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Comment by SoftTalker | Hacker News Reader

Yeah 200 miles is pretty much the low end of what I'd consider (and I assume that is an "absolute best case" number, e.g. unloaded at a constant speed on a flat road, not running AC or heat but IDK how those are actually computed).

300-350 miles would be a lot better. That would cover most of my trips (and allow for some payload) with a little bit to spare before I needed to stop to charge.

I guess the price isn't too bad. I still remember something like a Toyota or a Ford Ranger or Chevy S10 selling for under 10K new, but inflation and all... probably not terrible for a compact truck in 2026.

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I own a Polestar 2 with an effective 75 kWh battery and an average efficiency of 3.3 mi / kWh. So 248 mile range if you charge to 100% and run it down to 0%.

Real world, 99.9% of driving I do is well under 100 miles per day, and my charging between 6pm and 8am on a 120V outlet adds 50-60 miles. You could plug in every night, but in practice I wait until the battery is below 40%, and tend to plug in every 1-2 weeks depending on how much I use it.

It's been driven over 200 miles in a single day twice, and each time the car was charged for 15-20 minutes at a fast charger to top up. shrug

For many people, in real world usage, 205 mile range is great for how you'll actually use the truck.

> average efficiency of 3.3 mi / kWh.

I'm curious, is that your personal average or is that what the company claims?

I've not taken the plunge on an EV yet, but realistically I'm interested in the actual range driving 70-75mph on the highway, with the AC running, as compared to the manufacturer's claims.

A good rule of thumb across most makes is to take the EPA range number and multiply by 0.85, and that’s what you’ll get at a constant 70-75 mph in moderate weather (say, 55-85 degrees) with the climate control on.

Of course, you probably want to arrive at your next charge stop with 5-10%, and the top 10% of the battery charges very slowly in all EVs, so you normally multiply by another 0.80 factor to take that into account.

That's my personal... to get the 260 mile advertised range on 75 kWh battery, it would have to average 3.47 mi / kWh. I sometimes get over 4... but I also often get under 3 (especially in winter, when 2.5 is common.) Highway at those speeds in the summer (with AC) is ~3 or so which gives you ~225 effective road trip range between fill-ups.

Probably worth noting that Polestar 2s are not particularly efficient, though lovely to drive. Mine averages about 3.2mi/kWh for most trips, though there are lots of EVs out there getting 4+ miles/kWh.

I guess it depends on the person.

200 miles more than covers all of the driving I do on any normal day. Today is an exceptional day, and I'll be driving a total of 120 miles for work. The Slate would cover that just fine with a ton of breathing room.

I do take far longer trips than that for pleasure, but they're rare.

I think if I only had an EV to drive, and that EV could only do 200 miles on a charge, then I'd be able to figure out how to make these <5% events work for me.

(I can use a break after a couple/few hours on the road, anyway.)

It does depend on the person for sure. I can see 200 being adequate for many cases. It's even still something I'm considering. I'd like to get a small truck again, they are just so useful if you are a homeowner, but I do a 220 mile drive about once a month and that's often enough that I'd ideally want to have that covered. Stopping for a top-up charge on a bathroom break might be OK, but I haven't ever looked at the locations where that would be possible, and if there are times when a wait would be likely, etc.

Once you reach a reasonable threshold, fast charging is more important than capacity. 200 miles is that threshold IMO, but Slate is "200 miles doing 55 in the summer". I want "200 miles doing 70 in the winter". And the Slate's charging isn't particularly fast: 20-80% in 30 minutes.

Sounds great!

I can live within those limitations.

Most EVs are owned by people who also have an ICE car. Especially for this vehicle I would expect this to be the case even more so. That makes me wonder if a lower price with an even lower range would actually have been a reasonable tradeoff. That said, range anxiety seems to be a huge thing.

There's still an undisclosed larger battery option, I hope it would be less than $5k additional to unlock a 300 mile range.

I think they increased the base battery range and ditched the extended battery option.

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