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The public does not understand EV range

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The vast majority of the general public have no experience with the ev and the factors effecting range. They think of EV range as they would with an ICE vehicle. They assume the more highway driving the better the mileage. The public has no idea that just the opposite is true with EVs given the advances in regenerative braking and its' absence at continuous highway speeds. They also are unaware that Tesla's range estimates are primarily for city driving. The best range is achieved when closest to home driving in city traffic and very near your primary charging location. They don't understand that range is only important for long distance highway travel.

The prospective ev buyer can save thousands of dollars by forgoing 350+ range ev's, if the vehicle is to be used primarily as a commuter. For the few times they travel cross country, there will be a few more charging stops which should be easier to rationalize given the saving of $10.000.00 plus dollars.
 
Agree. That is actually why I really like the concept of an EV. I used to be a big Highway driver for work, and now I don't have to, but spend a lot of time on the weekends going for scenic drives with my family (staying primarily under 50mph) The Model Y is going to be great for that. In the future, I hope that the same can be said about the large BEV's like Rivian R1T and CyberTruck.
 
I would be primarily using it for daily commute, weekend getaways (150-200miles) and 4-7 yearly long distance drives (600+ miles).

I’m worried about the long distance drives. While there are Tesla chargers around some of those stops have a gap of 200miles. From what I’ve read in the forums winter range and 80% charge seems like 200 mile would be above the upper limit of this.

Makes me think that in the winter, high wind days, rainy days, bad weather days I should take my ice vehicle. It’s like for long distance unless it’s near perfect weather don’t take an ev?
 
I often see the point that city range is longer than highway range attributed to regen capability, but I think it has more to do with low speeds and much lower drag coefficient. Sure you get regen from stop and go, but you are also burning more energy by having to accelerate so frequently. The real gains are that you're not doing 75mph.

In fact I bet for a lot of people city driving can be quite detrimental because they don't drive efficiently. Accelerating too quickly and waiting to the last second to slow down for stops, rather than gently starting and allowing a nice long coast to a stop.
 
I would be primarily using it for daily commute, weekend getaways (150-200miles) and 4-7 yearly long distance drives (600+ miles).

I’m worried about the long distance drives. While there are Tesla chargers around some of those stops have a gap of 200miles. From what I’ve read in the forums winter range and 80% charge seems like 200 mile would be above the upper limit of this.

Makes me think that in the winter, high wind days, rainy days, bad weather days I should take my ice vehicle. It’s like for long distance unless it’s near perfect weather don’t take an ev?

It definitely takes longer to drive long distance in an EV (with the available choices and infrastructure). But plenty of people, myself included, have done long winter drives in bad weather and arrived at our destination just fine.

I drove from Denver to Little Rock January of last year. I think it was 4°F for much of the drive, with a 5 to 20 mph headwind. I had to slow down to the speed limit (ha! I'm naughty) and spend a few extra minutes at each charge stop, so our total trip time was maybe an hour longer than expected. But I'd do it again.

EVs are only going to get better, and at this point I think there's no reason to own an ICE car for the vast majority of the population anywhere in the world. Honestly my biggest reason for not recommending EVs to people is if they can't charge at home. It has nothing to do with road tripping.
 
It definitely takes longer to drive long distance in an EV (with the available choices and infrastructure). But plenty of people, myself included, have done long winter drives in bad weather and arrived at our destination just fine.

I drove from Denver to Little Rock January of last year. I think it was 4°F for much of the drive, with a 5 to 20 mph headwind. I had to slow down to the speed limit (ha! I'm naughty) and spend a few extra minutes at each charge stop, so our total trip time was maybe an hour longer than expected. But I'd do it again.

EVs are only going to get better, and at this point I think there's no reason to own an ICE car for the vast majority of the population anywhere in the world. Honestly my biggest reason for not recommending EVs to people is if they can't charge at home. It has nothing to do with road tripping.
Perhaps you all can help me out on this one. So here is the part i'm worried about below (see image below). The speed limit around here is 65mph. so let say i'm going 65. its winter with headwinds as you described. i should probably charge up to 90% and then i would get the 200 mile range? Or how would you all go about tackling this leg of the trip?

1644508974437.png
 
I too was unaware of how much environmental conditions, region, and speed affect range, especially in a crossover. I was prepared for a drop in range from 300 miles to 230-240ish in “normal for me” conditions. However we routinely get about 200 miles on a full charge. I swear our MY has to walk to and from school uphill in the snow every day… 70-80mph speed limits, 20-30mph wind that always seems to be working against us, and it’s always either 30deg/f or 120deg/f. Our lifetime wh/mi for our MYP is around 340, while our model 3LR is 298 in the same conditions. 40 mile drives at 400+wh/mi are not uncommon in the Y.

It makes sense if you think about it. The MYP is basically a MX p75d. it’s bigger than the model 3 with the same size battery, and speed has a much bigger effect on efficiency due to its size. Its a bit of an adjustment for us, but we do fine.

PS: Mr Tesla, please install more superchargers in West TX and SE NM! I’m tired of having to plug my EV into an oil production company’s central tank battery service outlet! I do love the irony though, sometimes my Tesla is fossil fuel dependent!
 
Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but after I plug in at a Supercharger I occasionally check the arrival percentage for the next stop on the route. The car wants it to be 10% typically. Sometimes I go a little early, sometimes I wait a little longer. In cold weather I wait for it to be at least 15% more, sometimes 20% if the weather is particularly crummy.

Then I adjust speed based on estimated arrival while on the road. The first half of the trip I try to keep it above 10% at arrival. Second half of the trip I try to keep it above 5% at arrival.

But yes in winter you're going to end up needed higher SoC before leaving a Supercharger than you would in warmer weather.
 
Perhaps you all can help me out on this one. So here is the part i'm worried about below (see image below). The speed limit around here is 65mph. so let say i'm going 65. its winter with headwinds as you described. i should probably charge up to 90% and then i would get the 200 mile range? Or how would you all go about tackling this leg of the trip?

View attachment 767362
Any reason you would not charge to 100%?
 
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Any reason you would not charge to 100%?

i guess it would depend on the time it takes to charge to 100%. i should probably explain that i'm coming from denver to there. so i guess i have 2 routes.

going the longer way would take me ~70 miles more and 1 hour longer.

Would you all play it safe and go one more hour or take the risk and see if you can get the 200 miles...or wait and charge to 100% which might take that 1 hour extra.

OR see what you are averaging in kwh and then make the call when you get to fork location.

1644512524945.png
 
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i guess it would depend on the time it takes to charge to 100%. i should probably explain that i'm coming from denver to there. so i guess i have 2 routes.

going the longer way would take me ~70 miles more and 1 hour longer.

Would you all play it safe and go one more hour or take the risk and see if you can get the 200 miles...or wait and charge to 100% which might take that 1 hour extra.

OR see what you are averaging in kwh and then make the call when you get to fork location.
I would charge to 100% and enjoy the ride. It sounds like you are comfortable with this option.
 
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From what I’ve read in the forums winter range and 80% charge seems like 200 mile would be above the upper limit of this.
Whoa, wait a second. You aren't supposed to use those together. Using an 80% limit is for the constant every single day, day in and day out purposes, so you are not at 100% all the time. That doesn't mean don't ever go over 80% ever for any reason. If there is a day that you need to take a trip and drive more, then charge more. For those trip days, I'll just move my limit slider up to around 95% for the night before, and then when I get up in the morning, I'll open my phone app and move it up the rest of the way to 100% and let it get close to topping off while I am getting ready and having coffee and stuff before leaving.

Makes me think that in the winter, high wind days, rainy days, bad weather days I should take my ice vehicle. It’s like for long distance unless it’s near perfect weather don’t take an ev?
No, I've done many multi-thousand mile trips with my old 2014 Model S85, and it has a lot less range and MUCH worse efficiency than your car has. My biggest trip of over 5,000 miles was in February, with single digit temps. If there are any gaps that are more than about 150 miles at a time, I'll pre-check those. If it is 200 or more, I would need to look pretty carefully, because my car only has a maximum of about 240-250 rated miles or so.

Some of the tools for researching that are:
www.evtripplanner.com
www.abetterrouteplanner.com
So I would plot that Wichita to Joplin segment in one of those to see what it looks like. And you can play around some with temperature and speed factors in those to see how reasonable it looks. The thing that's going to play in your favor on that 200 one is that it is on smaller non-interstate highways, so the speeds will be lower, which means your energy consumption would be less, so it might be easier.

And from looking at that Supercharger placement, my curiosity would have me check if the routing tools do a decent job with the diagonal path from Salina, KS, to Emporia, KS, to Nevada, MO, and then down to Joplin, MO. It would cut a lot of distance off of it, but be much slower speeds. Hard to know what the total driving time would look like.

Sure, sometimes there are places I will just take the longer way around just for easy painless jumping between short Supercharger gaps, but I think the Wichita to Joplin path should work fine because of the lower speed.
 
So I just drove from LA to Boise, 2/3 of the drive in teens to low 30's f
15 to 20m charge and always arrived with more than Tesla calculated, I feel this is due to maintaining 70mph rather than the posted speed limit of 80 in most parts, they must calculate speed limits as well as weather into the destination soc ?
Started at 100% as you do, then 80-90% at each stop, which was always more than necessary, the lowest soc at arrival approx 15%
1 stint in Utah was 215mi, mostly 180-190mi
Avg 0.33 kWh/mi
Seat heater on low, temp set at 70 ish, with occasional defrost when needed
Oh, Loved the EAP package, funny how fresh one can be after a road trip letting the car do all the work ;)
2020 MY LR
 
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I feel this is due to maintaining 70mph rather than the posted speed limit of 80 in most parts, they must calculate speed limits as well as weather into the destination soc ?

I'm not certain they calculate weather, but they do calculate speed and elevation. You can check the trip graph to see what the car's estimate is based on speed limit versus what you're actually doing.

rv0xdh4jbj151 (1).jpg
 
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i guess it would depend on the time it takes to charge to 100%. i should probably explain that i'm coming from denver to there. so i guess i have 2 routes.

going the longer way would take me ~70 miles more and 1 hour longer.

Would you all play it safe and go one more hour or take the risk and see if you can get the 200 miles...or wait and charge to 100% which might take that 1 hour extra.

OR see what you are averaging in kwh and then make the call when you get to fork location.

View attachment 767375


I'd play it by ear - watch your consumption leading up to that and make the decision at Salina. But I'd be surprised if you couldn't make Wichita to Joplin on a full charge.

Another thing to consider would be what time of day you're arriving at the various locations and what is near the Superchargers. Wichita is actually in the Applebee's parking lot. So you could just grab a table and camp out while the car charges. Eat a bunch of boneless wings!

 
I made across SK and AB last week when it was -20F for a couple days and nights on the Trans Canada Highway. As in thousands of miles around Lake Superior and all the way to BC Didn't seem to stop my Tesla. Stopped many others however. Watched people in hotels cars not start. Then gotta dodge truck and farmer protesters.

EV owners suddenly become enlightened to how fuel economy fluctuates. Never thought of it in an ICE car. The never ending nozzle in the hole was always there to solve the problem. Until it wasn't.

I have a story on my trip. I will save it for when I get back. People really underestimate EV's because of the FUD that has spread for so long. It almost takes a grinder to get all the FUD off.
 
Perhaps you all can help me out on this one. So here is the part i'm worried about below (see image below). The speed limit around here is 65mph. so let say i'm going 65. its winter with headwinds as you described. i should probably charge up to 90% and then i would get the 200 mile range? Or how would you all go about tackling this leg of the trip?

View attachment 767362
I would use the Tesla trip planner in your car to determine when to stop and for how long. We usually leave a charger when there will be an estimated 20% left in the tank at our next charge or destination.
 
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