Posted on 03/02/2022 12:56:32 PM PST by Red Badger
Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded today to a tweet from one of his prominent supporters - Whole Mars Catalog - related to the range of electric cars.
Whole Mars Catalog wrote that Lucid delivered the first series-produced electric car with a range of roughly 500 miles (EPA range), but Tesla "will be the first to mass-produce one."
The longest-range version of the Lucid Air has an EPA Combined range of 520 miles (837 km). The longest range Tesla Model S has an EPA Combined range of 405 miles (652 km).
Well, Elon Musk responded that a 600-mile (965 km) Tesla Model S could've been made 12 months ago (let's assume February 2021), but "that would’ve made the product worse."
Elon Musk pointed out that it would essentially require a higher battery capacity, which would mean a bigger, heavier, and more expensive battery pack. This battery would be "unneeded" on a daily basis, as even the current 400+ mile range is more than enough. Handling and efficiency would be substantially affected too with a bigger battery.
It's not the first time when Elon Musk cooled down expectations, which exceeds rationality and we fully agree with that.
Electric cars are already quite heavy (usually heavier than internal combustion engine counterparts) and expensive, so the right way to do this is to address those issues first, instead of increasing the range to such high values. Especially since the fast-charging networks are growing nicely.
Tesla appears to be on the right path in terms of range balance and weight-reduction approaches through the introduction of a structural battery pack (the weight of the remaining structure of the car would be lowered).
This is one of the most important directions for the mainstream electric car market, in terms of costs, performance, and also the environment.
After crossing 400 miles (300 miles in many cases), the race to extend the range is not the priority. It might be in some niche segments, including luxury cars like the Lucid Air, but even in the case of Lucid, many customers preferred the Performance version of the car (with about 50 miles less EPA range) instead of the Range version of the car.
Some range race probably is ahead of us in the case of vehicles that have to tow - they really need bigger batteries to work in challenging conditions.
They can be charged by some people but not everyone has a garage to charge in. I can’t charge at work. I have to go to a local mall or something to charge. Not convenient
“So, assuming rational ‘range anxiety’, how long does one sit and wait for a full charge, after 500 miles?”
Rationally, most people don’t drive 500 miles without stopping.
But you missing your garage fire.
Why not swap the whole battery like the blue rhino propane tanks? You don’t own it your just paying for what’s in it.. Instead of a gas station it’s a battery exchange station....that too however would come with a whole host of complications even if it was feasible.
And how much will that charge cost? You don’t really think utility companies will play nice. And the government will surely tax it “at a special rate”...just like gasoline.
A good marathon runner puts out about a tenth of a KW continuously during the run. If you could put out that power pedaling, it would take you the same time as running 292 marathons (1,300 hours) back to back to fully charge the battery.
Just joking but would not be surprised if many EV owners would buy such a ridiculous product.
I’m talking about the ‘out of gas’ roadside condition.
Make a hot swap battery part.
The bring you a fully charged, 5% module. So you can limp to charging station.
I got ya. But why not just swap the whole primary battery? If that could be done in even 20 minutes and you could get down the road for another 300+ miles wouldn’t that work?
Then all you’d have to worry about would be the battery spontaneously combusting in your garage in the middle of the night while your sleeping...burning your house and you in it to the ground.
Lol!
So I should pitch that on Shark Tank? You can do sales...
For the high performance crowd we can offer muscled out Guinea pigs on big wheels.
Okay. You told me. (I Knew.)
Again.. I f someone isn’t a tax paying property owner then they should not be permitted to use the roads. Or sidewalks.
Why not have standardized batteries that you just swap out like you do with bbq grill propane tanks?
Toss in covid tyranny, stakeholder capitalism, government/industry/big tech connivance, social media censorship, CRT, wokeness, social justice, environmental justice, mix them all together and the stage is set for "capitalism with Chinese characteristics."
We'll end up with a two-tiered economy featuring profitable state supported monopolies and the top and the rest of us in socialism hell below.
From Imprimus: What is the Great Reset?
I would love to see a Trump/Musk ticket in 2024.
5% might be 50 lbs. Whole battery like 1/2 ton.
What if I want to drive for 12 hours straight, like I can with an ICE car, making brief gas, snack and potty breaks? I don’t want to have to stop for an hour or two every 4 or 5 hours. 15 minutes is enough with ICE.
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