TexaCali said:
Zurc said:
There's also the inductive charging/running idea as well.
Zurc
Slot cars!!!! :lol:
That is too funny. I love the idea. Except - inductive charging, no third rail on the road.
OK, I'll raise my hand - supercharging is the way to go for long trips - I'm convinced that is the solution for the future. I just did a fairly long trip in my Model S, using 110V, 30Amp Level 2, 80 Amp Tesla, and Superchargers. Superchargers are the way to go - by a long margin. No need to look further. No need to monkey with swapped batteries.
Oddly 110V at a hotel got me a really needed 50 mile range boost overnight - I pulled into the hotel with 20 miles range left.
I got a boost at a Level 2 30Amp ChargePoint station at a BMW dealership (got to test drive the BMW i3 during the plug in) - ended up with enough range for the day after about 4 hours of charging. EXCEPT - and this is critical - my brother in law followed me to the dealership in his ICE SUV. And then had to take me back there later that morning.
That same dealership then allowed me to charge overnight with their ChargePoint station - thank you so much. But another two round trips with the ICE SUV. Full 280 mile range overnight.
The other part of the trip was stopping at a Tesla showroom where they had 80Amp chargers. Sadly, I had to spend a lot of time waiting around a mall. About 4 hours each time. That is entirely too long.
Then used another 110V outlet in a parking garage at a university (there were no other chargers in this city listed in PlugShare or ChargePoint). The university was super proud of their Electric Vehicle charging space. I was really excited because I was parked there for 2 and a half days. At 110V, that was enough to fully charge the car to 280 miles. Granted it was an amazing parking spot. But again, way too long for any kind of real trip.
Then the revelation - the nirvana - the ultimate. On the way home about 120 miles from home, I was able to use a Supercharger. You have never seen anything like this for charging. Within minutes I had 30 miles of range on the car. The time it took to walk up and down a mall and grab a slice of pizza - the car had an additional 120 miles of range on it. That car charged initially at over 350 miles per hour of charging. I think there was something like 400 Amps going into the car.
I'm here to tell you from personal experience - living with an FFE charging on 110V and 220V, using that car for a daily commuter, charging overnight or an hour to get a little more range for more around town driving. And then seeing how incredible Supercharging is - there's no need to look further. Bring them on for every electric car.
If the FFE had Supercharging capability - it would have a full charge in around 15 minutes. Yeah, they would have to be spaced about every 70 miles. At the rate Tesla is going with Superchargers - there will be a lot of them all over the country, not too far apart.
Imagine a day if Supercharger stations were as common as a gas station. Nobody would ever have range anxiety.