Is this scenerio feasible for an S60?

[BrettS]

So I'm getting very close to purchasing a new (well, used) model S. I'm trying to save money where I can, so most of the ones I've been lookin at are S60's. (I'm looking mostly at 2015's and a few 2014's with autopilot if that makes a difference).

A few times a week I need to make a round trip of about 125 miles. (Depends on how much driving I do at the other end, but it will range from about 110 miles to 125). I was thinking that with the 200+ mile rating of the S60 that I would be fine making that trip, but before I go out and buy one I just wanted to make sure that was really the case... even in the heat of florida with the air conditioner running in the summer.

Once in a while I make longer trips of about 160 miles (although that's reasonably rare... maybe twice in the past year). I'd love to be able to make that trip without stopping to charge as well, but given the infrequency I could probably live if I needed to stop to charge along the way for that one.

Do you guys think that it's realistic to expect a 2014 or 2015 S60 to be able to make a 125 or even 160 mile trip in a single charge or should I be looking for a bigger battery?

Thanks,
Brett

 

[Oyinko]

125 will not be an issue. Use this tool to estimate the electricity usage of your trip. EV Trip Planner

For very long trip, slowing down by 10/15 mph will save you a lot of energy.

 

[democappy]

125 will not be an issue. Use this tool to estimate the electricity usage of your trip. EV Trip Planner

For very long trip, slowing down by 10/15 mph will save you a lot of energy.

I will just echo this response. 125 miles should never be close to an issue unless you are in some extreme uphill, low temperature, strong wind blowing against you type of situation. I can't imagine any issue in Florida.

160 should be easily doable as well, especially since you are in the south.

 

[LoL Rick]

Not a problem at all. Go for the 60.

 

[Pbaker]

About 7 months ago I purchased a CPO 2013 S60, I really like the and am very happy with it, except for the battery range. I drive 120 miles round trip and wish every day that I would've got the 85. On a 100% charge my rated miles are 181, and driving at 75-80 mph, that turns into more like 140. I work 12 hour shift work and most of the time am able to charge on 110v 16amp, which is ~5 miles per hour of range.

If you don't want to spend the extra money on an 85, then buy my 60 and I will get an 85....

Don't be fooled by "ideal" vs. "rated" miles....

 

[youlikeadajuice]

I own a February 2013 S60 with 80K miles and it still yields 199 rated miles on a 100% charge. 125 shouldn't be a problem anywhere, even doing 75-80mph. 160 shouldn't be a problem either, unless there's heavy rain, cold temps, strong headwinds or lots of uphill. As mentioned above, just slow down a little if you're doing a longer leg or think you won't make it.

 

[No2DinosaurFuel]

I would look at your driving habits. i.e. hard accelerations, often speeding, tail gating, etc. Just note if you do all of those, your range will be much less. The 2014, 2015 S60 should be around 200 miles 100% charge now. Most likely you would want to charge to 90% so you still have regen when you leave. Or 95% in your case if you want all the capacity you can get for your 125 miles trip. 90% is around 180 rated miles which like many here have discovered is really 140-150 miles realistic if you do the above which most people now a days do. If you factor in wind, weather, and the road conditions, then you are looking at 120-130 miles. So yes I think 125 miles if fine, but as the car ages, you will find it a bit harder to do it comfortably in the cold, going 10 mph over the speed limit for example.

It is really your call. If penny pinching is what you plan to do, then the 60 will do what you need. But keep in mind an upgraded capacity Model 3 which might be a better fit even if you factor the amount you pay at the supercharging stations. But only go for this if you believe musk's timeline by the end of the year.

 

[Btrflyl8e]

Either of these scenarios are perfectly doable in a 60. Before Kingsland SC opened, I used to drive the St Augustine to Savannah leg in my 60, which was 171 miles. I did have to keep it under 70, but I did it multiple times without a problem.

Buy it and enjoy it!

 

[clyjr]

I'm in Charlotte with a 2014 60 201 miles full charge, I have a trip that is 120 miles I do and usually end with 60 miles remaining. 160 during good weather is likely but don't push the speed or you may be less than 10 remaining...

 

[randvegeta]

Short answer is yes it is enough!

I have a 2014 S 60 and in the Winter I am getting rated range of 275km at 100% charge (hoping it goes above 300km come summer!)

But you need to consider that charginh above 90% amd letting charge drop below 10% is not good for the battery and so for every day use, you really have only 80% usable, unless you want to kill your battery.

In my case, 80% means 225km which is roughly 140Miles. So it is enough for you assuming you dont speed, or have many hills. In reality though, you will probably want to drive faster, blast your AC to max and speed up hils without thinking. So really the S60 may technically be enough, it wont be as fun to drive/own if you are worried a out range.

I love my S 60 and for most days I only need about 50-100km so its no issue at all. But come days I drive more than 200km, in the absence of any supercharging, my one regret is not getting the S 85! The added 25kwh (125km) would be a real bonus.

 

[tga]

I have a 2014 S 60 and in the Winter I am getting rated range of 275km at 100% charge (hoping it goes above 300km come summer!)

Rated range is fixed, based on EPA test conditions. It doesn't change with weather, driving habits, speed, etc -
Rated vs Ideal vs Projected and how to use them

Wind and speed make a huge difference. I did a trip recently at 75 mph, 3 degrees F, 15 mph headwind (so net 90mph relative wind) - I was using around 590 Wh/mi, probably 50% higher than expected (without the headwind).

 

[Rocky_H]

Is it time for a news flash that if you're driving 75-80mph in a gas car, it won't get its official rated miles per gallon number either?

 

[DarkMatter]

Is it time for a news flash that if you're driving 75-80mph in a gas car, it won't get its official rated miles per gallon number either?

Yeah, but people don't notice that because they don't drive cars with tiny fuel tanks, which all electric vehicles still sort of are. BTW my Tesla is the first vehicle I've owned where I do not regularly beat the EPA figures. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel however as past cars have been below EPA numbers in the winter and then beat them in the summer. The few warm days so far have really showed me how much better the summer will be for range.

 

[Xolt]

I will just echo this response. 125 miles should never be close to an issue unless you are in some extreme uphill, low temperature, strong wind blowing against you type of situation. I can't imagine any issue in Florida.

160 should be easily doable as well, especially since you are in the south.

Keep in mind that on i95 with 70 mph speed limits, the normal speeds traveled in Florida are 75-80 mph as we have some of the nations nicest highways. This weekend when heading home from Orlando my X90D navigation said to limit my speed to 55 mph on i95 for the last 80 miles to complete my trip and would then have 3% remaining (to close). That slow speed isn't possible to do safely on 95 so we had the navagation rerouted us on 50-55mph secondary roads to get to the turnpike at Yehaw Junction and charged at the Ft Drum Supercharger. Added about 1.5 hours to the trip. According to the navigation it should be easily possible for the full 200 mile round trip but the higher Florida speeds take a 25-35% healthy bite out of range.

 

[Xolt]

Is it time for a news flash that if you're driving 75-80mph in a gas car, it won't get its official rated miles per gallon number either?

To weigh in on that, we have several BMW's in our household and both of my daughters 2014 328i's have amazed me with both cars easily beating the EPA rating on the highway in EcoPro mode at 75 mph. My X5 35i just misses EPA numbers by 1 mpg at 75-77ish but then easily beats EPA numbers in the city. Our Tesla X90D severely misses EPA numbers at 75 mph unless following a truck or van but beats the EPA line around town. We were talking this weekend and came to the conclusion that in areas with 55-60 speed limits or heavy traffic areas how much better the Teslas would do.

 

[DarkMatter]

The last study I could find about I95 speeds in Florida put the 85th percentile at 75. Given that 15 over traffic is as dangerous as 15 under, sounds like 65 is probably the slowest you should go on that highway to extend range. It's hard to do that speed in a Tesla though, because it's so easy to go fast.

 

[Xolt]

The last study I could find about I95 speeds in Florida put the 85th percentile at 75. Given that 15 over traffic is as dangerous as 15 under, sounds like 65 is probably the slowest you should go on that highway to extend range. It's hard to do that speed in a Tesla though, because it's so easy to go fast.

Exactly, to give the option of 55mph on 95 is crazy. You are close to 25 under many cars and even at 77ish you very often are overtaken by quite a bit faster cars or rather slower cars just traveling faster. I try to limit my speed to 73 but even that still cuts into range quite a bit. If the 100D battery was available (with Supercharging) at the time I bought mine I would have gladly paid the 3k premium.

 

[BrettS]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I am now the proud owner of a 2015 S60. I just finished a 90% charge and it's showing 182 miles. Although I picked it up this afternoon and did a factory reset to remove the previous owner's info, so I'm not sure if that would affect the estimated range.

I'm going to be taking it on the 125 mile round trip for the first time tomorrow evening, so I'll post back here tomorrow night and let you know how I did. There is a supercharger halfway there if I get desperate, although it's 8 miles and 13 minutes out of the way, so I certainly hope I don't need to use it. Especially every time I make the trip.

I did punch the destination into the GPS after it finished it's 90% charge and it estimated that I would have 62% of the battery left when I arrived, which I believe means that it's estimating it will take 28% of the battery to get there (90%-62%). Figuring the trip home would be about the same (florida is pretty flat) that leaves me at 34% which should be a pretty healthy buffer for some driving while I am there and a bit of wiggle room in case it takes more power than anticipated.

I do tend to do 75-80ish on the highway, keeping up with other traffic here in florida, so we'll see how that affects the range. But I'm also coming from a Prius and tend to drive pretty conservatively, especially on surface streets as I always liked to maximize the range in the Prius.

 

[LoL Rick]

Congratulations on the new car! Check back in after the trip and let us know how it went.

Edit - don't underestimate the value of destination charging while you are there. I doubt that you will drive there and immediately turn around to drive back. Take your UMC with you and plug in if possible, even on 120V, to give a bit of reassurance.

 

[randvegeta]

Rated range is fixed, based on EPA test conditions. It doesn't change with weather, driving habits, speed, etc -
Rated vs Ideal vs Projected and how to use them

I am aware that the rated range is based on a fixed wh/km. But is it not the case that batteries can store less energy in very cold temperatures than when warm?

Given this, is it not possible the battery management system may be re calibrated, revealing additional range in the summer?

Or am I missing something?