[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.

However, for a lot of people, even the threat of ridiculous fuel prices is not scary enough to get them to switch over to the electric side. Price-premium aside, the reason for this is a common anxiety they all have... range anxiety. Even the strongest lithium prescription available today doesn't seem to alleviate that uneasy feeling of an unexpected voltage drop.

As the old African proverb says "If you want to go fast, go alone in an EV. If you want to go far, go together in a diesel vehicle".

While charging infrastructure can certainly be a good support system to fall back on, what wary consumers really want is better battery capacity. Unlike the mobile industry where consumers want better battery life and instead get a phone that is 0.6mm thinner, in the auto industry manufacturers know that range is the major selling point and ensure that every new model pushes the odo a significant amount further.

With every passing year, battery technology improves greatly. Gone are the days of the Mahindra Reva e2o, when electric cars could be used only for local commutes, top speeds were double-digits and range was limited to just about 80-100 km.



As an example, the Tata Tigor EV, one of the more affordable EVs, has a range of over 200 km.



Higher up the ladder, the Tata Nexon EV comes with a larger capacity battery giving it a range of over 300 km. Granted, these are ARAI's wonky test figures that are far from real world numbers, but let's use the ARAI figures as a common yardstick to judge progress nonetheless.



The Hyundai Kona and MG ZS EV, both have a claimed ARAI range of more than 400 km. In a couple of years, 500 km EVs will be commonplace, which will be more than what most people need.



Of course, everyone might not be able to afford or may just not want to spend the money required on an EV with a high capacity battery. They might never want to travel say, more than 200 km in a day. Others might still prefer fossil fuels and could opt for an EV for city travel and another car (owned or rented) for highway drives. Such people might prefer an EV with a shorter range compared to the mile-munchers.



In some countries, EVs are available with more than one battery option. We expect this pattern to be introduced in India as well. This means that the same EV will be available with different ranges. Highway champions can opt for a 600 - 700 km super expensive variant, but city slickers won't need to pay for it. They can opt for a cheaper version with a lower range. The added benefits of a smaller battery also include lower vehicle weight, cheaper battery replacement cost, lower insurance and even a lessened environmental impact during the battery manufacturing process.

So, when it comes to EVs, what is the minimum acceptable real-world range for you?

[Rehaan]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line.


One thing i remember quite clearly when testing the E2O back in 2013 was just how long it took for me to drain the entire battery. I had to drive from one end of the city to the other several times, and by the end of it I was really hoping the damn thing would run dry soon.

That said, when i was draining it of it's last 1%, I was quite anxious about what I'd do if i got stranded a kilometer away from home.


I think a real-world range of 200 km is more than enough for 95+% of my needs, and 300 km takes it to 99% -- excluding just the odd Mumbai-Goa drive or such.

[Eddy]

If I were to buy it today, I'd like the range to be upwards of 500 km.

And it is not because I need that kind of range right now. It is because I am not sure till what time will the battery hold its range. How soon will it deteriorate and start giving me only 50%-60% range, compared to when it was new.

I don't want to be left with 200 Kms range in a two year / 40,000 km old car.

[carthick1000]

Voted 300km realistic range.

My daily drive for the last 2 years is a Tesla model 3 Standard range+, It has a WLTP range of 409km. The usable capacity of the battery pack is 50kWh. According to Tesla the rated efficiency of the pack is 136Wh/km.

I live in the Netherlands, where the winters are not extremely cold (like in Canada, Norway or Russia), but still have a proper European winter. So the temperature variation is quite an important factor and I do a lot of highway kilometers which is another factor affecting range. My daily commute pre covid times was 150km to and fro, which was easily doable with charging once every day from 20% to 70% in summer and in winter 20% to 85%. Occasionally(pre-covid), we used to visit Germany, Belgium, France and Austria for trips and that was pretty much relaxed, as we stop every 3-4hours for a break where we charge.

I also track with a cloud based open source app called Teslamate and with this I can tell, for me 300km realistic range is pretty much enough. Here you will see how the efficiency of the car varies over the ambient temperature:


The efficiency % values above is wrt rated efficiency of 136Wh/km

In the case of India, we should be very glad as cold weather will not be a problem for most of the people.

Also in the monthly statistics, you will see how the efficiency is much better in summer months than in winter months.



For someone like me who does 150km per day as my home-work commute can manage, most ppl with much lesser usage can easily live with EVs like Nexon, Tigor etc. At the moment, in the whole world, they are the most VFM EVs one can buy.

Of course, for longer trips it would be handy to have a fast charging structure, but that is only for days when we make long trips than the range of the car. For normal commutes, an EV with 300km is more than enough with some charging possibilities at home.

Few months ago I started a thread, which some people who have not read can make use of: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/elect...ml#post4834926 (Electric cars, their ecosystem & our mindset)

[ashis89]

500+ kms please.

And fast charge of 1 hour should give another 300 kms atleast.

This will cover my needs. Even today I am comfortable if an IC car has a 500 km range atleast, as I don't prefer visiting the fuel bunk so frequently.

Anything less than 500 kms means more than two recharge on a long trip. And that means a loss of 2+ hours. Traffic jams, hilly roads and range anxiety will be additional calculated risks.

I am talking of a single car garage. Even if I go on 1 long trip per year, I wouldn't prefer a separate car or a rented one to take me around.

[ADI7YAK]

After having driven an EV with 300km range for over 20k kilometres I’m quite sure given charging infrastructure in place (which is improving quite fast in India), 300km range is good enough. Of course more range is always good but we should also take price in consideration as bigger batteries cost quite a bit more. I think Tesla will bring true revolution with their fantastic Supercharger network just like they did in North America, Europe and few Asian countries.


On a side note, I plan to take my Kona EV on Pune-Goa drive in a couple of months as charging infrastructure is now ready.

[Kosfactor]

Since it's primary purpose is to reduce emissions in the cities and transfer that over to the power station, an EV city car should charge up in 5 minutes and should have 300 kms range.

EV has got about as much time as an ICE engine in automotive market and it's basic problems are unsolved still, maybe some day.

[V.Narayan]

5 years from now when some of us would actually be using EVs regularly it will be interesting to come back to this thread and review what we wrote and how we voted. 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. Because by then both real EV range plus charging infrastructure would together have got to the point where other than travelling to some remote corners or deep rural areas range would be a non-issue.

While range will come largely from improvements in battery technology it will also be aided by improvements in use of lighter materials {with safety of course}, lower tyre resistance and who knows solar roof panel re-charging as you drive.

Such a fundamental change in transport technology comes but once in a life time or maybe two lifetimes. I am thrilled to be in the middle of this change over unfolding before our eyes. Every engine has a life cycle measured in decades. The railway steam locomotive was as romantic and exciting as they came. But its time has passed. Similarly the ICE engine has reached the limit of its evolution given changes in norms on green issues and digging oil out of the earth go. Onwards and upwards.

[Rajeevraj]

As a single car, my wish would be for 500+. Reason for that is a lot of my regular trips currently are in the 500km range and even with my petrol car I like to do such a distance without having to refuel. So the same holds for an electric car. Yes I do have range anxiety for my IC car also .

For a 2nd car, a real world 200km range would be suitable.

[joslicx]

I wouldn't worry about range if they come up with swappable batteries. Just have a standardized interface for batteries, let them be modular (so maybe 10 or so bricks that can individually be hotswapped) and we are good to go on a world tour in an EV.

Give me that and even 300km range is good enough for me. In fact, if companies go that way, then they can own the batteries themselves and just lease them to us when we buy the car. That refundable deposit they can reimburse when we surrender the batteries. Takes away the anxiety people have about range going down with time.

[Adam]

If I would like to consider an EV car as my primary daily driver, it should have range of 500+ , most of my frequent trips are within that distance. And for occasional long distance drive I normally cap my one day stretch under 500 Kms.
All this will change if I could afford a two car parking space in Mumbai

[Akshay6988]

My ICE car gives me 600+ kms range in a tank-full which hardly takes 10-15 minutes at max. Of course EV can't match this but I don't want to pay so much money and end up waiting for the damn thing to charge so that I can drive further. Also I do not think I would diligently plug it in every night
Varying traffic conditions, temperature would also affect real world range of an EV so I don't think I would be comfortable driving an EV whose range is below 500.

[Shreyans_Jain]

A minimum of 300km of range. This, however, is a worst case range that the car must be able to deliver despite pedal to metal driving or use of AC or wiper or lights or mobile charger etc. This range figure also needs to be temperature proof - achievable in 47degree Delhi summer as well as 5degree winter.


This is from an urban use point of view. I believe that for long distance trips, we will continue to use diesel cars as EVs won’t be practical. My diesel SUV will remain the car of choice for that Ladakh road trip or Delhi-Mumbai runs.

[Turbohead]

Unless I can get the car charged atleast half as quickly as an ICE car for a similar range, I wouldn't consider an EV. More than range, it's the charging time that matters.

A vehicle is for convenience and thus charging time is a serious issue, more than range. With the way things are, I would like atleast 700kms before charging, considering my regular interstate drives.

[speedmiester]

I would prefer an EV with a minimum of 400KMs range. This could translate into a worst case scenario of 300Kms range if you drive enthusiastically and in case of any unforeseen scenarios.
This range is enough to reach most parts of South India from Bangalore. Anything more, I prefer to fly.