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Comment by Roritharr | Hacker News Reader

I really wonder how the top-speed is on those cars in their various configurations. For me this is the deal breaker on all other "affordable" solutions thus far.

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I don't think any car I've ever owned has spent more than a minute or two at its top rated speed. Even acceleration is only important up to a minimum to get along in traffic. Even in Germany where cars are allowed to go pretty quick in some areas hardly any of them go at or near their rated top speed.

True, because it takes long to actually get to that speed.

But imagine if you'd like to drive 160 km/h on the highway all the time, you probably need a car that has a rated top speed of at least 180 km/h.

Going 160km/h is easy with most cars. Problem is that it increases fuel consumption significantly so won't really be an option with an electric car (currently).

Then you would also buy a high end car. Model S, perhaps??

An 125HP car of normal weight (on American landbarge or anything) surpasses 180km/h and can easily maintain a cruising speed of 160km/h with tolerable noise, but mediocre fuel consumption.

Most of the (gas engine) cars sold today can go 180.

Most of the high end cars will go 225 or 249 (legal limit enforced by the engine firmware, also related to what the tires the car is sold standard with can handle).

A small car doing 180 will not live long.

I was taking golfs and fiestas to 180 all the time. Even faster downhill. Never any problems.

You'd be surprised, here in the poorer European countries where high-power engines are taxed, and speed limit enforcement lax, you constantly see 100HP sedans with 4 people and luggage cruising the highways above 150km/h. Engines do not really suffer since you're not going flat-out all the time

I once had my little Honda CRX almost up to 110 mph on an empty highway one late night in Nevada. (I might've made it with a tailwind!) Pretty exciting. Not something I'd want to do for an extended period of time. Car journalist David E. Davis claimed he had fun driving the same car on the Autobahn, however.

CRX is a car that is quite frequently modded the crap out of because the engine is capable of substantially more HP than it puts out standard, you'll also find these engines in many other custom builds (super popular in souped up classic minis for instance).

They'll definitely go fast (even in the standard setup) but I'd really hate to have anything unexpected happen at those speeds. Even in a larger and more stable car that would be taking your chances but in a CRX you'd be in little pieces all over the road, just a deer would make you really wish you were somewhere else.

I've driven a little Daihatsu Copen (660 CC, 63 HP, a bit over 800 Kg), which was a ton of fun to drive and would go quite fast (on the GPS about 175), it's mere inches off the ground so it feels much faster still. But I always realized that I'm playing the lottery when doing that.

Coming back from Poland to NL one night through Germany I came upon a bunch kids in their CRX's going flat out on the autobahn, I could keep up with them easily because of the better handling of the Copen but on the straights they definitely had the advantage. Wicked fast for such small cars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daihatsu_Copen

Well, crap, TIL, Daihatsu made the Ford Ghia Barchetta! Jealous!

This is a little different for electric cars, though. Have a look at their current top speeds: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_electric_cars_currentl...

Many max out at only ~130 km/h (~80 mph), most don’t reach 150 km/h (90 mph).

The models described in the wiki table are also the maximum power versions of those cars. There are lower versions which don’t even get to this velocity.

130 is the maximum speed in most countries, Germany excepted in Europe, in most states in the US it's 55 Mph, 70 or 85 (Texas, the exception), so only in Texas or Germany would you run into the situation where your car can't go the legal limit, but it is still more than capable of achieving the minimum speed, and in fact that speed at which the vast majority of the traffic moves.

Slower than 130 km/h would be a problem.

but when the speed limit is 70mph, everyone goes ~80mph... and it is probably not a good thing to always go at your car's maximum rated speed, you can't speed up to pass someone for example... (Assuming that the model 3 would have a lower than 130mph limit to differentiate it from its more expensive siblings.)

The model 3 will have a top in excess of 140 mph according to 'reliable sources'. I don't think you're going to have issues trying to go 80 mph.

I don't think that matters much. 130km/hour is enough for top speed in most countries. With gasoline powered cars you simply need a higher top speed if you want the ability to swiftly accelerate to that 130km/hour.

Problem is that a 130km/h rated car will only get 110km/h uphill. That's when it becomes annoying.

The top-speed is really a prime concern for choosing your car?

Interesting. Do you live in a no-speed-limit jurisdiction, such as Germany?

I do live in Germany, and it is a concern for me.

The VW e-up costs 22k EUR and has a top speed of 130 km/h, the BMW i3 full electric version w/o range extender costs about 35k EUR and has a top speed of 150 km/h.

This performance would be fine if I bought a car under 10k EUR but not for this price.

I have an i3. The top speed is fine; I can do 90mph here in the US, but you probably don't want to. Driving an EV you start to realize how much energy it takes to maintain high speeds, due to wind resistance. I can drive a full 100 miles on a charge at 75mph, but if I tried to drive the same distance at 90mph, I'd probably only get 60 miles. Wind resistance makes a huge difference to EVs.

A car that can only drive at 130 km/h would be turn-off in many regions where the legal speed limit is lesser. There is such a thing as overtaking other cars safely (e.g. overtaking a car that drives 100 km/h on a 120 km/h road in Sweden).

Yeah I guess I assumed that basically every modern car can go at least 120km/h

Just adding more data:

The 2017 Volt (Opel Ampera-e) has a top speed of about 160 km/h / 100 mph for 35k EUR, $33k USD

Pretty sure the Model 3 can acheive this, if not be faster, since this is just the norm and not 'fast'.

Same here, I do bursts of 120-130kmh highway driving every day and occasionally go higher.

But I usually switch into Hold mode (turns on the combustion engine) so I don't waste too much battery.

To be honest, the extra torque of an electric engine makes slow speeds seem faster. When I was in my diesel VW I found myself at 140-150km/h quite often by accident. In the Volt I'm comfortable going slower because it "feels" faster somehow.

My 2017 is speed limited to 101 mph. It gets to that speed pretty uneventfully, but I've heard the low rolling resistance tires are only rated for 100 mph so GM limited it to 100. I'm curious if a dealer could remove the limit if you changed the tires, but I don't think anyone has bothered

Forgot to add - I do 80-85 mph 128-136 kmh 5 days a week on my Volt

Yes, I live in Germany. I have the same discussion roughly every month on HN[1]. No I'm not a reckless driver, I'm a family father that tries his best to drive safely. Just going 120km/h on the Autobahn in Germany is often times not the safest way.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14423002

You conjure a scenario where you're behind an unsafe driver who's going 130 km/h on the center lane, and you want to overtake him to get some distance from the source of danger. Can't do this if your car is only capable of driving at up to 130-140 km/h, true.

The obvious -- and also the safest, in any car -- solution: just slow down. Switch to the right lane which invariably runs at around 80 to 90 km/h. Your nemesis will distance themselves at >30 km/h.

Maybe stay on the right lane at <100 km/h in general, overtaking trucks only when necessary, giving you ample room for acceleration in case you need it. It's a lot more energy efficient, anway. And presumably safer, too.

We should find out at the end of the month, but I'd be surprised if it was much lower than the 130MPH top speed of the slowest Model S. (Ignoring the 40, which was an outlier in many ways.)

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