So far most electric vehicles we’ve seen have been either too impractical for the masses like the Nissan Leaf, or too expensive for the masses, like the Tesla.
I own a Toyota RAV-4 and I absolutely love it’s space and cargo capability, the upright riding position with a good view of the road, the winter capability with it’s four wheel drive.
I presume I’ll be buying another gasoline SUV when mine wears out, but at what point will affordable electric SUVs with acceptable range come out? One I could take from Minnesota to Chicago on a whim. (Stopping once or twice for a maximum of 20 minute to charge it would be acceptable) and with a drivetrain that will last a full 250,000 miles that we expect out of a Toyota gasoline car?
Most SUVs are energy hogs by design, and impractical for most of the people who buy them. They’ll never be driven off-road, where the fierce-looking tires would serve some purpose. I’m not saying those folks are foolish. I own one myself. (I’m not even trying to deny that I’m foolish.) It has more power than I need, and the closest I come to needing all wheel drive is driving on snowy streets a few times a year.
Getting the world to switch to EVs is going to take a major effort to get us to readjust what we want in a vehicle.
The OP is talking about a compact SUV that gets 35 on the highway. Not a fuel hog Suburban. I don’t see much difference in making an electric full size sedan vz. electric compact SUV. Not finding a good comparsion to cite but it looks like the average weight is within 500 lbs of each other.
To get beyond early adapters and into the masses, it will take the money making sense. Sticker price maintenance and run costs. And they will have to prove themselves reliable. I don’t think the general public gives as much of a damn as the optimists would think.
Personally, I will look hard at the hybrid F150 because it looks like will still be able to do the work of a gas and function as a generator as well to run tools. I l want something that is good for the enviroment but it has to do the job first.
FWIW, a Tesla Model Y will do that and is comparable in size. Price wise, a Rav4 Limited is $35000, a Model Y is $42000 before any rebates. The future is now.
Or, you could wait for the electric RAV-4 out next year…
Most EVs will be able to last at least 250k miles with no problems.
Rumored 250 miles range. Is 20 minute charging standard for electric vehicles, or will I be stuck halfway to Chicago, a 450 mile trip from here, for hours and hours?
battery wise an electric car gets maybe 3-4 miles per kwh of energy. Battery costs have come down to near $100 per kwh, so you can get a 50 kwh battery pack for 5k or so, which is enough for a 150 mile range.
But longer distances, I don’t know when battery prices will drop enough for 500+ mile ranges being normal. I assume battery prices would need to be $25-50 per kwh to do that since you’d need at least 150kwh of batteries. That’ll probably be the 2030s before that happens.
Screw that. Why should we have to drive a shitty econobox just to save the world.
Instead, the Op could look at the R1S or the EVHummer both of which will be coming in the next couple of years. Sure they are more expensive than any of us would prefer at $70-75K but that is comparable to a fully loaded Chevy Tahoe. Luckily, auto manufacturers are bringing electric cars to the masses not hoping they will all sacrifice to drive them. They can get close to 400 miles to a charge which is still kind of shitty with how slow they charge but will come close to meeting the OPs needs. No one knows the reliability of these new brands but given the financial backing they have I would expect it to be decent.
I believe that SUVs make more sense for EVs given the battery weight is less of a factor for them and you will be able to get more people miles. Plus SUVs are popular for a variety of reasons that aren’t going away with the switch to EV so the manufactures will evolve to give the people what they want.
I had some issues using Tesla’s map function but here is a good example of what to expect on a hypothetical trip from Duluth to Chicago (St.Cloud would be similar):
Trip time would be 8 hrs, 24 min
Two stops to charge, Eau Claire-40 minutes and Madison-30 minutes
Tesla’s map tends to minimize stops, which is important to know especially as the charge 20%-80% time is much faster than the last 20%. This means if there are other chargers available along the way it may actually be faster to have 3 stops of 20 minutes each vice 2. Keep in mind you will have a full battery at the start of the trip both ways assuming you have a plug in at your destination available.
Engineering Explained just did a 2500 mile road trip in this vid:
Yeah, I’m curious if the Model Y would meet the OP’s needs. If so, there are also the Ford Mustang Mach-E and VW ID4, both of which are kinda shipping now, and you should be able to get on this year. I know the Long Range Mach-E will support 300 miles, so there you’d be looking at one stop. Make it a longer one at 40 minutes (instead of 2 shorter stops) and walk a few steps and have some lunch.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we have 400-mile range full-size SUV EVs by 2025, or late in the decade at the latest.
Really, battery technology has been the only thing holding back EVs for awhile now. In my opinion the biggest hindrance to them being widely accepted is the need to replace the batteries after 8-10 years.
It may not sound like a deal-breaker but it ruins the used market for these vehicles so even fewer people are able to own them. Or, from the owner’s perspective, they lose an even larger chunk of their resale value as they approach that age vs a normal car.
