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Comment by Workaccount2 | Hacker News Reader

A 600 mile trip can (theoretically) be done with 1 charge, because you leave home with full range, and arrive with 0 charge (and fill up overnight). That one charge is done while eating dinner, or spaced out in increments over the course of the trip, stops which you would take anyway. I know few people who want to bang out 10 hours without stopping for at least 1-2 hours over the course of the trip. And those who do, can be the edge case with gas cars.

So you need to go 600 miles, and you need 1 full charge worth of energy during that.

If that one charge takes 1 hour, you can also break it up into four 15 minute sessions at any time of your chosing.

I'm sorry, but almost no regular person does 10 hours without at least four 15 minute stops.

Range is not at all the problem people make it out to be.

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Where can I find chargers on demand like that? There are a lot of slow chargers that won't give you much range in an hour. There are a few fast chargers that will, but they are much less common - enough to make the long trips possible but you need to stop where the fast charger is not where you are going to eat a meal or use a bathroom anyway. (gas stations are everywhere and so if you need a bathroom you can get gas at the same time)

My 10hr drives usually have 2 stops at 30mins-1hr each, for food. Unfortunately, stopping at a restaurant for a meal doesn't leave the vehicle in a location that has a charger, for the most part. Other parts of the world may differ, but the infrastructure to "just spend 15 minutes charging" whenever you want is not there.

Here in the southern half of Norway most roadside restaurants along highways have EV superchargers. Same with gas stations.

That's certainly a factor that eases adoption.

Which EV can go 600 miles with one charge, or with so little charging?

How much does that car cost?

Are you assuming, that every charger on the way is 200kW?

Lucid Grand Touring can do it in one charge (that lasts ~45 minutes). Expensive, but it could do it.

I did Shreveport, LA to Pesos, TX as an example.

If you're OK with 2 charging stops, an Ioniq 6 or a Tesla Model 3 will work just fine.

Also, charging speed is irrelevant to how many stops you need. Most chargers are >150kW these days, though.

If you truly want to minimize charging stops, you'd be better served charging 3+ times for shorter periods of time, though.

> Most chargers are >150kW these days, though.

Nite that many cars can't charge that fast. And if they can, it's usually only for the very lowest SoC of the battery, say below 20% charge.

When buying, look at 20-80% charging times. Don't get dazzled by peak charge rate.

Pecos?

I picked Shreveport, LA as a starting location and went west towards El Paso until I found a city that was slightly over 600 miles of distance. The cities are mostly irrelevant unless you pick something that is exceptionally hilly such as routes through mountain ranges or something.

You can get Model 3 LR that will do it for $20k used.

Like everyone else, you are thinking in "gas car" trying to resolve an electric car problem.

You start every trip in an EV with full range (unplug from home base charger). You drive 300 miles. You full recharge. You drive another 300 miles. You plug-in and go to sleep.

600 miles. One charge. $20k EV.

A used Model 3 LR cannot do 300 miles of highway driving in almost any condition. Even a brand new one cannot do that. The only way you get 300mi of driving out of a Model 3 is if you drive at 35mph or something, which would be wildly impractical for any road trip situation.

You'd do a good bit better at 35. A realistic range at 65-70mph would be about 250-260.

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