Are the days of Watt-Gobblers numbered?

[RKinWA]

Obviously it won't be as extreme as this concept car, but I can see a day in the near future where to most people range is all that matters, as it's human nature to pick something to be the 'best' at, so I can definitely see BEVs moving toward smaller, sleeker, lighter, more aerodynamic, you know, to save energy, which is already at a premium. Personally speaking, I would much rather have the style and comfort of a nice MME to drive around town, where range isn't an issue, but if you're a road-tripper, it would make sense I guess.

I coined the term Watt-Gobbler as a comparison to the old Gas Guzzlers, as I am sure the 100-300 mile range vehicles of today will be thought of 5 years from now

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[phil]

I can see a day in the near future where to most people range is all that matters...

That day will never come. Few people are so single-minded.

 

[azerik]

I'm on the list for a Lightyear2. It's the perfect (albeit fugly perfect) car for AZ.
I think my MME is a Watt Gobbler.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

For me, the Mustang already meets most of my around-town and road tripping needs. I won't be able (well, willing) to go all electric until there's a vehicle that can tow about 6500 pounds and still get about the same range as the Mustang. I would love to have a higher efficiency vehicle, so as those become available, I'll upgrade to them, if I can afford them and they meet my other needs. I can still pretty easily hypermile in the Mustang if I want to so it's not a burning need.

That said, the research done by Mercedes is wonderful because it builds up knowledge of how to take advantage of some efficiency improvements for lots of different vehicles.

 

[RKinWA]

For me, the Mustang already meets most of my around-town and road tripping needs. I won't be able (well, willing) to go all electric until there's a vehicle that can tow about 6500 pounds and still get about the same range as the Mustang. I would love to have a higher efficiency vehicle, so as those become available, I'll upgrade to them, if I can afford them and they meet my other needs. I can still pretty easily hypermile in the Mustang if I want to so it's not a burning need.

That said, the research done by Mercedes is wonderful because it builds up knowledge of how to take advantage of some efficiency improvements for lots of different vehicles.

Same for me, I rarely got outside my 200 mile radius, so the MME is perfect. I can imagine in the next few years 1000kW chargers will be the norm, and every supermarket chain will have their own network. I also hope Ford increases from the current 150 max to more inline what's happening in the market (probably 350 avg by next year). When/if that happens, I will upgrade my MME. Given the styling choices of the competition, for me at least, I can't imagine switching away from the MME as style is at least half the reason I purchase a vehicle (if not a little more).

The next 5 years are definitely going to be interesting in the EV market.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Same for me, I rarely got outside my 200 mile radius, so the MME is perfect. I can imagine in the next few years 1000kW chargers will be the norm, and every supermarket chain will have their own network. I also hope Ford increases from the current 150 max to more inline what's happening in the market (probably 350 avg by next year). When/if that happens, I will upgrade my MME. Given the styling choices of the competition, for me at least, I can't imagine switching away from the MME as style is at least half the reason I purchase a vehicle (if not a little more).

The next 5 years are definitely going to be interesting in the EV market.

Other than a lot of very short commutes, our most common trip is more than 250 miles, and we regularly do 1100 mile road trips in the Mustang.

Other than the need for more refueling stations because there are going to be more EVs on the road, I have zero complaints about it as a long-distance road trip vehicle. Would it be nice to have a higher amp charge? Sure, probably, but in my mind that's also because there will be more EVs charging in the near future, so getting them in and out means more people can charge. I don't mind the charge rate for my Mustang.

 

[RKinWA]

Other than a lot of very short commutes, our most common trip is more than 250 miles, and we regularly do 1100 mile road trips in the Mustang.

Other than the need for more refueling stations because there are going to be more EVs on the road, I have zero complaints about it as a long-distance road trip vehicle. Would it be nice to have a higher amp charge? Sure, probably, but in my mind that's also because there will be more EVs charging in the near future, so getting them in and out means more people can charge. I don't mind the charge rate for my Mustang.

I watched several of the "Road Trip" videos on YouTube, and other than charging station issues, everything went pretty well. But when I mapped out a trip to Sedona from Seattle, it looked like it was 29 hrs driving and 11 hrs charging. That's a lot to add to a trip. I do like the concept of forced leg stretching breaks, but if they could cut that time in half at least it would be much better.

 

[RickMachE]

I watched several of the "Road Trip" videos on YouTube, and other than charging station issues, everything went pretty well. But when I mapped out a trip to Sedona from Seattle, it looked like it was 29 hrs driving and 11 hrs charging. That's a lot to add to a trip. I do like the concept of forced leg stretching breaks, but if they could cut that time in half at least it would be much better.

DONE.

https://abetterrouteplanner.com/?plan_uuid=3735e168-7e8e-472d-85ca-c560f2d59572

This is the kind of comment that makes people not buy an EV, and that people go and repeat on the internet all over. Because it seemed so absurd, I checked it.

Seattle to Sedona, via ABRP, is 1,545 miles. 22:24 driving, 6:16 charging. Just over 1/2 the charging time you noted.

And, the charging assumes you are driving straight through. Add in a hotel stay with charging, and you've cut 40 minutes off the charging. Call it 5:30 of charging, which is exactly half. Meets your requirements. When are you leaving?

That's with no tweaking.

My rule of thumb is that it adds 20%. So 22 1/2 hours of driving, 20% would be 4.5 hours. This is an hour more, before I tweaked it, and probably is pretty close to my 20%.

 

[RKinWA]

DONE.

https://abetterrouteplanner.com/?plan_uuid=3735e168-7e8e-472d-85ca-c560f2d59572

This is the kind of comment that makes people not buy an EV, and that people go and repeat on the internet all over. Because it seemed so absurd, I checked it.

Seattle to Sedona, via ABRP, is 1,545 miles. 22:24 driving, 6:16 charging. Just over 1/2 the charging time you noted.

And, the charging assumes you are driving straight through. Add in a hotel stay with charging, and you've cut 40 minutes off the charging. Call it 5:30 of charging, which is exactly half. Meets your requirements. When are you leaving?

That's with no tweaking.

My rule of thumb is that it adds 20%. So 22 1/2 hours of driving, 20% would be 4.5 hours. This is an hour more, before I tweaked it, and probably is pretty close to my 20%.

You got a completely different result than I did with ABRP!

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I watched several of the "Road Trip" videos on YouTube, and other than charging station issues, everything went pretty well. But when I mapped out a trip to Sedona from Seattle, it looked like it was 29 hrs driving and 11 hrs charging. That's a lot to add to a trip. I do like the concept of forced leg stretching breaks, but if they could cut that time in half at least it would be much better.

I gave up on trusting ABRP: I could never get them to be accurate for long road trips. They always added too much time to the stops and always seemed to assume the worst charge rate possible.

I'm going to be doing a road trip from AZ to northern CA in June. I'll try to remember to plug the trip into ABRP and then compare with reality. It's usually a 16-18 hour drive-time in our ICE...(and huh, ABRP predicts a 16.5 hour drive--maybe they've improved).

 

[RickMachE]

 

[RickMachE]

It has settings. Learn how to use them.

 

[RKinWA]

It has settings. Learn how to use them.

Just did it again and I got a completely different result than I did

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Just did it again and I got a completely different result than I did

After 15,000 miles, most of those accumulated on long road trips, I tend to have about 6-16% increase in time for EV vs ICE driving.

 

[RKinWA]

It has settings. Learn how to use them.

And even so, I got a different result than you just got

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