What do you feel is the best range for an EV?

[AhardFSU]

It depends on your situation and location.

I was happy with the 112 mile range of my MINI electric. Purely a city commuter and short trip vehicle. DC charged once in the year I owned it.

I was UNHAPPY with the 220 mile range of the Ioniq 5 Limited AWD and 260 mile of my Rivian R1S. The Ioniq 5 had some smallish road trips and one was to FIRM/Starke for a track day and that was an painful adventure. Having to detour 30-40mins to a DC charger plus add charging time then having to charge after the track day (on yet another detour) made me want a gas track car ASAP.

Before Tesla SCs opened for the Rivians, I hated taking that on any road trip - slow 400V charging, massive battery pack, crap 2.1 mi/kWh efficiency, extra detours to CCS chargers. Rivians need 350 miles of range and 800V charging.

The Mach-E Extended Range is perfect for FL. Just enough range to avoid DC charging on weekend trips. I had the Standard Range back in the fall in 2021 and that was NOT enough range. The Ocala/Gainesville area was a charging desert (and still is) and basically a no-go for me when I attended events there.

Folks mentioning NEVI in this thread... lololol. Good luck getting FL distributing a single dime of NEVI funds. State is waiting for an administration change.

Heyyyy I know Starke. I'll be driving past there this Thursday as I make my way up to Jax from Tampa. I make that Tampa to Jax trip in my 2022 standard range Mach E once every 3 months. I leave my home in eastern Hillsborough County and by the time I make it west Jax I have 10% SOC. Not too bad for the standard range. But I'm also not driving 85mph in a 70mph zone. I typically do 73mph on I-75, which is 70mph and when I get onto HWY 301 I'll do 2 to 3 miles over the speed limit. Too many local yocal coppers on 301 to speed through there.

And yes, the State of Florida is political games with the NEVI funding. It's ashame bc we definitely use more chargers, especially on I-10. I drove to Destin this past April and it wasn't a bad drive. I left home with 100% SOC, I stopped 3 times to charge going there and also coming back. I made sure to stop at 80%, which meant that I wasn't waiting longer than 20 to 30 mins. During the 3rd stop I had lunch while the car charged.

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[TRP]

yes, but life is too short to drive boring cars... Lucid and Rivian make great cars and at some point in your life you will wish you had one to at least tell good life stories... If being safe is your most important goal, that leaves you Tesla in the EV world or something like a Toyota Camry...

I took another look at both Lucid and Rivian. Appear to be very nice vehicles. Range and charging speed are great for both. My only concern would be servicing them. Not so much regular maintenance but on the off chance something goes wrong, how far do I have to go for a service center. That's only because of my location in TN

 

[Tampamike]

Folks mentioning NEVI in this thread... lololol. Good luck getting FL distributing a single dime of NEVI funds. State is waiting for an administration change.
[/QUOTE]

This part kills me. The state with the second highest EV usage has a governor who is actively trying to suppress their adoption by refusing to utilize available federal funding to build more charge stations. The free state of Florida.

 

[dbsb3233]

This part kills me. The state with the second highest EV usage has a governor who is actively trying to suppress their adoption by refusing to utilize available federal funding to build more charge stations. The free state of Florida.

Well FWIW, the last number I saw for NEVI stations opened across the entire country was a whopping 8, so you're in good company.

Many are supposed to be "coming soon", of course... just like those NACS adapters.

 

[SonicBlue]

I guess after having my vehicle.... I didn't know the way one uses an ev is a problem. I didn't even know that uber drivers were a problem at charging stations. Who would be dumb enough to drive an ev and charge out and about, which is more expensive than driving my lifted jeep wranglr????? But maybe "they" really are the problem. At charging stations.

Also... I had not used a public charger in a long time and had no idea the rate had more than doubled in under 18 months. It will be the last time we take the car on a trip we probably have to charge out and about with.

I also still do not have my tesla adapter. I signed up for that in may. Ford originally said it would ship in June, now says mine will ship in Sept. Every month it gets pushed back another month.

The mache has built in charging function. I knew where to stop.

The Electrify America just wouldn't work. I did at one time have the subscription and know how to use it. It JUST WOULDNT work with app.

Having an ev isn't all bells and whistles. But I still think 80% of people would benefit from owning a 160 to 180 mile range vehicle.... as long as they can charge it at home. Poor people would and can benefit the MOST from owning an ev. As long as they can charge it at home.

It’s a big problem. Remember the stories about Chicago this past winter when all the Teslas got stranded because the super chargers melted down? One of the problems mentioned in the articles, which many here have personally observed, are DCFC being clogged by commercial drivers.

Rental car companies even publicly partnered with Uber and Lyft to create a special rental programs just for them.

Is the math upside down? Sure seems that way. Not only are these drivers paying way more to rent the car, they’re buying the most expensive electricity possible at DCFCs. They’re basically signing up for a job that probably pays worse than minimum wage.

But let’s be honest, a lot of my Uber and Lyft drivers have not exactly struck me as math geniuses. Maybe they’re also living out of their cars? That’s the only thing that sorta “makes sense.”

The flip side arguments are (1) “we don’t restrict gas pumps based on commercial use - why DCFC?” and (2) this commercial use is probably helping to make the DCFC profitable.

But it can be a huge pain in the ass for the rest of us.

 

[Tampamike]

Well FWIW, the last number I saw for NEVI stations opened across the entire country was a whopping 8, so you're in good company.

Many are supposed to be "coming soon", of course... just like those NACS adapters.

We’re one of the states where nothing has happened past the plan. Anything to do with climate change has also been legislated out of existence - in the state most susceptible to its effects. But, alas, I digress.

Drove about 500 miles yesterday. One Tesla stop - only car there. Two Pilot truck stops with the GM EVGo chargers - they worked well and the truck stop style convenience store was nice ( clean bathrooms that smell like mango!) One EVgo at a strip mall that was shaky - charge fault after 10 minutes on the higher power unit and the other unit was just a bit too slow for me at the time, but serviceable. One EVconnect at a Ford dealer - $0.70/kw but conveniently located right before the mountains where there are basically no fast chargers. Oh, and I saw that brand new Bucee’s near Macon - so brand new that the exit isn’t even on the Ford nav. The place was huge - never seen a gas station that big And it was crowded. It had a bank of Tesla chargers and some of the brand new Mercedes CCS units.

One definite and welcome change is that there are many more options out there now than 3 years ago. I still wish I had a little more range though for that consistent 2 to 2 1/2 hour leg length at 80mph. I think a 350 mile EPA range with an 800v battery would meet my road tripping desires quite well but not seeing it yet.

 

[dbsb3233]

But let’s be honest, a lot of my Uber and Lyft drivers have not exactly struck me as math geniuses. Maybe they’re also living out of their cars? That’s the only thing that sorta “makes sense.”

I don't really know, but I've long suspected that many U/L drivers aren't valuing enough of (or any of) the car/maintenance/insurance in their calculations. Thinking "Well, I'm already paying for all that regardless, so as long as I make extra money beyond the extra fuel cost, I'm good!". In which case U/L are making out like bandits by getting nearly free use from the vehicles.

Not that I really care, but it is an important point for the future of robotaxis. There's an assumption that the future is corporate robotaxi shuttle fleets, that will gradually displace half of personal car ownership. But for that to happen, the rides need to be cheap. Removing the driver should eliminate a lot of cost. But that gets lost if current U/L drivers aren't valuing their cars into the cost of the fares, and future robo fleets have to add it back in. That would mean no reduction in fares, which makes it no better than U/L today, and it won't force a paradigm shift.

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