Most people aren’t road tripping in their electric vehicle every day. If you don’t understand how temperature affects battery chemistry, capacity, and charging I don’t understand how you can even be in this conversation.
I almost feel like you need two cars unless you are a 100% urban driver. An EV for commuting (with a plug at work) and shopping would make sense and a 2nd car, preferably some sort of hybrid, for everything else.
I’ve driven from Madison, WI to Chicago in an EV with ~100 mile range in cold weather. Wouldn’t be my first choice, but I was in a pinch at the time. It can work, but getting a reliable charger network is the biggest problem. Made three stops to chargers that were broken or inaccessible for various reasons.
That was a couple of years back, and I think it’d go a bit smoother now. The Chicagoland area has reasonably good charger network outlays (much better than Minneapolis, which is a joke). Still wouldn’t be my first choice, but it’s workable.
My wife has a Nissan leaf with 60 mile range for commuting, I have an old gas hatchback we can take for road trips. Before going off about how rich and privileged this setup is, the Leaf was purchased for 6k, 4k after tax rebates. Hatchback was purchased for 6k 9 years ago.
Most people aren’t road tripping in their electric vehicle every day. If you don’t understand how temperature affects battery chemistry, capacity, and charging I don’t understand how you can even be in this conversation.
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Not sure how you are being downvoted. You’re absolutely right. Everyone I know that wants an EV wants more range.
I almost feel like you need two cars unless you are a 100% urban driver. An EV for commuting (with a plug at work) and shopping would make sense and a 2nd car, preferably some sort of hybrid, for everything else.
I’ve driven from Madison, WI to Chicago in an EV with ~100 mile range in cold weather. Wouldn’t be my first choice, but I was in a pinch at the time. It can work, but getting a reliable charger network is the biggest problem. Made three stops to chargers that were broken or inaccessible for various reasons.
That was a couple of years back, and I think it’d go a bit smoother now. The Chicagoland area has reasonably good charger network outlays (much better than Minneapolis, which is a joke). Still wouldn’t be my first choice, but it’s workable.
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My wife has a Nissan leaf with 60 mile range for commuting, I have an old gas hatchback we can take for road trips. Before going off about how rich and privileged this setup is, the Leaf was purchased for 6k, 4k after tax rebates. Hatchback was purchased for 6k 9 years ago.
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