Team-BHP - EVs: What is the minimum acceptable real-world range for you?

Practically speaking, an EV will not be the only car at home. Not until we see adequate EV infrastructure in place in our country. So, a range of 200 km (real world figure) would be more than sufficient for city commute. For those occasional highway drives, we'll have the other car at home.

Voted for 300km

Would have liked to vote for 600+km for a single car household, but the fact is that for long distance travelling in Indian conditions, BEVs don't inspire confidence. Maybe yes, for once an year shifting from a city to another with planning. But for regular use. Nope.

Voted for 300km range, because that seems like a sweet spot for affordability and usability. With almost a charging station on every district in Kerala, can confidently do a pan-Kerala road trip (along the NH, that is).

More than anything it is the cost. Give me the Nexon EV for under 10 lakhs, and will happily lap it up. Even if the theoretical 300km range is ~200km in real life. Heck, give a small city car EV for under 5 lakhs :Dwith a real life range of under 100km. Most of the runs do not even allow the petrol/diesel engines to properly warm up.

But the fact is we won't see BEVs under 12 lakhs OTR anytime in the near future.:sadface

Easy question. My answer is 50 KMs with an ICE backup (PHEV). With my daily usage being around 20 KMs, I could use just the electric motor for 355 of 365 days a year, and have the security of the ICE engine for outstation trips for those 10 days when I need a really long range. That way, I would be confident in adding an electric vehicle to my household.

If batteries were clean to manufacture and recycle, I would have opted for the options presented, but I am not prepared to buy a 600KM dirty and unrecyclable Li-Ion battery when my daily run is just 20 KMs for 95% of the days. Also, opting for huge batteries would further strengthen China, as they have a finger in every pie as far as Li-Ion is concerned.

With the current Li-Ion production capacity, we could equip an 8-times bigger fleet of ICE powered cars with electric driving capabilities. What's more, PHEVs with a 50 KM range would (in my opinion) be very easily accepted as the only car in the household. The positive impact on fossil fuel consumption could be much bigger that way as the average daily driving range across the globe is very low (around 30 miles in the US and EU) and 80% (guesstimate) of daily driving could be on electric-only power, even while utilising only a very small battery.

Just because Musk could only think of Li-Ion BEVs as the solution does not mean they are the right solution. The arms race around Li-Ion should end, and better sense should prevail.

There can't be a one-size-fits-all answer to this, as is in most cases. :D I'd look at it this way:

For a 2W: 200 km (so it'll last at least a couple of days - a week for the average households)

For a daily driver 4W (your typical hatch): 200-250 kms (so it covers at least two days of office/household duty commute). The Nissan Leaf has a range of about 250 kms for reference.

For a primary car EV: at least 450 kms (so one can actually rely on it to be the sole car of the house)

I have an Alto and a Splendor. A hatchback is what I can afford, and the Alto replacement will also be a similar car or one segment higher. It takes in 35 litres of fuel and can comfortably cover 600 km on a full tank. I will take an EV that can deliver similar performance and range, though I voted for 500 km range.

For an EV bike, I feel a comfortable range of 150 km would be ideal.

My calculation is simple:
My daily trip is around 40 kms. So a 5 day a week would have 200 kms... Add the week end run which can be over 100 kms so a requirement of 300 minimum. Add a buffer of 50-100 kms, so 400 works for me for the city car (priced ~6-7 l ex showroom)

This allows me not to bother about charging during the week at all.

If I have to check for a highway car, typical cover around 600-700 kms a day, but the 8 hr charging is a deal breaker. Usually would like to get it down to 4-5 hrs of full charge time with 800 km range should be ok for me. For this I can spend around 15-20l

Nothing short of 500km real world range regardless of terrain, with 4 person plus a child onboard with luggage and full time air condition on is what will be acceptable to me. Second, reduce charging to maximum 15 minutes for an additional range of 200 kms so that any emergency can be taken care of. These conditions met and I will dump the IC engine very next day.

Another scenario, just give me 100 km range with 2 person and full time ac on under 3 lakhs to use as a daily city commute and I will keep it together with the IC engine car which will work as a highway muncher.

This totally depends on the purpose and the usage of the car. The range requirements are very different for someone considering it as a city car compared to someone considering it as a highway car.

For me, I still have not warmed up to a concept of a pure city car as such. For me the joy of owning a car is those long highway drives and reaching distant destinations. Therefore, I look at every car from that lens of a long highway drives to somewhere away.

Given this, I would say I need a minimum range of 500km for the car to become attractive to me. That is my vote.

However, the real problem with EVs is not the range, but the charging infrastructure and charging time! I might actually be OK with a 300km range for a petrol/diesel car, because I know I can find a fueling pump somewhere within 300km and quickly fill up the tank and continue my journey. That is not the case with EVs. Therefore, EVs must have even more range than ICE cars to be equally acceptable. That is the irony of the situation.

In summary, I might even accept a petrol car with 300km range, but for EVs my range criterion becomes 500km because I have to reach my destination before I can "refuel" it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1.2TSI7DSG (Post 5026370)

This allows me not to bother about charging during the week at all.

You read my mind. I use my vehicle mainly in the city for office commute (60kms two way) and would prefer to charge only during the weekends. So that's 300kms and weekend trips of another 100kms. The longest single day driving on highway has been around 300 to 350. So, EV with a range of 400kms make sense. We should also have fast chargers for EV which charge 60 to 70% capacity in 30 to 60 minutes.

I voted for 400kms realistic range. I think the long range versions of Tesla model 3 and y when launched should be able to deliver. And more importantly hope there are fast charging stations available every 100 kms (atleast initially) in highways with a good coffee shop or restaurant along with it.

I would see this question in two angles: City vs Long distance.

City: even a 200km useable range would be fine. But for Long distances, then I want the charging stations in range first and a 500 km useable range. without that, it would be a bit risky travelling long. One can say that highways will soon have charging stations - but one's travel is often more off the highways than on it.

For those who have IC car for long trips 300 km EV is enough. But for someone who have only EV as a car must have 500 km range for peace of mind.

There are two things manufacturers must do to make EV more trouble free.
1. All major brands who are producing cars in India should team up and come with standard charging technology which can be used to charge all EVs.
2. Small replaceable standard batteries for backup (around 100 kms) along with main batteries must be there which can be replaced at petrol pumps in case of emergency. This will reduce queues for charging. Just replace old battery with charged on at station and you are good to go for some more miles.

Give me an EV like the nexon with a charging time Of about 30 minutes in a full blown fast charger from 0 to max. I am Okay with range of 500 KMs then(real world usage with AC with regen and max speed of 120kmph on the highway.

Realistically we can start the top up when it nears 400km. This is a good time for a 30 minutes break when doing a fast highway trip.

For the city, I am okay with a car that does 350 on a full trip with a charging time of 0-90% in 10 minutes.

I would prefer a real life range of atleast 400+km for all practical purposes. Only then it is fathomable to atleast think about taking the car on a long trip then at night halt one can charge it overnight.

Currently, I dont have the courage to take cars like Nexon, MG or Kona on a day trip to Chandigarh for a business trip! Too many variables that can impact the range and then slow charging as well