Which EV would you buy?

[billiebob]

Can you drive from Phoenix to Douglas AZ to Morgan MT the whole length of Highway 191 and back to Phoenix with a pure focus on recreation, off-road adventure and exploration without any concerns at all about when and where you refuel, inside of a single week off work?

umm, you can't do that with gas vehicle either. Refuelling is always a concern no matter what you drive.

 

[life_w_vagabonds]

I'm a naysayer who has driven several full EV's, my sister owns one, I've owned a hybrid.

But also I own a calculator and my occupation has me using Ohm's law every single day for close to two decades which doesn't make me an EV expert but it's at least reasonable to say I have some comfort in the realm of how electricity works.

Can you daily drive an EV in the city? Yeah of course people do it all the time there's infrastructure for that and roadgoing EV's have a ton of efficiency advantages like aero and lightweight tires.
Can you make an electric that can drive off road? Yeah no sweat, you could literally just bolt an electric motor to the bellhousing of a manual transmission XJ and load the engine bay up with lead acid batteries and there you go.

Those are the easy parts.

Can you drive from Phoenix to Douglas AZ to Morgan MT the whole length of Highway 191 and back to Phoenix with a pure focus on recreation, off-road adventure and exploration without any concerns at all about when and where you refuel, inside of a single week off work?
I know that's a really specific trip but it's a really specific trip I took last summer and we saw exactly two obviously electric vehicles outside of major cities the whole trip, one of those vehicles was parked on an offramp gore apparently with some kind of mechanical problem or flat battery 30 miles north of las vegas on our return leg.

As a novelty you can drive an electric anywhere. With enough planning you can drive a moped across the Sahara too but then it becomes a stunt where you're wholly focused on carrying out the stunt not on enjoying the journey. Maybe we all travel for different reasons but I don't get any pleasure out of babysitting my vehicle's needs, the fewer needs it has the better.

And in some ways EV's have fewer needs like you don't need to change the oil every 5-10k miles and your brakes last forever which is cool. With PHEV's it becomes more like one oil change per year and you still get all the other EV benefits but you also don't get the EV drawback of energy storage and transfer limitations.

So one could handwave "naysayers" but you can't handwave the laws of physics and the realities of the supply chain. We'll probably see a lot of those PHEV Wranglers out in the wild places because they actually stand a good chance of functioning at all.

My Ranger w/ the camper mounted has less range than my model 3. Yes, they are vehicles built for two different purposes, but the availability of electricity is not a problem. A trip from Phoenix to LA requires about a 50 minute stop, though we usually do two short stops instead of one. We also use the 3 when we stay in FS service cabins, such as the Portal Bunkhouse and Kendrick cabin.

The main reason I responded to this thread, in a section I rarely check, is because of the piling on. Just as in many corners of the internet, many feel the need to cast dispersions about something they are not even interested in, but just anxious to express their opinion. If you don’t want an EV don’t buy one. No need to run down the batteries in your multimeter getting excited about it, use your physics degree for something positive perhaps.

 

[Todd780]

My Ranger w/ the camper mounted has less range than my model 3. Yes, they are vehicles built for two different purposes, but the availability of electricity is not a problem. A trip from Phoenix to LA requires about a 50 minute stop, though we usually do two short stops instead of one. We also use the 3 when we stay in FS service cabins, such as the Portal Bunkhouse and Kendrick cabin.

The main reason I responded to this thread, in a section I rarely check, is because of the piling on. Just as in many corners of the internet, many feel the need to cast dispersions about something they are not even interested in, but just anxious to express their opinion. If you don’t want an EV don’t buy one. No need to run down the batteries in your multimeter getting excited about it, use your physics degree for something positive perhaps.

Just out of curiosity, along that route how long would recharging take? What if there is a car or two ahead of you? Would it be possible that recharging could take 3 hours?

 

[Todd780]

Looks like the infrastructure is getting there.

Canada's Electric Highway – EV Fast Charge car charging stations

We’re building a network of EV fast charge car charging stations across Canada. Learn more about how we are there to charge your journey.

www.petro-canada.ca

How This 'electric Highway' In B.C. Became A Sustainable Road-tripper's Dream

Mia Gordon hit the road to travel Highway 97, known as the electric highway because of the more than 2000 charging stations along the way.

www.theweathernetwork.com

I think the recharge time is still a hindrance. Most gas stations have what...8 pumps? If there is only 1 or 2 charge stations, how long would it take to charged up? With gas it's what....5 minutes?

 

[life_w_vagabonds]

Just out of curiosity, along that route how long would recharging take? What if there is a car or two ahead of you? Would it be possible that recharging could take 3 hours?

Typically a total of about 50 minutes, we do this trip pretty regularly. Well, before COVID... We change up where we charge usually depending on wether I, or the dog have to pee.

Between here and LA there are probably a half a dozen superchargers. The car figures out where to charge when you select a destination. We also know how many chargers are available before we get there, which is updated real time. The car also pre-chills the battery for faster charging on approach.

Another misconception some people have is that you rarely ever charge to 100%, charge rates taper as you get closer to 100% but charge reduclously fast from 20% to 80%, which is why it’s often best to stop for short breaks of like 15 minutes every 250 miles or so. At least with the 3, which has 325 mile range. The new S is rated at 400.

A couple Christmas ago, we did have issues with waiting for a charger. It was Christmas Eve and we were on our way to LA. The model 3 had just come out the previous spring and Superchargers were packed. Since then more locations have been added and most of the locations have been expanded, some with more than 20 chargers. The cars charge faster now too, due to an OTA update.

 

[Todd780]

Typically a total of about 50 minutes, we do this trip pretty regularly. Well, before COVID... We change up where we charge usually depending on wether I, or the dog have to pee.

Between here and LA there are probably a half a dozen superchargers. The car figures out where to charge when you select a destination. We also know how many chargers are available before we get there, which is updated real time. The car also pre-chills the battery for faster charging on approach.

Another misconception some people have is that you rarely ever charge to 100%, charge rates taper as you get closer to 100% but charge reduclously fast from 20% to 80%, which is why it’s often best to stop for short breaks of like 15 minutes every 250 miles or so. At least with the 3, which has 325 mile range. The new S is rated at 400.

A couple Christmas ago, we did have issues with waiting for a charger. It was Christmas Eve and we were on our way to LA. The model 3 had just come out the previous spring and Superchargers were packed. Since then more locations have been added and most of the locations have been expanded, some with more than 20 chargers. The cars charge faster now too, due to an OTA update.

Yeah, I think I'd be ready to get out and stretch every 250 miles, haha

 

[life_w_vagabonds]

Looks like the infrastructure is getting there.

Canada's Electric Highway – EV Fast Charge car charging stations

We’re building a network of EV fast charge car charging stations across Canada. Learn more about how we are there to charge your journey.

www.petro-canada.ca

How This 'electric Highway' In B.C. Became A Sustainable Road-tripper's Dream

Mia Gordon hit the road to travel Highway 97, known as the electric highway because of the more than 2000 charging stations along the way.

www.theweathernetwork.com

I think the recharge time is still a hindrance. Most gas stations have what...8 pumps? If there is only 1 or 2 charge stations, how long would it take to charged up? With gas it's what....5 minutes?

I haven’t run into a Supercharger with less that a dozen chargers along a freeway. There are “urban” chargers with less , but over 20 is not uncommon on freeways. The new Version 3 chargers are capable of charging at speeds of up to 1000 mph. It’s a bit cringey to watch the numbers blur past, lotsa jules.

Unfortunately, at the moment this is mainly just a Tesla thing in the US. Other charge networks are growing but they are definitely not as wide spread out here in the square states. Most of the DCFC network is being funded by the VW Dieselgate suite, other legacy manufacturers aren’t really stepping up. Hopefully Rivian and Lucid can get things rolling.

 

[F350joe]

The thing with charging that people don’t take into account is that it is passive. You don’t have to baby sit it while it charges. It can be charging while you eat lunch, get groceries, or visit Old Faithful. You start from home with a full tank so that is one less stop that ICE can’t do. Basically, the delta between charging and filling with fuel is not as big as many percieve. Electricity is more available than gas so someday, I suspect, will be less a hassle than pumping gas. We are not there yet but probably not that far out either.

 

[badm0t0rfinger]

The thing with charging that people don’t take into account is that it is passive. You don’t have to baby sit it while it charges. It can be charging while you eat lunch, get groceries, or visit Old Faithful. You start from home with a full tank so that is one less stop that ICE can’t do. Basically, the delta between charging and filling with fuel is not as big as many percieve. Electricity is more available than gas so someday, I suspect, will be less a hassle than pumping gas. We are not there yet but probably not that far out either.

I was talking to a coworker about just this. "BUT FUELING IS SO MUCH FASTER!" Yeah but I will be able to plug in and walk away for an hour and go grab some food or whatever while it charges. Once the infrastructure becomes more concrete I think EVs will be the norm and ICE will be relegated to nostalgic vehicles and oddities.

Oh and my apartment is adding about a dozen EV parking spots in their, on top of their 4 spots they have now. The nice bit is that these new ones we can reserve for 100 a month, which is an insanely good deal since second vehicle parking is 60 bucks anyways, and I fill about 200 a month in gas on my truck.

 

[Todd780]

I was talking to a coworker about just this. "BUT FUELING IS SO MUCH FASTER!" Yeah but I will be able to plug in and walk away for an hour and go grab some food or whatever while it charges. Once the infrastructure because more concrete I think EVs will be the norm and ICE will be relegated to nostalgic vehicles and oddities.

True, but, what if there are only 2 chargers at a station and you have to wait to charge your vehicle? If I have to wait for someone to finish pumping gas it's a 5 - 10 minute wait.

 

[nitro_rat]

I live in TX so when people ask me about my block heater cord I just tell them it's a plug in hybrid. That's as electric as I need...

 

[badm0t0rfinger]

True, but, what if there are only 2 chargers at a station and you have to wait to charge your vehicle? If I have to wait for someone to finish pumping gas it's a 5 - 10 minute wait.

I think thats where more and more suburban types that adopt it will either use the at-home Tesla hookup. Everyone talks about the limitations on road trips, but most people just need something to get them to work and back on their 27 mile round trip each day. Even a really wall outlet can charge a vehicle enough overnight to compensate for that drive.

Like I added to my previous comment, apartments are adding them so more people can adopt this tech who cannot or prefer to not own. Lots of supermarkets and malls around here (in fairness, its California) have a few EV reserved spots. One of the malls near me even has a whole floor on the parking garage dedicated to EVs.

 

[life_w_vagabonds]

I think thats where more and more suburban types that adopt it will either use the at-home Tesla hookup. Everyone talks about the limitations on road trips, but most people just need something to get them to work and back on their 27 mile round trip each day. Even a really wall outlet can charge a vehicle enough overnight to compensate for that drive.

Like I added to my previous comment, apartments are adding them so more people can adopt this tech who cannot or prefer to not own. Lots of supermarkets and malls around here (in fairness, its California) have a few EV reserved spots. One of the malls near me even has a whole floor on the parking garage dedicated to EVs.

Yep, I charge at home 98% of the time. I generally just plug it in once a week, all I need for M-F. I had a 14-50 plug installed when I got my Tesla but previously I charged on a regular 20 amp outlet. More than what I needed for my daily 32 mile trip.

 

[badm0t0rfinger]

Yep, I charge at home 98% of the time. I generally just plug it in once a week, all I need for M-F. I had a 14-50 plug installed when I got my Tesla but previously I charged on a regular 20 amp outlet. More than what I needed for my daily 32 mile trip.

My normal round trip is about 6 miles and once I get my bike I'll just do that but once or twice a month I'll head up to Miramar which is about 50 miles round trip so that will be all Tesla and maybe once or twice a quarter I head up to Fallon, NV for work and that will definitely a truck trip because afterwards I'll take like 4 days off and just camp... assuming its not 117 again.

 

[Todd780]

There's another much easier solution here, but so far 100% of the time when I propose it I get pooped on for having the audacity to type things into a calculator before daydreaming so.. uh I guess keep on keepin' on.

So what's the easier solution?