Comment by kuon | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kuon | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

Well, I looked at our current use of the cars. I live in a remote area and car is my only option. Also the area is mountainous and after doing some testing and having the car for a week, I have about 100km autonomy with 50kW/h battery when driving around, after that at around 10%, the car turns on low power mode and is very slow (I'd say dangerous) to drive.

On a typical day, my wife does about 40km, so everything is fine, but twice a week I have to go to the music school with my kids and it's 60km away (120km round trip), so I have to be sure to be on a full charge before leaving as I cannot charge the car there, and the time I have to charge the car before leaving is about 2h.

And this is for one car, I also have a car for my business. I didn't plan to switch to electric yet, but I know I'll have too, thus the 22kW charging station to have some margin to be able to charge them both.

Also, the utility have to upgrade the cables even for 11kW, and the price isn't very different.

The car I tested is a Toyota Proace.

That car is probably very inefficient as it's not very aerodynamic. If you need that van, you probably need the 75kWh version.

If you don't have many kids, you should probably look at cars that are only electric and designed for it: Tesla, Polestar, VW ID.3/4, Skoda Enyaq, Volva XC40 Recharge, ... You'll get better regenerative break which means that you'll recharge your battery when going downhill and better efficiency.

Without any changes to your home, you can charge your car at 3.6kW and there might be public chargers at 11kW around where you live and shop. I've spent a few weeks with a Tesla Model 3 SR+ (50kW battery) in the mountains of the Val d'Anniviers (Valais) where I couldn't charge at the chalet and I didn't have any issue to drive around and find chargers.

> That car is probably very inefficient as it's not very aerodynamic.

Definitely inefficient. My 2017 leaf with a 24kWh battery can do ~120km before it starts reducing output (20% limit).

EVs should overperform in comparison with ICE at high altitudes and in hilly regions, due to less efficient burning and the ability to regen.

Remote areas with unpredictable usage is probably their weak spot, but a hybrid should still be a solid option for the same reasons EVs work well in the mountains.

> EVs should overperform in comparison with ICE at high altitudes and in hilly regions, due to less efficient burning and the ability to regen.

How about super inefficient work on low revolutions per second mode which is typical for going uphill? And can you really produce any significant measure of energy using recuperation?

Yes, in stop and go traffic and/or undulating terrain, regen can be a big factor in EVs much higher efficiency than ICE, more than overcoming any loss due to extra weight.

Yes, I am looking at plug in hybrid now.

Try a more efficient car with a larger battery. You can get EVs with well over 400 km range now. Even my 2015 Model S 70D (70 kWh, four wheel drive) has 330 km range. And it doesn't get dangerously slow at 10% charge.

Used 2015 Model S 70D are going for > $40k right now. In most peoples eyes, paying that much for a used electric with a 7 year old battery is insane.

I wasn't suggesting that anyone should buy my car. I was pointing out that even my car seems usable and that newer models are much better.

> In most peoples eyes, paying that much for a used electric with a 7 year old battery is insane.

Obviously not in the eyes of the people who are part of that market or the price would be lower. But I get your point.

Nonetheless there are quite a few brand new EVs available at that price and lower. Even in 2021 there were about 15 EV models available in the US at less than that brand new, see https://insideevs.com/news/534027/electric-car-prices-us-202...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com