That might be higher for other folks...
That's really the relevant point here: at what point do the savings of an electric car make it such that renting another car for the longer trips still ends up with that coming out on top?
There's definitely a long tail of people who drive further regularly for whom electric cars won't be so practical.
300km is a bit much for a commute (I've only had a 50km one-way commute personally, although I do know a few people with 100km commutes), but it's not really that far for a trip you might take on a 3-day weekend to the beach or the mountains. The US really is that large: I might describe myself as living "close" to Chicago since it's the closest city that most people stand a chance of putting on a map, but it's basically as far away as Brussels is from Paris.
We get the advantage of an easy to park and fuel efficient car for the daily commute, but also can take advantage of a larger car for the big trips.
That's well within the range of most electric vehicles on the market.
But it's all right. I mean, just for road safety you should take a 30 min break after every hour on motorway unless you're some sort of superhuman. Who could argue it's not a perfectly decent range for travelling? (edited for clarity)
And you can spend that time just thinking where to invest all the money you save from oil changes.
Whining about internet points is annoying.
I agree that a Leaf isn't practical for longer trips. EV viability will improve with easier access to rental cars for longer trips. Zipcar doesn't have the coverage necessary to do this in most cities. Maybe Getaround will improve to the point where it's practical.
I consider most EVs to be equivalent to being 100% reliant on public transit; good for commutes, but unacceptable for recreation. And that's okay.
No need for being a "superhuman". All you need is plenty of Mountain Dew, a gas station burrito, a few No-Doz, the window rolled down and the music turned up!
The miles just fly by.
I've easily done 10 hour, 800 mile trips only stopping for gas once or twice. I'll grant that was in the past when I was younger, but even today two or three hours at a stretch would be no problem (heck, just to drive from here in Phoenix to Tuscon would take that long - why stop?).
> And you can spend that time just thinking where to invest all the money you save from oil changes.
I do my own oil changes, and maybe spend a grand total of a few hundred dollars a year doing them. Honestly, I probably spend more on fast food per year (now that is really something I would love to drop - if only it wasn't so tasty at times).
Driving at highway speeds obviously isn't a big part of NEDC rating for EVs.
The Leaf is much worse off than the Bolt or even a 500e when it comes to this. My bolt, I've worked out it is about a 7% range loss using A/C on those hot MtV 280 commutes.
I've driven to Watsonville then back to SF in one day and been comfortably in my range in a Bolt. So... it's getting good very fast. I really do like my car.