Range may not be an issue for your use case, but it absolutely is still an issue for many. Range is certainly an issue for anyone who tows any kind of trailer. Anyone who lives in cold climates and wants heat in their car while traveling. Etc.
I’ll absolutely jump in on EVs when those things are no longer an issue, but I absolutely do not want a vehicle that forces me to stop for 20 min every 120 miles when I’m towing my camper somewhere.
I agree on towing, that’s a big deal for sure. Heating the car is not a big deal though. Even if you lose like 20% your range, for most people that just means plugging it in a day sooner in the winter, every 3 days instead of 4 etc.
Towing a camper is a reasonable argument that I can get behind. Thanks for bringing that up.
There are vehicles with a realistic (not the manufacturer’s claim) combined range of 660 km / 410 miles (without the trailer) and which can tow 1700 kg (~3700 lbs). Based on what I found online, the consumption is increased by 80% if you tow a camping trailer. That leaves you at 230 miles of range with the camping trailer. If you travel at 55 mph that gives you 3.5 to 4.5 hours of driving between charging stops. So I guess that’s not too bad.
IMHO bigger concern would be that chargers will be very hard to reach with a camper van attached. At least in Europe, chargers near the highway are mostly arranged like a parking lot. There’s no room for a trailer. So either you have to de- and reattach it all the time or you’ll need one that’s meant for big, commercial trucks. No clue if these are accessible to the general public though. (Re-)attaching the trailer every couple of hours indeed sucks if you do such long-haul trips a lot.
Range may not be an issue for your use case, but it absolutely is still an issue for many. Range is certainly an issue for anyone who tows any kind of trailer. Anyone who lives in cold climates and wants heat in their car while traveling. Etc. I’ll absolutely jump in on EVs when those things are no longer an issue, but I absolutely do not want a vehicle that forces me to stop for 20 min every 120 miles when I’m towing my camper somewhere.
I agree on towing, that’s a big deal for sure. Heating the car is not a big deal though. Even if you lose like 20% your range, for most people that just means plugging it in a day sooner in the winter, every 3 days instead of 4 etc.
Towing a camper is a reasonable argument that I can get behind. Thanks for bringing that up.
There are vehicles with a realistic (not the manufacturer’s claim) combined range of 660 km / 410 miles (without the trailer) and which can tow 1700 kg (~3700 lbs). Based on what I found online, the consumption is increased by 80% if you tow a camping trailer. That leaves you at 230 miles of range with the camping trailer. If you travel at 55 mph that gives you 3.5 to 4.5 hours of driving between charging stops. So I guess that’s not too bad.
IMHO bigger concern would be that chargers will be very hard to reach with a camper van attached. At least in Europe, chargers near the highway are mostly arranged like a parking lot. There’s no room for a trailer. So either you have to de- and reattach it all the time or you’ll need one that’s meant for big, commercial trucks. No clue if these are accessible to the general public though. (Re-)attaching the trailer every couple of hours indeed sucks if you do such long-haul trips a lot.
https://ev-database.org/car/2194/Mercedes-Benz-EQS-450-4MATIC