Here's How Much EV Range You Actually Need

My Nissan Ariya (it was a cheap lease!) is rated at 205 miles, and that has been mostly sufficient. For local driving I average 3 miles per kwh.

I just use the level one charger at home in a 15 amp circuit. I’ll use a fast charger as needed, but it’s been about 2-3 times per month over the last six months.

But my issue is that I go biking on the weekends. When I put my bike rack on, load my bike and my friend’s bike, and then hit freeway speeds for a 50 mile drive, my range plummets. I need a full charge for this 100 mile day, and I get uncomfortably low on charge.

I could survive on a Nissan Leaf during the week, but I wish I had more range on the weekends.

Suggested by: Zoenberger

I have always thought the perfect target is 300 miles. My current Kia EV6 GT-Line does 250-280 miles, and I have adapted well to that model. I have routes planned to use 350 chargers, so I can stop for 10-15 mins and be back up over 200 miles of range again. The funny part is that as the ICE gas mileage has improved, the tanks keep getting smaller.

My RAV4 Hybrid only had a 10-11 gallon tank. So even though it got about 30 mpg, it still only had a range of 300ish miles. We will see the same thing happen as batter technology improves. They will shrink the battery pack, which will lower the price and lighten then car. However, they will continue to hit the 250-350 mile range. The key is charging speed should also improve because the battery pack will be smaller.

Suggested by: David J. Miller via Facebook

Need? 40 miles will get me to and from work with plenty left over for errands.

Want? 140 miles will get me to and from Burbank Airport and other Los Angeles visits that I make about 6 times a year.

Nice to have? 220 miles is about as far as I want to go between pee and leg stretching breaks on the occasional long trips. Would require good charging infrastructure and quickish charging times though. I figure we will be there in under 5 years.

I’m still kicking myself for not buying an original Fiat 500e when they started coming off lease and could be had for under $7k with under 20,000 miles.

Suggested by: Peter Thille

About 600 miles officially. What would equate to around 400 miles real world and 300-ish on cold days/motorways. Enough to drive to my aunt and uncle’s place with my family, park on their road and drive home again a few days later without having to recharge on the journey. I’d then plug it in at home.

Now, that’s only a thing we do once or twice a year but I can do it in my petrol car and still have 100 miles or so left in the tank. For the most part, I don’t drive more than 80 miles round trip but it’s the convenience of having the range there when you need it.

Suggested by: Graham Peppercorn via Facebook

I’m a Mach-E owner for my 3 days a week 45-mile round trip commute and some dad-taxi on the weekends.

I got the CA Route 1 edition because I didn’t give a shit about the B&O stereo or power liftgate, and was willing to save ~$3k over the extended range Premium trim.

It has a range of 312 if I topped it out, but i never charge above 80%.

I can go almost 2 weeks on a full charge, but what I find I do is run to a low-cost or even free L2 charger in my area and walk my dog, or ride my bike for a 2-3 hours, something I already would have been doing, and charge for less than $0.07/kw.

If I were to road trip in the thing, which someday i might, it’s the rate of charge that is more important than 20-70 mile differences in range. If I can cut charging to 20 minutes every 4-5 hours of driving, It’s an hour wasted charging on my way to Chicago from the East Coast. Considering I would have already had a 30 minute stop or two in there for a regular drive, it’s not that far from the norm.

With the current infrastructure and a car that charges at ~80kw/h I’m sitting for 40 minutes. So it’s not desirable for longer trips. Thankfully I have other cars to choose from if that’s the case, and for what I save commuting, I could rent a car for any future road trips and get something legit built to do a highway distance.

As it sits, I am spending more per mile on tires than propulsion with my current commute and charging scheme. ($1200 tires going 40k miles =$0.03/mile, 6.66 kwh charging at $0.50/hr returning 3.2 miles/kw = $0.023/mile)

So your answer is, range isn’t the issue, it’s how fast you get the range back that matters.

Suggested by: PotbellyJoe and 42 others

As an EV owner, the problem is that not all the range is iseful if you want to have a long-lasting battery. it’s a tradeoff. Yes, you can treat it like a gas car, run it to empty and charge to 100%, but then your battery suffers (certanily if it’s NMC, likely also if it’s LFP). So here is real world math on what is “practical daily range” vs maximum range:

300 mile range, but recommend to charge to 70% and not to discharge past 10% on a daily. basis. So real world daily range is really 0.6x300=180 miles. Then you lose 30% in the winter, so that’s 130 miles of actual driving. I get it, I don’t drive 130 miles every day, but some days I do, and wouldn’t want any less than that “practical daily range.”

Suggested by: Ilya Shestopalov via Facebook

I think 300ish miles in the battery pack AND 800V architecture addresses 99% of people’s needs, road trips included. The real hassle of owning an EV isn’t stopping every 3-4 hours—most people in an ICE will do that anyway. The hassle is sitting for 40+ minutes at a charging station waiting to top up, as you must do if you (or the guy occupying the charging stall) have 400V or weaker architecture. With 800V (as is found in Hyundais, Kias, Porsches and others) and a 350+ KW charger, charging really only takes 15-20 minutes—just a tad more than the time needed to pee, grab a soda, and get back to your car.

Suggested by: MostlyGood

I’m taking my kids to my uncle’s house tonight. It’s a 320 mile roundtrip; there’s no charging at his house other than just 120v trickle charging. I make that trip about once every other month; once a month I drop my kids at my in-laws’ house for the weekend, which is a 200 mile roundtrip on Friday night and then a 200 mile roundtrip on Sunday night to pick them up. I can also only do 120v trickle charging at my house. So I would say that I’d need, at a minimum, 500 miles of electric range in order to feel comfortable with an EV - probably more since mileage drops so drastically once temperatures go below freezing.

Suggested by: neverspeakawordagain

For me, a bare minimum would be 200 miles. We do enough driving to random places that anything less would cause a headache frequently enough. The bigger issue here isn’t really range though, it is charging ability and speeds.

I do drive a decent amount for work and usually kind of long mile, quick trips that aren’t always in highly populated areas, so I know I am an outlier. But for those trips, 300 miles would be a need, but the charging is still the main issue.

In a perfect world, I would have an EV/PHEV for most of my weekly driving and then either another car or a longer range EV for work. But with my current job, I am bit limited on the type of car I can drive for work. My wife would be a perfect use case for a PHEV or even a lower range EV as she doesn’t drive a ton and we could even charge on a 110v outlet and have her covered on most days.

Suggested by: Big Block I-4

I’m fine with the 280 to 320 mile range. I’m more concerned with charging times and charging availability.

I drive everywhere. I don’t typically fly, at least anywhere on the North American continent. I also don’t always stay on the Eisenhower because how else could i truly experience every wonderful place this continent has to offer if I didn’t explore the wonderful back roads and state highways? Trust me when I say that I do this more than most people I know, so mapping out the few usable charging stations off the freeway is a no-go for me.

However, the above scenario is for my primary family car that we also travel in. We’re a multi-car family and our secondary car is a small and fuel efficient tiny car comfortable enough for two and some groceries, or going into the city for an evening. This is the car I would replace with an EV, which means it has to be cost effective enough for me to replace it at some point, but also means that range and charge times are not as important for this car too as I can just charge at home when it’s not being used.

Suggested by: Autojunkie

So, as an engineer, I can do calculations!

300 makes sense to me too.

300 miles is going to be 240 miles when you consider battery degradation over time and hot/cold weather making the HVAC system work hard.

You will want to stop when your battery is at 10% and can only fast charge to 80% (or you will wait forever for that last 20%). Which means you will be stopping at 168 miles. Which is 2 hours and 15 minutes of driving at 75 mph.

I think stopping every 2 hours makes sense. I could maybe work the math out for 275 miles rated range new, but I think 300 makes more sense.

The bigger question is that of charging speed. On one extreme is a Lucid Air Dream on a 350 kW charger. This could put the 168 miles back into the battery in around 20 minutes. On the other is a Volt. Since it is limited to 50 kW, this means it will take 60-90 minutes to put a 168 miles back into the battery.

However, that Lucid does raise an interesting question. I typically plan on around 500 miles a day of driving during a road trip. (I take my time to explore during road trips, I don’t iron man them. If I have to be there right now, I’ll book a plane ticket).

Anyway, the 620 mile range of a Lucid Air Dream means I shouldn’t have to worry about fast charging at all. However, I would have to watch to make sure that I can slow charge with a Level 2 at a hotel long enough to be back to 100% when I took off in the morning.

Suggested by: hoser68