What real range are you getting on a full charge?

[mrbloons]

Realistically your not going to get over 200 miles, and even less if you dont drain your battery below 10-20% unless in emergency situation.

I thought that "300" mile range would be good enough but after 2 road trips, and extended stays to places without charging Tesla still has a way to go before EVs have enough range to equal ICE cars in terms of practicality.

They need a battery that has 300 miles of real world range between 20-80% (ie 300 miles of range at 60% capacity, which is a 500 mile range battery at full capacity, and probably closer to 600 miles EPA). So double where we are right now.

Hopefully they will be there when its time to trade in my current Y in 4-5 years.

I don't see any need for more range than the Y currently has. Would it be nice, yes, but not necessary. I've taken my Y all over this summer, hundreds of miles from the nearest supercharger and well over 200 miles on several legs, but plan my trips around destination charging, which is in abundance if you consider non-Tesla chargers and / or don't mind camping and using RV hookups. I don't really enjoy spending more than 3 hours in the car per day, and would view driving across the US a once-in-a-lifetime trip, not a regular thing. This car is so profoundly better than everything else I've ever driven I'd probably buy the exact same car in 10 years, but of course expect marginal or better improvements by then.

 

[johnmodely]

I don't see any need for more range than the Y currently has. Would it be nice, yes, but not necessary. I've taken my Y all over this summer, hundreds of miles from the nearest supercharger and well over 200 miles on several legs, but plan my trips around destination charging, which is in abundance if you consider non-Tesla chargers and / or don't mind camping and using RV hookups. I don't really enjoy spending more than 3 hours in the car per day, and would view driving across the US a once-in-a-lifetime trip, not a regular thing. This car is so profoundly better than everything else I've ever driven I'd probably buy the exact same car in 10 years, but of course expect marginal or better improvements by then.

Yea for us early adopters its not an issue, but like you said you need to plan your trips around destination chargers etc. Im arguing range needed for the 97% still in ICE cars to make the switch, and most won't make the switch until these cars are as practical as ICE cars, and that won't happen until we reach ranges I mentioned.

I was just down at the shore, got to my destination at 40%, no superchargers or destination charges near...left with 25% after sentry mode and cooling ate away at battery, then had to drive in the opposite direction on the parkway to get to a supercharger at 5% since the supercharger on the way conveniently shut down 5 minutes before I left (Thank god it happened before I left and not on the way...dunno what outcome would have been in that bind).

So yea long way before they are practical enough for the rest of the world.

 

[mrbloons]

Yea for us early adopters its not an issue, but like you said you need to plan your trips around destination chargers etc. Im arguing range needed for the 97% still in ICE cars to make the switch, and most won't make the switch until these cars are as practical as ICE cars, and that won't happen until we reach ranges I mentioned.

I was just down at the shore, got to my destination at 40%, no superchargers or destination charges near...left with 25% after sentry mode and cooling ate away at battery, then had to drive in the opposite direction on the parkway to get to a supercharger at 5% since the supercharger on the way conveniently shut down 5 minutes before I left (Thank god it happened before I left and not on the way...dunno what outcome would have been in that bind).

So yea long way before they are practical enough for the rest of the world.

I've had gas cars that had twice the range of the Y, but still managed to get myself into a pinch where I barely made it to a fueling stop because I didn't plan my travels well. Doesn't mean the car needed more range. I consider the range of the Y to be very good for what it is, a high performance, cargo hauling dream machine that emits no fumes. It's nice to have the trailer hitch and roof rack to carry things on the car but don't expect to get the same range if doing this for a long distance. As long as people manage their expectations and understand the limits of the car they'll likely find they don't really need more range for most of their day to day driving or long trips. Today's smartphones have a small fraction of the battery life of earlier cell-phones, but people gladly accept this for all the positive benefits. Same will be true here. Of course there is room for improvement, and extra range would be appreciated, but I don't think it's required for EVs like the Y to go mainstream with the current range. Infrastructure will continue to expand and improve and plugging in and charging where you're going (hotels, houses etc) will become the norm for many. I've had numerous people ask me about the car and seem very interested and many even say this is going to be their next car.

 

[kpinthebay]

The best real world (charged to 98%, reached Supercharger with 4%) range we've gotten is 219 miles. Irvine to Kettleman City.

AWD 19" Geminis, average speed 69mph, max 86mph, average temp 82.9, elevation gain 6533ft loss 6456ft.

Wow actually surprised you made it to Kettleman from OC. What with the traffic and the mountain pass. Impressive.

 

[rxlawdude]

Wow actually surprised you made it to Kettleman from OC. What with the traffic and the mountain pass. Impressive.

We were also able to make it to Blythe from OC. On our drive back from Sedona on 8/28, temps were >110F and our 100% charge at Ehrenberg was supposedly enough to make it home. But the draw from the AC apparently took its toll (peak temp on I-10 118F) and we needed to stop at Riverside SpC with <10%. (No way we would make it home with 10% in Riverside.)

 

[ChadS]

This has been largely covered above, but another way of saying it: The EPA range isn't meant to say what range you'll get when driving it; it's a tool to compare cars under equal (though not representative) conditions.

An example of individual variation: before we went all-EV in 2009, my wife had a Prius. It was EPA-rated at 48mpg combined when we bought it.

One of the car mags took it around a track, and they got 18mpg (which was worse than a BMW 3-series they had on the same track). Hypermilers in Florida were regularly getting 90mpg. I got 48mpg. My daughter got 48mpg when I was in the car, and 39mpg when I wasn't. And of course these numbers are averages; it varied on individual trips according to speed, weather, length of trip/previous warm-up, etc. I don't remember Prius details, but my 2005 Insight varied from 36 to 82mpg when I was driving it, depending on the trip. Adding a block heater increased short winter trips by 11mpg, showing how important trip length and starting temperature can be.