200-300 mole range in their EV? No. Give them enough miles for their normal daily commute on electric and have the gas engine ready for when you need to go further. This is especially true when you're talking about families that have just one bigger family car that'll hold everyone comfortably. You really want to have an EV for taking kids to school and go to work, but that's also your vacation vehicle so you need range from time to time.
PHEVs should've been really built up over the last several years. They seem like a fantastic solution to me as we continue to transition to electric. I wanted one but their damn near impossible to find right now so settling for a regular hybrid
Obviously the time is different and there technology is different, but I remember the Chevy Volt being ripped apart because it still had a gas motor and wasn't completely electric compared to the Nissan Leaf.
For some reason, some people have been resistant to PHEVs and would prefer either full EVs or ICE vehicles. Eventually, if you could get a PHEV with a 100 mile range would suite a huge majority of people. (I used 100 miles as I think it would be enough to get me from Des Moines to Ames and back on a charge). You would use your electric for daily work commutes and have the gas for longer trips if you wanted.
Then you have two systems to pay to manage, negating the benefit of an EV with much less parts that can fail. Plus you have to haul around two systems, so extra weight, making both way less efficient. I'm not saying there aren't benefits, but there is definitely a tradeoff.
The infrastructure is growing every day to support EVs. If you drive a Tesla, you already don't really have to worry about driving across the country (unless you're in extremely remote areas). Their Supercharger network is fast and reliable and if you own your own home and/or have access to a plug, you charge 99% of your trips at home.
