3 ms·

For me personally, 350-400 miles (in the worst case: with the A/C on full blast, up an incline, including frequent stopping and acceleration) would be a start.

For me personally, 350-400 miles (in the worst case: with the A/C on full blast, up an incline, including frequent stopping and acceleration) would be a start. But it’s also about about refueling (i.e. charging). Until a spot at a supercharger is as easy to come by as a gas station wherever you go, it won’t be the same. Not to mention having to wait 30+ minutes to charge, which can add up on a road trip.

tjr225 8y ago
What if there were "battery stations" with charged swappable, standardized batteries? You could do your own charging at home or at work otherwise.
- pluto9 8y ago
  It would be tough to standardize this across different vehicle models, much less manufacturers. A Model S isn't going to use the same battery pack as an electric heavy-duty pickup truck. You could use lots of small battery packs and bigger vehicles get more of them, but that complicates the machinery used to swap them. It also hinders innovation. You can't produce batteries with innovative new form factors because nobody will be able to change them out at standard swap stations. Finally, consumers would object to it. If I buy a brand new Model S I don't want to go to the swap station and give away my shiny new battery for someone's degraded high-mileage one that has an unknown probability of exploding or catching fire.
  - maxerickson 8y ago
    If the sticker price for the car with the loaner battery was $10,000 less you might think about buying it. What I mean is, that problem is just one of thinking of it as purchasing a battery, which you wouldn't do if swapping them was common.
- mikeash 8y ago
  Tesla built one. They gave up on it because almost nobody used it. The problem with charging time on long trips is somewhat exaggerated. It does add a bit more time, but it’s not much if you're taking breaks the way you ought to anyway.
- giobox 8y ago
  As others have noted, Tesla tried this with a single station off the I5 and quickly abandoned the idea. The battery is probably the most expensive component in the entire car, and is ultimately a consumable. People would forever be anxious about getting swapped out with a battery with more charge cycles on it than the one they had, ultimately affecting the potential lifespan/resale of the car. Not an insurmountable problem, but a problem that adds a fair deal of complexity to managing the inventory at the charging stations. From what I’ve read, the software on the few Teslas that used this service didn’t understand the battery had been switched at all, and continued measuring battery health as if it was still the same original battery. I certainly wouldn’t have been keen on this idea at all unless the car correctly tracked these things.

tjr225 8y ago

What if there were "battery stations" with charged swappable, standardized batteries? You could do your own charging at home or at work otherwise.

pluto9 8y ago
It would be tough to standardize this across different vehicle models, much less manufacturers. A Model S isn't going to use the same battery pack as an electric heavy-duty pickup truck. You could use lots of small battery packs and bigger vehicles get more of them, but that complicates the machinery used to swap them. It also hinders innovation. You can't produce batteries with innovative new form factors because nobody will be able to change them out at standard swap stations. Finally, consumers would object to it. If I buy a brand new Model S I don't want to go to the swap station and give away my shiny new battery for someone's degraded high-mileage one that has an unknown probability of exploding or catching fire.
- maxerickson 8y ago
  If the sticker price for the car with the loaner battery was $10,000 less you might think about buying it. What I mean is, that problem is just one of thinking of it as purchasing a battery, which you wouldn't do if swapping them was common.
mikeash 8y ago
Tesla built one. They gave up on it because almost nobody used it. The problem with charging time on long trips is somewhat exaggerated. It does add a bit more time, but it’s not much if you're taking breaks the way you ought to anyway.
giobox 8y ago
As others have noted, Tesla tried this with a single station off the I5 and quickly abandoned the idea. The battery is probably the most expensive component in the entire car, and is ultimately a consumable. People would forever be anxious about getting swapped out with a battery with more charge cycles on it than the one they had, ultimately affecting the potential lifespan/resale of the car. Not an insurmountable problem, but a problem that adds a fair deal of complexity to managing the inventory at the charging stations. From what I’ve read, the software on the few Teslas that used this service didn’t understand the battery had been switched at all, and continued measuring battery health as if it was still the same original battery. I certainly wouldn’t have been keen on this idea at all unless the car correctly tracked these things.