4 ms·

It seems a bit short sighted to abandon hybrids altogether. EV's are great for your average suburban/urban commuter, but they are terrible for long distance cro

by darkr 6y ago

It seems a bit short sighted to abandon hybrids altogether. EV's are great for your average suburban/urban commuter, but they are terrible for long distance cross-country drives as you have to wait for hours for it to charge (presuming that current issues with availability to charge points in service stations are addressed). I once had to drive 900 miles in around 12 hours to make a flight (driving an Audi funnily enough). That journey would take _days_ in an EV.

account4mypc 6y ago
1. if you only drive far once in a while, then i think an ev is fine... you can always rent/take a train/miss a flight... might be worth it to save the planet :) 2. this is less and less true every year. a model s with supercharging only adds about 1.5 x on a really long trip (less if you stop overnight every 8 hrs as you should anyway)
- jedberg 6y ago
  > If you only drive far once in a while, then i think an ev is fine... you can always rent/take a train/miss a flight... might be worth it to save the planet :) Not a lot of people live that close to a transit station. That's why they have to drive a long distance. > a model s with supercharging only adds about 1.5 x on a really long trip (less if you stop overnight every 8 hrs as you should anyway) I have two adults, we trade off. We can easily drive 16+ hours in a day. Also, even on a short trip it adds a lot of time. I can make it from my house in NorCal to my parents in SoCal in just under five hours without stopping, but there is no Tesla that can make the whole drive on one charge. I'd have to stop for at least 45 minutes extra (that's a 15% increase). I still want to go all electric, and plan to do so as soon as someone makes a fully electric minivan, but I'm not going to downplay the inconvenience of electric.
  - mmacvicarprett 6y ago
    You can always carry a diesel generator in the trunk, problem solved.
    - jedberg 6y ago
      Unless someone modifies a car to allow it to charge from a generator while driving, you'd still have to stop to charge.
      - mmacvicarprett 6y ago
        They are not visionaries....
      - account4mypc 6y ago
        i believe the bmw i3 rex does exactly this
- Laarlf 6y ago
  1) You could just buy a diesel which seems to be better with co2 emissions for now. Nuclear power is a rarity still.
namdnay 6y ago
Days? Come on... 900 miles is two intermediate stops at 300 and 600, maybe 2h each with a DC fast charge ?
- lrem 6y ago
  From tesla.com description of Model Y: > Recharge 162 miles in 15 minutes at Supercharger locations Meaning you add a grand total of one hour charge time. With each charge being about long enough to do a bio break and a short stretch. Assuming you get chargers without waiting, that is.
  - itsoktocry 6y ago
    >Assuming you get chargers without waiting, that is. Which is a massive assumption. We have line-ups at fuel stations during tourist season where I'm from. So you're going to be charging longer, more often, at vast parking lots of chargers? Sounds pretty bad...
michaelmior 6y ago
The only reason I drive a PHEV instead of a full EV is because (at least before the pandemic) longer trips were a relatively common occurrence and aside from the much shorter refueling time, gas stations are still much more ubiquitous than EV charging stations, especially in rural areas. I do hope though that moves like this drive the deployment of more charging stations and that we'll continue to see technology that reduce charge times and increase range. For me, I think the tipping point is 500 miles where I would lean towards purchasing a full EV. Critically for me, this range must be sustainable in cold temperatures. I've found with my PHEV that my electric range is sometimes cut nearly in half in the cold.
blowfish721 6y ago
I’m still hoping that, in the future, there will be conductive charging built into freeways, main roads, etc. But that’s a huge cost which I’m sure no one wants to take. It would however help with the range problem of EVs. The people that could make it a reality in the future are probably hoping for giant advancements in battery tech instead.
cptskippy 6y ago
> they are terrible for long distance cross-country drives as you have to wait for hours for it to charge That's mostly untrue. I use to drive from Atlanta to Jelico and back a couple times a year and in my Model 3 it added probably 20-30 minutes to the trip time compared to an ICE vehicle. The rate at which an EV charges slows down as the battery gets closer to 100%. The time to charge an EV from 5-55% is faster than the time to charge from 55-100%. If you only charge up to 80% or 90% you will cut a significant amount of time off your charge times. The Tesla trip planner will plan routes with this in mind automatically. We moved cross country last year (~2200 miles) from GA to CA and it took us 4 days. I drove a diesel box truck and my partner drove the Model 3, we took the same route but didn't stick together. We stopped at the same overnight stops and our arrival departure times were with in 30 minutes of one another. What you don't realize on long road trips is that stops for fuel rarely consist of just filling up. You use the restroom, stretch, buy a snack, etc. That all adds up to 15-25 minute stops, where as the Model 3 would stop to charge for 20-30 minutes.

by darkr 6y ago

account4mypc 6y ago

1. if you only drive far once in a while, then i think an ev is fine... you can always rent/take a train/miss a flight... might be worth it to save the planet :) 2. this is less and less true every year. a model s with supercharging only adds about 1.5 x on a really long trip (less if you stop overnight every 8 hrs as you should anyway)

jedberg 6y ago
> If you only drive far once in a while, then i think an ev is fine... you can always rent/take a train/miss a flight... might be worth it to save the planet :) Not a lot of people live that close to a transit station. That's why they have to drive a long distance. > a model s with supercharging only adds about 1.5 x on a really long trip (less if you stop overnight every 8 hrs as you should anyway) I have two adults, we trade off. We can easily drive 16+ hours in a day. Also, even on a short trip it adds a lot of time. I can make it from my house in NorCal to my parents in SoCal in just under five hours without stopping, but there is no Tesla that can make the whole drive on one charge. I'd have to stop for at least 45 minutes extra (that's a 15% increase). I still want to go all electric, and plan to do so as soon as someone makes a fully electric minivan, but I'm not going to downplay the inconvenience of electric.
- mmacvicarprett 6y ago
  You can always carry a diesel generator in the trunk, problem solved.
  - jedberg 6y ago
    Unless someone modifies a car to allow it to charge from a generator while driving, you'd still have to stop to charge.
    - mmacvicarprett 6y ago
      They are not visionaries....
    - account4mypc 6y ago
      i believe the bmw i3 rex does exactly this
Laarlf 6y ago
1) You could just buy a diesel which seems to be better with co2 emissions for now. Nuclear power is a rarity still.

namdnay 6y ago

Days? Come on... 900 miles is two intermediate stops at 300 and 600, maybe 2h each with a DC fast charge ?

lrem 6y ago
From tesla.com description of Model Y: > Recharge 162 miles in 15 minutes at Supercharger locations Meaning you add a grand total of one hour charge time. With each charge being about long enough to do a bio break and a short stretch. Assuming you get chargers without waiting, that is.
- itsoktocry 6y ago
  >Assuming you get chargers without waiting, that is. Which is a massive assumption. We have line-ups at fuel stations during tourist season where I'm from. So you're going to be charging longer, more often, at vast parking lots of chargers? Sounds pretty bad...

michaelmior 6y ago

The only reason I drive a PHEV instead of a full EV is because (at least before the pandemic) longer trips were a relatively common occurrence and aside from the much shorter refueling time, gas stations are still much more ubiquitous than EV charging stations, especially in rural areas. I do hope though that moves like this drive the deployment of more charging stations and that we'll continue to see technology that reduce charge times and increase range. For me, I think the tipping point is 500 miles where I would lean towards purchasing a full EV. Critically for me, this range must be sustainable in cold temperatures. I've found with my PHEV that my electric range is sometimes cut nearly in half in the cold.

blowfish721 6y ago

I’m still hoping that, in the future, there will be conductive charging built into freeways, main roads, etc. But that’s a huge cost which I’m sure no one wants to take. It would however help with the range problem of EVs. The people that could make it a reality in the future are probably hoping for giant advancements in battery tech instead.

cptskippy 6y ago

> they are terrible for long distance cross-country drives as you have to wait for hours for it to charge That's mostly untrue. I use to drive from Atlanta to Jelico and back a couple times a year and in my Model 3 it added probably 20-30 minutes to the trip time compared to an ICE vehicle. The rate at which an EV charges slows down as the battery gets closer to 100%. The time to charge an EV from 5-55% is faster than the time to charge from 55-100%. If you only charge up to 80% or 90% you will cut a significant amount of time off your charge times. The Tesla trip planner will plan routes with this in mind automatically. We moved cross country last year (~2200 miles) from GA to CA and it took us 4 days. I drove a diesel box truck and my partner drove the Model 3, we took the same route but didn't stick together. We stopped at the same overnight stops and our arrival departure times were with in 30 minutes of one another. What you don't realize on long road trips is that stops for fuel rarely consist of just filling up. You use the restroom, stretch, buy a snack, etc. That all adds up to 15-25 minute stops, where as the Model 3 would stop to charge for 20-30 minutes.