[wheelguy]

Well, electric vehicles are catching up despite all the deterrents like range-anxiety, price, and charging infrastructure etc.

Let us assume that all the deterrents like price, charging infra, etc, were addressed except the range, you can get only a maximum usable range of 250~300 kilometers, will that be sufficient enough for you to replace your ICE vehicle with EV for your weekday usage?

Or do you need more range as per your current daily usage? What is your current usage pattern, both on weekdays and weekends?

Request members to share their views.

[saket77]

I think a large majority of people use cars for less than the range what an EV can churn out even today. What is the biggest turn off is the range anxiety for that occasional highway trip and dearth of charging stations. Fast charging would be another bottleneck in the adoption of EVs.

Most of us do not have the luxury of 2 personal cars so we can't use the EV for regular weekdays and bring out the gas guzzler on the weekends or for that highway run. Hence, for easy adoption or transition, EVs will be expected to do everything that a fossil run car can currently do, and may be something in addition. The charging time would need to be really short so that the downtime can be minimum. A lot of people may not be well organised, hence the car should be designed such that it can be charged within a short time for a decent range.

[shankar.balan]

An EV will be first class for in city usage for the daily commute and back. All in city usage including weekends, can easily be covered. No problem at all.

But I personally would not wish to venture out on the highways and for long distances, especially to the hills and the wilderness and other similar places of interest, simply because the real world usage, range of these vehicles is still a matter for speculation and of course, there is the question of charging infra, possible repairs and things like that.

Slightly OT but I wanted to say this:

Unless there is an absolutely forced regulation by way of Governmental stricture, I would still like to play with my Fossil Fuel Driven vehicles and burn some gas, for a while longer. Ooh! There’s nothing quite like that engine “growl” and exhaust “burble” to get that adrenaline flowing!

And lets not fuzz about with “leaving some legacy for the next gen etc” - I really dont give two hoots in the wind, because I ain’t got no next gen to worry about.

Another thing, if it is indeed perceived as holier, to use EV’s - pause a moment and think about how much environmental damage and pollution it causes, to produce those batteries. And later, what will happen, when one needs to dispose of those batteries.

[ashis89]

I voted No for all days.

Currently the charging time is very high which will create bottlenecks and lead to queues while charging at shared public networks.


Cross posting from a similar thread active on our forum:

Originally Posted by ashis89

Reasons:

1. Limited range: For me, the car should be able to do 1000 kms at a time with minimal down time.

2. Charging time: Anything more than 15-20 mins. is a problem and needs a lot of planning. For a long trip, this charging time will increase the overall travel duration.

4. Primary car: Due to all the above reasons, it can't be my primary car and I can't afford to spend large sums on a secondary, city-only car.

5. Power requirements: As a country, are we producing enough surplus power to charge the EVs.

[V.Narayan]

90% of our IC cars today have a city range of somewhere between 400 to 650 kms depending on the vehicle. Few extend beyond these parameters. Once EVs start to get to a city range of 300 kms they will suffice for most of our daily travel needs with thin the city as well as to nearby towns. Only long distance will require some serious planning.

[sri_tesla]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Once EVs start to get to a city range of 300 kms they will suffice for most of our daily travel needs with thin the city as well as to nearby towns. Only long distance will require some serious planning.

Both Kona and MG ZS meet this requirement (300 kms in city) easily. EVs are more efficient in start-stop traffic than ICE(petrol/diesel) vehicles. Kona's rated city range (as per EU's WLTP system) is 380 kms while overall range is 289 kms.

[V.Narayan]

In the history of transportation it has most often been observed that the incoming me technology has, initially, lesser range of endurance than the outgoing mature technology. Steamships powered by coal versus sailing ships; a hundred years later has turbine powered ships versus stream turbine powered ones; turbojet powered airliners versus piston engined one's and so on. Same is the case here. Eventually EV ranges will get to within shouting distance of ICE vehicles.

[libranof1987]

Practically speaking, a stated 250kms/realistic 200kms range is very usable as a daily driver for most people. In most cities, barring Mumbai/NCR/Bangalore, the first two because of distances and the last because of traffic, 250kms will get you across the city more than twice. That's good enough for most use cases of a city car.

The problem is if this car is the primary car because then inter-city runs become almost impossible.

[guru_max]

EVs could definitely work for weekday. Forget cars, something like ather 450, with it's 75 Km range has seen brisk sales after it's launch. People are clearly using it for the office commute, charging it overnight. For many people a 250 Km range is equivalent to office commute for an entire week.

[imidnightmare]

I'd be able to do 80% of my traveling with an EV - but I'm still cold on EVs as a whole for myriad reasons. I don't think of EVs as the great saviours of the environment.

1. Li-Ion batteries. They're toxic and non-recyclable - unlike Pb-acid which are 99+% recycled. The mobile phone battery disposal issue is a crisis and this will only get worse with EVs
2. Electricity is mostly fossil-fuel based today. Talk about solar all you like but until the world wakes up again and re-adopts nuclear power, electricity production itself will remain dirty
3. Charging time - that's not coming down to manageable levels, is it? It'll never work for long-distance trips; I've not warmed to the "relay batteries" idea of swapping at stations along the way (what assurance on quality?)

[GTO]

250 km is enough for 99% of the people out there. For highway drives, you can always RENT a car from Zoom / Myles etc.

It's more of a mental block frankly. But one that will be solved easily as EVs with 500 - 700 km ranges aren't that far away on the horizon. I personally voted for option 1 on the poll as I drive on the highway about 2 - 3 times a month and hence, 250 km won't cut it for me.

[sumeethaldankar]

My daily run is 61 kms to and fro and my weekend is 0 to 20 kms as I prefer to walk etc and let the car rest on weekends. 250 km range is very good as far as I am concerned and I can always keep it charging overnight. Also I live on the ground floor so charging infrastructure should not be a hassle as my car is parked right next to my house balcony.

[aaggoswami]

Voted No for all days.
My usage pattern is a bit random, and when I have to travel on highways many times its over 400 kms in one day. This weekend I have a trip to Rajkot, Vadodara-Rajkot-Vadodara in one day. With current charging infrastructure and inability to predict timelines of travel due to road/traffic, I dont think right now an EV can be my choice. Within city, a single charge can pull me through a week or even more. But not for highway drives.
EV are still quite afar to practically replace fossil fueled cars, atleast in India.

[cmani0000]

I have two very basic questions here.

1. Does the range of EV depends on traffic?
2. Will the range be consistent say for 5 years?

I dont know much about the technology here but as far as I know the Li ion battery in my 2 year old mobile phone never retained energy for the same duration as it did when new.

[kiku007]

What we need versus what we want are quite different in most cases.

Sure, 250 Kms range is what most of us need for most of the time but is that what we want when we shop? I think 300 Kms of real-world range will be the psychological barrier and that's a bare minimum.