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Realistic daily range of an electric vehicle

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81–90 of 259 posts

Re: Realistic daily range of an electric vehicle

#81
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

You're getting downvoted to hell, but there's some truth to this. No one wants to ride Hotel 22 as a passenger, and homeless people on Bart is at least a small negative for ridership. Caltrain doesn't have this problem because they do fare enforcement, a ticket only gets you one ride, and its mostly a commuter train. Caltrain even lets people drink on the train and its not a problem, but it's because of the crowd the…

> Caltrain even lets people drink on the train and its not a problem, but it's because of the crowd they serve.

Even Caltrain gets rowdy on the game days, particularly with people on the bike cars refusing to give way to bikers boarding/deboarding in the intermediate stops. While this only happens occasionally, it made me miss my stop enough times (in addition to lack of safety with last mile biking) to completely give up on Caltrain.

Re: Realistic daily range of an electric vehicle

#82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if you do 100%, with just 1 year of used, my Tesla battery on 100% charge shows 320 miles, which is a far cry from 358 advertised. Plus the other estimates are correct. The range drops if it’s too cold, or if it is too hot, or if you use any of the features that the car advertises, or if you’re driving on a freeway, or if it is a stop and go traffic, or if you gain elevation, or basically if you use your car as…

EVs do much better in stop and go traffic. I wouldn’t be surprised if some even exceeds EPA range estimates in those cases.

My experience has been that the car does best when you’re driving at a steady speed of 25mph without having to stop. This is based on the internal chart that Tesla provides.

When you’re in stop and go, you actually use a lot more energy to go from 0->X but do not regenerate back enough when you come down to 0. On the other hand, maintaining a steady 25mph uses a lot less energy as compared to 0->X. Again, this is based on the Tesla energy usage data that they themselves show in car.

Re: Realistic daily range of an electric vehicle

#83
post #73

I charge my Bolt EV to 100% every day. Most manufacturers provide some headroom so rated capacity is less than actual and you aren't hitting 100% SOC, just what the car reports. What the OP also omits is that you gain range during fair weather. My Bolt EPA rating is 255 miles, but I've gotten 303 miles in the summer and as low as 191 in the winter.

This is the first time I've heard anyone exceed their EPA range. 303 miles is impressive!

I have the same experience with my Kona EV. Official range 415 km, but in the summer it's actually ~450 km. (Not that I ever run 100%-0% of course, but I get 90 km going from 80% down to 60%.)

Re: Realistic daily range of an electric vehicle

#84
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EVs make substantially less of that, due to regenerative braking.

What portion of drivers use one pedal?

The EPA uses whatever the default settings for the car are, so it's usually on my default. Anecdotally most people I know use it

Re: Realistic daily range of an electric vehicle

#85
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What portion of drivers use one pedal?

You don't need to have the one pedal driving enabled to reap the benefits. In all EVs and PHEVs you brake with the electric motors first even when using the actual pedal - normal brakes are engaged only past a certain threshold. Also to give a personal anecdote, in my Volvo XC60 PHEV, I've just had the inspection done and after 24k miles the brake pads are 5% worn. That's insane for a 2.2 tonne SUV with 400bhp. If it…

> you brake with the electric motors first

This is not true. At least for Teslas, the brake pedal only controls the friction brakes (they are hydraulically coupled). Same with a Chevy bolt. Unsure on other EVs

Re: Realistic daily range of an electric vehicle

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if you do 100%, with just 1 year of used, my Tesla battery on 100% charge shows 320 miles, which is a far cry from 358 advertised. Plus the other estimates are correct. The range drops if it’s too cold, or if it is too hot, or if you use any of the features that the car advertises, or if you’re driving on a freeway, or if it is a stop and go traffic, or if you gain elevation, or basically if you use your car as…

EVs do much better in stop and go traffic. I wouldn’t be surprised if some even exceeds EPA range estimates in those cases.

I doubt it would outperform EPA estimates (you can only recapture energy not create it afresh with regenerative braking), but compared to ICE cars the percentage of stated range would be very high.

Re: Realistic daily range of an electric vehicle

#87
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tesla advises 90% max, other sources advise charging to 80% to save battery performance. I use 80% for day-to-day, 90% for longer day trips, 100% for international travel. [tesla.com/support/home-charging-installation/faq]( https://www.tesla.com/support/home-charging-installation/faq )

I am aware of that. I charge my Tesla to about 50-70% as most of my infrequent trips are short. But I also don’t write articles complaining about low mileage.

This article was inspired by colleagues who are choosing their first EV and use the EPA range as an actual distance. I have colleagues that live > 100km from work. I wanted to point out that an EPA rating of 350km doesn't mean the car is a good match.

Re: Realistic daily range of an electric vehicle

#88
post #14

So you deliberately don't charge the battery to 100% then conclude the realistic range is shorter than advertised? I get you don't charge to 100% every day, but if you know you're going to drive further then....you do. Or just do what I do and charge to max each time, the battery is warrantied for 8 years, it's going to be fine. >>Imagine your daily commute is 115 km (e.g. Roeselare-Brussel That would be an extremely…

> What percentage should I charge the battery to? > > For regular use, we recommend keeping your car set within the 'Daily' range bracket, up to approximately 90%. Charging up to 100% is best saved for when you are preparing for a longer trip. You can adjust how full the battery charges from the charge settings menu. > [tesla.com/support/home-charging-installation/faq]( https://www.tesla.com/support/home-charging-ins…

The “charging slows down” is only true for DC fast charging. If you’re charging at home it doesn’t have an effect because the ratio of input energy to battery size is already so small.

Re: Realistic daily range of an electric vehicle

#89
post #79
post #69

"Cold weather has an influence on the battery capacity too." I take this to mean that the author acknowledges GAS cars are also affected by cold weather. There's just no escaping thermodynamics. It's also like pointing out GAS cars' MPG is reduced by 20%+ in cold weather. While it's true, it's like pointing out a gotcha edge case for all cars. So the conclusion can also apply the same way to GAS cars. 'Next time you…

Actually I wasn't referring to ICE, just that the climate influenced the realistic daily range too. But your remark is very interesting, I would have thought that combustion did not suffer much from the cold.

Maybe it’s air density with coefficient of drag that worsens in cold air.

Re: Realistic daily range of an electric vehicle

#90
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What portion of drivers use one pedal?

You don't need to have the one pedal driving enabled to reap the benefits. In all EVs and PHEVs you brake with the electric motors first even when using the actual pedal - normal brakes are engaged only past a certain threshold. Also to give a personal anecdote, in my Volvo XC60 PHEV, I've just had the inspection done and after 24k miles the brake pads are 5% worn. That's insane for a 2.2 tonne SUV with 400bhp. If it…

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