Researchers achieve EV battery breakthrough with silicon-based materials and gel electrolytes, moving closer to a 1,000-kilometer range on a single charge.
Yep. People in the city, EVs are fine. For those of us who haul or have to drive farther than 20 miles it becomes an issue. It’s not there just yet for us. I’m still holding out for hydrogen ICE motors.
Uhh where did I say that they only had 20 mile range? I said for those of us who have a drive that’s farther than 20miles one way. Most of people who travel usually do 45-60 miles just going to and from work daily. Then you add in errands, the range needs to be better.
I agree that increased range would be better - I’ve had cars (diesel) that could get nearly 600 miles on one tank and that allows you to do a lot more wandering though the countryside that is just not possible in an ev in the rural US. But it’s way more than 20 miles. Did you mean 200 miles?
I’m currently on a road trip in my 2021 EV and it can definitely be made to work, but it is definitely limiting on any spontaneous side excursions you find, which can be a pretty big bummer.
Double the range would definitely be appreciated for my use cases.
This isn’t like the consequences of adding a water filter means you now have to change a water filter every year, this is something that would turn a vacation into something unenjoyable. Meaning it’s a decision that would make you give up that type of vacation if that’s your only car. It’s a sacrifice not an inconvenience.
You have to look for incredibly specific situations in North America for current EVs to not be able to make a stretch of road. So much so that many ICE cars would fail at it. We do need better charging infrastructure. Better batteries are desirable for many other reasons, but not required.
Trailers have a habit of cutting the range by 66%. Someone I know has an EV and tows their bikes to a nearby city. They have to charge mid trip in both directions. That’s unacceptable to me and a lot of others. I’m fine with a vehicle with 300 miles of range. But 100 miles of range to tow a boat? I wouldn’t make it back without a recharge. Probably two charges because charging stations wouldn’t be anywhere near the lake in rural areas. So in that scenario I would have to give up boating for an electric vehicle because I’m not about to do that.
The towing range of an F150 Lightning is actually twice as far as its ICE cousin.
We’re also not fully utilizing the possibilities of trailers yet. They can bring extra battery. We just need the hookups to make it happen. The aerodynamic cost is already paid by having a trailer, and extra weight is less meaningful for highway travel.
I’ve seen references to the ICE getting 9-10 with a 23 gallon tank. That’s more than double the range with a refuel time being an order of magnitude faster.
Batteries in trailers would help. However now you have a battery to tow, which would still have an impact both because of stopping and going and the DOE estimates for each 100lbs extra weight in your vehicle, your MPGs gets a ~2% reduction. Additionally I would not recommend strapping a battery to a boat trailer unless you are sure it was waterproof. Even then it would make it sink into sand easier.
You do what you want. But I’ll make my infrastructure decisions based on my edge cases. Others will as well. Sometimes those edge cases are important to people.
I’d rather not refuel in -20F weather on a single trip. Add in a trailer and a road trip becomes a charging trip with intermittent driving.
Yep. People in the city, EVs are fine. For those of us who haul or have to drive farther than 20 miles it becomes an issue. It’s not there just yet for us. I’m still holding out for hydrogen ICE motors.
Where do you get the idea from that an EV only has 20 miles of range? Have you ever even seen an EV let some driven one?
Uhh where did I say that they only had 20 mile range? I said for those of us who have a drive that’s farther than 20miles one way. Most of people who travel usually do 45-60 miles just going to and from work daily. Then you add in errands, the range needs to be better.
I agree that increased range would be better - I’ve had cars (diesel) that could get nearly 600 miles on one tank and that allows you to do a lot more wandering though the countryside that is just not possible in an ev in the rural US. But it’s way more than 20 miles. Did you mean 200 miles?
I’m currently on a road trip in my 2021 EV and it can definitely be made to work, but it is definitely limiting on any spontaneous side excursions you find, which can be a pretty big bummer.
Double the range would definitely be appreciated for my use cases.
Good thing we make decisions based on something that happens for a few days out of the entire year.
This isn’t like the consequences of adding a water filter means you now have to change a water filter every year, this is something that would turn a vacation into something unenjoyable. Meaning it’s a decision that would make you give up that type of vacation if that’s your only car. It’s a sacrifice not an inconvenience.
See the math here: https://midwest.social/comment/6976296
You have to look for incredibly specific situations in North America for current EVs to not be able to make a stretch of road. So much so that many ICE cars would fail at it. We do need better charging infrastructure. Better batteries are desirable for many other reasons, but not required.
Trailers have a habit of cutting the range by 66%. Someone I know has an EV and tows their bikes to a nearby city. They have to charge mid trip in both directions. That’s unacceptable to me and a lot of others. I’m fine with a vehicle with 300 miles of range. But 100 miles of range to tow a boat? I wouldn’t make it back without a recharge. Probably two charges because charging stations wouldn’t be anywhere near the lake in rural areas. So in that scenario I would have to give up boating for an electric vehicle because I’m not about to do that.
The towing range of an F150 Lightning is actually twice as far as its ICE cousin.
We’re also not fully utilizing the possibilities of trailers yet. They can bring extra battery. We just need the hookups to make it happen. The aerodynamic cost is already paid by having a trailer, and extra weight is less meaningful for highway travel.
I’m calling bullshit on that. Here’s an article from motortrend showing it has a towing range of just about 100 miles. I’ve seen that backed up by numerous other tests. https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/ford-f150-lightning-electric-truck-towing-test/
I’ve seen references to the ICE getting 9-10 with a 23 gallon tank. That’s more than double the range with a refuel time being an order of magnitude faster.
Batteries in trailers would help. However now you have a battery to tow, which would still have an impact both because of stopping and going and the DOE estimates for each 100lbs extra weight in your vehicle, your MPGs gets a ~2% reduction. Additionally I would not recommend strapping a battery to a boat trailer unless you are sure it was waterproof. Even then it would make it sink into sand easier.
Yeah, we should make all our infrastructure decisions based on the rarest edge cases.
You do what you want. But I’ll make my infrastructure decisions based on my edge cases. Others will as well. Sometimes those edge cases are important to people.