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I hope my mother goes back because I’m tired of her having trouble reaching her destination every time she wants to visit our family… At the moment she’s considering leaving the car there for the rest of winter and coming back by bus because she doesn’t know if she’ll be able to make it! She barely managed to make it across the 250km no man’s land in the middle of the trip and the whole thing took her 8h instead of 4.5h like it usually would.
Sounds familiar. An european EV with a claimed range of 400km in the winter required a total of 3h30min charging time on a trip of 600km. Real range was about 350km, in the winter less than 300km (heating the cabin and having the thermal pump on full speed to prevent the windows from freezing). Battery did not receive charge with claimed charging speed although it was preheated.
It took 11 hours for EV to finish the trip that takes a bit less than 7 hours on a gas car, two families travelling the same trip with different cars, lunch and coffee break included. And return trip will take even longer due to charging the EV is not an option in the destination.
With bad luck it takes 13 hours on return if charging stations are occupied after christmas when everyone are traveling back after the holidays, you only need one charging station to be occupied.
She’s taking my cousin’s car and her car will be brought back on a trailer because she probably won’t make it from charging station to charging station in the middle of the trip.
Not my experience at all, my EV has an even smaller range and we just did 1300km across Europe to come visit the family for Christmas, yes it was a bit of extra break times with the low-ish range of my e208 (340km official, much much less real range on highway in winter). There’s so many chargers now you can definitely avoid full ones, apps show you if it’s full before you get there. But I never had it yet that it was completely full/had to wait. Charging time always super quick and by the time we walk to the shops, toilet break and get a coffee we’re good to go, sometimes we take more time than the car need when the little one needs to play. For the rest of the time there’s always chargers nearby and in every day driving I never feel range anxiety, I do wish I had an extra 30min highway time before charging which I think I’ll have in the summer. I think if you’d have one of the newer EVs with even faster charging and insane range I don’t see how you could struggle at all.
Yes cold does affect range and needs to be taken into account. But I have a family member that drives a Hyundai Kona for a 1h highway commute in Quebec, drives it back and forth without charging there all through the harsh Québec winter, charging it at home with that sweet clean hydro electricity. Her colleague drives a Tesla. Sure seems EVs still work there.
This sounds like a highly unusual situation for someone with an EV. Given the circumstances I’d also be switching back or at least renting a car depending on the frequency of that trip. I’ve personally never had range anxiety but I understand it can still depend a lot on the specifics of your vehicle and where you live.
It’s either a lie or she has a leaf, which is not a long range EV. Every long range EV can do 250km in a charge, even in winter. No ev, not even the leaf, would require 4 extra hours of charging to do it.
Great car! I had a 2017 model year i3. Absolutely loved it. But yeah, the 50kw max DC charging sucks, and that long of a drive could really suck if there aren’t compatible DC chargers along the route.
What model year is hers? And I’m guessing it doesn’t have the range extender?
I don’t think it’s that unusual when you live in places where there’s actual winters…
She used to own a Leaf and would rent a gas car for the trip but in the end she would end up spending more than she saved on gas by owning an EV (renting a car gets expensive when driving long distances!)
Maybe this trip will be the one where she realizes she needs an EV with way more range (which she can’t afford because they’re fucking expensive)…
It’s too bad PHEV’s are so expensive. It sounds like they would otherwise be a good fit for a lot of people like your mother.
I’m a little surprised that towable generators as range extenders for EV’s that you could rent for a fraction of a car rental aren’t a thing. But I supposed EV makers wouldn’t be incentivised to make their vehicles compatible with an accessory like that because it would be perceived as them admitting their range is insufficient.
Guess what, when you have a window to go somewhere and get there on time, sometimes you don’t have a choice and you go when you need to no matter the conditions.
I hope my mother goes back because I’m tired of her having trouble reaching her destination every time she wants to visit our family… At the moment she’s considering leaving the car there for the rest of winter and coming back by bus because she doesn’t know if she’ll be able to make it! She barely managed to make it across the 250km no man’s land in the middle of the trip and the whole thing took her 8h instead of 4.5h like it usually would.
Sounds familiar. An european EV with a claimed range of 400km in the winter required a total of 3h30min charging time on a trip of 600km. Real range was about 350km, in the winter less than 300km (heating the cabin and having the thermal pump on full speed to prevent the windows from freezing). Battery did not receive charge with claimed charging speed although it was preheated.
It took 11 hours for EV to finish the trip that takes a bit less than 7 hours on a gas car, two families travelling the same trip with different cars, lunch and coffee break included. And return trip will take even longer due to charging the EV is not an option in the destination.
With bad luck it takes 13 hours on return if charging stations are occupied after christmas when everyone are traveling back after the holidays, you only need one charging station to be occupied.
She’s taking my cousin’s car and her car will be brought back on a trailer because she probably won’t make it from charging station to charging station in the middle of the trip.
Not my experience at all, my EV has an even smaller range and we just did 1300km across Europe to come visit the family for Christmas, yes it was a bit of extra break times with the low-ish range of my e208 (340km official, much much less real range on highway in winter). There’s so many chargers now you can definitely avoid full ones, apps show you if it’s full before you get there. But I never had it yet that it was completely full/had to wait. Charging time always super quick and by the time we walk to the shops, toilet break and get a coffee we’re good to go, sometimes we take more time than the car need when the little one needs to play. For the rest of the time there’s always chargers nearby and in every day driving I never feel range anxiety, I do wish I had an extra 30min highway time before charging which I think I’ll have in the summer. I think if you’d have one of the newer EVs with even faster charging and insane range I don’t see how you could struggle at all.
Welcome to Canada, the world isn’t the same all over. Winter where we’re at means -30° and your range becomes shit no matter what you drive.
Yes cold does affect range and needs to be taken into account. But I have a family member that drives a Hyundai Kona for a 1h highway commute in Quebec, drives it back and forth without charging there all through the harsh Québec winter, charging it at home with that sweet clean hydro electricity. Her colleague drives a Tesla. Sure seems EVs still work there.
This sounds like a highly unusual situation for someone with an EV. Given the circumstances I’d also be switching back or at least renting a car depending on the frequency of that trip. I’ve personally never had range anxiety but I understand it can still depend a lot on the specifics of your vehicle and where you live.
It’s either a lie or she has a leaf, which is not a long range EV. Every long range EV can do 250km in a charge, even in winter. No ev, not even the leaf, would require 4 extra hours of charging to do it.
BMW i3
Great car! I had a 2017 model year i3. Absolutely loved it. But yeah, the 50kw max DC charging sucks, and that long of a drive could really suck if there aren’t compatible DC chargers along the route.
What model year is hers? And I’m guessing it doesn’t have the range extender?
Sounds like someone either exaggerating or making shit up whole cloth.
A 4.5 hour trip does not take 3.5 hours of charging. Any EV that I know of could do that with one stop each direction.
I don’t think it’s that unusual when you live in places where there’s actual winters…
She used to own a Leaf and would rent a gas car for the trip but in the end she would end up spending more than she saved on gas by owning an EV (renting a car gets expensive when driving long distances!)
Maybe this trip will be the one where she realizes she needs an EV with way more range (which she can’t afford because they’re fucking expensive)…
WHAT KIND OF FREAKING CAR DOES SHE HAVE.
With that kind of reaction do you really think I will feel like sharing?
What make/model of EV?
BMW i3
It’s too bad PHEV’s are so expensive. It sounds like they would otherwise be a good fit for a lot of people like your mother.
I’m a little surprised that towable generators as range extenders for EV’s that you could rent for a fraction of a car rental aren’t a thing. But I supposed EV makers wouldn’t be incentivised to make their vehicles compatible with an accessory like that because it would be perceived as them admitting their range is insufficient.
Sounds like poor planning to me. The range and how cold affects the batteries are public information
Guess what, when you have a window to go somewhere and get there on time, sometimes you don’t have a choice and you go when you need to no matter the conditions.