Real world EV range tests

Just look at this mess. Go two hours from home and your day is over. Total pack of lies by Elon and crew. No wonder the FTC is investigating their blatant deceptions. Chart says it all. Don’t forget Tesla admits 3% loss in capacity per year, so it’s probably worse than that. Imagine a ten year old ev needing massive money spent on battery where my 12 year old car needed plugs and an air filter at that point to maintain same mileage as new.

https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/evs-with-the-best-real-world-range/?

My “education” about gasoline vehicle fuel economy went on for years.

Head winds and tailwinds I understood, but I saw with my own eyes that cross winds matter far more than my hunch was.

Air temperature, pressure and humidity matter.

Concrete pavement versus Blacktop pavement makes a difference.

The Performance Trends computer program “Fuel Economy Calculator” was well worth its $130 price, as was telephone calls with Kevin.

These gasoline vehicle experiences lead me to believe
“ya gotta have”
a second vehicle of known range following along “convoy style” on the road test.

With an EV the internal temperature of the Lithium batteries is allegedly highly important.

In the Medical testing field the last ten years the seen the widespread acceptance of a
“Harms Ratio”
and 95% Confidence Range given of the Harms Ratio.

Range in miles of an EV needs to adopt similar math.

This from a guy who hated his first Statistics course
but grew to respect
and then even admire the ASTM manuals
that laid down the proven “real world” ways to sample trillions of particles in 10,000 tons of Coal.

That test is a bit biased to be honest. A steady 70mph range measurement compared to the EPA combined cycle test is not apples to apples.

https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/fuel-economy-and-ev-range-testing

https://abetterrouteplanner.com/

Go there, select a car and a long trip you might typically take, and see what it thinks you'll need to do for charging. Going a few hundred miles to my parents in a model 3 it predicts a 10 minute charge stop.

If you're buying an EV for long trips where there aren't chargers... you're going to have a bad time.

Thanks for the link.

I did a test run with two vehicles, an F-150 electric long range and a Tesla Model Y Performance long range. Tulsa OK to Vail Colorado(an upcoming trip) and the F-150 adds almost 4 hours to the trip, the Tesla only 1 hour. So the tesla is the same as a gas car because that trip in my wife's Acura RDX would require several fuel stops because it only has a 17 gallon tank. The Tesla network is what will keep Tesla selling cars no matter what people think of Elon.

I don’t k ke what the epa test loop consists of, but MT mentioned the range is worse on the highway than around town.

Seems you can’t trust the ev industrial complex though. Even if their predictions are correct, the chargers have issues when you try them. That has been well documented.

It's in the link I posted

Where does it show the speeds used in the test?

The problem with MT using 70 is that I don’t know anybody that drives that slow on the highway. I tired one time to hold that speed to see mpg increase. That was far too dangerous to be doing, caused swerving as people ran down on me in the slow lane. So given that evs do worse on the interstate than in town, this is a big issue.

It's linked in the article I posted.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-Q/part-600/subpart-B/section-600.116-12

I keep it at 70 on the highway. There are times I have to slow down to get behind slower traffic so the autobahn drivers can fly past me.

As for Tesla. Today for lunch I walked to the Stanford Shopping Center (and, by the way, had a pretty excellent grilled salmon chowder), but I digress. As I walked past the Tesla "store" the sales guy looked VERY bored...but the Apple store was hopping.

A steady 70 mph on the freeway will drain the battery for sure. I've been driving EVs for years now and they are perfect cars for running errands around town. Low maintenance, low cost if you buy the right ones, cheap to charge up if you live in the right spot of the world, etc.
But driving fast on the freeway will drain the battery fast. And so will accelerating up a steep hill!

andy, what do you have at home to charge the battery ?
did you have to add anything to your home or panel box in the garage ?

My first EV was an early Leaf and I charged it with a normal 110V outlet in the garage. My newest EV requires 220V so I have a 40 amp range plug in the garage. My house is fairly new and it came pre-wired for EV.

Why do you think the automakers saw the light and decided to start pushing towards EVs?

I see older leafs for sale all the time with a range of 22 miles. Down from the 70+ original. The lack of battery management kills them.

I just sold my 2014 Leaf for close to what I paid for it 5 years ago. It was cheap transportation for 5 years. Basically zero maintenance costs and only a few dollars to charge it up each time. My Leaf still had close to a 70 mile range when I sold it. I always trickle charged it, never hit it with a rapid charger.

One of the original points for an all electric vehicle was that it would be as light as practically possible in weight to extend its range. Americans have shown in the last 30 years they don't want small efficient cars even though most Americans are in debt, living pay check to pay check and really should be in an economy class vehicle. So the modern EV is loaded with tech that is unreliable and EXPENSIVE. Modern EVs are HEAVY- ridiculously heavy. But even with all this awesome tech, billions in sexy flashy advertisements and the illusion of an EV being better to the environment these EVs sit on the lots unsold. I hope lessons were and are being learned.

All modern cars are loaded with tech that is expense and really, not a lot more reliable.

From what you wrote, the charging of the batteries at high rates, creating heat is what kills the cells? Same as blasting a regular car battery with a quick charge deal, boils the water out of them type situation.

Not my wheelhouse, read about the heat management features built into the cars in later generations

From Chicago to New York City in a Tesla ... fugettaboutit ....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI24gjDr8TI

Very much like RC cars/trucks. I play with RCs. EVs are just big RCs...many of the same components with different names and many of the same characteristics.

Great for short quick trips....not so great for long fast trips. Charge them to fast or for to long...not good. Run the batt to low for to long...not good. To hot or to cold...not good.

The tech is close but not quite there...it works for some people not for others. It works in some parts of the country/world...not in others. That's the beauty of ICE....works almost everywhere. Idiots in Washington can't seem to understand that!

Correct. EV at the moment work great in moderate climates. They work best for short trips and they are best suited as a second or third car for someone who has a garage where the EV can be stored and charged overnight. This is a fairly restrictive list but roughly 50% of my neighbors have EV cars and they all love them.

However, they aren't a great choice for anyone who doesn't have off street parking, or as an only car, or for someone who drives a ton of miles, etc.

We could use one for my wife to go to work. Parked next to the gas guzzler that does all the heavy lifting. Fine that they are on the market, I just shouldn’t have to put money in ev company pockets via subsidies that just raise the price by the subsidy amount. If you will pay x, you will pay x just the same if uncle same cuts a check for the markup the company puts on to capture the handout and what you’d be willing to pay if there was no gubmint cheese in the deal.

Oh and not to mention these things shouldn’t be pushed on us at the barrel of a gun. There’s that coming soon enough.

Back when I was still an electric lift truck tech they were just starting the fast chargers. Customers loved them until they found out batteries only lasted half as long before they were junk. It was a nightmare for our dealership.

The tech for the most part, is there. It's just not being implemented.

Battery management schemes are well developed in the UPS industry. What's really hindering the EV market is the environmental conditions. Batteries don't like to be too cold or too warm when in use or being charged. Batteries can be safely fast charged, however the rate for fast charge is not going to be "fast" in layman terms. It'll be "fast" in relation to a slow charge but no where near as fast as pumping 25 gallons of gas into your tank. So they try to crutch it with a fast partial charge and that's where the issue lies. As you approach full charge you have to slow the rate of charging. That last 20% or so takes a while to get.

New battery chemistry is constantly being developed, maybe one day they'll find it but Li-ion isn't it. Better than NiCads though, lol.