[HN Gopher] Realistic daily range of an electric vehicle
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Realistic daily range of an electric vehicle
        
       Author : pforret
       Score  : 70 points
       Date   : 2023-01-15 17:58 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (blog.forret.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (blog.forret.com)
        
       | greendave wrote:
       | Despite the provocative headline, it's not a bad rule of thumb.
       | 
       | But at least in the US, pretty much any new EV you can buy has a
       | rated range of 200 miles or more. More than 100 miles of
       | commuting per day is a lot! Also, workplace charging is becoming
       | more of a thing, and would effectively double your range without
       | any additional inconvenience.
       | 
       | Ironically, the inefficiency of ICEV engines is what makes them
       | less variable in their range. First, you get heating for free
       | because the engine produces an abundance of excess heat. Second,
       | since the engines are at best 30% efficient, the effect of things
       | like drag and grade are far less noticeable in terms of fuel
       | consumption.
        
       | cs702 wrote:
       | My experience with EVs (Teslas):
       | 
       | EVERYDAY CITY DRIVING - I drive whenever I need or want, without
       | ever worrying about range. If I notice the expected range has
       | dipped below ~60 miles, give or take, I plug it in at home at the
       | end of my day. I'm _delighted_ that I never have to go to a gas
       | station, which reeks of all that smelly /poisonous/explosive
       | stuff.
       | 
       | LONG TRIPS - I charge to 100% the night before, get on the road,
       | and stop to charge only if/when the software tells me I should.
       | The longest trip I've taken is ~325 miles, and it requires only
       | one 15-20 minute stop to get 150+ miles of range at a
       | supercharger (I grab a snack and go to the bathroom). Whenever
       | possible, I try to stay in/go to places with destination
       | charging, so I can plug the EV and find it fully charged by next
       | morning.
        
         | msandford wrote:
         | I'm not sure I agree that 325mi is a long trip. I used to live
         | in FL and you can drive more than 600mi and stay in the state.
         | I now live in Texas where that number jumps to about 900mi. I'm
         | sure in California it's at least 500mi.
         | 
         | EVs can be great if your commute is less than 30mi one way, but
         | that doesn't make them good for road trips. At least in the US.
        
           | ajross wrote:
           | We've done 2x 700 mile and one 1200 mile trip in our Y. Hands
           | down it's the most comfortable road trip vehicle we've ever
           | owned.
        
           | josephcsible wrote:
           | 325 miles is a long trip to drive IMO. My threshold for when
           | a road trip is "long" is 250 miles.
           | 
           | As for commuting, your 30 miles number is way low. Even if
           | you accepted this article's ridiculously low 50% as true,
           | most modern EVs (think 300 mile range) would still be fine
           | for a commute that's 75 miles each way even with no charging
           | at work. And that's way further than most people commute (to
           | put it in perspective, living in Philadelphia and commuting
           | to Manhattan would be 75 miles each way).
        
           | spenrose wrote:
           | Automobile trip length follows a power-law distribution
           | (above walking distance). https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinfo
           | rmation/pubs/pl08021/fig4...
        
           | cs702 wrote:
           | It's the longest trip _I_ have taken in an EV. I 'm speaking
           | only about my own experience.
        
           | DeRock wrote:
           | I've done >800 miles in a day a few times (San Jose <->
           | Seattle) with my EV (Ioniq 5). It was fine, stopped every 2-3
           | hours for 15-20 mins. Granted, it's one of the better
           | supplied charging corridors in the US, so your
           | hassle/overhead may vary depending on where you are going.
        
           | Arainach wrote:
           | 325mi is nearly 5 hours at 70mph. It's objectively a long
           | trip.
        
       | ciconia wrote:
       | I have a small electric car, with a range of about 100km. From my
       | experience it really depends on your driving style and speed.
        
       | dheera wrote:
       | Totally agree, EPA ranges are bullshit. The real world has these
       | things called hills that they've probably never heard of in
       | Washington DC. It also doesn't snow much in in DC so they
       | probably don't know about that either.
       | 
       | They really should be reporting 50% of their ranges as standard.
       | When people get slightly better than that, they'll be pleasantly
       | surprised and it will result in much more customer satisfaction
       | across the board.
       | 
       | ALWAYS underpromise and overdeliver if you want happy customers.
        
         | rassimmoc wrote:
         | >>ALWAYS underpromise and overdeliver if you want happy
         | customers.
         | 
         | not if you have customers comparing you promise to competitions
         | promise. In this case you will never have option to deliver
         | anything
        
           | dheera wrote:
           | The EPA doesn't have competitors, they can totally do this
           | just to increase electric car satisfaction which will help
           | drive adoption.
           | 
           | Everyone will be all over social media with videos saying how
           | their car was rated for 300km but they got 400km out of it
           | and EVs will start getting very, very positive reviews.
        
       | bilsbie wrote:
       | That doesn't even factor in that you have to stop at a charger
       | that's not always at the end of your range. You stop where the
       | chargers are.
        
       | manmal wrote:
       | Author first assumes that only 60% of the available battery
       | capacity is used (80% > 20%) and then arrives at the conclusion
       | that the range is lower than expected. Well, no shit.
       | 
       | I personally do charge my Ioniq BEV to 100%, and I often drive it
       | to, say, 6%. In summer, I get a range of 220km, and in winter
       | 160-180km, depending on temperature and number of cold starts
       | (cold starts seem to trigger a battery warm-up). SOH is still at
       | 100% after almost 3 years.
        
         | michpoch wrote:
         | What do you do when you arrive at the charger with 6% battery
         | left and the charger doesn't work? Or if there's a significant
         | queue?
        
           | manmal wrote:
           | I just don't. With 6% (sometimes less) I arrive only at home
           | or at sites with multiple chargers. Apps in the EU can show
           | operating status for individual points, but I've stopped
           | looking that up at some point.
        
           | turtlebits wrote:
           | Same thing as you do with a gas car and you can't get gas for
           | any reason. Call AAA/roadside services?
        
           | josephcsible wrote:
           | What do you do if your gas gauge is on E and the only gas
           | station in the small town you're in is closed?
        
           | sigio wrote:
           | Select charge-locations with 4+ chargers available, and in
           | the larger charge-locations along motorway/freeway
           | intersections, there's usually chargers from multiple
           | networks/suppliers, so even failures on a backend of one
           | provider can be worked around by using another network. Doing
           | 2000km this week, I only encountered 1 case where I had to
           | use the 50kw charger, as it was the only one available (there
           | were 2 300kw chargers, 1 in use and 1 in maintenance-mode).
           | Most charge-locations had 4+ available and unused stalls,
           | with various locations having 10+ 150kw+ stations.
           | 
           | Availability can be seen in many charge-apps miles before you
           | get to the location, so if you see it at 75%+ capacity,
           | select a different location.
        
             | TheLoafOfBread wrote:
             | This is a very nice theory. Does not work in practice.
             | 
             | Got into France, north of Troyes in Enyaq, last 20km in
             | battery. Only chargers there in 30km perimeter are
             | Freshmile 22kW chargers, which won't charge my car (can't
             | start session, car refuses charger, tested 3 of them). Was
             | able to save myself in local PSA dealership, which got
             | their own charger and gave me 20km more so I can get to
             | Troyes to Ionity charger.
             | 
             | What is extremely annoying is
             | 
             | * This is a large network, yet not compatible and there is
             | no way to figure that out.
             | 
             | * The car was actually trying to lead me on those charger
             | via its own internal navigation, so even somebody who was
             | creating this map believed that those chargers are
             | compatible, yet they aren't.
             | 
             | * I could never get into such situation with gas. In the
             | most extreme case, I could have just use funnel to get the
             | gas into the tank if hose would not be compatible with my
             | car.
             | 
             | So the fact that there are chargers around you means
             | nothing at all if you don't know if they are working and
             | are compatible without your car.
        
               | manmal wrote:
               | Try the ,,A better route planner" app if you haven't. It
               | should give you routes that have plenty of error margin.
        
           | limitedsupply wrote:
           | Not OP and drive a Tesla. Charging stations are pretty large
           | at least where I live. 10-15 chargers minimum and the Tesla
           | nav system tells you in advance how many are available to
           | use.
        
             | xwdv wrote:
             | [flagged]
        
               | mensetmanusman wrote:
               | You shake your fists at the cloud... and wait your turn.
        
               | mateo- wrote:
               | Personally I've never run into this but -- a long queue
               | would be fine, the car doesn't eat up much electricity
               | idling. As for charger status, I mostly use the Electrify
               | America app for finding a charging station (i get 2 years
               | free with my car) and it's good for showing charger count
               | and availability. So, if a charger was out of commission,
               | it would just show 3/4 available.
               | 
               | Google maps will actually show similar availability of
               | various other company stations.
        
               | LBJsPNS wrote:
               | Your gas gauge is pegged on E. There's no other gas
               | station for miles. There's a significant queue. What do
               | you do?
               | 
               | How about shut up, get in line, and remind yourself next
               | time not to be stupid and run out of gas? Or electricity?
               | Or diesel?
        
               | monsieurbanana wrote:
               | Your car breaks. What. Do. You Do.
               | 
               | The guy replying to you said it's a pretty unlikely
               | situation, so you treat it the same as other unlikely,
               | but always present, issues that your car might have. You
               | accept his answer.
               | 
               | Or you don't, and argue with him and say that you think
               | he's wrong and it's going to happen too often, that's a
               | fine reply too.
               | 
               | Adding more punctuation doesn't help.
        
               | ceejayoz wrote:
               | How is there a queue for a broken charger?
               | 
               | 6% is likely enough to get you to another charging site,
               | or a regular outlet for a slower charge. I'd expect AAA-
               | style roadside assistance to deal with these scenarios in
               | the near future, as well.
        
               | toast0 wrote:
               | I mean, you can't walk to the nearest working charger
               | with a gas can, but if you have your level 1 charger with
               | you, you can probably find an outlet nearby. Utility
               | electricity is nearly ubiquitous along highways. Any sort
               | of building near a highway is bound to have electric
               | service; the question is if you can convince the
               | occupants to let you charge for a couple hours.
               | 
               | If there's a big queue, you just wait. Same as if there's
               | a big queue at the fueling station.
        
               | [deleted]
        
         | pforret wrote:
         | I see colleagues that have to choose a new EV and use the EPA
         | rating as an actual distance ("Oh I can drive to Paris in 1
         | go"). They don't know that you normally don't start from 100%,
         | and you don't go down to 0%. Your 94% range usage is
         | impressive, but not the norm for daily usage. Most people
         | follow their vendor's recommendations for battery longevity.
        
           | davedx wrote:
           | When I drove from NL to Paris of course I charge to 100%
           | first.
           | 
           | There's some rational logic in the article and comments but
           | there's also some nonsense.
        
             | pforret wrote:
             | My article talks about daily usage. For long distance
             | travel, obviously I charge to higher % and I use
             | Superchargers. Although even in those circumstances, I
             | never reach 400km between charges, more like 300-350km.
             | Never the ilusive 533 km.
        
           | manmal wrote:
           | Oh the 94% is the vendor's recommendation. Hyundai recommends
           | to charge to 100%, displays the first warning at 13%, and
           | enters ,,turtle mode" at 5-6%.
           | 
           | Why don't you start with 100% if you want to go to Paris in
           | one go?
        
           | tensor wrote:
           | Most people also don't drive 400km+ in "daily usage." When
           | they do they charge to 100%. Just like in a gas car you don't
           | fill the tank 100% every day. But you do before a long trip.
           | Can you imagine the article "well acshually, your gas car
           | daily range is much lower because you don't usually start
           | with a full tank!"
        
             | manmal wrote:
             | We went on several long trips with this car (600-800km),
             | with all the bathroom breaks we didn't really notice the
             | charging much. Took maybe half an hour longer than with an
             | ICE. And that's with the first gen Ioniq, with quite low
             | range. I bet with an Ioniq 5 we wouldn't notice any
             | difference at all.
        
       | tensor wrote:
       | If you preheat the battery I've noticed far better winter driving
       | range. In fact, I only recently noticed because I always preheat
       | the cabin which preheats the battery. Recently I didn't do that
       | and was pretty surprised at how much energy it used while it
       | warmed up.
       | 
       | If you typically plug in at home you should always be preheating
       | the car before going out.
        
       | turtlebits wrote:
       | I charge my Bolt EV to 100% every day. Most manufacturers provide
       | some headroom so rated capacity is less than actual and you
       | aren't hitting 100% SOC, just what the car reports.
       | 
       | What the OP also omits is that you gain range during fair
       | weather. My Bolt EPA rating is 255 miles, but I've gotten 303
       | miles in the summer and as low as 191 in the winter.
        
         | pforret wrote:
         | This is the first time I've heard anyone exceed their EPA
         | range. 303 miles is impressive!
        
           | cperciva wrote:
           | I have the same experience with my Kona EV. Official range
           | 415 km, but in the summer it's actually ~450 km. (Not that I
           | ever run 100%-0% of course, but I get 90 km going from 80%
           | down to 60%.)
        
             | dashundchen wrote:
             | Same with a Kia Niro EV I had, which is on a shared
             | platform with the Kona. I think it was 239 miles EPA rated,
             | in the summer it was quite easy to exceed. I don't have a
             | lead foot and drive pretty efficiently though.
             | 
             | Great car, good space, level 2 driver assists and very
             | efficient which offset the slow DC charge speed. Relatively
             | lightweight for an EV at 3800lbs as well.
        
       | gcheong wrote:
       | "In my case, I typically charge the car to 80%"
       | 
       | My understanding is that the preservation of the battery is built
       | into the charge controller and you shouldn't have to worry about
       | it. In other words when your car says it's fully charged it's
       | only "really" charged to 80% or some other cutoff as determined
       | by the charge controller. I don't drive a Tesla so my only point
       | of reference is my Fiat 500e which doesn't have as far as I know
       | a setting to limit battery charging to a certain percentage and I
       | would think most consumers just plug in overnight without thought
       | to this.
        
         | pornel wrote:
         | Charging above 80% is also a complete waste of time, unless
         | you're charging overnight.
         | 
         | The fuller the battery is, the slower it charges. 10%-80%
         | charge often takes same or less time than the final 80%-100%,
         | so when road tripping it makes much more sense to make a few
         | short top-ups than wait forever for last percent to trickle-
         | charge.
        
         | colordrops wrote:
         | The Tesla notifies you that you will be shortening the life of
         | the battery if you regularly charge to 100.
        
           | sowbug wrote:
           | Many Teslas being produced today use lithium-iron phosphate
           | batteries, which can be charged to 100% without degradation.
           | If you have an LFP-based Tesla, you won't get the
           | notification.
        
           | inciampati wrote:
           | The author assumes that all EVs behave like Teslas. Other car
           | manufacturers are aiming for simpler UI, and the charging
           | system itself is meant to deal with the oddities of deciding
           | exactly how much to charge the car to. For instance the often
           | don't show a charge percentage but an estimated range with
           | bounds.
           | 
           | I apologize for not bringing a link but there is a beautiful
           | story of real world range that shows that Teslas are
           | systematically over reporting their range. It was posted
           | recently. The author should probably read it before
           | generalizing...
        
             | pforret wrote:
             | It doesn't matter if the 80/90% charging is hidden in the
             | UI or not. The EPA uses a 100% -> 0% range, and all vendors
             | use this range in their marketing material.Of course they
             | do, because people compare product sheets when choosing.
             | 
             | The actual range you will use day-to-day is way less.
             | That's what I wanted to point out.
        
             | ajross wrote:
             | > The author assumes that all EVs behave like Teslas.
             | 
             | It's not a Tesla thing, it's just battery chemistry.
             | Virtually all EVs are being sold with NMC batteries which
             | don't like sitting at 100%. We're starting to see a few
             | LiFePO4 cars arrive on the market, which is a heavier but
             | much more durable chemistry. Most of those are BYD cars,
             | with a few other Chinese brands.
             | 
             | Ironically the most common iron phosphate car to be seen on
             | western roads is... a batch of chinese-made Tesla Model 3
             | RWD's that reached the US market last year.
        
         | pforret wrote:
         | The Tesla app asks you how high the battery should charge
         | (where I choose 80% for daily use), and it will warn you no to
         | take higher than 90% except for sporadic long-distance
         | travelling.
        
       | sigio wrote:
       | Just did a 1000km (and back) drive this week, using a Kia Niro,
       | which does about 400km on 64kWh. Was amazed I actually managed to
       | drive this distance with 4 charges one way, and just 3 on the way
       | back, reaching almost 400km actually on the first leg of the
       | return trip (though this was downhill from the Alps). With longer
       | roadtrips you want to go way below 20% remaining charge. With the
       | quality of the charging-network in western-europe, and using
       | ABetterRoadPlanner I managed to get a charge at 2% and a second
       | one at 8% remaining, thus giving you 25% more capacity than re-
       | charging at ~20% (~4-80 compared to 20-80). And this was with
       | winter-tires and a full car. Sure, the actual range is still
       | lower than the EPA / WLTP / NEDC range, but very usable and
       | predictable.
        
         | TheLoafOfBread wrote:
         | That's not really amazing. That's a massive waste of time. I
         | got 260km per charge in Enyaq iv80 going 130km/h on highway so
         | cca same as you. That's 2 hours of driving and 1 hour of
         | charging on 150kW+ charger.
        
           | [deleted]
        
       | bluecalm wrote:
       | The author says his average mileage is 184Wh/km. I've seen
       | similar numbers in other sources: about 200Wh/km.
       | 
       | I am an avid cyclist. When I output 200W for an hour I can go
       | 20-30km depending on the terrain. Maybe 15 if it's steep uphill
       | all the way. Cyclists are not very aerodynamic. They sit high and
       | have boxy shape. A small vehicle can be much more efficient (the
       | reason recumbents beat standard bikes on a track).
       | 
       | It all seems so wasteful to me. It's true sometimes you need to
       | carry load or more people, or go to very steep uphill, or maybe
       | sometimes you really need to go fast. In vast majority of cases
       | though, especially inside populated areas it's one person and a
       | short trip. You carry your 2 ton metal box with you, use 20-30x
       | more energy than a cyclist would and take so much space traffic
       | jams are inevitable.
       | 
       | True innovation those electric cars. The very definition of
       | missing the forest for a tree.
        
         | seanmcdirmid wrote:
         | Wouldn't you rather want to compare manually operating a
         | bicycle to an electric bicycle? They've basically taken over
         | China for more than a decade now, so it's not like they are
         | uncommon.
        
           | bluecalm wrote:
           | E-bikes are fine. My point was that bikes are not very
           | efficient because of shitty aerodynamics. A light, low and
           | narrow electric vehicle would be more efficient and more
           | palatable to a lot of people than bikes.
        
             | seanmcdirmid wrote:
             | Bikes aren't typically going at speeds where aerodynamics
             | is very relevant. Even E-bikes, maybe e-motorcycles have
             | that problem?
        
       | stefap2 wrote:
       | So basically wait until the epa range of an electric car is 1600
       | miles. Then you may get 400 miles in cold weather comparable with
       | an ice car.
        
         | mensetmanusman wrote:
         | Impossible due to laws of physics surrounding diffusion based
         | batteries. The vehicle would be so big to accommodate the
         | heavier and heavier battery it would not be street legal.
         | 
         | Green hydrogen will be an eventual solution for those use
         | cases.
        
         | limitedsupply wrote:
         | Or just read the article and realize that the author doesn't
         | fully charge their car?..
        
           | pforret wrote:
           | Tesla advises 90% max, other sources advise charging to 80%
           | to save battery performance. I use 80% for day-to-day, 90%
           | for longer day trips, 100% for international travel.
           | [tesla.com/support/home-charging-
           | installation/faq](https://www.tesla.com/support/home-
           | charging-installation/faq)
        
             | limitedsupply wrote:
             | I am aware of that. I charge my Tesla to about 50-70% as
             | most of my infrequent trips are short. But I also don't
             | write articles complaining about low mileage.
        
               | pforret wrote:
               | This article was inspired by colleagues who are choosing
               | their first EV and use the EPA range as an actual
               | distance. I have colleagues that live > 100km from work.
               | I wanted to point out that an EPA rating of 350km doesn't
               | mean the car is a good match.
        
               | limitedsupply wrote:
               | Good point. For daily long range commute EVs are not the
               | best option right now. Even if you add some charge
               | midway, it still takes 20-30 minutes, so not ideal.
               | 
               | (Saying that, if gas prices are a major concern then EVs
               | could still be the preferred choice.)
        
       | esturk wrote:
       | "Cold weather has an influence on the battery capacity too."
       | 
       | I take this to mean that the author acknowledges GAS cars are
       | also affected by cold weather. There's just no escaping
       | thermodynamics. It's also like pointing out GAS cars' MPG is
       | reduced by 20%+ in cold weather. While it's true, it's like
       | pointing out a gotcha edge case for all cars. So the conclusion
       | can also apply the same way to GAS cars. 'Next time you estimate
       | the mileage, take a 20% discount!'
       | 
       | According to energy.gov[1]:
       | 
       | Cold weather and winter driving conditions can significantly
       | reduce fuel economy. Fuel economy tests show that, in city
       | driving, a conventional gasoline car's gas mileage is roughly 15%
       | lower at 20degF than it would be at 77degF. It can drop as much
       | as 24% for short (3- to 4-mile) trips.
       | 
       | [1] https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/fuel-economy-cold-
       | weather....
        
         | fwungy wrote:
         | I can fill up the gas car quickly almost anywhere if I'm
         | running low on fuel.
         | 
         | Also, survival time in a stuck ICE in Winter is much higher.
        
           | jtc331 wrote:
           | Actually the "stuck in winter" problem for EVs is a myth:
           | https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a38883045/electric-cars-
           | sn...
        
         | cbsmith wrote:
         | That article seems a bit misleading. I have to think the impact
         | of cold weather on an ICE vehicle is highly variable on other
         | factors. It certainly wasn't quite so bad when I was growing up
         | in Canada, and most of the variance was attributable to
         | differences in winter vs. summer fuel mixes.
         | 
         | Most of the effects it describes are only in effect while the
         | car is warming up, and given that say, engine oil typically
         | warms up to around 70C when operating, it's hard to believe
         | that the difference between starting at say -10C vs 20C is
         | really going to add up for anything more than a VERY short
         | drive (one that, if you cared about fuel economy or
         | environmental impact, you'd probably just make on foot).
         | 
         | Sure, if you have electric seat warmers and the like, that
         | could add up, but one of the "advantages" of an ICE car is
         | their inefficiency leads to lots of waste heat, so they can
         | keep the car cabin warm just from that, without needing to use
         | electric heaters at all (keeping the interior cabin warm is one
         | of the primary factors that sucks up EV range in cold weather).
        
           | esturk wrote:
           | No where did the energy.gov article nor parent article
           | mention interior heating. The discussion was always about
           | battery performance vs ICE performance degradation under cold
           | weather.
        
         | pforret wrote:
         | Actually I wasn't referring to ICE, just that the climate
         | influenced the realistic daily range too. But your remark is
         | very interesting, I would have thought that combustion did not
         | suffer much from the cold.
        
           | jjtheblunt wrote:
           | Maybe it's air density with coefficient of drag that worsens
           | in cold air.
        
             | cbsmith wrote:
             | I believe those were factors once upon a time, but modern
             | cars tend to heavier and more aerodynamic than they once
             | were, so drag is less of a factor... and the air gets
             | warmed up prior to combustion, which minimizes the impact
             | of its initial temperature.
        
       | roamerz wrote:
       | I thought this was a great real world analysis taking many
       | factors into consideration.
        
       | simonjgreen wrote:
       | Calling out an enormous assumed fact in this article that I very
       | much doubt is the case. Author claims people don't charge to
       | 100%: they absolutely do.
        
       | sam345 wrote:
       | This just shows another reason EVs are unrealistic at least in
       | rural USA. 200 km or 125 miles in cold weather. And that's for a
       | Tesla a top of the line EV. Even if you live in the city most
       | people want ability to travel long distances. I just reviewed
       | consumer reports reviews of EVs. Not at all impressed. Overall
       | ratings were very low for most cars. Charging is proprietary for
       | the most part or slow or just in general a hassle. To get decent
       | reviews you need to spend $50k at minimum. The tax rebate may
       | help to extend the fantasy for a while but even Tesla owners are
       | getting disillusioned. For the most part Tesla has saturated the
       | market for high end EVs and the rest are low quality or suffer
       | technical problems. I mean the vision is enticing but most
       | Americans won't put up with the expense and hassle. And attempts
       | to legislate the hassle won't bode well for politicians or will
       | result in the predictable deadline extensions. And this is not
       | even taking into consideration the extreme burden it will put on
       | the grid which is not at all prepared for hundreds of millions of
       | electric vehicles.
        
         | jabart wrote:
         | If you are driving an hour both ways every day in a cold
         | climate, yeah, EV probably isn't the right fit for another
         | couple of years. It's also an extreme end of usage. I imagine
         | that a large portion of those people in a rural community don't
         | drive more than 60 miles a day. It is also why the average
         | commute per a person is not 125 miles but substantially less in
         | the US.
         | 
         | For reference, 125 miles is about Louisville, KY to
         | Indianapolis, IN.
        
           | sam345 wrote:
           | 125 miles is nothing in the US. It's not about commuting,
           | it's about road trips to the next city, the next state. Sure
           | most people are not doing that every day but they are doing
           | that a few times a year to visit friends, family, and for
           | business. And then what? Meticulouly planning your charges
           | and timing your breaks? or taking a bus or a plane? If you've
           | just spent $50,000 on an EV I would imagine you want to drive
           | not worry about whether you are going to be stuck without a
           | charge. EV success is about selling to the average driver,
           | not EV and green enthusiasts.
        
             | pornel wrote:
             | It's the range between charging stops, not the range until
             | you abandon the car and walk.
             | 
             | With the current 800V battery tech you need to spend 20-30
             | minutes charging per 2-3 hours of driving. It's not as fast
             | as a pee-in-the-bottle cannonball run, but only about 10%
             | slower than a normal ICE car trip time.
             | 
             | Check out actual times with https://abetterrouteplanner.com
             | with a fast-charging car like a recent Tesla model or Kia
             | EV6/Ioniq 5/GV60.
        
             | seanmcdirmid wrote:
             | If by meticulously planning you mean using a navigation
             | system that most EVs come with, I don't see why this is
             | hard? Sure, Tesla provides better routing software than EV
             | manufacturers, but this isn't a hard problem (this is HN,
             | so we should have some affinity for software).
        
       | michaelteter wrote:
       | For occasional commutes, 115km one way is ok (not for me, but
       | it's not unthinkable).
       | 
       | But 115km each way (230km round trip) 5 days per week is a
       | problem. We should not be doing this, at least not in individual
       | cars. That electric car is still creating a lot of particulate
       | pollution from the tires on the road, not to mention its
       | contribution to general traffic.
       | 
       | The focus should be on how to reduce the commute distance (or
       | eliminate it as often as possible), and to build/use efficient
       | mass transit systems.
       | 
       | So much of our intellectual and financial energy seems to be
       | directed toward overclocking the horse and buggy - with
       | diminishing returns. At some point it's time to step back and
       | rethink the greater system. (I believe that point was 20+ years
       | ago, when it became clear that cities would continue to become
       | the population growth centers.)
        
         | MuffinFlavored wrote:
         | > So much of our intellectual and financial energy seems to be
         | directed toward overclocking the horse and buggy
         | 
         | I don't personally think it's realistic to expect everybody/all
         | people (who mainly work for a living/work hard) to ask them to
         | give up the luxury of spending their hard earned money on being
         | able to transport themselves (to and from their job) in
         | something other than the comfort of their own car. I think
         | you're suggesting "we should all be doing public transport,
         | it's more efficient."
         | 
         | You aren't wrong, but there's a human/emotional element/aspect
         | here.
        
           | pizza234 wrote:
           | > I don't personally think it's realistic to expect
           | everybody/all people (who mainly work for a living/work hard)
           | to ask them to give up the luxury of spending their hard
           | earned money on being able to transport themselves (to and
           | from their job) in something other than the comfort of their
           | own car
           | 
           | Societies don't need to ask citizens to choose a given mean
           | of transport; they can route their choices them by making
           | some means more convenient and other ones less.
           | 
           | Increasing car costs and reducing lanes/streets/parkings,
           | while making the public transport more
           | frequent/extensive/comfortable, will make citizens choose
           | public transport (or more sustainable means) themselves.
           | 
           | On the other hand, when cities are developed (in certain
           | cultures or at least areas) with private transport in mind,
           | and it can be hard or impossible to redesign for public
           | transport.
        
             | generalizations wrote:
             | > Societies don't need to ask citizens to choose a given
             | mean of transport; they can route their choices them by
             | making some means more convenient and other ones less.
             | 
             | I'm reading that as, "we don't need to _ask_ , we can just
             | make them do it." Which to me is pretty arrogant.
        
               | sagarm wrote:
               | Society has made the choice so far to make owning a car
               | as convenient and inexpensive as possible, while
               | allocating almost no resources to other options. And no,
               | usage fees including gas taxes don't cover the cost of
               | roads -- let alone the land usage, externalities, and
               | supporting infrastructure like drainage.
        
           | janef0421 wrote:
           | I don't think most people see car commuting as a luxury. It's
           | very stressful.
        
             | MuffinFlavored wrote:
             | Tough to say "most". You're probably right but a non-zero
             | amount of people who pay luxury cars like Mercedes/BMW want
             | a) status symbols but b) the time they spend in their
             | vehicles as enjoyable.
        
           | entropicgravity wrote:
           | And not to mention the epidemiological aspect, hello covid. A
           | compromise situation could be individual transport but much
           | smaller than current cars. Because EV's scale much more
           | easily than ICE technology it's practical to have EV's with,
           | say, a three person occupancy that take up half of a current
           | car lane. This is the best of both worlds. Single occupancy
           | vehicles and a city's transportation infrastructure doubles
           | at zero cost.
        
             | janef0421 wrote:
             | E-bikes are quite close to what you are describing, and are
             | already remarkably popular.
        
           | otabdeveloper4 wrote:
           | There's a lot of ways to describe commuting in traffic jams,
           | but the word "comfort" is probably not in the top ten.
        
           | JimtheCoder wrote:
           | Personally, my time in my car is some of the only pure "me"
           | time I have, and I would hazard a guess that it is the same
           | for many others.
           | 
           | A car to me is a personal, climate controlled cocoon, where I
           | can turn on whatever music I want, have a coffee or a snack,
           | and escape for the 30 minutes or however long it takes to
           | reach my destination...without the chance of being bothered
           | by anyone else, much less any of the other belligerents that
           | you are sure to find on public transit from time to time.
           | 
           | I will continue to own and drive my own car for this simple
           | fact...
        
             | VBprogrammer wrote:
             | I love driving as much as the next person but being on the
             | roads at commuting time is hell on earth. Battling all of
             | the other sleep deprived idiots to travel 3 miles in an
             | hour. It's awful.
        
               | dzikimarian wrote:
               | For me it's 15 minutes in pretty relaxed traffic and
               | music/audiobook. Garage to office door + easy detour to
               | shop if necessary.
               | 
               | In the summer bike is nice alternative, but during bad
               | weather there's nothing comparable to the comfort of car.
               | 
               | Please remember not everyone lives in bay area with long
               | commute and mild weather all year long :-)
        
         | Tade0 wrote:
         | > That electric car is still creating a lot of particulate
         | pollution from the tires on the road
         | 
         | I hear this a lot, but how much pollution is it really? It
         | surely doesn't register on any municipal particulate
         | measurement station.
        
           | jasonwatkinspdx wrote:
           | I worked in a temporary office for a summer next to a large
           | overpass. It had no AC so we had the windows open most
           | afternoons. The amount of particulate that would coat
           | everything in just a single afternoon shocked me.
        
           | Gibbon1 wrote:
           | I had a link once to a government paid for study that claimed
           | tire and brake dust were about 5-10% of the dust produced by
           | light cars. The rest being tailpipe emissions. Of course
           | brake dust, tire dust, and exhaust PM2.5 aren't the same
           | types of dust. So feels to me like grasping for straws
           | especially considering no one makes the same arguments
           | against large SUV's and trucks.
        
           | replygirl wrote:
           | https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/03/car-
           | tyre...
        
             | paulryanrogers wrote:
             | Interesting that driving style has such an outsized impact.
             | Perhaps aggressive driving and tire composition should be
             | regulated.
        
               | dashundchen wrote:
               | I think auto infrastructure should be designed around
               | lower steady speeds with roundabouts and stop signs and
               | lights, at least in the US. Right now we have high speed
               | limits, wide roads which encourage speeding, but a lot of
               | stop signs, long stop lights and driveway filled stroads
               | that are terrible for everyone.
               | 
               | I'd like narrower lanes, bump outs raised intersections
               | and crosswalks to slow traffic. Reduce curb cuts and
               | driveways to cut down on conflicts - thinking Dutch style
               | access streets and alleys that connect to the less
               | interrupted travel lane.
               | 
               | The added benefit of lower speeds would make it safer for
               | bikes and pedestrians and reduce auto crash fatalities.
               | 
               | Slower steady speeds would reduce stooa go, dropping
               | noise and particulate emission from acceleration.
        
               | replygirl wrote:
               | probably more effective to regulate the weight of
               | vehicles by use than to broaden the definition of
               | reckless driving. for safety, too
        
               | adrianN wrote:
               | Cars should be smart enough to automatically adapt the
               | allowed driving style to their surroundings. There is no
               | reason why cars should be able to accelerate at maximum
               | torque on normal city roads. Or go their max speed.
        
               | xnx wrote:
               | or tax tires
        
               | reducesuffering wrote:
               | CA does have a tire tax of $1.75 per tire.
        
               | paulryanrogers wrote:
               | According to the linked article excluding some compounds
               | would be lower hanging fruit. Though I agree tires could
               | use a higher tax given how much of a problem they
               | produce.
        
         | ogzk wrote:
         | [flagged]
        
           | replygirl wrote:
           | proximity to public transportation is one of the strongest
           | indicators of economic mobility
        
           | hammock wrote:
           | > We'll never have public transport because
           | 
           | Wait, we...do...have public transport. Effective and useful
           | public transport. In NYC 60% of people commute with it.
           | Boston, DC, SF, Chicago, Philadelphia... You might have a
           | specific gripe because it doesn't take you exactly where you
           | want to go with exactly the comfort you think you need, but
           | these places have public transit that is good enough for
           | hundreds of thousands or even millions to use every day
        
             | ericd wrote:
             | Having lived in a few of those cities, I'd say NYC is very
             | much the exception. It'd be great if every major city's
             | public transit was as good, but it's inadequate or barely
             | adequate for a large percentage of the area of those other
             | cities.
        
           | mirekrusin wrote:
           | London has fantastic public transport.
        
           | r_hoods_ghost wrote:
           | If you look outside of the USA lots of cities have good
           | public transport systems that aren't plagued by poverty,
           | crime, homelessness and mental illness. Just because
           | Americans have decided to optimize their society to maximize
           | misery of a minority for the benefit of an even smaller
           | minority doesn't make it necessary.
        
             | blfr wrote:
             | It's the other way round: cities that aren't plagued by
             | homelessness, rampant drug use, and criminality can have
             | good public transit. Middle class people simply won't pay
             | (in taxes or directly) for public transit that acts as a
             | homeless shelter and routinely features crimes against
             | them.
        
             | bluGill wrote:
             | Transit isn't plagued by those here either, but a tiny
             | minority gets a lot of attention.
        
             | seanmcdirmid wrote:
             | Western European countries are also much stricter on law
             | and order via transit. Brussels, for example, deploys
             | heavily armed police to check fares on the metro often. And
             | Switzerland...you really don't want to break the laws there
             | even if you have nothing to lose.
        
               | landemva wrote:
               | I had three interactions with Swiss police in various
               | cities, and they were all ok. Maybe it depends on the
               | person?
        
               | seanmcdirmid wrote:
               | Well, it also depends if you can speak a national
               | language. Nothing beats getting chewed out by a Swiss cop
               | for only speaking English.
        
           | dehrmann wrote:
           | You're getting downvoted to hell, but there's some truth to
           | this. No one wants to ride Hotel 22 as a passenger, and
           | homeless people on Bart is at least a small negative for
           | ridership. Caltrain doesn't have this problem because they do
           | fare enforcement, a ticket only gets you one ride, and its
           | mostly a commuter train. Caltrain even lets people drink on
           | the train and its not a problem, but it's because of the
           | crowd they serve.
        
             | nsenifty wrote:
             | > Caltrain even lets people drink on the train and its not
             | a problem, but it's because of the crowd they serve.
             | 
             | Even Caltrain gets rowdy on the game days, particularly
             | with people on the bike cars refusing to give way to bikers
             | boarding/deboarding in the intermediate stops. While this
             | only happens occasionally, it made me miss my stop enough
             | times (in addition to lack of safety with last mile biking)
             | to completely give up on Caltrain.
        
           | landemva wrote:
           | > Being poor in a city
           | 
           | Homeless are attracted to free services, which are often
           | abundant in cities.
           | 
           | > the worst way to try to climb out of poverty.
           | 
           | I disagree, as anyone who wants to work can find more help
           | wanted signs in cities than along interstate in rural
           | Nebraska.
        
         | hammock wrote:
         | > That electric car is still creating a lot of particulate
         | pollution from the tires on the road
         | 
         | And brake dust, which includes a lot of metal
        
           | ceejayoz wrote:
           | EVs make substantially less of that, due to regenerative
           | braking.
        
             | hammock wrote:
             | What portion of drivers use one pedal?
        
               | potatochup wrote:
               | The EPA uses whatever the default settings for the car
               | are, so it's usually on my default. Anecdotally most
               | people I know use it
        
               | limitedsupply wrote:
               | Are there EV drivers that do not? I don't think I could
               | ever go back to using 2 or 3 pedals.
        
               | roland35 wrote:
               | I only use one pedal in stop and go or city driving.
               | Otherwise it's harder to maintain smooth speeds and is
               | less efficient than just coasting.
        
               | seanmcdirmid wrote:
               | Cruise control should solve that problem no?
        
               | revscat wrote:
               | My Model S is approaching 90k miles and I have not needed
               | to replace the pads. It has two pedals.
        
               | shever73 wrote:
               | Most EV drivers, I'd say. My sample size is small, but me
               | and my friends who have EVs all drive with one pedal.
        
               | gambiting wrote:
               | You don't need to have the one pedal driving enabled to
               | reap the benefits. In all EVs and PHEVs you brake with
               | the electric motors first even when using the actual
               | pedal - normal brakes are engaged only past a certain
               | threshold.
               | 
               | Also to give a personal anecdote, in my Volvo XC60 PHEV,
               | I've just had the inspection done and after 24k miles the
               | brake pads are 5% worn. That's insane for a 2.2 tonne SUV
               | with 400bhp. If it wasn't a PHEV I can guarantee that the
               | pads would be nearly worn by now.
        
               | potatochup wrote:
               | > you brake with the electric motors first
               | 
               | This is not true. At least for Teslas, the brake pedal
               | only controls the friction brakes (they are hydraulically
               | coupled). Same with a Chevy bolt. Unsure on other EVs
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | josephcsible wrote:
               | In Teslas, any time your foot is completely off the
               | accelerator, you're getting maximum regenerative braking.
               | If you then press the brake pedal too, you're getting
               | maximum regenerative braking plus friction braking.
        
               | potatochup wrote:
               | I think I misunderstood your use of "actual pedal" in the
               | GP comment. You meant accelerator by that? I assumed
               | brake pedal
        
               | josephcsible wrote:
               | My point was that unless you do something bizarre or go
               | out of your way to make regeneration not happen (e.g.,
               | hit both pedals at once, or shift into neutral while
               | braking), the friction brakes will never get used except
               | for when full regen is already getting used.
        
               | Tagbert wrote:
               | Yes, Tesla is an outlier in the EV business. They only
               | have one-pedal driving with regen or fully friction
               | braking with the brake pedal. That is not true of the
               | Chevy Bolt.
               | 
               | Almost every other EV (and hybrid) on the market does
               | blended regen with the brake pedal. Regen is applied when
               | you first press on the brake pedal. As long as the
               | pressure is mild to moderate, regen is used. If you press
               | hard (as in emergency braking) the friction brakes are
               | engaged. When you get below about 10mph the friction
               | brakes are also applied as regen is minimal at that
               | speed. The result is that these cars will do regen
               | whether you are using one pedal driving or not and their
               | brakes will wear much less often.
               | 
               | I'm not sure why Tesla doesn't do blended regen. Early
               | one the manufacturers didn't have the algorithms tuned
               | and you could feel the transitions but that has not been
               | the case for several year. It seems that Tesla just never
               | bothered. They seem to expect you to only use one-pedal
               | driving and some people do.
               | 
               | One think to watch for if you only use one-pedal driving,
               | your friction brake pads can get rusty from disuse. Then
               | when you do press on the brake pedal, the brakes may grab
               | or may not decelerate as quickly as expected. Some people
               | find that their brake pads are actually frozen from rust
               | and don't work at all. It is a good idea to once in a
               | while use those friction brakes to scrub off the surface
               | rust.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | bluGill wrote:
               | While EVs do use less brakes than ICE, they still should
               | last a lot longer than you give them credit for.
               | 
               | Of course it's depends on how you drive, but if you are
               | not getting 100k miles out of your brakes the problem is
               | not the car but the driver.
        
               | gambiting wrote:
               | Sure. My last car was a Mercedes AMG that needed new pads
               | every 8-10k miles, so I might be a bit biased. But TBF my
               | car before that was a Land Rover Discovery 3 and that was
               | eating pads like crazy despite not driving it
               | aggressively at all - I attributed it to the weight of
               | the vehicle.
        
               | seanmcdirmid wrote:
               | Most of them as far as I can tell. It's one of the main
               | buying points to getting an EV.
        
               | ericd wrote:
               | I assume most Tesla drivers, at least, it's definitely
               | the happy path. I probably use my brake pedal once every
               | few hundred miles.
        
           | philshem wrote:
           | One-pedal driving does minimize the use of the brakes by
           | using the motor to decelerate.
           | 
           | I can't find an English wiki article, but here is German
           | 
           | https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-Pedal-Driving
        
           | pelasaco wrote:
           | My curiosity here, but is it true as well for bikes (e-bikes
           | or not) using disc brakes? As fair as I understand they are
           | really similar with car's one...
        
           | longitudinal93 wrote:
           | Judicious use of regenerative braking practically eliminates
           | brake dust.
        
           | Tagbert wrote:
           | Almost all EVs that are not Teslas, use blended regen with
           | the brake pedal. When you press on the brakes, regen is used
           | for light to moderate braking and the friction brakes only
           | come into play on hard braking. Most EVs product little brake
           | dust and their brakes last a long time due to this regen.
           | Teslas are the anomaly here.
        
           | amelius wrote:
           | And their increased weight makes them much harsher on roads
           | than normal cars. They wear down roads faster, and I suppose
           | they also produces more particle pollution than normal car
           | for this reason.
        
             | dahfizz wrote:
             | Threads like this read like EVs are double or more the
             | weight of an ICE car.
             | 
             | EVs are a couple hundred pounds heavier in average than an
             | equivalent ICE car. In terms of road wear, it's still a
             | rounding error compared to industrial trucks.
        
               | cbsmith wrote:
               | "couple of pounds heavier"??!?! That's understating it.
               | 
               | Seriously, a Model 3 is ~500 lbs heavier than Honda
               | Accord, and a Model Y is significantly heavier than a
               | Model 3.
        
               | dahfizz wrote:
               | Typo, fixed. I could have sworn I typed "couple hundred
               | pounds".
               | 
               | But to your point, a bmw 430 is also around 500 pounds
               | heavier than a Honda Accord. Nobody sees a BMW and freaks
               | out about tire wear. But people seem to hyperfixate on
               | any small negative of EVs.
        
               | cbsmith wrote:
               | > But to your point, a bmw 430 is also around 500 pounds
               | heavier than a Honda Accord.
               | 
               | At the heaviest weights, yes, but the heaviest Accord
               | weight and the lightest 430i weight are only 148 lbs
               | apart... and the Model Y can weigh in almost 400 lbs
               | heavier than the heaviest of 430i's.
               | 
               | > Nobody sees a BMW and freaks out about tire wear.
               | 
               | You mean, so long as it's not an EV? ;-)
               | 
               | Seriously, nobody freaks out about a BMW 430i's tire
               | wear, because that of the branding of the car. It's like
               | freaking out over coffee increasing your heart rate.
               | 
               | > But people seem to hyperfixate on any small negative of
               | EVs.
               | 
               | We're obviously talking to different people. At least the
               | folks I know talk about how crazy heavier cars keep
               | getting across the board (case in point:
               | https://www.capitalone.com/cars/learn/finding-the-right-
               | car/...).
        
               | rhn_mk1 wrote:
               | The road wear is said to be proportional to the fourth
               | power of axle load. http://www.cyclelicio.us/2014/fourth-
               | power-rule-road-tax/
               | 
               | That means you deal twice the damage by increasing weight
               | by only 20%. Seems in line with electric car weight
               | difference.
        
               | dahfizz wrote:
               | Yeah, that's my point. A single garbage truck is going to
               | do more wear on the roads than thousands of passenger
               | vehicles. Anything besides industrial vehicles is
               | negligible.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | amelius wrote:
               | A garbage truck has many tires to distribute the load.
               | Also they accelerate/decelerate differently.
        
               | Gibbon1 wrote:
               | Yeah turns out an electric drive train is much lighter
               | than a gasoline one which offsets the battery weight
               | somewhat. Gasoline engines aren't light, nor are the
               | transmissions. Currently I think the weigh penalty is
               | about 15-20%.
               | 
               | My guesstimate is if they can increase the energy density
               | of batteries by 30-50% the weight penalty will disappear.
               | Some of the reduction is the weight reduction of the
               | battery and some is due to cascading effects on the rest
               | of the car.
        
             | ericd wrote:
             | Because of the weight scaling characteristics (damage done
             | corresponds to fourth power of axle weight), it's
             | irrelevant if trucks are allowed on the same roads. The
             | damage increase done by EVs is probably not even worth
             | considering.
        
       | jvanderbot wrote:
       | Model Y in cold climate here.
       | 
       | While the sticker estimates of range are probably advertising,
       | and the % battery to range meter you get in the app / dashboard
       | is junk, _the drive estimates are spot on_.
       | 
       | When you enter a destination, it will tell you very precisely how
       | much energy it will take, accounting for every current condition,
       | including temp. This must surely be data driven because it is
       | alarmingly good. So your day to day use will not involve these
       | guessing games, imho
        
         | jvanderbot wrote:
         | For example, when driving a long distance (150m+), it told me
         | that I could have saved X miles if my tires were inflated
         | another 5psi, and saved Y miles if I had used less cabin
         | heating.
        
           | jaggederest wrote:
           | That's impressive. I can see accounting for the state of the
           | world, weather, and the elevation change and cornering
           | between A and B, but being able to generate counterfactuals
           | "if X were true or Y were true" is strong stuff.
        
       | SaintSeiya wrote:
       | the problems are not the cars, but the entitled excess of humans
       | that thinks they deserves a car for them alone or at most their
       | spoiled child and pet. We need feudalism back, when people knew
       | their place as peasants.
        
       | gambiting wrote:
       | So you deliberately don't charge the battery to 100% then
       | conclude the realistic range is shorter than advertised? I get
       | you don't charge to 100% every day, but if you know you're going
       | to drive further then....you do. Or just do what I do and charge
       | to max each time, the battery is warrantied for 8 years, it's
       | going to be fine.
       | 
       | >>Imagine your daily commute is 115 km (e.g. Roeselare-Brussel
       | 
       | That would be an _extremely_ unusual commute to be doing by car
       | in Europe, people do it but it 's very rare. If you're going to
       | be covering over 1000km a week(!!!!) Then get a good diesel, not
       | a brand new EX90.
        
         | dheera wrote:
         | Read the fine print, battery being under warranty often means
         | they can replace your battery with a USED one with upto 30%
         | range degradation.
        
         | richwater wrote:
         | That's a fantastic way to crater your cars resale value.
        
           | turtlebits wrote:
           | Yes, putting a lot of miles on any car is going to affect
           | resale value.
        
           | dheera wrote:
           | Why do Americans care so much about resale instead of just
           | using the stuff you bought?
           | 
           | If I ever buy a house it'll be to actually live life in it,
           | not to nickel-and-dime some poor college student.
        
             | colordrops wrote:
             | It's double edged, the first edge is selfish, maximum
             | extraction of value. The second is definitely not exclusive
             | to Americans - taking care of your belongings and reducing
             | the rate of sending things to landfill.
        
             | sicp-enjoyer wrote:
             | I agree this is a cultural problem. Houses are seen as
             | retirement vehicle, etc. I think it's partially a sales
             | tactic, to switch your brain into "investing" mode and
             | willing to fork up a lot of cash and leverage (I'm
             | "investing" in a Tesla, see how much gas i'll save?).
        
             | lelanthran wrote:
             | > Why do Americans care so much about resale instead of
             | just using the stuff you bought?
             | 
             | I expect that you throw your old car away whenever you get
             | a new one?
        
               | ceejayoz wrote:
               | Many of us do, yes. Drive it until it's primary worth is
               | scrap.
        
               | pacerwpg wrote:
               | But that doesn't make a very good mobile status symbol.
        
               | lelanthran wrote:
               | > Many of us do, yes.
               | 
               | I doubt it, because
               | 
               | > Drive it until it's primary worth is scrap.
               | 
               | But that means selling it for scrap, which is still not
               | "throwing it away".
               | 
               | Besides, a car that's 30 years old _is still worth more_
               | than scrap, and even then, scrapped cars _are still sold
               | for money_.
               | 
               | So, no, there are very few people either throwing or
               | giving their cars away after driving it for however long
               | it lasted.
        
             | bluGill wrote:
             | Because the better the resale, the nicer the car you can
             | afford to replace it. Most new cars are kept for 3 years
             | and traded in, (or leased) so the better the resale the
             | more money to put into your next car. Or if you lease the
             | less your lease will be.
             | 
             | Those who buy used cars keep their cars longer, and are
             | willing to pay more for a car they think will last longer.
        
           | gambiting wrote:
           | How so, exactly? There's no way for anyone to check how much
           | a battery was charged regularly, just like there's no way to
           | check if a car was only used to drive to church once a week
           | or driven like a hooligan hitting redline all the time - I'm
           | not suggesting fraud of course, far from it - just that
           | buyers have to assume the worst possible use case, and if so
           | I don't see how actually regularly charging the battery to
           | max affects the resale value at all. Besides, I don't expect
           | the resale value to be very high after 8 years(realistically
           | more) anyway.
        
             | tppiotrowski wrote:
             | I believe the SoC (state of charge) history is recorded for
             | Teslas and other EVs. There is a company called Recurrent
             | [1] which uses this data to estimate battery degradation. I
             | think the idea is to generate something like a Carfax
             | report for used EV battery packs.
             | 
             | [1] https://www.recurrentauto.com/
        
         | WirelessGigabit wrote:
         | This is not uncommon for people in Belgium to commute that far,
         | especially in software.
        
           | gambiting wrote:
           | Sure, there will be groups of people who are doing that. But
           | to commute 200km a day? That will be something like 0.0001%
           | of all workers, I cannot imagine it's any more than that.
        
             | WirelessGigabit wrote:
             | You'd be surprised. Belgium is weird. Lots of companies in
             | Brussels, which is central in Belgium. And lots of people
             | commute in. Every day, going and coming back.
             | 
             | The freeways are clogged every morning going towards
             | Brussels and every evening leaving Brussels.
        
               | gambiting wrote:
               | I can believe the motorways are clogged, it's a capital
               | city after all - but who lives 100km away from their
               | workplace, and why? I knew someone who did this in
               | Germany, but his argument has always been that actually,
               | this is "only" 30-60 minutes away on the autobahn
               | depending on conditions(which I still think was nuts),
               | but from what you're saying people accept 2-3 hours per
               | day(!!!!) In a car just to get to work? That's nuts, and
               | again, I really doubt it's common in any way shape or
               | form.
        
         | darth_avocado wrote:
         | Even if you do 100%, with just 1 year of used, my Tesla battery
         | on 100% charge shows 320 miles, which is a far cry from 358
         | advertised.
         | 
         | Plus the other estimates are correct. The range drops if it's
         | too cold, or if it is too hot, or if you use any of the
         | features that the car advertises, or if you're driving on a
         | freeway, or if it is a stop and go traffic, or if you gain
         | elevation, or basically if you use your car as a car.
         | 
         | Don't get me wrong, I still love my car and I would never drive
         | an non EV again, and a non Tesla EV at the moment. But calling
         | out the marketing bs is totally fair.
        
           | ajross wrote:
           | My Y is showing about 93% of rated range after 19k miles,
           | FWIW.
           | 
           | > The range drops if [...] you gain elevation
           | 
           | That's true, but unless you're driving inexorably up into the
           | Himalayas, you're going to come down that hill. EVs have a
           | magic trick they can play in that situation. :)
           | 
           | In point of fact regenerative braking makes EV's equivalent
           | range penalty in hilly terrain much (MUCH) better than any
           | fuel-burning vehicle.
        
           | seanmcdirmid wrote:
           | EVs do much better in stop and go traffic. I wouldn't be
           | surprised if some even exceeds EPA range estimates in those
           | cases.
        
             | darth_avocado wrote:
             | My experience has been that the car does best when you're
             | driving at a steady speed of 25mph without having to stop.
             | This is based on the internal chart that Tesla provides.
             | 
             | When you're in stop and go, you actually use a lot more
             | energy to go from 0->X but do not regenerate back enough
             | when you come down to 0. On the other hand, maintaining a
             | steady 25mph uses a lot less energy as compared to 0->X.
             | Again, this is based on the Tesla energy usage data that
             | they themselves show in car.
        
             | landemva wrote:
             | USA traffic engineers love stop lights which force idling.
             | Fortunately some European tech to stop/start the engine is
             | arriving in USA. In isolated cases, some USA intersections
             | are being converted to traffic circles. Installation of new
             | stop lights should require a giant pollution fine paid by
             | government.
        
               | therealdrag0 wrote:
               | My 2018 Ford escape has auto-stop/start when stopped. But
               | it almost never works. No idea why. It worked for the
               | first year maybe, then disappeared.
        
               | falcolas wrote:
               | It can be turned off, and there's very little visual
               | indication that this has happened. The feature bugs some
               | drivers, so if you have a second driver, they could have
               | easily done it.
        
               | therealdrag0 wrote:
               | I've toggled it many times to no avail.
        
             | jtc331 wrote:
             | I doubt it would outperform EPA estimates (you can only
             | recapture energy not create it afresh with regenerative
             | braking), but compared to ICE cars the percentage of stated
             | range would be very high.
        
               | josephcsible wrote:
               | The Chevy Volt PHEV had an estimated 53-mile all electric
               | range. During the summer, I routinely got 56-60, and once
               | got 67.5 miles before the engine had to kick in.
        
               | seanmcdirmid wrote:
               | It's because air resistance is a much bigger drag on
               | efficiency for an EV, so stop and go traffic is a bit
               | more closer to its ideal efficiency (which is going slow
               | without stopping).
        
             | Mountain_Skies wrote:
             | I used a Nissan Leaf as my thrice weekly commuter vehicle
             | for several months. It couldn't quite make the full round
             | trip on a 100% charge and there was nowhere to plugin at
             | work. For a while, I'd go to Ikea at lunch and charge there
             | during my lunch break. That was enough extra charge to make
             | it all the way home but going to Ikea each day for lunch
             | got old fast. Instead, I started stopping at charge point
             | near a Fry's on the way home but even Fry's got boring
             | after a few days. Then I discovered if I got off the
             | freeway about fifteen miles earlier than my usual exit and
             | used surface streets, I could make it home even though it
             | was a bit longer distance and plenty of stop lights, stop
             | signs, and traffic slower than the highway. I suspect the
             | lower wind resistance at the slower speed is what provided
             | the extra bit so I could get home with about nine miles of
             | range showing on the dash. Probably wasn't good for the
             | battery but it was the last few months of a lease and never
             | ended up losing any bars of range. The anxiety sure was
             | real.
        
         | pforret wrote:
         | > What percentage should I charge the battery to? > > For
         | regular use, we recommend keeping your car set within the
         | 'Daily' range bracket, up to approximately 90%. Charging up to
         | 100% is best saved for when you are preparing for a longer
         | trip. You can adjust how full the battery charges from the
         | charge settings menu. > [tesla.com/support/home-charging-
         | installation/faq](https://www.tesla.com/support/home-charging-
         | installation/faq)
         | 
         | > There are two reasons: charging performance and battery
         | longevity. Most of the time you should only charge an EV to 80%
         | because charging rates slow down dramatically past the 80%
         | mark. And two, the long-term health of your vehicle's battery
         | pack is improved when kept below 100%. > [witricity.com](https:
         | //witricity.com/newsroom/blog/the-80-rule/)
        
           | jtc331 wrote:
           | The "charging slows down" is only true for DC fast charging.
           | If you're charging at home it doesn't have an effect because
           | the ratio of input energy to battery size is already so
           | small.
        
           | josephcsible wrote:
           | That's only true of NMC batteries, not of LFP ones, which
           | their Model 3 SR now ships with. With LFP batteries, it's
           | better for them to charge them to 100%.
        
         | lelanthran wrote:
         | > That would be an extremely unusual commute to be doing by car
         | in Europe, people do it but it's very rare. If you're going to
         | be covering over 1000km a week(!!!!) Then get a good diesel,
         | not a brand new EX90.
         | 
         | Aren't they in the middle of outlawing them?
        
           | ceejayoz wrote:
           | More than a decade from now, and that's assuming the EV
           | market continues to advance the technology as much as is
           | predicted.
        
           | gambiting wrote:
           | There's no talk of outlawing any vehicles people already own.
           | You won't be able to buy a brand new one in a decade, but
           | there's no indication you won't be able to use one you
           | already own.
        
       | 1970-01-01 wrote:
       | >Imagine your daily commute is 115 km (e.g. Roeselare-Brussel)
       | and you can't charge at the office. _Then you need 230km
       | realistic daily range, and probably more like 300km._ The only
       | cars that come near that, are the Volvo EX90 or the BMW i7. Those
       | are not cheap cars.
       | 
       | Realistic daily range is a bullshit phrase that assumes you will
       | never have access to a fast charger. I understand realistic
       | range, e.g. you can not go as far in cold, and daily range, e.g.
       | you need to go 230km every day. I'm calling out how a combination
       | of the two terms somehow excludes the ability to refuel when
       | needed on that 230km commute. If you're going to be realistic, be
       | realistic.
        
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