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Comment by xp84 | Hacker News Reader

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> Recently, I was hopping back and forth between Grand Junction, CO and Moab, UT—a distance of 113 miles. I had to go about halfway, stop, unhitch the trailer, then go back and charge the Tesla up again before finishing the trip. It makes travel days very slow.

I'm sorry. I could never be that committed to the ideology of EVs to do something that preposterous even once. The second I realized that was what would be needed, either the trailer idea would have to go, or the Tesla's being traded in for like, a Ford Ranger.

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That sticks out to me too. You're already very constrained about where you can go because you need charging stations. But to then shrink that "only routes with chargers at least every 50 miles" wipes out huge portions of the US, or you have to resort to stupid hacks like the above.

And honestly, I'd be very wary about dropping my trailer in like Cisco or wherever. Its not quite the San Rafael Swell, but the Colorado Plateau is rather famously deserted. If my entire life was in that trailer, I'd really hesitate to drop it in a place that has signs that say "next services, 70 miles".

At what point do you accept that your EV ethos is incompatible with the rest of the lifestyle you want to lead? Either the lifestyle needs to change or the ethos does.

Or we applaud the author for his commitment to the ethos. Lesser men would give up and get an ICE, so the author's dedication to EVs is commendable.

Let’s not, maybe. This person is cramming a 4d tesseract into a 2D circle hole. There is very little to praise about this ethos, it’s simply more consumerism, not environmentalism.

Heaven forbid individuals use the right tool for the right job.

Meanwhile we fund governments and corporations to be careless about any ethos except profits.

Lesser men would stay in a normal house and not use energy to move it constantly.

And not travel the country openly during COVID...

Perhaps they could also put a gas/diesel generator on the trailer, and use that to charge the car when not driving

Well, EVs are still early products and it will take some time to develop additional charging infrastructure. I personally have an EV for short trips around town and a gas car for longer trips or whenever needed. I would not recommend an EV unless you’re passionate about them, or can afford a toy, or want a used second car for a daily commute that is under 50 miles total if you can charge at work or at home as needed. A used EV for daily commuting can cut costs and emissions which is cool. I think the average car consumer will still want to stick with a gas car for most likely the next decade as adoption progresses gradually in line with continual infrastructure and battery improvements as well.

The route from Grand Junction to Moab is an infamous decline. It's pretty trivial to believe the greatest inefficiency is drag. The second worst would be traffic.

I'm definitely surprised that they wouldn't recoup most of the energy loss through regenerative braking, though.

He would save himself so much money by going to ICE car, a reliable brand which requires minimal maintenance will save him so much money and he will be able to actually drive to somewhere with the trailer.

60 miles... with a brand new 40k car. Wauw

Well, he could get a Ford ev truck and make that commute in the spring and fall

https://youtu.be/76l6lJhrgbc?feature=shared

Maybe there’s a market opportunity for an EV trailer - something that has own batteries for extra distance, or even it’s own electric assist motors.

Airstream has a concept trailer called the eStream which has electric assist.

Fr just get a porche cayanne s plugin hybrid if you want an EV that can tow long distances

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