OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Nuclear, hydro and wind all have lower lifecycle emissions than solar, FWIW. So they are "greener".
Charging to get home
- Thread starter JeffKeryk
- Start date
Yeah but....
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
PHEV is the way for your use case. However again majority of EV use is not that.
We got it as a test. Wanted to try out the Tesla life. We never had a problem finding charging but it was certainly a hassle. Sometimes you need to plan out your day around charging, adjust your route to go somewhere you have no interest in going, sitting around because the chargers are full. They drive really nice but also hated the glass roof in the summer/ hot desert climate. My back was always sweaty, the rental had unvented black leather. That would be another reason to avoid a Tesla for a Florida trip.
If I only used it for work, it would be fine for me. I just hate having to worry about weekend trips. Feels like an anchor.
That's true. The battery on (early) Tesla Model Ss are sometimes replaced at about 250,000 miles (and that's for batteries used by limousine services or Uber vehicles that have been charged to the max and Supercharged regularly - neither of which is good for battery life). That replacement is based on Tesla's definition of a failed battery - ie a 30% loss of maximum charge. More recent batteries appear to be better. The current Model 3 rear wheel drive battery is said to be very much better.
Very high mile Teslas still seem to be very good cars. One or two have hit 1,000,000 miles but, not surprisingly, have had repairs along the way and a new battery or two. Very few ICE vehicles ever hit 1,000,000 miles and those that do have had repairs too.
I've never kept a car to 250,000 miles so battery replacement should not be an issue me.
With a 30% loss of maximum charge, the most basic Tesla would still have a range of just over 190 miles. Many people with a 20 year old vehicle with 250,000 miles on the clock would no longer be driving it long distances. And that range would still work quite well for the more restricted use typical of older high mileage vehicles (shorter commutes, grocery getting, going to school, etc).
The street price for a RAV4 PHEV vs a Hybrid Rav4 is like $8K difference - if you can find one. It would never pay for itself.
Maybe when there plentiful and lower markups.
Depends. I know with my parent's EV time of use plan, the cheapest is always midnight to 3 PM. The highest peak rate is 4-9 PM.
But the lowest rates are always early morning when little lighting, A/C, etc. are being used. A lot of times the peak is when people are coming home but office are still occupied.
I would think a lot would depend on the particular power source paid for by charge provider. They all tap into a big grid, but their suppliers have to put energy into the grid. I guess some are solar, but they probably have a mix. Even though solar has peak power at certain times, it may also be when there's peak usage.
Hermann
Site Donor 2023
The Maverick Hybrid would go about 55 miles on $5 around here.
An anchor, interesting term. I have a few of my own, I'll add anchor to the list.
True, but not the whole story. The only bridge my car has been on is the Golden Gate; and only a couple times. By the way, I never look down because I have a phobia of falling off the bridge. The fall, the freezing water; there is zero upside! Thankfully the GG is often fogged in. However, I do look for Clint swimming around towards Angels Island...
I only have about 16K on the Model 3; due to more cars than drivers. In fact, gas prices have driven up the EV use.
In almost 5 years I have spent less than 20 minutes on a Supercharger. Gassing up an ICE vehicle, in my use case, is an expensive hassle. Don't get me wrong, I love my Tundra and GS. Our 2006 TSX has been straight up amazing. I am not a big SUV fan, so the RX450h is not for me, but it does get great mileage.
Not true, at least in a Tesla. Latest numbers show less than 12% battery degradation after 200K.
Chances are though that you can get off at the next exit and be able to refuel. The same cannot be said for EV charging.
JHZR2
Staff member
Thus my comment about I-95 going into NYC. Easier said than done to find a station, and one with clean diesel? It was late at night, no traffic fortunately, but still an issue. Had there been a traffic jam or a bad part of town I could have been stranded.
Bad planning on my part.
The difference was once I found a station and paid the price, I had 500+ miles of range in about 5 minutes.
Astro, I am not sure I follow. When I stopped to charge (and get coffee, which I didn't) I think I had 90 miles remaining with 80 miles to go. 48 mile "top off" was way more than I needed.
On this particular trip, going through The City is slow and doesn't consume a lot of juice due to regen. Then, after the San Mateo area, there is an overall descent into Silicon Valley area, of about 35 miles. I left Petaluma with about 47% SOC; I don't recall what I started with but it was likely 80%. This trip is more about me continuing to learn about my car than anything else. Range anxiety is real, so both the naysayers and fan boys are right. I sure as heck don't wanna get stuck.
I think people may be overthinking "charge to destination". The lowest SOC I have ever returned home with was 17%. And that is relatively safe, because of the plethora of chargers around here.
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True. In fact, Tesla is working on charging directly from your solar to your car, by passing the grid.
On a side note, I believe the F-150 Lightning can be used as a battery to run your house if necessary. Something like that...
People charge at night because it is cheaper. That's what I do, and I have solar.
I think the real extreme case is with Tesla providing free charging for life. Certainly that was the case with early Teslas along with promotions that they've been periodically running.
Obviously that's not ideal for battery longevity. That would be Level 2 charging along with a charge limit. I read about one professor who worked on EV longevity, and he said that he set his Tesla to an 80% limit and expected that the battery should last 20 years before it's degraded enough to need replacement. But of course after 20 years it's probably going to have other issues.
I don't really have that much experience with older Teslas other than the loaners. But when I checked them out against the new range, I found that after about 50,000 and 70,000 miles, they were doing pretty well - even with what was likely lots of Supercharging use given that it's included with the loaner.
I agree. We were talking traffic bridges, NY, NJ, etc. how would you like charging an EV in the Bronx at night because of a miscalculation, bad planning, or forgetting to charge it up at home?
These things happen to people all the time.