How EVs perform in real world conditions for the long term has not been seriously tested. If this Mazda EV barely makes 70 miles under near ideal conditions how will it perform when the temperatures are well below freezing and lights, wipers, heater and defroster are needed? How about a high humidity 90+ degree day when AC would be almost a necessity? What about the long term… how well will these EVs perform at say 60,000 miles? Will they still hold enough charge for any serious driving? We are already hearing anecdotal reports about the high cost of replacing battery packs in EVs…costs that can exceed to value of the vehicle. What would be the value of a high mileage Tesla as a used car? Given the battery replacement costs EVs could basically be disposable..you don’t replace the battery and keep the car, you junk the car and buy a new one….hardly any boon to the environment.
Last winter I got caught in a winter storm traffic jam in Virginia. I virtually sat still for ten hours, then made slow movement for about another five. When I hit the traffic jam, I was at 1/4 tank in my F-150. Somewhere in the five hour stint I was able to fill up. (The storm caused a fifty-mile circumference power outage too)
I never had the slightest concern of running out of gas. Imagine running into that kind of jam up when the EV wasn’t chock full of power. Heck, imagine if it was full.
Had another one last week that lasted over an hour and a half just sitting still
I leased a Model S 90D for a year. I routinely took.it to Houston, Midland and New Orleans. There are super chargers along every major interstate at 50 to 100 mile increments I never needed more than a 15 min charge to get to either the next charger or my destination. Typically I would drive 3 hours then stop as that’s the limits of my bladder not the car. I would charge after 220 miles or so and 3 hours in the seat stopping for 15 min grab some snacks take a leak and get the blood going on the legs. Teslas effectively drive themselves on the highways they keep the lane, slow down and speed up with traffic flow and can change lanes all hands off. I usually stream Netflix on my tablet and let the car drive 90% of the time.
As for resale value you tell me.
https://www.carvana.com/cars/tesla
Power in Texas was 8 cents per kWh on 24 month contracts. A Model S goes 4 miles on one kWh in city driving which is where 99% of my driving is. I have seen as low as 180 watt hours per mile in bumper to bumper grid lock EVs get better mileage in slow traffic exactly opposite to an idling ICE. that was also in 90f temps with the AC on Teslas cool the driver and the seat if you are solo it’s very little energy used even with the blower on the heat pump is very efficient. 4 miles per kWh is avg and that was my long term avg usage. So 8 cents gets you.four miles of distance that’s 2 cents per mile in energy costs. I have a similarly sized luxury car that gets 30 mpg combined.
For that car to have the same fuel cost per mile gasoline would have to cost 60 cents per gallon. Texas retail energy price is now 15 cents per kWh thanks to Brandon even at those prices it’s only 3.75 cents per mile, again driving a 30mpg vehicle gas would need to be $1.12 per gallon to equal 3.75 cents per mile.
I saw $3.65/gal today at Sam’s Club that’s 12.1 cents per mile@30mpg electricity would need to retail for 48.6 cents per kWh to be equal not even Germany or Spain pays that much certainly no where in the lower 48 pays anywhere near 50 cents per kWh.
Teslas are fine vehicles they are not for the middle class never were meant to be. They are luxury vehicles for the upper middle and upper classes it really is that simple. Translation don’t be a poor. Mazda are garbage. They should just add a small rotary engine generator to this sized EV and then you can burn E85 while having hundreds of more miles range. Oh wait they plan to do exactly that. Why E85? It keeps the greens happy and you can up the turbo boost for sick levels of power density. Rotary engines love turbos the exhaust energy of a rotary is turbine like perfect for driving a turbo charger. My RX7 back in the day had boost levels that would have blown a piston engine happy as a clam reving to 9000 rpm too. Rotary power!