Life after the IS

[DBIZO]

Another thought for 'life after', given the publicity assault of EVs: if you like long road trips, do consider charging times. We got back from a weekend trip to Germany a fortnight or so ago. The route was roughly driving from Le Havre to Munich with some detours, and back to Calais and then to Hampshire. Out of curiosity, simulated this with an EV route planner assuming a Tesla 3 LR 2022, which is your bestest case of EV for efficiency and range.

The optimized case would have needed 10 charging sessions for a total of 5 hours in a 4-day trip. None of our destinations, sleepovers or visits, had charging stations.

Now, that's not 5 hours extra because you do stop en route anyway, but we tend to stop for 10-15 minutes, refuel if needed, then get going. There would have been highly uncomfortably timed charging sessions too, like on the way back when you really want to just get home after 700 miles, but you need to stop at 11pm in the middle of nowhere.

The 5 hours is also unrealistic as a total because the planner is unable to take into account the monkeying around on the Autobahn, which was part of the programme; that sometimes you just want to push a bit more to get there sooner; and weather such as wind and rain that throw these calculations off by a good margin. It also assumes maximum charging speeds and availability of stations all the time. For less aero efficient EVs with a lesser network the total charging is much longer. An estimate for a BMW i4 is 7 hours of charging, with the same caveats. If you drive it like you mean it with a BMW, it's more like 9-10 hours of charging, likely.

Of course, this is a fairly intense programme for a long weekend, and you can much reduce the pain by selecting hotels that have EV charging. 

But then again, does your car go where you want to go, or do you drive where it can...

 

 

 

[Spacewagon52]

There would appear to be a case of having an EV for shorter journeys and a hybrid for longer trips, provided you need two cars. The other alternative might be to own one EV and hire a hybruis for holidays. The costing would need to be worked out but it is aa posible option.

[DBIZO]

2 hours ago, Spacewagon52 said:

There would appear to be a case of having an EV for shorter journeys and a hybrid for longer trips, provided you need two cars. The other alternative might be to own one EV and hire a hybruis for holidays. The costing would need to be worked out but it is aa posible option.

We don't need or could plausibly justify a second car.

At that point the EV option needs to be so much less costly to run than a hybrid to offset the hiring cost. But if you approach it like that, a plugin hybrid still looks the best combination.

If you can charge it at home...the economic case hinges on that.

[Mr_Groundhog]

I don't even wanna think what my trip through France and South Spain (and back obvioulsly) would have looked like if I had to depend on charging stations and times.... enjoy road trips while you can, because we may see their end during our lifetimes...

The most obvious way to bypass this would be to have a Battery standard that would fit in the underside or under the passengers seats, that could be rolled in & out at a gas station the way you change a gas bottle, but that would require efficient harmonisation and standards.... and stakeholders would never agree to this level of real-life efficiency & practicality.