Comment by vjsrinivas
17 hours ago
Im on the verge of switching from PHEV to full EV. I just need a reasonably affordable EV with 450+ mile of range.
17 hours ago
Im on the verge of switching from PHEV to full EV. I just need a reasonably affordable EV with 450+ mile of range.
Im curious - why do you need 450 miles of range?
My tesla goes 3 hours at 80mph. I can get to any charger I need. There are considerably more than I ever imagined.
In the US that would be many parts of the Mountain West, for example, though it is not the only region where it applies.
Unpredictable closures of highways can happen in the middle of nowhere after you’ve already been driving for 3 hours. I’ve had unplanned detours of up to 150 miles more than once. It is more common than people expect.
There are stretches of highway where it is 100+ miles between gas stations, never mind chargers, so it becomes a range risk even for ICE cars. I’m not the OP but when I’m driving in that part of North America I try to keep my range above 200 miles for this reason. It has saved me from being stranded more than once.
Alternatively, a backup plan for people with experience in those areas is to use ranch and forestry trails to route around the highway closures if feasible. This requires a vehicle suitable for that terrain. Few if any EVs are.
That said, most Americans rarely do long-haul driving in the backwaters of the American West. But if you do it enough, high ground clearance and reliable 400+ miles range in all weather conditions is a safety requirement.
The only reason I don’t have an EV is that most of my driving miles are like that. I don’t drive in the city where I live. No EV currently made credibly delivers that kind of performance but a lot of cheap ICE vehicles do.
Eventually EVs will get there but they aren’t there today.
Yeah, the US is harder on EVs. In Europe, finding a place 160km from the next gas station is going to be essentially impossible. Maybe in the part of Russia that is technically Europe, or far north Finland/Norway/Scotland, but even that's doubtful. (Those places do have recommendations for survival gear if you get stuck in winter. But look at EVs in Norway...)
> most of my driving miles are like that
Makes a lot of sense
The only EVs that offer this range are going to be very expensive. They'll either be from pricey companies like Lucid or they'll be extended-range vehicles from other makers. Are there any under $50k? Most are probably over $60k, and some will be double that.
The Chevy Silverado EV will go 492 miles.
With a 30 year mortgage the $56K base model payments could be doable.
I'm actually impressed that GM managed to get the base model price down, If I recall they originally launched closer to 75K.
Although, I don't think the base model will do 492 miles, I'm guessing it's more like 250-300.
I'm still not sure whether GM just completely mis-managed the thing (which GM is known to do) or not. I say that because it is full-size-ish, but that creates the problem of it being a heavier unibody, and when we talk about EVs, 'weight of base vehicle and the batteries to move it' can become a Delta-V-ish problem.
As a sort of example, I'll point to the Cybertruck; it's honestly probably even more 'brick-ish' aerodynamically than the Silverado EV, but it weighs 1000 pounds less (or so) and thus gets 20-60 miles more range than the Silverado EV base despite the battery being not much larger as far as capacity.
Possibly also worth noting though, that Delta-V-ish problem means the Silverado EV in some configurations has a curb weight high enough it can't go on some residential streets.
IDK. GM got kinda-smart with how they handled EVification of their CUVs (i.e. start with midsize, move down, be aggressive on pricing) but the Silverado EV still strikes me as classic GM WTFery
Why do you need that much range and what are you looking at that is anywhere near that?
It's better for the body to keep driving sessions to 3-4 hours max before you get up walk around and charge a bit. 330 mile range is more than enough. If you only use 60% of the battery to maximize its lifespan you can drive for 3.5 hours roughly before you deplete a battery from 80% -> 20%.
There are a number of plausible rural drives in north america which do not have fast chargers for over 400 miles. EV infrastructure in the US is primarily concentrated on high-volume highways.
Can you actually name some? Last time I looked the highest I could find was like 100 miles.
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> is more than enough
This attitude of dictating others' car needs for them is one of the biggest hindrances to EV adoption and is also why rolling back CAFE regulations is going to be more popular than you think it is.
The general public doesn't like being told what to do.
The real cause of people's frustration with the US car market isn't CAFE, but the fact that the car market in the US is bifurcated by class and heavily financially engineered. The reason you can't get a cheap car in the US is entirely because US manufacturers are dictating what people can buy -- why give the middle class affordable options when you can make more money by squeezing them for cash for 84 months? What are they going to do, ride the non-existent bus?
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I don’t think people understand how convenient it is to be able to go 1000+ KM without thinking about filling up or charging, even if it isn’t in one trip.
I could do it in a 2002 Jetta. Why can’t I do it in a vehicle 25 years newer?
That’s about 9 hours of driving. Don’t you need to stop at least once to take a leak?
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I don't think people understand how incredibly convenient it is to wake up to a vehicle with a full "tank" every single morning. I'll take that over a Jetta that can do 1000 miles on a tank without any hesitation.
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