Electric vehicle range: What, me worry?

Oh my gawd . . . NOW what? Here GM has spent untold (pre & post bankruptcy) millions on Volt advertising ... a concept car that promotes not worrying about range ... because in addition to EV power and batteries, they stuffed a gas tank & ICE & connecting linkage on the theory that it's absolutely positively necessary to have an additional device carrying explosive toxic fuel, and a smog belching mechanism!

 

You just have to remember to actually plug in the charging cord.... If you are running low on gas, it is a simple matter to pull into the nearest gas station and fill 'er up. Personally, I think GM did their homework to include a standby ICE. Regardless of the research, 40 miles is on the edge of EV-only range. It wouldn't work for me on a number of trips that I take over the course of a week of driving. 1 trip into S.F., driving around in S.F., and back home, and I am at around 50 to 60 miles.

 

@efuso

I agreed with you. I hope the next one will be plug in.

 

W/o quick charging stations everywhere, a pure EV will not likely be a primary vehicle. Unless, of course, you have a 300-miles range, and you don't travel far.

Volt has its selling point. Many Mini-E customers show range anxiety on their forum.
In real world, the Volt's 40-mile range could be a more realistic 32-mile range.
It is perfect for my wife, who mainly uses her Prius for local shopping and busing kids.
Either Volt or Leaf will be in my garage replacing our Prius. Toyota's 13 mile range plug-in Prius (if it indeed happens) will not unlikely cut it for us. We might have to plug it in every other night just like my HTC phone. Smart, it is not.

 

If I only had a 40 mile range then yeah I'd have range anxiety just about every day.

 

I thought that even traveling 200 miles is far. 300 is far? wow How do you reconcile that statistics show 80% of people drive 40 miles or less? If numbers show most people are NOT driving 200 - 300 miles a day, rather 40 ... than why can't the EV be primary ... and the ICE be secondary?

 

Overall cost of a two motor (hybrid) system makes the pure electric a better deal. Just buy a honda generator to charge up in an emergency. On a vacation to Wally World the hybrid will be the best choice. So the answer is to have both in the family if you can afford two vehicles. Ed Begley Jr has both and it seems to work out well for him when his wife cooperates. I had to laugh when she took a limo from the airport to the off-grid community in Oregon. Not too ecosmart!

 

EVs aren't cellphones. You don't have to keep it with you at all times so you can make the decision when you park. Secondly the charging system in the car will be programmable so you'll be able to plug in without it charging immediately. Not plugging in will be a conscious decision.

I have a 45.2 mile round-trip commute. My wife's is 40 miles. Most of our non-commute miles are also 50 mile round trips. I've calculated that with a Leaf getting 80 miles round trip we could do 13,500 miles of 20,000 per year. But a PHEV with 40 miles EV range and sub-Prius HEV would only be for commuting and groceries so wouldn't pay back as much.

 

And that is the challenge that the Volt would face as a pure EV. IMO, the 'magic' number is around 100 mile range on EV.

 

I wonder where your conviction comes from. I've been driving a ~100 mile EV as our main vehicle for ten years now. We put about 11,000 miles per year on our "primary" vehicle. Though we do sometimes choose (notice, not NEED as most people call it) to drive beyond the EV's range - that happens only a couple of times per month. The other 28 days per month are easily handled with the EV's range. The car we drive the most is what I call our "primary" car. The one the goes farther - but not as often - is the secondary car that is only used when "needed."

The main reason that gas cars have 300-500 miles range is because it is so inconvenient to fill up. Nobody wants to do THAT every day.... and there are still many places in this country where gas stations are few and far between.

 

darell, if your rav goes 100 miles on a charge, why aren't they making them anymore? seems like the prefect electric car technology has been around for years. are there any downsides that could not be corrected in an updated vehicle?

 

For the Volt, a 45 mile commute and a EV range of 35 miles (being conservative) and a CS mpg of 40mpg you would use a single gallon of gas every four days. If you actually get 40 miles EV range then its a gallon of gas every eight days for commuting. Not bad!

 

I would like to invite you to my site - EVnut.com. Get something good to drink as you'll have a lot of reading to do. The question "why don't they make them anymore" requires an answer longer than would be appropriate for a PC thread. The short answer, however, is: Because the car makers found a way to not have to make them any more - by suing the state of CA with the help of the federal government. But all that's changed now, and we WILL see the cars made again.

Yes, this great technology HAS been around since the mid 90's. And no, there are no downsides that couldn't be corrected in a second or third generation of these vehicles - and that's where we'd be today if the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate were not crushed in 2000. Instead, we've starting over from scratch... but now there's no more going back. This time is for real. Consumers have finally woken up and smelled the coffee.

 

It'll take at LEAST one of those Costco 36-packs ... trust me on that ~


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I'll never forget one guy a while back who asked me a very basic question about the EVs I've owned. I pointed him to the site. Literally ten minutes later he emails me back and says, "OK, I've read your whole site and..."

Ha! My guess is that he made it all the way through the opening page.