Posted on 06/08/2019 6:32:09 AM PDT by Moonman62
A week simply can’t pass without TESLA NEWS, and this week’s TESLA NEWS is that the Model 3 is officially the fastest charging electric car in the world.
With conditions, of course. A firmware update – rolling out this weekend – for European Model 3s with the Long Range battery option will allow them to charge at 200kW when hooked up to specific ‘ultrafast’ chargers.
In balder terms, 200kW equates to 850 miles for each hour of charging. Given the Long Range version quotes at 329 miles on a full battery, that means a complete charge in just over 20 minutes. About the time it’ll take you to have a wee and order a chai latte at most service stations.
It’s only the start of such convience too, Tesla tells us. “When our own V3 Supercharger technology is introduced, these cars will be able to charge even faster at 250kW peak charge rates.”
(Excerpt) Read more at topgear.com ...
EVs are common around here. About 1% of all vehicles and growing.
Yes. Not a significant decrease in range.
Most people won’t need a charging station most of the time. Most will be fully charged, beyond the needs of the day, every morning at home.
People keeping large amounts of gasoline at home are very rare.
The actual lifespan of the Tesla battery is a good issue. Hybrid batteries so far will almost always outlive the car. (My problem with the hybrids I’ve owned is they are ridiculously expensive to repair certain issues, including brakes. I sold off a 2002 with bad breaks, and my 2004 has had just about zero maintenance costs so far... just cleaning out the a/c filter.)
Remember when Top Gear was being attacked for faking the tests of the Tesla Roadster?
Now they’re being cited for glowing reviews by the same crowd which attacked them just a few years prior? Really?
The rest of the story from a non-cheerleader and better sources (do your homework vs. a hit-n-run 160-word social media splash):
SHORT CIRCUIT: THE HIGH COST OF ELECTRIC VEHICLE SUBSIDIES
https://www.ourenergypolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/R-JA-0518.pdf
The True Cost of Powering an Electric Car
https://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy/the-true-cost-of-powering-an-electric-car.html
Costs Associated With Non-Residential Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment
https://afdc.energy.gov/files/u/publication/evse_cost_report_2015.pdf
Funding Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
http://businessportal.ca.gov/wp-content/Documents/ZEV/EV-Charging-Stations-Quick-Reference-Guide.pdf
My daughter Angie is a physics teacher and owns a Tesla Model 3. She loves it and says she’ll never own any other kind of car. It moves like a rocket and totally silent. She has the extended range version.
“How much does that cost?”
In California the cost of electricity is nearing 30 cents per kwh.
I believe a model 3 has a 75kwh battery, so a full charge would be $22.50. Other states have much cheaper electricity.
A gasoline car getting thirty miles per gallon would need eleven gallons to go the same distance. Right now gas prices in CA are about $3.70 a gallon, so 11 gals would cost roughly $40.
Hahahaha yea, it take 20 minutes to piss and grab a coffee at most filling stations...
Keep dreaming.
When you can “ fill up” in 10 minutes or less with charging stations as plentiful as gas stations... then you have something.
And just for the record, this articles math claims of a 20 minute “fill up” are not matched by reality... but let’s not bother with what real works people who own this things say... just the marketing claims made by the company.
That’s great......as long as there’s a ‘Supercharging Station’ every 328 miles that you drive. Most EV drivers will get ‘range anxiety’ when they’re below half of that.
Besides that, at the 200Kw-h charging rate, the current in the charging circuit is nearly a thousand amps when delivered at the maximum 220 volt household voltage. It would be 2,000 amps if coming out of your 15 amp household plug. It would take about 200 such plugs to safely deliver that. It would take years just to put in the high tension power lines to service the Supercharging Stations if they needed to charge more than one EV at a time.
I could see the usefulness of an electric car for driving in a city, but long trips? No way.
BS The price of the electricity, alone, is about 10 bucks at the nationwide average. Not too many stations will charge ZERO for overhead, attendants, building, and sunk charger costs. Triple that, at least.
Where are you going to find an outlet that can pass that kind of amperage?
So we are talking a fast charger not being anything that could be supplied by a typical residential electrical service. A fast charger would need to be in a commercial or industrial setting.
OK, so if someone really wants a fast charge, do they want to wait in line for 20 minutes to an hour for people who got there ahead of them to charge? Probably not. So that means that fast charging units need to be sited in multiples at the same location.
So we are probably talking about 400 kVA to 1000 kVA transformers serving a fast charging station. across the USA the most typical substations are sized 25,000 to 50,000 kVA. So we are talking about a significant electric utility investment for something that will not be in use 24/7. The charging stations are going to be expensive.
Now when that settles in the European standard fast charging plug that the Swedish, French and German auto manufacturers are getting behind can recharge at over 300 kW.
There still batteries
they still cost 15 or $20,000
and they still will wear out and fail at some point
and get worse and worse until that point
Myself , I did my undergraduate And graduatethesis on ,and propose , hydrogen powered vehicles. Either combustion or fuel cell or a combination of the two
Hydrogen is very clearly the answer for transportation
I actually got banned from free republic because of my zeal for hydrogen back in 1995 when I first started because they thought I was trying to sell something
My original FR name was h2dude
When I realized back in the 90s was dead this is just going to be government research for about the next quarter century
I couldn’t do the government research thjng - way too boring
Most EV drivers will get ‘range anxiety’ when they’re below half of that.
Too bad Tesla's management in general is worse than your average 12-year-old boy could produce.
Early adopters get to use the Superchargers for free, but current buyers have to pay. I have a couple of pals with 2014 Model S Teslas, one who uses his as a daily driver. The car’s battery pack, like virtually everything else in the car, is monitored electronically by Tesla. His battery is in great shape, Tesla even extended the warranty for him.
In this part of OC Teslas are appearing to be as commonplace as the ubiquitous Mercedes. I haven’t heard any Tesla owner complain about the car so far.
I think the original batteries on the Tesla will have to be replaced long before it is 12 years old?
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