Has Tesla Solved the Road Trip Problem?

[jerry33]

Seeking Alpha...road trip problem key to TMCs future growth...hmmm...who, other than retired folk, spend 99% of their time driving on roads trips?...I, like most Model S owners (imo), might spend 1% of my time on a (vacation) road trip...another erroneous conclusion...

Well, 25% of my Prius' miles is on vacation trips. Time wise, 3 weeks of vacation makes about 6%. Not counting the holiday trips. 1% is a bit low in my opinion.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Seeking Alpha...road trip problem key to TMCs future growth...hmmm...who, other than retired folk, spend 99% of their time driving on roads trips?...I, like most Model S owners (imo), might spend 1% of my time on a (vacation) road trip...another erroneous conclusion...

I see the same flaws in that premise. I like what JRP3 said in the comments: Tesla only needs to appear to solve the road trip problem to get people onboard. A vast majority of people will not be using the car for road trips. There's a huge market for daily drivers that EVs have still not tapped fully into yet and people keep talking about the concerns of roadtrippers as if that's the larger market.

The biggest concern are the apartment dwellers and others who do not have daily access to charging. That's a much bigger market than people who go on roadtrips regularly and neither rent nor have access to another car.

There's another technical flaw in the article. It assumes that 120kW can be used toward a smaller 56kWh battery. That assumption is flawed. 120kW into a 56kWh battery is 2.14C, a charging rate that none of the chemistries used by Tesla so far can handle without drastically shorter life. Tesla won't be able to support that kind of charging without switching to a less energy dense but more power optimized chemistry. If Tesla uses similar batteries to the ones they are currently using, 120kW charging would require a larger battery, close to 120kWh in order to keep the C-rate the same.

 

[William13]

Unlike DMS363, I have driven over 300 miles in a day 4 times in the 10 weeks since my S arrived. I have done destination charging and returned home successfully. This does require a small amount of preparation and thought. Few people drive as much as I do unless it is for business. So far we have not needed the hybrid Hilander for any trips. I do plan to use it for parking long term at an airport.

 

[Jaff]

You've obviously never driven to Florida with a couple of kids...:biggrin:

Nothing irrational about wanting your $80K car to be able to travel more than 200 miles in a single day without extending road trips by 2-3 hours just to charge. I would imagine that the majority of people who travel long distances, unlike people on these forums, would not find having to stop every 3 hours for 1 hour to be enjoyable. As an example, if I want to drive to Florida for vacation, with a Model S it would be impossible. I know people think superchargers are going to be great, but they won't come close to covering everywhere in this country anytime this decade. No point in paying 80K dollars if I still am going to have to keep a second car.

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I think you have to consider mileage Jerry...the only long trip I currently take on vacation is to Florida (about 1650 kms)...my other vacations to the cottage (240 kms) is well within my "full tank" range.

I would not hesitate to drive to Florida tomorrow...there are plenty of charge stations available even without superchargers...
It's a minimum 3 day drive to the Keys anyway...

Well, 25% of my Prius' miles is on vacation trips. Time wise, 3 weeks of vacation makes about 6%. Not counting the holiday trips. 1% is a bit low in my opinion.

 

[gregincal]

It's a funny thing about the Model S. I never bought the idea that electric cars would have really limited appeal because you'd need a second car. After all, there are a huge number of married couples, and almost all of them in the US already have 2 cars. Certainly in my case we always take my wife's CRV when doing road trips instead of my Audi A3, so the limited range of electric cars seemed fine (however, with a 70 mile r/t commute, the Leaf was just a little too limited).

However, now that I'm about to get a Model S I'm going to want to take it on road trips if at all possible, and I bet we'll be taking more road trips this year just so I have a chance to drive it more. :smile:

 

[Renderdog]

The article's author makes an interesting point about the SuperCharger stations, in one of his comments to his article:

Should Tesla begin charging for electricity (and your 30 - 40 cents/kWh sounds like a good number, or maybe a 'flat fee' for recharging 'battery servicing' which might side-step PUC regulation...) SuperCharger stations become a money machine for Tesla - remember, they are already paid for! We might even end up with a model where Tesla cars are priced to cover the cap-cost of SuperChargers and get free fill-ups, and cars from Tesla licensees (using their battery/charging technology, software, etc.) are charged for power.

 

[jerry33]

I think you have to consider mileage Jerry...the only long trip I currently take on vacation is to Florida (about 1650 kms)...my other vacations to the cottage (240 kms) is well within my "full tank" range.

I'm not sure I quite understand about the "mileage", but most of my vacation trips are about 1000 km one way. A few are longer and a few are shorter.

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

Road tripping in the S for 300 miles is fine. I've done it 5 times now since Dec 1st
the last time we did it(yesterday) in just 8 hours. The fastest we do it in an Ice is about 5 1/2 to 6 hours (4 1/2 illegally). The 2-hr charge is perfect to have a beer/glass of wine and some lunch + go for a stroll on the river (14-50 outlet).

With a Supercharger the break would be almost too short but perfect for a 'rushed' trip.

 

[napabill]

who, other than retired folk, spend 99% of their time driving on roads trips?

I beg your pardon. 99% on the road? That would imply never getting anywhere, just driving mindlessly on. I'm feeling the need to organize the "retired folk" to represent ourselves in a more positive light.:tongue:

 

[Jaff]

Sorry, used wrong quote

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Bill, what I meant was 99% of my trips are under my full tank range.

I beg your pardon. 99% on the road? That would imply never getting anywhere, just driving mindlessly on. I'm feeling the need to organize the "retired folk" to represent ourselves in a more positive light.:tongue: