Large EV batteries are very heavy, and therefore there is great incentive to limit battery size until battery technology improves.įactors that Reduce EV Range: The biggie - as explained above - is higher speed. Another reason for not increasing the size of batteries is weight. Most people think that the primary reason for the Semi delay was the difficulty in sourcing enough batteries. It took 7 years from announcement to delivery of the first Tesla Semis. Probably the biggest reason that Elon Musk won’t increase battery sizes in the current lineup is because he can’t get enough batteries. Elon Musk says that Tesla’s current lineup of S, 3, X, and Y cars have enough range and he will not be increasing the size of the batteries. The Model X is rated for 358 miles on a full charge because it is heavier and is less aerodynamically efficient. The Tesla Model S EPA range is 405 miles. The Tesla Model S and X have 100 kWh batteries. I personally limit my speed to 75 mph in my Model 3, except that I go 80 mph when passing a slower vehicle. Most people will go faster and stop more often. Nobody wants to travel that slow on Interstate highways in most states, though. In my experience, you can’t get the Tesla EPA range for highway driving at speeds much more than 60 mph. Tesla’s EPA range ratings are for combined city and highway driving. (Someone, please confirm my math.) Conversely, if you drop your speed by 10 mph or more, in some cases, it could make the difference between making the next Supercharger or getting stranded. If you increase your speed from 75 mph to 85 mph, the drag force increases by 85×85/75×75 = 1.28, or nearly 30%. He didn’t seem to be aware that the aerodynamic drag on your car increases with the square of the speed D=Cv 2 where v is velocity. The speed limit is 80 mph on most of I-15 on his route, so he’s not going to be pulled over by police. He said he sets the cruise to 84 mph for the whole trip. Why can’t he make the whole trip without charging? I asked him how fast he goes. His Model X has an EPA rating of 358 miles. He has to stop to charge twice to make the trip. He lives in Saint George in southern Utah and routinely makes the 310-mile trip to Salt Lake City on I-15 for business. However, recently, at the Nephi Supercharger in Utah, I was chatting with a man in his 2021 Tesla Model X and he was complaining about having to charge too often. He has another car that he uses if he wants to make longer trips. His commute to work is 10 miles and he was able to get his employer to put in a charger, so the car works fine for his commute. He purchased a cheap, used, 81-mile-rated LEAF with a degraded battery that now has a range of only 40 miles. I recently met a man who takes this philosophy to the limit. The average mileage driven by US car owners is about 40 miles a day, so some experts think an EV range of 200 miles should be adequate for most drivers. Because of its high weight and poor drag coefficient, its range is lower than that of a Tesla Model S even with a battery twice the size. The electric GMC Hummer pictured above has an EPA range rating of 350 miles from a 200 kW battery. Now I routinely make 1500 mile trips with my Model 3 driving 500 miles/day just like I did with my gasmobile. The longest cross-country trip I dared to make with my 2 nd and 3 rd Nissan LEAFs was 265 miles. I now own a Tesla Model 3 Long Range with an EPA range rating of 310 miles and a 75 kWh battery. My first Nissan LEAF had a 24 kWh battery. I’ve owned Nissan LEAFs with ranges of 81 miles, 115 miles, and 150 miles. I’m also tackling the question of how big of a battery one needs. I’ll start answering this question with some of my own background owning various electric cars. This answer to the question above, “How much EV range is enough?,” depends on the individual and their needs and habits.
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