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Tesla Model 3 Sets New EV Cannonball Run Record

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Re: Tesla Model 3 Sets New EV Cannonball Run Record

#151
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, refuling will always be faster than recharging. That is physics. The question rather is: at which point (and for which driver profile) is it no longer a practical problem? Elektric cars already save you a lot of refuling stops in day-to-day driving, if you plug them in over night. And the Tesla supercharger network is basically almost fast enough, that it reasonably fits with the breaks one would take on long tr…

Personally, I think it's when an EV can make a 9-hour drive without needing more than about 30 minutes of total charging. 9 hours is (in my opinion) the max amount of driving you can seriously do without at least a couple hours of resting. That'd be about 540 miles total, maybe a bit less if you could make those 30 minutes of rest stops at a fast charger. Right now, EV's are clearly the future. I'd say that when they…

I don't think 500 miles of range is what will trigger it as the obvious choice.

A proliferation of decent, non "ev looking" cars with 200 miles of range will be all it takes for people to realize that they only really drive 50 miles a day, and paying for gas is for suckers.

Re: Tesla Model 3 Sets New EV Cannonball Run Record

#152
post #121
post #112

How much time spent charging? Charging time is what make petrol win. Drive 500 miles, take 5mn to charge up and you're good for 500 more miles. Until EV can do this (surely through charging stations like petrol cars) they won't good at anything more than daily commute if you can plug your car at at home and at work. So battery technology is where the interest should be. We already know how to make efficient electric…

Yes, refuling will always be faster than recharging. That is physics. The question rather is: at which point (and for which driver profile) is it no longer a practical problem? Elektric cars already save you a lot of refuling stops in day-to-day driving, if you plug them in over night. And the Tesla supercharger network is basically almost fast enough, that it reasonably fits with the breaks one would take on long tr…

Maybe I'm crazy, but it seems to me that the solution is standardizing power cell size/shape, and simply swapping them out at stations loaded with pre-charged cells. It seems then you could use a lot more technology to recharge those cells in a single location with a huge power hookup (and cooling).

Re: Tesla Model 3 Sets New EV Cannonball Run Record

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DC fast chargers aren't as common but charge the Bolt at supercharger-like speeds if you have the option

That doesn’t really address what I’m saying. The ability to use a DC fast charger doesn’t help if there aren’t any to use. Last I looked, there were no cross-country routes available using non-Tesla fast chargers. You’d need to cross large gaps on 240V charging alone. Edit: just to show what I'm talking about, here's what plugshare.com shows for CCS chargers in the middle of the US: http://mikeash.com/tmp/screenshot_…

The Bolt is EPA rated at 238 miles but on a long highway trip with not-terrible-weather it's trivial to drive and get 300 miles of range without resorting to hypermilling. A Level 2 charger would cover the 36 mile gap.

You'd expect to use a mix of DC chargers and Level 2 chargers. I think it's doable in both cars but I'd personally never take that trip in either of them. I don't know how often people are doing LA to NY trips that they'd ever decide between cars over their ability to do that vs just renting a car (or flying).

Re: Tesla Model 3 Sets New EV Cannonball Run Record

#154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A racetrack would be a completely different test of skill. From what I understand a cannonball run is largely planning and endurance. Edit: Not to discount the idea that it is reckless to do it on public roads...

The main skill of Cannonball is to be more reckless than others and see what you can get away with. I don't want to meet some sleep deprived and probably drugged up "racers" on the road. If they want endurance they can do a 24 hour race. If they want a difficult track they can go to the Nuerburgring in Germany and do the 24 our race there. Or just try it in the wet.

No, the main skill is planning. Whether or not you're endangering other people it's hard to cover lots of miles quickly on roads with other people. Nobody who's serious about a good time is going to be on a crowded road. It's a waste of time.

You have to balance your route planning between weather, peak commuter hour, shortest route, fuel stops, speed traps, etc, across a few thousand miles and a few time zones.

The biggest risk to "others" is that when traveling much faster light traffic you have little margin for error if someone in that traffic does something dumb.

Re: Tesla Model 3 Sets New EV Cannonball Run Record

#155
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing that put me off about tesla, if you overlook all of the manufacturing issues that pretty much every analyst says will doom the company, is that for some bizarre reason the models were intentionally named in order to spell out S3XY. After Harvey Weinstein I think we all need to take a good hard look at the men who are in charge of things and ask, "why?" People don't get a free pass on being creeps just becau…

Congrats! Elon could have got away with it, but you connected the dots. He will be forced to resign any day now.

He's the last technology patriarch. Practically a dinosaur from the age where women were not allowed to study STEM. AND HE MARRIES ONLY SUPERMODELS, how's that for a smoking gun of oppression?

Re: Tesla Model 3 Sets New EV Cannonball Run Record

#156

I drove the Model 3 last week. It’s a properly good car in it’s own right - It reminded me of the MOdel 3 from BMS in how it handles, of course the performance curve is totally different. The rethinking of the dashboard is perfect for the cell phone age. It’s Apple Good (back when Apple was good). The performance curve - the instant power at any point is addicting. The seats were comfortable, and the trunk space was…

>With a Bolt, there are places that you just can’t go.

This just isn't true, check plugshare.com. It is now possible to drive cross-country in any EV with fast charging.

Re: Tesla Model 3 Sets New EV Cannonball Run Record

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steve Jobs was basically a salesman. A brilliant one. Nothing bad in that; I just wouldn't call him a "tech leader" - he was involved with technology only incidentally.

Steve Jobs was hacking on electronics in the 1970s and building the most advanced personal computing devices from then until his death. He was not a programmer but he knew more about computers than most programmers do. There's absolutely no way to call him non-technical accurately. Bill Gates giving up programming did not make him non-technical. Elon Musk wouldn't make this mistake. He's very openly trying to emulate…

If you read any of the stuff from Fokelore.org you'd realize how mistaken you were.

Re: Tesla Model 3 Sets New EV Cannonball Run Record

#158

I drove the Model 3 last week. It’s a properly good car in it’s own right - It reminded me of the MOdel 3 from BMS in how it handles, of course the performance curve is totally different. The rethinking of the dashboard is perfect for the cell phone age. It’s Apple Good (back when Apple was good). The performance curve - the instant power at any point is addicting. The seats were comfortable, and the trunk space was…

>With a Bolt, there are places that you just can’t go. This just isn't true, check plugshare.com. It is now possible to drive cross-country in any EV with fast charging.

That's not entirely true. There are no CCS DC fast chargers (the type the bolt uses) in much of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and North/South Dakota. You might be able to drive from Seattle to NYC but you'd have to drive pretty far out of your way to do it.

Super chargers are available in all of those states, making any cross country driving in that area significantly faster and easier.

Re: Tesla Model 3 Sets New EV Cannonball Run Record

#159

While I appreciate the record, the GPS fast forward video shows frequent texting while driving. Is this legal in the US? Here in the Netherlands we have statistics showing car accidents up after a downward trends with texting while driving as the leading cause. It makes me wish people were back to using cellphones without carkits, at least people had more chance of eyes on the road.

I've not watched the video but it's possible Tesla autopilot was engaged at those moments. I'm not sure if that changes the legalities though.

Re: Tesla Model 3 Sets New EV Cannonball Run Record

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn’t really address what I’m saying. The ability to use a DC fast charger doesn’t help if there aren’t any to use. Last I looked, there were no cross-country routes available using non-Tesla fast chargers. You’d need to cross large gaps on 240V charging alone. Edit: just to show what I'm talking about, here's what plugshare.com shows for CCS chargers in the middle of the US: http://mikeash.com/tmp/screenshot_…

The Bolt is EPA rated at 238 miles but on a long highway trip with not-terrible-weather it's trivial to drive and get 300 miles of range without resorting to hypermilling. A Level 2 charger would cover the 36 mile gap. You'd expect to use a mix of DC chargers and Level 2 chargers. I think it's doable in both cars but I'd personally never take that trip in either of them. I don't know how often people are doing LA to…

I'm surprised you can get so much additional range. My Tesla typically gets the EPA rated range in good weather at 65-70MPH. A 25% increase in range would require driving significantly slower than the speed of traffic. Is the Bolt's range really so understated?

LA to NYC is a pretty unusual trip. The Bolt is still a difficult sell for more typical long car trips, though. I've done a dozen thousand-mile legs in my Model S without a problem, but they'd be really tough in a Bolt. The chargers do exist for the routes I've taken, but they're not very conveniently located and often are single units, leaving you vulnerable to being blocked, broken, or in use.

I think the Supercharger network is adequate for road trips, but it's the bare minimum to make it reasonable.

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