Comment by qurren
8 hours ago
> 4kWh/day
That's over-optimistic and you will probably only get that in a small handful of places in the world like the southwestern US or the Middle East and even then only for part of the year.
The hot, sunny, never-cloudy parts of the world also tend to be the ones where driving long distances is most necessary.
From some parts of SF to SJ is about 42 miles. Thats a very long distance that you’re likely to get completely on solar. For that long of a commute you probably need a bigger battery but you could easily have most of your costs met for free with minimal top ups. And that’s a very long daily commute.
Also temperature doesn’t matter too much. You just need sun. I bet it’s enough for most of California year round with minor exceptions that you need to use infrastructure charging.
> some parts of SF to SJ is about 42 miles.
That's pendantic. Add traffic, air conditioning, a shitton of traffic lights, a restroom stop, and a detour to buy groceries on the way. Oh and if your tires are at 38 instead of 42 psi you're going to lose some range there too. And then some wind, elevation changes. Roof rack bars, because people actually do go on outdoor trips (who would have thought?) And you probably want to arrive with 10-20% left, not 0. You're quickly looking at needing 84 miles of effective range to make the 42 miles safely. 168 miles for the round trip. Yeah, shit adds up fast.
My EV has a 363 mile "EPA rating" (whoever those charlatans are) but the realistic range I got from day 0 with a fresh battery in real life conditions is closer to 200-250 miles.