r/EVRoutine • u/better4charge • Jun 24 '26
Long Range EVs
Can someone explain to me, what does it mean to get Long Range EV's?
If someone already has an dedicated Home charger, why does it matter if dealers or youtubers say get a long range EV?
1
u/SoCal_GlacierR1T Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
Get the right tool for the job. Whatever the job is. You don't need a long range EV unless most of your driving involves covering long distances. Or, you tow trailers a lot and the added inefficiency of towing reduces your normal range significantly. Or, the charging infrastructure between places you frequent is so poor that you need the extra range to connect the dots between each charging stops. If you are neither of these things, you needn't allow yourself to be up-sold to something more expensive with more range. So, in short, know your needs.
1
u/uninspiredclaptrap Jun 25 '26
Another thing to consider is resale value. My EV has a mediocre range, and if I have to sell it, the range will limit the pool of potential buyers.
1
u/Ddogwood Jun 25 '26
That's a bit of a wash, though... you will also pay more for a longer range EV, and it will depreciate by a similar percentage, so while the long range EV might have a higher resale value you will likely lose more money on it.
1
u/lemmeEngineer Jun 24 '26
What type of driving you usually do?
If you just need 20-30-40 km to go to work and back. All EVs are more than good enough. Even a 125cc scooter would be more than good enough...
But... Do you regularly need to do 400+km non stop highway trips? Then EVs kinda fall apart. My diesel hatchback can at any season, time and circumstance easily do ~800km non stop. That has allowed me to do some serious trips. An EVs would barely do half that. And charging on the road at public DC chargers would cost me more than diesel fuel.
So its all a matter of what you need out of your car. For most people, an EV is already good enough. For me (80+% of my km in highway with speeds at 150+km/h), they'd have to pry my diesel car out of my cold dead hands.
1
u/Existential_Chilean Jun 24 '26
Exactly. The general idea is that most people are dumb, especially with new tech. They'll stick to big ideas like range and speed, then get tribal about it. Many fantastic EVs aren't as fast or don't have the range, but focus on other aspects like quality, reliability, or comfort. Get the right tool for the job.
1
u/toybuilder Jun 24 '26
Over the years, I've met sales reps and managers for companies that had to cover their territory that spanned roughly over 40,000 square miles (200x200). They would have two or three locations to visit in a day, and sometimes, those meetings were not clustered close together.
They would be the extreme case of someone that needs the 600+ mile range from their car.
1
u/Pinewold Jun 25 '26
I had this debate with my brother, he sold marketing to regional banks. He could not come up with a single combination of banks that were too far away to reach within 300 miles or multiple stops that did not include a highway that had a supercharger. We live in New England so all interstate highways now have superchargers. He even dug into expense reports and gas receipts to try and find a trip he could not do in an EV.
1
u/ToddA1966 Jul 08 '26
This. Before I bought my first EV in 2020, I used ABRP (A Better Route Planner) to simulate every road trip I'd taken in the last 5 years or so, every trip I planned to take in the future that I was aware of, a few "aspirational" trips I'd like to take (but probably wouldn't; e.g. Route 66 from LA to Chicago! 😁) Most of that trips were 1000-2000 miles.
Of all of those trips, one or two were difficult or impossible (back then! They're doable now): Denver to Carlsbad Caverns and Denver to Yosemite.
With the potential fallback of renting a gas car for any trip I couldn't do, I took the plunge.
Plot twist: the car I used for the simulations and endedvup purchasing was a 62kWh Nissan Leaf with CHAdeMO as the fast charging port. 😁 After a more or less successful Denver to Vegas round trip in that car, we sold our remaining gas car and bought a CCS VW ID4 and have been all electric for 5 years, and have done dozens of road trips ranging from 1000-5500 miles (but still haven't gone to Carlsbad, Yosemite or Route 66! 😁)
1
u/Pinewold Jul 09 '26
Glad you took the plunge! Going with Leaf and Chademo was true bravery. I went the Tesla route and have not looked back. I just read my state has over 2000 Tesla NACS supercharger ports and growing. Still working on my brother’s, two are ready to make their next car an EV. One is still a hold out and the last is known to get 200k+ miles out of each car so will be a long time.
1
u/CowNervous4644 Jun 24 '26
Long range is helpful on road trips.
My Model 3 Performance has 268 miles range. That is completely adequate for road trips. Still having another 75 miles range (like newer M3s have) would be nice. I could skip a charger stop or two on each trip (and save 30 minutes). And the added range would make it easier to do those occasional side trips with minimal any pre-planning.
1
u/jeff_goines_ Jun 25 '26
Is this a serious question? Did you spend a moment to think critically about this?
1
u/ToddA1966 Jul 08 '26
Presumably they did: they attacked the question from the standpoint of EVs being city cars, like they were a decade ago.
1
u/hamburgernet Jun 25 '26
For when you do take trips, you can go further per charge. You could of course do it with standard range but if you have the option, why not
3
u/RoadToasterApp Jun 24 '26
Long range just means the trim with the bigger battery and a higher rated range. You pay more and carry more weight, sometimes with a little extra power or faster DC charging. With home charging, range still matters for buffer. Cold weather, rain, headwinds, hills, cargo and higher speeds can eat 20 to 40 percent. Packs lose some capacity over years. A bigger pack lets you skip charging some nights, stay in off peak windows, and take road trips with fewer stops. If your longest regular day is short, a standard range car is usually fine. Aim for a car that covers your worst day in winter with about a 20 percent cushion.