Which Really Costs More: Charging an EV or Filling Up Your Tank With Gas?

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I wonder if he knew not to charge to full, as getting the last few percent of charge is what takes ages.

From what I read, it seems long trips in an EV add about 1/3rd more time than taking an ICE.

...I don't know why anyone would take an EV over a Prius on a long trip. There's no better vehicle for that. Just the opposite, I would trade someone my Tesla for their ICE for long trips.

I always used to offer the Prius to friends when I knew they had a long trip ahead of them.

I think he was charging pretty often and doing what the Tesla navigator was telling him to do. I thought it sort of automatically picked the shortest overall time. What they never tell you it's not just the extra 20 mins you spend at the "pump" but the time it takes to exit, find the thing, initialize the charger, then get back to the freeway. So 5 stops vs one stop is probably 60 mins more off the road not charging, and not advancing to your destination. Then add the charge times on top of that.

[redpoint5]

I forgot that Tesla calculates all that for the user. Someone experienced probably has a few tricks to speed things up since the Tesla plan is probably too conservative. Perhaps a stop could be skipped or other strategies to save time.

I would think a 500 mile trip could be accomplished in only 2 charging sessions, which is about how many stops I'd want to take on such a trip, but I guess that would depend on where chargers are located.

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

What they never tell you it's not just the extra 20 mins you spend at the "pump" but the time it takes to exit, find the thing, initialize the charger, then get back to the freeway.

When I road-tripped to Bonneville, I had the same problem with clear premium.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

But on a trip you are paying more and taking much longer. When my wife passed, my nephews friend loaned him his Model 3 to come to the memorial 500 miles away from Seattle. Supposedly to save hin money. I asked if he had free supercharging and he didn't. They actually own a newer Prius, and I told him take the Prius. I think he wanted to experience the Tesla so he took the Tesla. Not only did it cost much more than the Prius would have, gas was still way under $3 and the Pruis would have done the trip on 20 gallons, but it took him FOREVER. We make that trip at least once a year if not more and 8 hours is the norm. He was 12 hours and he agreed in the end while the Tesla is fun around town, they sould have taken the Prius on the highway.

Bingo. Use the right tool for the job.

This is why I don't get all the hype about EV range. I drove 8500 miles a year in an EV with a rated range of 82 miles. I would have driven more if I wasn't on the road 25-30% of the time. The Bolt is rated for 250 miles. If I'm driving more than that in a day I'm just going to drive the other car.

Making EVs with 300, 400, 500 mile ranges just makes them expensive and inefficient for range that is needed 1% of trips.

[freebeard]

A pusher Airstream would give a place to hang out while they recharge.

[Piotrsko]

If it wasn't for the crap mileage, travel in a self contained RV is always more pleasant. Stop and do whatever you need:food, potty, drinks, nap......

[freebeard]

Stainless steel Jeep body on a 2WD Veep chassis converted to electric with a pusher teardrop?

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

If it wasn't for the crap mileage, travel in a self contained RV is always more pleasant. Stop and do whatever you need:food, potty, drinks, nap......

That's were we need full self driving. Binge watch your favorite shows, take a nap, take a shower, eat a pizza then have it drop you off in front of the zoo or stadium or wherever and go park somewhere free until you are done.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I wonder if he knew not to charge to full, as getting the last few percent of charge is what takes ages.

From what I read, it seems long trips in an EV add about 1/3rd more time than taking an ICE.

...I don't know why anyone would take an EV over a Prius on a long trip. There's no better vehicle for that. Just the opposite, I would trade someone my Tesla for their ICE for long trips.

I always used to offer the Prius to friends when I knew they had a long trip ahead of them.

A shot in the dark would have to do with decarbonizing the American fleet. It's obviously not for everyone at this point in time.
Progress does appear to be non-linear, and in a good way.

[Xist]

"Allegedly."

Was there a recent battery discussion? I didn't see anything in the last page. My phone told me about: https://electrek.co/2022/02/02/quant...cutive-cycles/

...and...

U Mich team develops 1,000-cycle lithium-sulfur battery using microscopic layers of recycled Kevlar to prevent dendrites.

I ran across this whole looking for a source other than my weird app:

The tests revealed that adding 10% by weight of Kevlar nanofibres to the modified rGO electrodes yields structures with a tensile strength of almost 200 MPa and a Young’s modulus in excess of 10 MPa – which is similar to the mechanical properties of natural materials such as wood or bone.

Materials with the strength of wood or bone don't sound like the best option for structural batteries, but that is an improvement? https://physicsworld.com/a/structura...s-to-the-test/