I have a Model Y. I think there's a ton of disingenuous discourse concerning EV range.
Tesla will say that it has, idk, 310 mile range or something. It never has this range, period.
- You cannot run it down to 0%, much like you can't run a gas car to 0% and then be stuck on the side of the road.
- You cannot run it to really even 10%, because you're advised that this is stressful on the battery, and while there is high probability of a gas station within 30 miles of anywhere in the US, there is near-zero probability of there being accessible and reliable public EV charging. If it is cold out, the vehicle will advise you to never let it drop below 20%.
- You cannot really charge it to 100%, because you're advised that anything above 80% is stressful on the battery, supercharging above that level is quite slow (its oftentimes actually faster to just stop at 80% and also charge at the next supercharger, and the Tesla nav knows this, which is quite cool). Some superchargers will even charge you extra for going above 80%, if they're crowded.
- What this means is that, functionally, you're not dealing with 100% of the battery / 310 miles of range. You're working with 60% of the battery (80%-20%) / 186 miles of range. On the top of the line EV humanity makes. On long trips, you can eek that up a bit to maybe 70% of the range, but realistically given the distance between superchargers, its not going to make a difference.
Tesla will say that it has, idk, 310 mile range or something. It never has this range, period.
- You cannot run it down to 0%, much like you can't run a gas car to 0% and then be stuck on the side of the road.
- You cannot run it to really even 10%, because you're advised that this is stressful on the battery, and while there is high probability of a gas station within 30 miles of anywhere in the US, there is near-zero probability of there being accessible and reliable public EV charging. If it is cold out, the vehicle will advise you to never let it drop below 20%.
- You cannot really charge it to 100%, because you're advised that anything above 80% is stressful on the battery, supercharging above that level is quite slow (its oftentimes actually faster to just stop at 80% and also charge at the next supercharger, and the Tesla nav knows this, which is quite cool). Some superchargers will even charge you extra for going above 80%, if they're crowded.
- What this means is that, functionally, you're not dealing with 100% of the battery / 310 miles of range. You're working with 60% of the battery (80%-20%) / 186 miles of range. On the top of the line EV humanity makes. On long trips, you can eek that up a bit to maybe 70% of the range, but realistically given the distance between superchargers, its not going to make a difference.