Will 150-200 miles of range change your driving habits?

[davewill]

When I switched to the RAV4EV from the LEAF, it didn't change my day-to-day driving habits at all. The only change was being able to use the RAV for slightly longer weekend running around, and for middle distance trips to LA that the LEAF really couldn't do. Although when I had the LEAF CHAdeMO was still fairly rare, and now it has enough coverage that I might be able to manage LA with a LEAF.

 

[powersurge]

I don't think so. When I first got my leaf, I wanted to be a die-hard and use the 120v charger that came with the Leaf. I quickly found that if I used the car a lot to go to work (40 miles round trip), in the evening, the car was out of commission for the rest of the night because it took so long to recharge. When I got my Schneider Electric 240v charger, everything changed because I could charge 35 miles of range per hour. Extra range with a bigger battery will only make people lazy and not charge their cars every day, and then they will complain that they were stranded because the car doesn't get 500 miles of range. what we need it to get people to accept that they have to plug in your car daily.

 

[Phatcat73]

Living in a suburb of large city - Chicago, the Leaf is suitable for about 90% of trips during the warmer months. During the winter that drops to about 70-80%. Now that my battery is degraded 10% and will continue to do so, the %'s will lower as a result. We also have the RAV4 EV and it's 40%-50% boost in range and a BMS without any noticeable degradation removes some of the anxiety.

A 200 miler will be a game changer as it'll be suitable for >98% of our yearly driving and offer a significant buffer for range degradation. However I will not be purchasing another vehicle without a decent BMS in the first place.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

150 miles would only change a little. My LEAF goes on trips over 100 miles (without public charging) all the time but that is due to traffic requiring crawls home (I usually start work early enough that traffic is only a slight slowdown in the morning) but in a quick glance of my driving log, I still average 35 trips over 105 miles with 12 over 150 miles for work. Now, sometimes I am able to get company car which is actually the policy for any RT over 100 miles but cars are limited and there are a few co-workers that drive cars that I would not trust to make it around the block so I let them have choice (to be honest, I only take a company car when forced to...)

now 200 miles would do the trick since there is only the Northwestern loop of the Olympic Highway that is that far away for me but again; always the specter of the company car. But the $10,000 difference in price? that would take a while to recover especially when the 30 kwh LEAF covers so much of what I need.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

I agree. Nissan is hinting at 100 kW CHAdeMOs, but I doubt they'll be any more aggressive at installing them than the ones they have now, certainly not like Tesla. Bound to give M3 the edge over LEAF2 and Bolt.

The single-head CHAdeMOs are not only unreliable but chances are you will encounter a queue to use it. The fact that Tesla superchargers usually have at least seven stalls might be reason for me to spend the extra money for the Tesla product.

oh and the "flood" of T 3's will not change that?

 

[Zythryn]

I agree. Nissan is hinting at 100 kW CHAdeMOs, but I doubt they'll be any more aggressive at installing them than the ones they have now, certainly not like Tesla. Bound to give M3 the edge over LEAF2 and Bolt.

The single-head CHAdeMOs are not only unreliable but chances are you will encounter a queue to use it. The fact that Tesla superchargers usually have at least seven stalls might be reason for me to spend the extra money for the Tesla product.

oh and the "flood" of T 3's will not change that?

Unless you expect Tesla to simply stop building SuperChargers, no, the Model 3 shouldn't change that.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

Maybe they'll expand them, add more, and have 16 plugs per station. I'll be surprised to see any CHAdeMOs in groups of 4 or more. Heck, I'd be surprised to see 2.

 

[GRA]

Maybe they'll expand them, add more, and have 16 plugs per station. I'll be surprised to see any CHAdeMOs in groups of 4 or more. Heck, I'd be surprised to see 2.

There are a few recent eVgo sites in California where they've installed two dual-standard QCs (plus some of the early sites with a single CHAdeMO plus a dual-standard added later), so it's something, albeit nothing like an
SC site. Hopefully all the high-power (ca. 50kW) QCs from here on out will be installed at least doubled up.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

Maybe they'll expand them, add more, and have 16 plugs per station. I'll be surprised to see any CHAdeMOs in groups of 4 or more. Heck, I'd be surprised to see 2.

There are a few recent eVgo sites in California where they've installed two dual-standard QCs (plus some of the early sites with a single CHAdeMO plus a dual-standard added later), so it's something, albeit nothing like an
SC site. Hopefully all the high-power (ca. 50kW) QCs from here on out will be installed at least doubled up.

Most of the new eVgo sites here are stubbed out for that, but so far only singles. CA, and the west coast have higher EV densities though.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Unless you expect Tesla to simply stop building SuperChargers, no, the Model 3 shouldn't change that.

now that is a novel idea! as a matter of fact; I do expect a pretty significant policy shift...

 

[Zythryn]

Unless you expect Tesla to simply stop building SuperChargers, no, the Model 3 shouldn't change that.

now that is a novel idea! as a matter of fact; I do expect a pretty significant policy shift...

I expect huge shifts in Tesla as they move from ~50,000 cars/year to ~500,000.

I expect superchargers to be build more quickly in higher density of Tesla's sold and fewer in areas that are simply there to provide 'bridges' between high population areas.

You were not very clear though, do you expect Tesla to stop building superchargers?

 

[Moof]

Unless you expect Tesla to simply stop building SuperChargers, no, the Model 3 shouldn't change that.

now that is a novel idea! as a matter of fact; I do expect a pretty significant policy shift...

I expect huge shifts in Tesla as they move from ~50,000 cars/year to ~500,000.

I expect superchargers to be build more quickly in higher density of Tesla's sold and fewer in areas that are simply there to provide 'bridges' between high population areas.

You were not very clear though, do you expect Tesla to stop building superchargers?

Fast chargers should be densest away from city centers, as ideally they are being utilized for longer distance travel most of the time. Chargers in city centers should cost money. Frankly I think that Tesla put themselves into a real bind by not having a nominal per charge fee at super chargers to discourage people from using them as their primary charge point for free.

With a good battery there should be no need to regularly charge in-town unless you are visiting (i.e. small part of the population at any one time). Renters will someday reach critical mass and apartment complexes will need to start putting in Level 2 stations when it becomes a competitive disadvantage not to do so.

 

[Reddy]

Maybe they'll expand them, add more, and have 16 plugs per station. I'll be surprised to see any CHAdeMOs in groups of 4 or more. Heck, I'd be surprised to see 2.

http://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=8938&p=409053&hilit=Maui#p409053 Surprised?

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

Yes. Wow, very surprised. Wish that would become more common. Around here, at best, we have some that aren't too far away from each other, if one is down.

 

[tkdbrusco]

Right now we have three cars. (1) Nissan Leaf 2015 S. (2) Hyundai Sonata 2011 (3) Lexus IS300 2001. We almost sold the Lexus when we bought the Leaf, but decided to drop all but liability on it and keep it for the random day when both my wife and I need long range cars. Honestly, there's been maybe 2 of those in the last year, so I'm re-thinking keeping it.

My goal in to have in 2-3 years time a new Volt and a Tesla Model 3. Here's my plan. Track the resale and capacity bar on the Leaf. When it looks like it may drop the first bar soon, I'll sell it. This may get me to a Tesla model 3 but not likely, if it doesn't get me there, I'll go buy a Volt and sell the Leaf and the Lexus. With tax credits this should put me out about $10K or so. Then when the Tesla model 3 comes around, I'll buy that as well and sell the Hyundai.

The kicker will be the tax credits. I may be persuaded to buy the Volt sooner if it looks like Chevy is going to lose the $7500 federal credit because they are getting close to 200K cars sold, I'll also be keeping a close eye on the $1500 CA state rebate and whether its going away. I also may be swayed if the Tesla Model 3 is taking way too long, but we'll know more about that car in March or April, and I plan to put my deposit down ASAP. If the Tesla is taking way too long maybe I'll be convinced with a Bolt or a Leaf Gen 2. I'll likely stay aware from the 2016 30kwh Leaf because I think it will be quickly outdone by the Bolt or the Leaf Gen2. The only way I would consider a Leaf 30kwh would be if they start trying to dump them like they are the 2015 models right now. If I can pick up a 30kwh 2016 for $5K NMAC discount plus $5K dealer discount, plus 7.5K federal credit, plus 2.5K state credit. I'll go buy one next year and sell my 2015, but I don't think they will drop that model so low in price. At least not until the new Gen2 is just around the corner.

Oh, I don't think I answered the question. Yeah 150-200 miles of range would change my habits. I wouldn't drive like a grandma, I'd use my heater more often in the winter, and I'd probably rack up about 3K miles more per year on the car.