[Shamegz]

The technology is new/next generation why would I settle for range equal to or less than existing one. Voted 600Km+, this range is high but we have time and technology to reach it.

[Vik0728]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Electric vehicles are no longer a distant dream from the future. They are at the tipping point of going mainstream, and many BHPians expect that the next car they purchase will be an EV.

Great thread Aditya

Voted for a 500 Km realistic range and here are my reasons:

- I am always for it when it comes to conservation of nature and natural resources. But then again, I also love road trips and almost always some good spirited runs through these trips. So range is surely an important aspect.

- Although the turbo-petrol engines offer superior performance to its diesel counterparts, the latter can give as much fun and take you farther as well. Today's EVs fall in between!

- Indian infrastructure needs either some serious revamp or planning to accommodate EV charging stations at regular/respectable intervals on our motorways. The next best thing to get over this anxiety of running out of charge is to provide a decent range on EV cars.

- With a minimum of 500 Km range, I need not ponder over finding/having a charging station at the destination during relatively short journeys (round trip <400 Km).

- Most importantly, having a longer range also means that we use less of actual charging time/power, which is really the purpose of conservation.

So until most (if not all) of these personal requirements are addressed, a thoroughbred German Diesel Engine is still my pick!

[tirumalavoleti]

500km is what is needed if driven smoothly. 400km if driven spiritedly. And if the car could be charged to 100% in 1 hr using fast charge infra, it makes a long cruiser.

I generally drive 6 to 7 hrs during highway journeys and take 1 hr break which should be sufficient to charge to possible high

In city, we could rely on over night charge.

It is also very important to know the mileage after 2 to 3 years. Currently mobiles gets reduced battery performance after 3 years.

Also very important to know the battery replacement cost

[Indraneel Bhat]

I think this focus on pure EVs is too soon. There seems to be no transition period between the 2 technologies. In my humble opinion, we need to have Hybrid vehicles with a mixture of EV and fossil fuel engines at least with a view of the next 20 years when the infrastructure for pure EVs gets set up.

The Toyota Vellfire I think has a similar setup, as far as cars on Indian roads go.

The following are only suggestions based on what I believe the overall infrastructure should be:

1. Standardized replaceable batteries like petrol pumps are today. Like how the USB is the standard data / power transfer connector in computers today.
2. Fast charging batteries or parking slots in highway restrooms equipped with charging units
3. Issue of manufacture of Lithium Ion batteries and dealing with their eventual decay and disposal.
4. Issue of increase in demand for electrical power to charge EVs. Currently India's needs are met by burning of coal. With the need for charging batteries, the demand for electricity will also increase.

So whether EVs would eventually replace fossil fuel cars should be based on all the above considerations.

[aved]

Hi all,

I am a new member of Team-BHP. I am based out of Stockholm, Sweden. After driving a PHEV for the last year, I will switch to full electric in the next few days. So my rationale is based on what I have experienced and my driving pattern.

I prefer a range of 400 to 500 km. EVs are normally operated between 20 to 80-90% of range for optimal battery performance, which will give a realistic range of 300 KM to 400 KM. This is good enough for either city rides or long journeys, provided that charging infrastructure is in place. I currently own a PHEV with a pure electric range of 58 KM. I have a charging facility in my parking garage and also at my work. In the last year, I have been driving almost 95% of the time on pure electric power during my regular city commute. However, when I traveled out of Stockholm for some road trips in the countryside, the charging infrastructure for Non-Tesla cars was not reliable, and I could not charge the car in most cases. So in my view, if you have reliable charging infrastructure in place, a range of 400 to 500 km will meet most of the needs.

[Pradeep4pm]

For me, more than the range, a fast charging technology and supporting infra on highways would make the EVs more market friendly option. The ease of recharging the cars with fossil fuels is not making us think of the tank capacity today and an alternate has to keep this factor in mind to replace the existing way of life.

[RSimonS]

The Range varies drastically depending upon whether one is driving in a city or highway. Unlike Petrol/Diesel, the range would reduce for an electric car on the highway as the breaking is much lesser. Hence, I believe, whether it would be a city range or a highway range would also be included in the question.

My preference would be 400+ KMs on the highway so that would be able to cover 600-700 kms in a day with a planned charging break, both for the vehicle as well as me.

[eyeman]

Voted for 500 plus. For me , the more the better, because if I buy an an EV, I would definitely want it to serve long runs also. Keeping an ICE for long runs alone is not practical as it might be only once or twice in a few months.

[shrinz.vivek]

I would prefer not having to charge the battery at all.
A range of some 200km with a small hot swappable battery is what I need. This serves many purposes.

1. The car will have a smaller battery and hence cost less. This way we can have EV cars similar to Altos and Nanos. I am not sure if a Nano can even withstand the weight of a 500+km range battery.
2. Not providing chargers at all will again reduce the initial investment of the car. This is similar to what phone manufacturers did with earphones and chargers.
3. If all of us start charging our cars at home/office and use charging points only in the highway; what will happen to all the fuel stations inside the city? They can instead convert to mass charging stations and deliver charged batteries to home, similar to gas cylinders or those 20liter water cans.
4. Bigger and industrial scale charging stations can justify the investment by means of continuous operation. I mean, if home charges are used only once a week, why should it remain idle for the other 5 days. I am a person who feels any machine must always be running/in use and should never be idle.

[ph03n!x]

400 KM is my sweet spot, and I'll tell you why -

• I usually don't drive for now than 300 KM/ approx. 3 hrs without a break
• This will usually be a minimum of 30 to 45 minutes break - have food, freshen up, et all
• Assuming an average 100 KMPH (on the higher side), I'll still have 100 KM range left where I stop
• This will give me good enough a range for the next 3 hours of driving
• With planned destinations being a max of 1000 KM per day, this will be just perfect - assuming I have charging stations at all my planned stops.

OT - a friend of my just did Hyderabad to Vizag and back on his Nexon EV. It take him about 14 hrs one way, but I'm expecting a good enough improvement if we have a highway speeds range of 400 KM min.!

[sanmish]

I would think a range between 300-400 kms would be most optimum. Rather than increasing the range, the goal should be to increase availability of fast charging infrastructure in our cities and highways. This is the only way to ensure accelerated adoption of EVs.

[ChargedGarage]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

The posts above of members ADI7YAK and Rehaan are illuminating of what we wish for versus what we need.

I voted 400 kms of real world range which I assume will be about 500 kms WLTP and 600 kms ARAI. This would be for the main car - the cruiser for my work or my missus and for the occasional out station trip. For the city runabout and utility car I suppose I can live with a 200 kms range in the real world.

I suspect if we came back to this thread in say 2031 we would say, what the hell were we so fussed up about.

Sir, I think is a little disconnect regarding range requirement between people who own one car for all needs vs people who can afford to own multiple cars.

Considering the state of charging infrastructure currently, when I answer the question "What is" and not "What will be" the minimum acceptable range, I have to select 600kms+ because this is India and one has to prepare for the worst, aka non-functional charging stations, electricity cut, emergency long distance run with no time to stop, unplanned detour through a village because of closed roads etc.

If I have a backup vehicle which has conventional fuel, I am able to accept a lot less range because worse comes to worse I still have the other vehicle.

Of course in the future with faster charging and fast chargers as common as fuel pumps, hope that range anxiety can be a thing of the past and everyone can switch to electric.

[manjubp]

More than range, I am looking for how good is the charging infrastructure and charging time.

Decision to go for EV is based on al the three parameters
1. Range (minimum 250km in real world)
2. Charging time of 10 min for ever 100km of range
3. Charging infrastructure at 40% of the real world range.

[gvivek75]

As a one car garage owner, my perspective is obviously different from those with the luxury to maintain a city runabout and highway mile munchers side by side.

Within the city, too high a range doesn't matter - not for me at least, since my running is hardly 30 kms a day. When going outstation, I would prefer batteries to be swappable, and not be forced to take long breaks just to recharge.

I would rather go for a mid range option therefore. Obviously the choice is based on swappable batteries as a viable proposition.

As an owner of a car, I would be more interested in what features and functions the car brings me. A battery would give me a certain stored range, and as long as swapping is straight forward, I wouldn't even bother what brand or manufacturer it came from.

[sushan]

EVs are expected to be the norm in another 10 years. The biggest manufacturers are all pivoting to EVs. Volvo even announced that they will have 80% of their lineup as EVs by 2025 and 100% by 2030.

Range is one of the most important concerns with respect to EVs. My take on the range question is as follows:

• Affordable EVs less than Rs. 10 lakhs: 200 kms range
• Medium tier EVs between Rs. 10 lakhs and 20 lakhs: 350-400 kms range
• Top tier EVs more than 25 lakhs: 500+ kms range

Affordable tier EVs must have a practical range of 200 kms to allay any range anxiety fears. Such cars can be used for city commute and occasional visits to suburbs.

Medium tier EVs can be used for all but those long distance visits to the hill station

Top tier ones are practically just like normal legacy fuel cars.


The important questions that need answering also revolve around longevity of the battery pack, speed of recharging, recharging infrastructure etc. If recharging infra as pervasive as petrol pumps are put in place, EVs in all three tiers will have a level playing field.