P. Regent
Member
- First Name
- ROBERT
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2026
- Threads
- 2
- Messages
- 17
- Reaction score
- 19
- Location
- California
- Vehicles
- Tesla Model S, Chevy Colorado
- Thread starter
- #1
Every post I've ever read about range anxiety was written by someone who didn't own an EV. I get that. We have an infrastructure where we're used to pulling into a gas station - pretty much anywhere, any time, and "filling up" - then repeated 300 miles later. Doing something differently is a little scary.
So here's my story: I wanted to buy a used EV before the tax credit for them expired last year. My wife was... unenthusiastic. She had range concerns. She wanted at least 300 miles range. I looked at VW's, Hyundais, Polestars. Then Elon started ranting, folks around here started dumping their Teslas in disgust, and we stumbled across an 8 year old Model S with <40K miles and looked liked it just rolled off the showroom floor - for <$20K. We bought it. My wife loves it. It's "her car" now.
It started out with 245 mile range. After 8 years, it shows as 225. We charge to 80%, which is about 180. It's not even close to an issue. Granted, we have optimal circumstances: we own our home, I installed a 220V outlet in the garage so we charge easily at home, and we don't often take long road trips. But for everyday life, when it drops below 100 miles range, we plug it in overnight (off-peak.)
But we sometimes do take longer trips. We have friends who moved 200 miles away. We have a rental property we had to deal with 100+ miles away. We charge to 100% before those drives, but we still need to charge on the road. But I'm old, so I need to take a break and stretch my legs (and back) every couple of hours anyway. And there are Supercharges all along both routes. So we just do that. It takes minimal (but non-zero) planning. And it's been kind of cool. We stumbled across a Sushi restaurant in Turlock that was awesome - I started looking for excuses to go work on the rental unit just so I could have lunch there. (For non-Californians, finding a good Sushi restaurant in Turlock is every bit as unlikely as it sounds.) Other Superchargers are near strip malls (found a very cool - if strange - Japanese store in one; sometimes just wander around.) Or just sit in the car - AC on - and read, or talk for 20 minutes or so. It's not like the frantic, kind of dirty and awkward experience I'm used to at a gas station.
So the bottom line for me is: I'm not the slightest bit worried about a 150 mile range - especially if it's LFP. I understand other folks, who have different lives, may have different needs and wants. But I suspect that a lot of people who insist they have to have 240 miles of range really... don't "need" it.
So here's my story: I wanted to buy a used EV before the tax credit for them expired last year. My wife was... unenthusiastic. She had range concerns. She wanted at least 300 miles range. I looked at VW's, Hyundais, Polestars. Then Elon started ranting, folks around here started dumping their Teslas in disgust, and we stumbled across an 8 year old Model S with <40K miles and looked liked it just rolled off the showroom floor - for <$20K. We bought it. My wife loves it. It's "her car" now.
It started out with 245 mile range. After 8 years, it shows as 225. We charge to 80%, which is about 180. It's not even close to an issue. Granted, we have optimal circumstances: we own our home, I installed a 220V outlet in the garage so we charge easily at home, and we don't often take long road trips. But for everyday life, when it drops below 100 miles range, we plug it in overnight (off-peak.)
But we sometimes do take longer trips. We have friends who moved 200 miles away. We have a rental property we had to deal with 100+ miles away. We charge to 100% before those drives, but we still need to charge on the road. But I'm old, so I need to take a break and stretch my legs (and back) every couple of hours anyway. And there are Supercharges all along both routes. So we just do that. It takes minimal (but non-zero) planning. And it's been kind of cool. We stumbled across a Sushi restaurant in Turlock that was awesome - I started looking for excuses to go work on the rental unit just so I could have lunch there. (For non-Californians, finding a good Sushi restaurant in Turlock is every bit as unlikely as it sounds.) Other Superchargers are near strip malls (found a very cool - if strange - Japanese store in one; sometimes just wander around.) Or just sit in the car - AC on - and read, or talk for 20 minutes or so. It's not like the frantic, kind of dirty and awkward experience I'm used to at a gas station.
So the bottom line for me is: I'm not the slightest bit worried about a 150 mile range - especially if it's LFP. I understand other folks, who have different lives, may have different needs and wants. But I suspect that a lot of people who insist they have to have 240 miles of range really... don't "need" it.
