Range anxiety after two days of driving

[guyofthesky]

I have a way to avoid all the cold weather debating in this thread... let's only allow people from here in California to share their range experiences ?

Well, and maybe Florida and Hawaii?

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[dbsb3233]

I realize for decades that ICE vehicles would usually only show a percentage of a tank of fuel and we all survived but there have been quite a few times where I have come close to running out of fuel or even ran out once or twice. I have NEVER ran out of charge in a BEV and I think it's because I can see the real time range remaining. I think having the range displayed is an evolution compared to how it was done in the past

I have a feeling that few people run out of juice in a BEV because they're 10x more cautious with it than they are an ICE vehicle.

In other words, they MAKE SURE they don't run out because they can't afford to not be preplanning routes and chargers and carefully monitoring power levels. Unlike ICE where you just get in the car and go and assume there's gas all over.

 

[TheVirtualTim]

This whole thing about heat pumps vs. resistive heat is, in my opinion, perhaps a bit misguided.

I'm a bit of a physics geek. Compress gas and it gets hotter. Decompress it and it gets colder. But the pump and the temperature range swing of the refrigerant... and the physical size of the heat-exchanger (amount of time the refrigerant is exposed to air of a different temperature) are factors. Can you make it more efficient... sure... make the entire hood and roof one huge heat-exchanger (not sure what that does for aerodynamics). Could you just keep compressing and compressing to increase the temperature difference?
Stars do it. The pressure in the core of a star is so high that atoms collide and break... instead of repelling... resulting in nuclear fusion. But that requires the mass of a star ... there's little chance of any EV pulling off nuclear fusion anytime soon.

But it's all beside the point.

In "summer" months... I may take some road trips. I generally don't take road trips in the winter (when I was 20-30 years old and my knees were better then I'd be driving up to the ski resorts. Then maybe I'd care more about the range. But not so much anymore). In the winter my "road trips" are typically just trips around town. During the pandemic I'm not visiting friends (that's relegated to phone calls these days) but I might make an errand to a grocer or a hardware store.

The point being that in these "winter" months anything above about 50 miles of range is MORE than adequate. In a financial analysis... if you pay for a single kilowatt of battery capacity more than you actually NEED ... then you wasted money and bought a sub-optimal vehicle.

So this begs the question: does the car have a big enough battery to let me do my errands at whatever temperature I feel like setting in the cabin?

Sure does. Anything more than that is me over-buying beyond what I can use.

In the summer months I wont be using the resistive heater at all ... so the argument is moot.

The hottest temps predicted for me in the next 10 days is 23°F (and there's a -4°F in the forecast). But I probably wont even leave the house. Regardless ... if I do, it will be a commute to a grocery or hardware store located less than 2 miles away.

 

[TheVirtualTim]

Point taken.

Safety note: Fusing atoms results in the release of gamma radiation. You probably don't want to be anywhere near the car when this happens. (I'd run for the hills!) But ... keeping the cabin warm will NOT be a problem.

 

[Mirak]

Two takeaways from this thread:

1. Tesla fanboys dropping in to say “heat pump!”

2. Winter in Wisconsin. A special breed, you northerners.

 

[timbop]

Some of that is because hot air is much less dense than cold air...

I don't know, some of the hot air being blown in this forum by the teslarati is pretty dense ?

 

[Teledatageek]

What is the difference between what you see when you fill an ICE vehicle with gas telling showing you can go 430 miles on a Full Tank when we all know that is absolutely wrong unless you have a hybrid vehicle.

The EV do the exact same thing but their max range is about half what a ICE vehicle can go. It is all about driving patterns, weather, auxillary equipment being used. After awhile it will start noticing your driving pattern and increase do not pay attention to that SOC/range reading unless you are getting close to needing to be charged. If you just look at the range constantly you will do nothing but stress yourself out and wonder if you made the right choice to go into an EV or not.

We are all at a point going into an EV that we need to retrain ourselves on how we drive and what to expect from going form an ICE to EV. Right now you are in the stages of readjusting to the new style of driving.

Well I think the big difference at this point is that one can get gas just about everywhere. I get having to adjust and it will continue to improve. Running out of juice in an EV is way different that running out of gas in an ICE vehicle. Don't get me wrong, love my EV but there are certainly compromises, that are amplified in the winter it seems.

 

[generaltso]

there's little chance of any EV pulling off nuclear fusion anytime soon.

Ummmmm...........

 

[Shayne]

Hey! We get snow.* and it was cold here yesterday. Down into the low 50s for the high. We have it hard too!

*on top of 13,803 ft tall Mauna Kea.

Nothing wrong with snow. Broke 8" of fresh powdered snow on the snowshoes again this week . Been hovering around -10F for a few weeks. There is more sun when it gets this cold makes the powder sparkle like diamonds. Would not give up our seasons for anything. It's not all bad up here; especially when you own a good igloo. Aloha, good day Eh!

 

[Ma9573]

I have a feeling that few people run out of juice in a BEV because they're 10x more cautious with it than they are an ICE vehicle.

In other words, they MAKE SURE they don't run out because they can't afford to not be preplanning routes and chargers and carefully monitoring power levels. Unlike ICE where you just get in the car and go and assume there's gas all over.

It's also because range is a little more ambiguous in ICE vehicles. I've run out of gas in every ICE vehicle I've ever owned because I was testing how far I could go after it said 0 miles or "empty" depending on the model. Always in a controlled setting and with some spare gas in the trunk though. In every case (Accord, Cherokee, 3 series, 5 series, and 2 fusion hybrids) I got at least 15 and sometimes up to 30 miles after I hit "empty". It was only in my current PHEV (Energi) a few years back where I had an unexpected breakdown, thinking I had enough gas to get to the next station between Modesto and Fresno - the Energi only has about 6-10 miles at most after hitting zero FYI lol

In an EV though there is no "reserve" or driving on fumes, so people know to plan ahead and get that bad boy plugged in when you get low ?

 

[mr_raider]

Point taken.

Safety note: Fusing atoms results in the release of gamma radiation. You probably don't want to be anywhere near the car when this happens. (I'd run for the hills!) But ... keeping the cabin warm will NOT be a problem.

Hell no. That's how I got my super powers.

 

[Mirak]

Jon: I'm not getting EPA-estimated range.
Tormund: That's cuz no heat pump.
Jorah: Why do we live in Wisconsin?
Gendry: Jobs and kids and stuff.

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