While test driving the new Mercedes GLE 450 (you can read about that, here) I glanced down at the instrument cluster and noticed something you might be interested in.
The Benz is not an EV but it has something every EV has – a range remaining indicator. The difference is that the range remaining – in the Benz and in every vehicle that isn’t an EV – stays the same for longer.
We have all heard the term, “gas hog” and also that, in the “hoggiest” of them, you could watch the fuel gauge needle move as you pushed down on the accelerator pedal.
This is, however, only true of EVs.
And you don’t even have to push down on the accelerator to see the “needle” – that is, the range remaining – tick down literally as you drive.
It occurred to me, while driving the Mercedes, to make a point of this by showing how little gas the GLE used while driving the roughly five mile stretch from where I began recording until I reached my house. When I began rolling tape – as they used to say – the Benz had 286 miles of range remaining. Which, I must add, is more range than almost every EV currently on the market that’s priced under $50,000 comes standard with – to begin with.
And I had been driving the Benz for several days already. It still had 286 miles of range left. For this reason, I hadn’t had to stop even once – for fuel – nor wait even one minute to get some. With 286 miles left to go, I could have driven the GLE another two or three days before having to stop – for less than five minutes – to refuel.
Because it hardly used any fuel to get me the five miles home.
It’s kind of like compound interest – in your favor.
As opposed to what you get with an EV – which is compounding problems.
Also, misrepresentations about them – in order to trick you into buying one.
The government rates these EVs as having “x” range but – as the Toothless Man in that great romance movie, Deliverance put it:
Why don’t you try it and see?
When I drive an EV the five miles from where I began rolling tape to my driveway it has always been the case that whatever the range was when I began rolling tape, by the time I arrived home, it was reduced by more than five miles. Often, by as much as 10 – over the course of five.
This is to be expected.
It takes a great deal of additional energy to move the additional weight of 1,000-plus pounds of battery pack the typical EV must lug around everywhere it goes. For the same reason it takes more energy (more gas) to pull a 1,000-plus pound trailer behind whatever you’re driving. But most of us do not pull a 1,000-plus pound trailer or carry that much extra weight in the trunk every time we go for a drive.
Neither did the Benz, which – despite being a mid-sized, three-row SUV – only weighs about 4,500 lbs., which isn’t much heavier than the typical compact-sized EV such as a Tesla Model 3. It weighs substantially less than a smaller EV SUV – such as the new Genesis GV60 (you can read my review of it here) which weighs almost 5,000 lbs. and for that reason has a range of less than 250 miles fully charged. Less range remaining than the GLE had remaining after I had been driving it for nearly a week.
But it’s actually less than that – in the EV.
Because they are are so very heavy – which they (paradoxically) have to be, in order to have any range to speak of. EVs are stuck in a negative feedback loop. In order for them to be even plausibly practical for most people, they need to be able to go at least half as far on a full charge as a typical non-EV – even a “gas hog” – can travel on a full tank of fuel. But the only way to achieve this is by installing a huge – and heavy – battery pack, to store sufficient energy to allow them to go half as far as the typical gas hog does on a full tank (viz, in that regard, the 462 mile highway range of the current Dodge Charger R/T, equipped with a 5.7 liter V8 engine).
In order for the EV to go as far – on one charge – it would take an even larger and much heavier battery pack that would (cue the feedback loop) take even more energy to get the EV moving and keep you going.
There is no fix for this, either – absent the “breakthrough”in battery technology we’ve been hearing was just around the corner for the past 30-something years. So, we have energy hog EVs in which you can actually watch the “needle” dip as you drive. And it’s much more unsettling – in the EV – because (unlike in the “gas hog”) it is no easy or speedy thing to get the “needle” back to full and get back on your way.
It is absolutely fascinating – Mr. Spock voice – that the government is spreading misinformation about EVs. The government would be having a hissy fit if Toyota, let us say, had sold people a car advertising 40 miles-per-gallon that actually delivered 10 percent less than that.
How about 20 percent less?
This is common with energy hog EVs. But it is a fact passed over by the government, because the government does not really care about “hogs” – whether of gas or of electricity.
It cares about excuses – to serve as justifications.
The sooner more understand this, the sooner everything makes sense.
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Fast Battery Swap stations are probably the only way to salvage EV mileage issues.
But there would need to be tens of millions of batteries assemblies compatible with every EV, always charging.
Electric forklifts in warehouses operate with swappable batteries.
Trailer hitch mounted diesel generator.
Need long journey, hook it up.
BTW “tens of millions of batteries always charging”. And constantly wearing out, losing capacity. Battery roulette. “How many miles does this one give us?”
We can probably make the EV thing work, sort of. Question for me is do we really need to?
ALL electric cars / trucks should pay extreme road TAX due to their excess weight.
These super battery heavy vehicles are destroying our roadways !!
EV cars should be regulated like super heavy DUMP TRUCKS……. pay up sukka
Living in a big east Germany city. EV car sharing stations are popping up everywhere. No monthly fee, you can get your hands on an EV easily. So we took an Volkswagen ID4, a pretty nice SUV, for a ride. It had been wired all night, but it was only at 80%, maybe they save the battery for resale. It used 25% for 40 miles, I really kicked it, driving 100mph some time, AC on. Acceleration is better than my modest car can deliver, of course, but you need to watch the mirror on the Autobahn to let unlimited cars pass.
EVs have their advantages, they have their niche. Our test drive showed me it’s enough for most occasions. Range is the new engine displacement. It’s all about luxury. In the future, you may afford a long range EV or ICU car, or not. If not, you may rent it occasionally. It’s all designed, always has been, Germany is famous for ridiculous taxation on fuel.
PS Vehicle weight is not as problematic as described here, EVs recuperate. In flat lands, weight does not matter much when cruising. Ofc it wears out everything.
It doesn’t matter if these cars are good or bad. What matters is who decides on that issue. If people decide freely which kind of car they want that’s ok, they can have what they choose. If “big boys” decides what you and others can buy than the loop of effectiveness is broken. So it’s not about discussion about positives and negatives of electric car. It’s about freedom of choice what is worth our money. If you can’t choose because of law introduced by politics or because of industry oligopoly decision, that’s the point where things can go very wrong, that’s the point where our life can and civilization can go very inefficient, disastrous for everyone, way.
So – do you deserve to choose what to do, to buy, to put into your moth or bloodstream, or not, you just deserve to do what you’ve been told by wiser?
EVs require scarce mineral resources that are readily susceptible to supply chain monopoly and extortion. Guess why the ‘big boys’ have decided that you must drive an EV.
I’d take an old VW rabbit diesel or Mercedes 300D diesel any day over some battery powered piece of junk.
Yup. Had more than 650,000 miles on my 1.6 Golf diesel (50mpg) when I parked it. Still fine and working, jut got a truck.
No EV is still going to be on its original anything at 650,000 miles. The Golf is far more environmentally friendly when you put manufacturing and replacements into the formula.
Never mind that EV are very often “coal powered”.
You will own nothing and be happy… or else.
Why not describe the convenience of renting by using a face scan digital ID tied to your CBDC account?
Estimating the range remaining for an EV is not an easy task, the batteries do not discharge linearly, battery capacity is not fixed it decreases over time with use and varies with temperature.
It will always be more efficient to convert fuel into work via an engine than it is the convert energy into work via a motor.
No matter what, an engine was needed to create the electricity, whether it was a diesel engine, or a turbine as prime mover for a generator head.
I disagree. Somewhat.
Here in BC, most of our electricity comes from dams. No engine involved.
But for most places where gas/oil/coal is used to make electricity, I would agree.
A small ICE driving a generator, with a battery buffer is (often) the most efficient way of using gas/diesel. Engine runs at peak efficiency, only to charge the batteries. ICE inefficiencies are due to operation over a wider RPM range. they can be very designed to be very efficient if they have only one operating RPM.
The railroads knew this long ago.
Advanced internal combustion engines found in modern automobiles have peak thermal efficiencies around 35-40% for gasoline and 40-45% for diesel. Electric motors typically achieve an efficiency between 70-90%. A combined cycle gas turbine power plant can produce electricity with a thermal efficiency of over 60%. Combining 70% efficiency of an electric motor with electricity produced at 60% efficiency results in an efficiency of 42%, about the same as a diesel engine. Adding in a battery with an efficiency of 80% takes the total efficiency down to 34%, about the same as a gasoline engine.
Acceleration needs to be part of the formula. The battery/motor combo is far more efficient for the acceleration cycle, which happens very often in the real world.
Of course all of this is ignoring the cost of making a far more complex system, maintaining it and the materials for the added systems.
As I mentioned a bit above, little Golf I had ran forever, on next to nothing, with extremely simple, reliable and efficient drive system.
ETA: don’t forget transmission and conversion losses for electrical generation/charging.
i had a ford focus a few years ago that displayed how many gallons of gas i had, how many miles per gallon i was currently getting by operating the vehicle in the manner i currently was (i.e.the range would decrease in real time if i did something more fuel intensive, like turning on the air conditioning), along with estimated range remaining..
it gave me on avg 40 mpg and around 400-440 miles per fill up which usually cost around $30 if i didnt run it all the wsy dry prior to getting fuel.
i thought it was pretty great, but what do i know.
Thanks Elon!