Re:Tesla’s Model S P85D Scores 103 Out of 100 on Consumer Re...
by johnward on Thursday August 27, 2015 @02:12PM
(#10131051)
I understand that argument and the stats suggest most people don't need to charge on the road aside from road trips. By the time the Model S would need charged I'd be ready for a 30 minute break anyway. I still have range anxiety when my commute (before going remote) was a minimum of 120 miles per day. I'm not sure how accurate the 200 mile number is to know if it would be enough.
Re:Tesla’s Model S P85D Scores 103 Out of 100 on Consumer Re...
by mikeash on Thursday August 27, 2015 @02:27PM
(#10131131)
Real-world range can vary based on temperature, elevation, speed, etc. Without knowing the details of that 120 miles, it's hard to say. But you can calculate what you'll actually use with the car's navigation system or a third-party site like EVTripPlanner, and that's pretty accurate. I'd probably be comfortable with a 10% buffer for getting home. Your 120 miles might take 150 "miles" of range, which would still leave you with plenty of margin. Note that the lowest-range model they sell currently is the 70 at 230 miles official range. The maximum is the 90D with about 290 miles official range.
Exterior 120V outlets are pretty common, so another option would be to plug into one of those while at work. That makes for slow charging, but you could add another 40 miles or so of range while you're there. (Understanding this is a hypothetical for you at this point.)
Re:Tesla’s Model S P85D Scores 103 Out of 100 on Consumer Re...
by revelation on Thursday August 27, 2015 @04:17PM
(#10131814)
If your commute is 120 miles, you don't need a Tesla, you need a new place. Whatever the value of quick refueling, surely your sanity is more important.
Are you counting the sum of all of the time you spend waiting for the car to recharge/refill? If so, and if you're a typical driver, then the Tesla wins. In an average month, you might spend a total of 15 minutes gassing up your car, and zero minutes charging your Tesla (because it's charging while you sleep).
On road trips, it will depend on how well charging stops coincide with bathroom/meal/coffee stops. A supercharger stop is both longer and more frequent than a gas stop, no dispute there, but if you time it to coincide with a break that outlasts the charging stop (easy to do) then the time penalty is zero. It's not practical to overlap gas filling with other stuff, so you can even lose out there.
Now, if you're the sort who drives five hours at a time without stopping then the gas car can win big on charging time. But even if you do that, unless you take those trips pretty frequently, the Tesla can still win on total time spent filling up.