I would appreciate it if anyone knows the answers.

1. How far can you actually go on the highway, before recharging, in the winter up north?

2. How long does it take to recharge?

3. How much do you have to pay at recharging stations?

4. Can they have adequate trunk space as large as gasoline cars?

I had two Tesla Model S's (both with the 85 kWh battery, both performance models).

1. If you are easy with the go pedal and don't run the heater a lot, maybe 220 miles on a good day, but that will get you to your destination with zero range. Teslas use the battery to power the heater, so unlike with an internal combustion engine, use of the heater will cause range to decrease significantly.

2. You usually charge the vehicle at night at home, and with the Tesla you could get about 28 miles of range per hour. So you should start each day with a full charge. If you're on a road trip and can use a fast charger, it's about an hour for a full charge from empty but maybe 20 minutes to get about 100 miles of range. Charging rates are not straight line, so as you get closer to a 100% charge, the rate of charge declines.

3. Usually, it's whatever the prevailing rate is in the area you're charging, maybe with a few % points added. Some Teslas have free supercharging, but not the cheaper ones.

4. Yes, depending on the make. Our Teslas were large sedans with hatches, so there was station wagon-like room.

Thanks. I'll pass on a Tesla. I assume that air conditioners will reduce the range as much as heaters.

One drive I take is 230 miles, refuel, and then 205 miles. Sounds like that would take two days or more with an electric.

They are getting better every year. I think Tesla advertises one model not that will get 500+ miles on a charge.

A/c uses very little energy compared to heat. The reason heat takes so much is because battery resistance increases as temp decreases. Above freezing the car gets consistent range. Below freezing it uses much more energy.

I do a 250 mile trip, charge and go another 170 in 10 hours total a few times a year.

If you don’t get a Tesla, yes that trip will take two days.

Car and Driver did a test on a Tesla Model 3 long range. Their test suggests 60 Mile drop in range in weather around freezing and all seat heaters and heat on full blast. About 34 miles less with the heat set to 72 and no seat warmers. It seems logical that in below zero weather, the range penalty will be substantially higher.

The model Y is outfitted with a heat pump, rather than the less efficient resistive coils of other Teslas like the 3 tested, and should do better.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a31739529/how-much-does-climate-control-affect-ev-range/

just wear a coat, hat, gloves and long johns when you're driving your 75k car.

Good information and thanks. I also had similar questions.

IMHO... EVs are a great idea for urbanites that can recharge for free while they are at the office... or for people that never really travel any type of long-distance.

A hybrid like a Prius that gets 54 miles to the gallon is a great vehicle for urbanites that also need to go to Grandma's house to visit 4 hours away.

If you need to haul or pull a trailer... a 12 valve Cummins manual transmission properly tuned will do about 28 miles to the gallon.

I have taken 3 deer home inside a Prius before. They may be gay as hell... but they are also extremely practical. I caught a deal on a skid of beadboard at Home Depot once. It was the thinner 1/4" inch veneer type... but it was still a hundred bundles @ 8 feet long. Folded down the passenger seat in the Prius and got the entire load home no problem at all.

not doubting your own experience ...I have had a 99 manual and 03 auto and know many others with cummins....nobody gets that kind of mileage...especially towing anything......bob

Do they run better on Coal Fired electricity or Nuclear.

Do they run at all when the wind's not blowing and the sun's not shining?

You might look up Preble County Diesel in Preble County Ohio. I forget the owner's name now... it's been a lot of years... but he started out repairing all the school buses for the county... then it grew into a hot rod power trucks... he really knew the Cummins 12 valve unlike anybody else I've ever met. He had a high performance delivery "build" and as he put it... "I give them way more power... so you can get you foot out of it sooner." He had a 1997 3500 manual he claimed was a solid 28 mpg... he was also very honest and I believe him.

Strokers Garage in Bowling Green Virginia is a Ford guy. He dialed up my 1997 3500 Cummins. I have not formally checked the mpg... but a solid 23 mpg is my instinct. She's an automatic four-wheel drive with pitifully small 215 tires.

My sister i law works at an Orthopedic clinic/hospital and the head surgeon has a Tesla. He lives approximately 30 minutes out of the Fargo area. He discovered quickly the only thing the Tesla was good at in the winter, was to leave him stranded with a dead battery. Couldn't even make it into work most days in the winter.

Extreme cold destroys batter power.

When it's below zero, your gas guzzler better start on the first try and right away, cuz you ain't got whole lot of cranking amps left.

How long do the batteries last?

How much $ to replace them?

How are these used up batteries disposed of?

Little long term data on full EV batteries, but the Prius batteries are warranted for 150K miles, cost about $4K to replace before a $1,350 core credit (I.e they are either recycled or refurbed).

The initial data on Teslas show 95% of battery capacity at 50K miles, 90% at 200K and an estimated 80% at 500K miles. Not many of them with that kinda miles yet. Replacement cost from $4 to 7K.

Tesla batteries are refurbished once, and then batteries are stripped of their valuable metals and the rest landfilled. It’s still much cheaper to use virgin lithium than recycle used.

If he cannot figure out how to charge his car enough to make a 30 minute drive, he has no business being a surgeon. By bet this story is BS.

Lol, I have a bud that HAD a friend that was bragging to me that his Tesla had zero emmisions, I asked his where he charged it and he said at home so i asked him where he got his power from and he roles his eyes and says well from the power company where else? I asked him if he knew whether or not if his power company had zero emmisions. he said well it's still better than your car, I said yes but quit lying and telling people your car has zero emmisions.

That's the last time i saw him and it's the last time my bud had anything to do with him.

I love how you say this as though you were on the fence.

LOL

I’m sure he’s top in his field.

Tesla is announcing some new battery technology on Tuesday, 9/22. It might change some fence-sitter minds.

Buy Teslas! 20% of my portfolio is TSLA.

I've said many times that if electric vehicles are going to be viable for the masses the car companies will have to standardize the dimensions and

capacities of the batteries so that they can be exchanged at fuel stations.

All the tests I've seen are at freezing or 0 deg and they don't look good.
In a lot of places one doesn't see zero for months. I want to see a extended test done at the auto test track in International Falls. Let's see what it can do at -20.

Well no I wasn't. I was concerned about what might happen when the Left tells Biden to legislate normal cars out of existence.

Seat heaters?????


Bwahahahaha

All my vehicles have a seat heater........................It's right here behind me all day, every day.............serves as padding when I sit down too.

Once the upholstery gets warmed up from my built in seat heater, as long as I'm sitting in the vehicle my seats stay warm.

How would Joe Biden be able to do that?

My brother just bought a Tesla yesterday. I think it is a "Y" at any rate, it cost $63,000.
Today we drove it 201 miles and it was just about "out of gas." It read 9 percent battery left when we stopped. And that was with very little A/C.

For charging, I just wired up a 220 dryer plug in his carport. So we bought this receptacle at Lowes for $15 and I wired it up. You can get a complete charge in 13 hours.
If you just plug it in to a regular 110 outlet it would take two days for a complete recharge.

We are disappointed with the cruising range, he was told it would go 300 miles. On a trip, with the A/C, you would need to stop and recharge every 200 miles.

You better put a 50 foot construction grade extention cord in the trunk because you might get low on battery some time, you might need to pull into some Corner Pantry and see if you can plug in and get a recharge.
On the 110 you get 4 miles worth of driving juice in one hour of charging.

Oh yes, my brother bought about $6K in Tesla stock 6 months ago, and he has made about $10K profit on it thus far.
I am not going to buy a Tesla but I think I will buy $10K in Tesla stock.

I will say that I never have seen a car dealership as busy as Tesla in Charlotte. They are selling 'em faster than they can make them.
Put down a deposit now and wait 2 months for delivery. We saw, in one hour, four other new customers showing up to pick up their new Teslas.

This dealership would have had no new cars for sale on the floor. Zero. Except, a guy put a down payment on one of those "gull wing" Teslas that cost $110K.
Before it was delivered, he changed his mind and bought a different model. So Charlotte went ahead and accepted delivery of this gull wing car. They put it out front yesterday.
The salesman was opening and closing the gull wing doors for me, it was pretty cool reminded me of a DeLorean.
They just put that car out on the floor and I bet it won't last long.

"maybe 220 miles on a good day"

No thanks. Everywhere I want to go (round trip) is farther than 220 miles). Everywhere I drive to on vacation is farther than that one way.

I am not fond of the things, every time I get in a car with heated seats I think I done peed myself.....

Now, AIR CONDITIONED seats? Yes, please! No more swamp arse!




Not for a long, long, LONG time. The majority of the intellectual property in the EV field is in battery construction and management. It's what EV's are rated on more than anything.

They're about as ungreen as you can imagine! Know what it takes to make those batteries?! How is the electricity produced to charge it?! Give me a break!

Just carry a generator with you.

My brother didn't buy it because of the "green" cool guy features of the car in fact he dislikes that it is considered an assault on "climate change." Brother and I think "climate change" is a bunch of BS.

And we were discussing that most of the electricity in America is from coal fired plants. And that electricity has to travel, maybe 70 miles to get to your charger, and in that distance much of the electricity is lost.
So in fact your Tesla is using coal fired power and not very efficiently.

I haven’t met anybody that has bought one because they’re “green.”

Most people that want or buy one are car nuts.

And they have advantages as a commuter.

And Li batteries are so clean and green to dispose of...

Only 23% of electricity in the US comes from coal fired power plants. Natural Gas powers most plants now.
In your state of NC 33% comes from nuclear, 30% natural gas, 28% coal and the rest is mainly hydro and solar.
I'm not standing up for EV's but the coal argument isn't a very good one.

The best thing about all electric cars is, we don't have to buy one.......yet.

Astute remark whackem_stackem. In fact, two years ago our power was coal fired, and last year they switched to natural gas.
Still, natural gas gives off greenhouse gas and plenty of it, although less than coal.
And, our power has to travel 50 miles so much of it is lost in transmission.

I would like to see the comparison, natural gas powered electricity that had to travel over 50 miles of electric lines, to power a Tesla, vs a regular car that burns gasoline.
I will bet you that you get less "greenhouse gases" with the gasoline vehicle, in this instance, than you do with the Tesla.

"You can get a complete charge in 13 hours."

How fast is the electric meter spinning?

"maybe 70 miles to get to your charger, and in that distance much of the electricity is lost."

Not as much as you'd think. The average loss in transmission lines is about 2% and in distribution lines about 5%.

Imagine if you were in a area that gets nuclear power?
With the clean power (even the coal plants) the US produces I really don't see the issue of charging vs hydrocarbon. It's close.
The issues I see are the batteries. Making them and disposing of them. Living in Minnesota EV cars are about as useful in the winter as my Harley is. Just park it.
I've spent my life turning hydrocarbons into horsepower, you wont see me ever owning a EV car or motorcycle. I've driven them and some are really fast but they have no soul. I'll take a Hellcat Widebody running 10.8 @ 126mph over a Model S running a 10.4 @125 any day.
I really want to see EV cars tested at the International Falls test facility. Every manufacturer tests their vehicles there. Let's see what they can do at 0,-10,-20 and even -30. I know my Dodge will get me anywhere I want to go at any temperature.

I know whackem_stackum can attest that the Fargo area can go weeks without getting above zero, even for the high temp of the day. The Dr. is/was the main or one of the primary orthopedic surgeons for the U.S. Olympic team this last time it was held. My sister in law has actually met a few of the Olympians including US women gold medal hockey players. He also treated a MN Viking players family member. I don't know if there is a HEPA issue so I'm being a bit vague, but they have plenty of places they could go to in Minneapolis or Rochester(the Mayo Hospital), but they go across the whole state of MN for treatment. He has an early version Tesla, so maybe that plays into it. All I know is it stranded him a few times, so it has become a May- Sep/Oct vehicle for him.

This is certainly why we bought them. I don't give a crap about being green and that actually was a reason I didn't want to buy one. But since I lived about 20 miles from the Tesla factory and am a car guy, I just stopped by in 2013 to see what the fuss was about. The sneaky sales guy (or consultant or whatever they call them) simply put me in a P85 and told me to smash the go pedal. I bought the car on the spot.

The only real nit I had with the car was that with so much instant torque, the rear end would fishtail like crazy in wet weather. Since I was driving from the SF area up Highway 1 all the time, it was actually a safety issue for me. Then the P85D was introduced with MORE power and all wheel drive, so I traded the P85 in for it and there was nothing else like it. Amazing handling, a bit over 3 second 0-60, autopilot that worked before all the nanny crap was put on and I loved the whole idea of a car that was designed intelligently (e.g., things like over the air updates, having the brakes regenerate power rather than just create heat) and the government bribes (free HOV access, free bridge crossings, tax rebates).

An EV just doesn't work for me in Montana. More than half the year, the range takes a massive hit from the cold, there aren't many superchargers outside of the major east/west highway and I tend to use the truck more than any other vehicle here. But if someone makes an EV truck that has a 400+ mile real world range and isn't much more expensive than a traditional pickup, I'd buy one without hesitation.

INDY,
My 2015 Tahoe LTZ has a 450 mile cruising range and is sehr komfort.

Max gas mileage is 20 mpg+ cruising 70+mph.

No wonder the Federal government buys so many of them.