Have you bought a 75 and wished you'd got the larger pack?
Not quite ... but ...
I ordered the 85. The 90 was available at the time, but the "extra cost" for the 5 kWh, which amounted to only a few miles, seemed huge. (OK, so I now know that the 85 was actually overstated, so it turns out to be a bit more than 5, but i didn't know that back then)
During my build-wait the 85 was discontinued and I was given the options of early delivery, upgrade to 90, or refund to 75. Despite my earlier thought process of "not worth the extra cost" I decided to take the 90.
Of course, now, the extra cost is forgotten
What I have is a bit of extra range. I have only once arrived home with 1% charge, and I clearly would not have made it in an 85. Car was charged to 100%, its a journey I do often (177 miles round trip), but I was late leaving that day so I drove at 80 to make up time. I arrived with 51% battery, which I thought was absolutely fine as I was in no rush on the way back, that journey normally uses 90% battery. Weather turned dreadful, really heavy rain, I didn't think too much of it, drove home on TACC at a steady 70 and then as I got closer to home and range dropped I eased off more, creeping home the last few miles.
(I checked the same journey in previous months (normal driving!) November wet journey = 400 Wh, Oct = 386 Wh, Sep = 358 Wh)
My consumption figures show that I am using more in Winter (as expected, but now I have actuals logged)
1820 miles @ 323 Wh/mi Aug
2963 miles @ 347 Wh/mi Sep
2614 miles @ 371 Wh/mi Oct
3308 miles @ 407 Wh/mi Nov
1150 miles @ 417 Wh/mi Dec
Daily commute is 40 miles (one way) mostly on dual carriageway, so time for battery to warm up etc.
Post your data logger stats!
On any day where my journey is more than 160 miles I charge to 100%, to have extra buffer.
Apart from that one, critical, journey the only thing I can say about the larger battery is that I have come home without worrying about range
more often. "Not worrying" means not reducing speed, unexpected foul/cold weather, being able to make a detour (which has happened a couple of times), or not having some other "
Sorry, I can't do that I don't have range" type event.
If I had to make the decision again I would favour range over cost. The cost, per total mile, of the battery upgrade is acceptable, but the "
Only a few 10's of miles more for £ nn,000" is a painful way of viewing it.
I'll have the same number of charge stops, and the same charge time with either pack
I was surprised to read that. Assuming you start with 100% charge (I would, whenever I make a long journey) and set a sensible "safety buffer" for arrival you should clearly need (90 - 75) = 15 kWh less charge, overall. At a Supercharger that isn't much time, of course.
Note that a key factor is that the car charges faster from 10% to 80% than above. 10%-80% in a 75 is less "range" than in a 90, so on a long journey, with multiple re-charges, you spend more time charging in that sweet-spot in a bigger battery car.
(pedantic point, but a "safety buffer" of 10% on both 75 and 90 is about 5 miles more on the 90, so might be worth setting safety buffer to, say, 11% on a 75)
I had a go with EV Trip Planner
Glasgow London (direct) : S75D 411.9 miles, Driving Time 6:09, Energy 149.0 kWh @ 362 Wh/mile
Glasgow London (direct) : S90D 411.9 miles, Driving Time 6:09, Energy 176.3 kWh @ 428 Wh/mile
using Supercharging option added 4 stops (different ones for each vehicle. I removed the charger stops and got it to recalculate from just Start/End points each time)
Looks like getting to the Birmingham supercharge requires a small detour off the direct route, whereas the Northampton charger is just off the M1 so that, shorter overall, route is favoured.
S75D 431.6 miles, Driving Time 6:42, Charging time 1:39, Energy 155.3 kWh @ 360 Wh/mile (Birmingham route)
S90D 413.8 miles, Driving Time 6:39, Charging time 1:31, Energy 173.5 kWh @ 419 Wh/mile (Northampton route)
S90D 431.6 miles, Driving Time 6:42, Charging time 1:36, Energy 183.9 kWh @ 426 Wh/mile (Birmingham alternative route)
Interesting that the 75 is considerably more efficient than 90 on the same journey.
Checking the STEPS it seems that Abington has been added on both routes, but is not actually needed, so its only 3 stops. I expect that "highlands of Scotland", for you, is some way North of Glasgow
so you'll need Abington or, if you are somewhere up near Inverness, a detour via Dundee charger.
S90D (Northampton):
Charge at Abington Supercharger from 226 RM to 226 RM (
There's no need to charge here)
Charge at Gretna Green Supercharger from 158 RM to 236 RM (28 mins)
Charge at Warrington Supercharger from 28 RM to 205 RM (44 mins)
Charge at Northampton Supercharger from 28 RM to 117 RM (19 mins)
S90D (Birmingham):
Charge at Abington Supercharger from 226 RM to 226 RM (
There's no need to charge here)
Charge at Gretna Green Supercharger from 158 RM to 205 RM (15 mins)
Charge at Charnock Richard Supercharger from 28 RM to 196 RM (41 mins)
Charge at Birmingham - Hopwood Park Supercharger from 28 RM to 193 RM (40 mins)
S75D:
Charge at Abington Supercharger from 182 RM to 182 RM (
There's no need to charge here)
Charge at Gretna Green Supercharger from 126 RM to 169 RM (17 mins)
Charge at Charnock Richard Supercharger from 23 RM to 158 RM (41 mins)
Charge at Birmingham - Hopwood Park Supercharger from 23 RM to 157 RM (41 mins)
I would charge to the start of "taper" as a minimum at each stop, so maybe longer at all-but-last charge and arrive with a safer buffer. Only at the last charge would I charge to the absolute minimum safe-buffer to reach my destination. I think EV Trip Planner favours charging so only-just-enough for next leg.
So, having done all that Geeky Stuff
, I agree with @
Drone Flyer that 75 is fine, which surprises me. My caveats would be that there are convenient chargers en route, and both the "
safety buffer" on journeys, and the "
Supercharge range added before taper" are both better with a larger battery.