Tesla has consistently exaggerated the driving range of its electric vehicles, reportedly leading car owners to think something was broken when actual driving range was much lower than advertised. When these owners scheduled service appointments to fix the problem, Tesla canceled the appointments because there was no way to improve the actual distance Tesla cars could drive between charges, according to an investigation by Reuters.
Most people don’t actually need much range most days. Don’t forget you start every day with a full battery.
But what about the days that you do, do you have a separate car? Rent a car for any medium to long distance road trips? In the US the family unit is too spread out, hybrids are perfect for people that want the best of both worlds.
You just stop at a charger and charge the car, then continue driving. Sort of like how a gas car stops for gas.
Takes about 4 minutes too fill my gas tank
True, but after 200 miles I like to stretch my legs and hit the loo, which take about the same time it takes to charge back up again on a rapid charger.
That is three times a year though. The rest of the year I spend zero minutes tanking up. I just plug it in at home or work and pay fuck-all to drive around.
So realistically you spend much more time tanking up than I do.
100%
My wife drives a Tesla and I drive an ICE SUV. We both drive a lot including long commutes. We have kids and busy lives which means frequently tight schedules to get to drop people off before work or get somewhere to pick them up or something else up after. Once you pick people up, you often have to get them somewhere and, once you do, you may not be able to leave until the next tight turn-around.
Having to stop for gas when I do not have time is a frequent problem for me. I greatly envy my wife who leaves every day with a full charge and who almost always manages to go everywhere she needs to go without running out. She “refuels” at home. I go further on a tank but I cannot refuel at home and so filling up is just another think that has to fit into the schedule.
For most “long” trips, we take her car. Far cheaper and again usually easy to charge overnight. Travelling between cities, we often combine grabbing food or taking a break from driving with stopping a charger. It does take a bit more planning but we have a lot more control over our time in these situations. In practice, it does not feel like much of an imposition.
I would take not having to worry about keeping the tank full day to day for a bit of extra planning on longer trips any day.
That is the stress and coordination aspect. Absolute time spent, it is not even close. An EV commuter spends way, way less time “filling up”. On most days, it is literally just a few seconds when leaving or returning home.
While you might decide not to, you ought to be planning those same stops irrespective of fuel or range. Even if you have a magic sci-fi car with it’s own micro cold fusion generator good for a 1000 years, you should still be planning the exact same rest stops for your driver.
I’m always reminded of the YouTube channel technology connections and his famous line “but sometimes…!” It really is a non issue almost all of the time but people always act like they will spend 60 minutes at a fast charger every day.
And it takes about half an hour to recharge the driver back to the same level of safety as when they started.
On the days that you do you can use fast chargers. People talk like it’s 10 years ago. Nowadays you can charge back to 80% in like half an hour.
…chargers.