🔋 The Extended Battery Decision (Poll: Which battery option suits you best?)

[ElectricShitbox]

There's another factor in the small/big battery decision for me that I just realized. New York has an EV tax credit still, and it's $1k for an EV with 40-199 miles of range, $2k for 200+ mi. So I would theoretically get a net $1k off whatever the big battery upgrade costs.

 

[metroshot]

With a super long battery warranty (8 years), I do not worry about longevity or battery degradation.

I charge mine to 100% on L2 and DCFC and never worry about reaching 8 years.

EVs I plan on keeping it at least 5 years.

 

[beatle]

While most of the miles I plan to do in a day will be well within the capability of the standard battery, only having 150 miles of range really changes your road trips, sometimes forcing DCFC targets over 80% which is a real drag. Experimental route planning with ABRP on a 339 mile trip I routinely take shows that I'd be stopping every 45 minutes to charge in the winter with the standard pack, adding 1h 45m to a trip with 5h 45m of driving. The extended pack drops an hour off the charging time.

I guess it's not insurmountable to road trip with the standard pack, but it's still pretty restrictive. This is also assuming I don't have a motorcycle in the bed cutting range down further. I think the 240 miles of range with the extended pack will be plenty. I had that with my old 2015 Model S that charged slow as can be by modern standards, and I still thought it was plenty fine for almost all road trips.