golfcart
Well-known member
GRA said:That's what greater initial range gets you, and is why bigger batteries/greater range provide a large increment of owner value. It's not that people need 200 miles of range on a daily basis, it's that they need 70-80 miles of range for a decade or more while using heat/defrost/AC in inclement conditions with no worries. Until such time as a battery that suffers essentially no degradation arrives (or battery leasing with guaranteed capacity becomes widespread), a big battery that can provide 150-200 miles of initial range (or lesser guaranteed range via hiding capacity, ala' the Volt) is needed to handle people's routine needs over the long term. And not just the original owner, because unless the car has practical utility over the long-term it has little value on the used market, guaranteeing that BEVs will remain throw-away cars.
That doesn't change the fact that for now PHEVs remain the best choice for single-auto households, as well as retaining more long-term value as affordable used cars.
I don't disagree with anything you said but in the context of matching the Bolt just for the sake of doing it I still don't see why I would pay an extra $5k dollars for range I only need once in a bluemoon. That's all I'm saying, I think 150 miles should be more than enough in 90% of U.S climates to get you 100 miles of range for 10 years. What holds BEVs back is refueling time more than capacity IMO. The vast majority of peoples daily routines just don't require more than 50-60 miles of range and BEVs are great for that. But they are gonna suck for road trips whether the range is 100 or 200 miles. You'd need battery swap stations to compete with ICE over long trips charging rates aren't even close to being there. Even a Tesla supercharger takes about 15min to get 100 miles of range, my 1998 metro gets 400 miles of gas in about a minute.
I don't consider my leaf a throwaway car at all. It just is what it is, a great value as a commuter and around town car that can also be very environmentally friendly with increasingly clean electricity sources. All indications are that it will make my commute for the next 8 years or so at which point I'll either have to start charging at work, get a new battery (having saved thousands in gas and maintenance over its lifetime), or just let my wife use it with her 12 mile round trip commute. None of which are bad options.