ARTICLE: You Need Way Less Range Than You Think

[Dorbiman]

Isn’t the security of you and your family worth the extra $$ to make sure you get home safely?

This seems a bit of a stretch to me. I've never had a problem with a detour making me run out of gas in my truck or car, and I'm one of the people that doesn't fill up until I'm down to a 1/4 tank. If I'm going somewhere I'm unfamiliar with, it's quick and easy enough to pop it into Waze or Google Maps to check the route. This seems like a non-issue to me, but I also know that there are tons of chargers around, so worse case scenario is me and my family sit in a Target parking lot for 20 mins while I recharge.

 

[GaRailroader]

On an EV road trip the rule is stop at 20% battery SOC and recharge to 80% SOC because it's (a) best for long term battery health, (b) it's the fastest range recovery of the battery charging curve. That takes detailed planning vs. ICEV which really takes little planning other than watching the fuel gauge (or wait for the low fuel warning) and looking for a gas station.

Have you done a road trip in an EV? What you describe certainly is contrary to my experience road tripping in an EV for the last 7 years.

 

[E90400K]

Have you done a road trip in an EV? What you describe certainly is contrary to my experience road tripping in an EV for the last 7 years.

Nope.

 

[null98115]

I anticipate 3000 miles a year, 100% under 100 miles. Yea, I'll be fine.

 

[KevinRS]

That 20% rule, is not something you even want to make a 100% of the time thing. You need to occasionally go down lower, and charge to 100%, to calibrate the range. Don't worry about never getting below that 20% even in an emergency. You can consider it your reserve for those emergencies, that's fine. EV chargers are also being installed at an accelerating rate.

 

[bumblebeetuna13]

Even as consumers demand electric cars that can go 250, 300 or even 400 miles between charging sessions, research shows that they can usually make do with far less.

Full article here: INSIDE EVs - How Much Range do you Actually Need

Dang my bad y’all. I posted an article that I found personally interesting and posted it here because, well, I thought you might find it interesting, too.

Didn’t mean for things to get so spicy. My take is if you want a no frills, small EV truck with sub 200 mi range, then a Slate might be a good option for you. If this is not what you want, perhaps your time and energy would be better spent in a different forum.

 

[GaRailroader]

That 20% rule, is not something you even want to make a 100% of the time thing. You need to occasionally go down lower, and charge to 100%, to calibrate the range. Don't worry about never getting below that 20% even in an emergency. You can consider it your reserve for those emergencies, that's fine. EV chargers are also being installed at an accelerating rate.

Tesla doesn't enforce the 20% rule and they are the ones warrantying the battery. The only thing Tesla cautions is when you set your charge limit to higher than 80% a Charge Tip appears in the app which reads '80% recommended for daily driving'. I didn't hear of the 20% rule of thumb until joining this forum. I think it is human nature to not leave your EV below a quarter tank.

For the non-EV owners, to illustrate how easy a road trip in an EV can be, I looked up the Salty Dog Cafe on Hilton Head Island in Google maps on my phone and shared it with my Tesla. It is 316 miles away from my home in the north Atlanta suburbs. I haven't charged the Tesla in several days and so the range indicator is showing 169 miles remaining. The Tesla nav calculates the route complete with charging stops. With a partial charge on the car at the start it is recommending 2 stops at 10 minutes each. The first one in Macon, GA for 10 minutes. Battery is at 24% at arrival. The 2nd stop is in Metter, GA where battery is at 11% at arrival. Battery is also at 11% at destination. You can set a minimum charge level that you would like to be at destination and it will incorporate that in to the plan. (I have not set up this option) If I was really planning on going to Hilton Head today I would have charged last night and it would have only recommended 1 charging stop about halfway at Dublin, GA. It is in a Wendy's parking lot so we make it a lunch stop and charge longer than 20 minutes.

 

[E90400K]

The answer to your first question is because it’s easy to do so. Making a larger gas tank is trivial, so there’s no reason not to.

EVs can be plugged in every night, meaning you have a full “tank” every day. If you drive less than what you can recover each night, then max range doesn’t really matter for day to day use

I'll have to completely disagree with the statement "adding a larger gas tank is trivial" in a modern-day ICEV.

 

[Dorbiman]

I'll have to completely disagree with the statement "adding a larger gas tank is trivial" in a modern-day ICEV.

My statement was for the automaker, not the end user. My bad if that wasn’t clear. It’s not a problem for Chevy to mount a 28 gallon tank under a Silverado. Shit, my GTO fuel tank is just in the trunk and that’s from the factory.

 

[E90400K]

My statement was for the automaker, not the end user. My bad if that wasn’t clear. It’s not a problem for Chevy to mount a 28 gallon tank under a Silverado. Shit, my GTO fuel tank is just in the trunk and that’s from the factory.

I was too. The automaker has to comply with very stringent fuel system safety regs for modern cars (i.e. model year 2025) not like a 1960's Pontiac prior to significant rewrite of safety regs in 1970.

 

[Dorbiman]

My Pontiac is a 2005, not a 60’s.
My point is that there is typically lots of room. Especially with modern saddle style split tanks.

 

[GaRailroader]

He usually stops 3 times at 10 to 15 minutes each to recharge as that is the optimal speed the battery can charge in the meat of the charging curve, from about 45% to 80%.

45% to 80% is not the meat of the charging curve. When you plug in at 10% SOC, you will see charging rates where you are adding range to your battery at a rate of over 1000 miles per hour. This charging rate tapers off as you fill up. Starting at 45% you are barely breaking 100 kWh. Once I drop below 100 kWh, I am watching the app to see when I have enough to get to the next planned charging stop. Taking your battery up to 80% at each charging stop you are going to spend a lot more time charging then running it down to 10 and charging up to 50 or 60. I know this is counter intuitive to ICE people to stop on a trip and get half a tank of gas but in an EV that is the way to minimize charging time. Below is the charging curve for a Model Y Long Range. In a Slate, the larger battery pack will have faster charging experience even if on a road trip you only take it up 150 miles and never use the extended capacity.

 

[SichuanHot]

I was too. The automaker has to comply with very stringent fuel system safety regs for modern cars (i.e. model year 2025) not like a 1960's Pontiac prior to significant rewrite of safety regs in 1970.

If you have a truck with a bed, you can easily put an aftermarket fuel tank in the bed with a fuel hose attachment. Other body styles not so easy, but trucks - super easy.

 

[AZFox]

This charging rate tapers off as you fill up.

This happens with my phone(s).
When SOC is low, charging is rapid.
When SOC is high, charging slows, eventually to a trickle near 100%.

Might be for different reasons, possibly temperature?

 

[GaRailroader]

This happens with my phone(s).
When SOC is low, charging is rapid.
When SOC is high, charging slows, eventually to a trickle near 100%.

Might be for different reasons, possibly temperature?

Heat is definitely the case for the charging curve taper on EVs. The closer you get to 100% the higher the voltage and consequently the heat.