5 ms·

my road trips involve about a 10-12 minute stop every 250-300 miles, and a longer meal stop of about 35-40 minutes if we go over 700 miles for the day. That's

my road trips involve about a 10-12 minute stop every 250-300 miles, and a longer meal stop of about 35-40 minutes if we go over 700 miles for the day. That's with my wife and our six-year-old son. I've traveled with lots of friends who are the same way, and a few people who make much longer stops like the ones you describe. Who is more representative of "most people"? I have no idea. But I wouldn't want to stop for 15 minutes every 80 miles, or 30 minutes every 170 miles.

mikeash 11y ago
I'm impressed that you can go four hours between stops with a wife and kid in the car. I think most people will find the stops to be more than they're used to, but not onerous. You'll probably hit 4-5 chargers in a day of driving. If you can time it right, two of those will coincide with meal breaks, so you're looking at 2-3 where you hit the bathroom, grab a snack, and maybe have to wait a bit on the car. If you make big trips once or twice a year then it can easily be a net win over a gas car. The gas car wins on long trips, but requires ~15 minutes/month at gas stations even when you're just local. In my year of Tesla ownership, I'd say I've lost about two hours total waiting for a charge, and gained about that much not going to gas stations.
- lotharbot 11y ago
  > "it can easily be a net win over a gas car" oh, I agree. I just don't see it as a win over a plug-in hybrid with a gas generator, yet. In ~6 months of ownership of a Volt, I've been to the gas station about 4 times (all on a trip to/from another state) at 5-10 minutes per stop, and have never lost time waiting for a charge. The supercharger network is a nice step, and combined with electric vehicles with a 200+ mile range, we're a step closer to electric vehicles becoming the norm. But there are still obstacles to be overcome -- still some inconveniences that are better solved by other technologies.
  - mikeash 11y ago
    That does sound like a pretty good compromise. I wanted a plug-in hybrid for a long time, but never found one that was good enough for what I wanted, and finally ended up with the Tesla instead. I don't think it's inherent to the technology (although the gas engine takes up some space), but everything on the market was just too small, especially in terms of cargo. Apparently the Volt has a whole 10ft^3 of trunk space? I think it's just because everybody besides Tesla is still aiming for the compact, economical, Prius-like market.
    - kalleboo 11y ago
      The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV seems like it's finally filling the niche of a bigger plug-in hybrid car. I know a friend with one and he's happy with it.
      - mikeash 11y ago
        That's the one I had my eye on for years. It was supposed to be available in the US in 2013, then 2014, then 2015.... Now they're saying August of this year, but we'll see if it's real. Edit: I just looked up the specs. The PHEV version (at least the UK one) apparently drops the third row seats. I can't figure out the available cargo space. Everything I find says it's 436L, which is about 15ft^3, but there's no way it could possibly be that small. In any case, all I can say is: no wireless, less space than a Nomad, lame.
- dagw 11y ago
  I'm impressed that you can go four hours between stops with a wife and kid in the car. I think it depends very much what you grew up with. My wife and I both grew up in families when 8-9 hour drives with only a quick stop for lunch as a vacation was the norm from basically when we where born, and neither one of us thought anything about it. Our daughter on the other hand spent the first several years of her life basically never going anywhere by car (as we didn't have one) and she absolutely hates spending more than an hour at a time in cars.
  - mikeash 11y ago
    I was thinking more along the lines of biological needs.

mikeash 11y ago

I'm impressed that you can go four hours between stops with a wife and kid in the car. I think most people will find the stops to be more than they're used to, but not onerous. You'll probably hit 4-5 chargers in a day of driving. If you can time it right, two of those will coincide with meal breaks, so you're looking at 2-3 where you hit the bathroom, grab a snack, and maybe have to wait a bit on the car. If you make big trips once or twice a year then it can easily be a net win over a gas car. The gas car wins on long trips, but requires ~15 minutes/month at gas stations even when you're just local. In my year of Tesla ownership, I'd say I've lost about two hours total waiting for a charge, and gained about that much not going to gas stations.

lotharbot 11y ago
> "it can easily be a net win over a gas car" oh, I agree. I just don't see it as a win over a plug-in hybrid with a gas generator, yet. In ~6 months of ownership of a Volt, I've been to the gas station about 4 times (all on a trip to/from another state) at 5-10 minutes per stop, and have never lost time waiting for a charge. The supercharger network is a nice step, and combined with electric vehicles with a 200+ mile range, we're a step closer to electric vehicles becoming the norm. But there are still obstacles to be overcome -- still some inconveniences that are better solved by other technologies.
- mikeash 11y ago
  That does sound like a pretty good compromise. I wanted a plug-in hybrid for a long time, but never found one that was good enough for what I wanted, and finally ended up with the Tesla instead. I don't think it's inherent to the technology (although the gas engine takes up some space), but everything on the market was just too small, especially in terms of cargo. Apparently the Volt has a whole 10ft^3 of trunk space? I think it's just because everybody besides Tesla is still aiming for the compact, economical, Prius-like market.
  - kalleboo 11y ago
    The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV seems like it's finally filling the niche of a bigger plug-in hybrid car. I know a friend with one and he's happy with it.
    - mikeash 11y ago
      That's the one I had my eye on for years. It was supposed to be available in the US in 2013, then 2014, then 2015.... Now they're saying August of this year, but we'll see if it's real. Edit: I just looked up the specs. The PHEV version (at least the UK one) apparently drops the third row seats. I can't figure out the available cargo space. Everything I find says it's 436L, which is about 15ft^3, but there's no way it could possibly be that small. In any case, all I can say is: no wireless, less space than a Nomad, lame.
dagw 11y ago
I'm impressed that you can go four hours between stops with a wife and kid in the car. I think it depends very much what you grew up with. My wife and I both grew up in families when 8-9 hour drives with only a quick stop for lunch as a vacation was the norm from basically when we where born, and neither one of us thought anything about it. Our daughter on the other hand spent the first several years of her life basically never going anywhere by car (as we didn't have one) and she absolutely hates spending more than an hour at a time in cars.
- mikeash 11y ago
  I was thinking more along the lines of biological needs.