“434 miles on a charge? What time of year and what conditions? My friend has a Tesla and it’s rated about 323 miles per charge. In the winter he is lucky to get 225-235 Miles per charge....then has to look for another charging station, etc.”
My neighbor, who knows everything about anything and is never wrong brought an EV (I forget the name, but it was not a Tesla). Six months after he purchased it, there was a major recall due to a battery issue. However, there were not enough replacements and so the manufacturer brought the car back for the original purchase less six months wear and tear.
Instead of learning his lesson, he brought another EV (Ford Mustang). A year after he brought it, the battery would no longer hold a charge. The car was at the dealer for repairs for a month. Even though the EV has been repaired, his wife admits that the battery does not get nearly as many miles per charge in the real world as it does in the laboratory under controlled conditions. This past Labor Day Weekend, they drove ~200 miles to the beach, which is well within range of a fully charged battery — except when a four-hour trip takes six hours due to heavy traffic and heavy air-conditioning use due to an end-of-summer heat wave. At about the 3/4 mark to their destination, they went searching for a charging station. At the first station they found, two of the chargers were broken and two were in use with two EVs already in line. At the next charging station, one charger was out of order, and the other was in use. They waited 35 minutes for their turn, and then needed over an hour to charge to 80% at this level 2 charge station. No thanks. I’ll stick with an ICE.
My friend described exactly what you’re stating. He mentioned, since more people are getting electric cars, the charging stations can be 2-3 cars deep. So they end up waiting for an hour or more-—then getting a bite to eat, a drink then finally charge. It doesn’t sound like it’s saving them any money at all....wasting time.
I have a RAV4 Hybrid and the only reason I got it was I sold my old car for as much as I bought it and the Hybrid on the lot (new) had a ding above the driver’s door-—he sold it $1500 less than a ICE Rav4 with less gadgets.
49.3 MPG on the way to work today and 59.8 MPG taking back roads a few days ago.
I’m not ready for full blown EV....Unless it’s 600 REAL MPC and charges in less than 5 minutes.