Lightyear One solar EV range testing

[dan_b]

https://electrek.co/2021/07/07/lightyea ... rack-test/

Ok it's on a track, but the main thing is that they're still afloat.

[Stinsy]

I don't get why anyone needs more than 200-300 miles of range. Surely an EV with a 400miles range would be better if it had a smaller/lighter battery?

A network of reasonably priced, reliable, 200kW chargers on the motorway network, and 7.4kW or 11kW chargers at hotels/theme parks and other "destinations" is what is required?

Many people don't drive 200miles in a week let alone in one go. And those that do should stop every few hours for a short break anyway.

Additionally: solar panels on a car are a complete waste of time. Cars just don't spend their time perfectly angled towards the sun. You'd get more W and loads more Wh for the same money putting panels on your roof.

[nowty]

I don't get why anyone needs more than 200-300 miles of range. Surely an EV with a 400miles range would be better if it had a smaller/lighter battery?

A network of reasonably priced, reliable, 200kW chargers on the motorway network, and 7.4kW or 11kW chargers at hotels/theme parks and other "destinations" is what is required?

Many people don't drive 200miles in a week let alone in one go. And those that do should stop every few hours for a short break anyway.

Additionally: solar panels on a car are a complete waste of time. Cars just don't spend their time perfectly angled towards the sun. You'd get more W and loads more Wh for the same money putting panels on your roof.

Because a 400 mile range EV car will only do about 300 miles at motorway speeds in the real world in summer and about 250 miles in winter. My parents live 250 miles away and I have done it once in our BMW i3 to show the car off to my father but it was a faff, motorway chargers either not working or in use. Another long drive I did from London to Exeter and back to Southampton, was a nightmare, 4 consecutive chargers not working the 5th was only an AC charger so was limited to the cars 12kW AC limit and it stopped because of a system error after 15mins. Luckily the return journey was ok.

I have only since driven to my parents in the dirty diesel, but it still passes the ultra low emission zones which are now springing up in various cities. It will be replaced with an EV in the next couple of years or so, but I wont buy one with less than 250+ miles real world range. A second hand Tesla model 3 long range version would be ideal.

With regards to putting more PV on the house roof instead of the car roof, well for most people, that might make sense but for me, there isn't any room left and more watts on my roof would simply be curtailed. An example where this would be an advantage is going on a long holiday and leaving the car in a long term car park. I remember going to for a week in Spain with a friend a few years back who drove his Tesla, He expected to just about do the return trip to Gatwick on the single charge but the car had lost about 20 miles of range in the week it spent sitting there in the car park. Last thing you want to do returning from a holiday is faffing around trying to find a charger.

With regards to stopping for breaks, increased driving automation is going to make longer drives possible and safer.

[dan_b]

It's interesting though - this car has a 50kWh battery pack. That's significantly smaller than those found in all Teslas and other longer-range BEVs, many of which are 80-100kWh. And yet it's getting more range than any of them.

Most cars with 50kWh battery packs get about 200 miles of real world range.

[nowty]

It's interesting though - this car has a 50kWh battery pack. That's significantly smaller than those found in all Teslas and other longer-range BEVs, many of which are 80-100kWh. And yet it's getting more range than any of them.

Most cars with 50kWh battery packs get about 200 miles of real world range.

The article says its got 60kWh battery pack, but I agree, still smaller than others.

And "in wheel motors", maybe thats the magic difference in efficiency.

[Mr Gus]

Wife was asked to drive down to Brighton (140+ miles) to assist with things a few months back (bear in mind we have the 3 SR+) with work likely to get as far across as Devon.

It's not the battery capacity that phases her (or lack thereof) there is plenty there.
It's using a different system of charge (alien) Brighton has only a couple of fast chargers the rest are slow 7kWh for general "pop out" mobility.
She was more concerned with getting a hotel that could allow her to charge overnight (we tried, we failed)
No hotel (requiring proof of work at the time) was prepared even when mostly empty to say, "yes, we'll block you off a spot near a plug socket for you to run a 13 Amp reel from" (10 Amps 2 kWh pull) ..even in lockdown.
We had ordered the shell charge fob just in case & had our pre-existing BP fob to assist with any other scenario's.

There is no way in hell we'd want to do the journey without 2 stops anyway.
Booking elsewhere & another time in restricted movements period, it was logical to get a hotel within a few minutes of a Tesla charger cluster.

I want a leg stretch after an hour of driving / passenger regardless & a pee, I consume a couple of litres of water over a drive anyway, with a litre bottle (or two) people who aren't going to stop for anything and drive to the limit are simply fooling themselves.

Regardless of EV or not, we'd stop off on a trip to Leeds / back most times.
High Wycombe was different, (roadworks) so an early start & keep on motoring (90+ miles) from necessity, the return leg of which involved being stuck in traffic for several hours for several of the years seasons, (that would have been better in an EV)
Darlington? only reason to drive all the way was leaving after work & wanting to get some hours in at the bar, otherwise we'd have stopped for 30 minutes each way for a break & maybe a visit to Harrogate.

Aviemore? (400+ miles) likely an after work on a friday race to the snow, beers & bunk down for an early start, that's one which would draw breath until tried & tested in an E.V. but we'd have stopped at least twice for that journey anyway.

Any route you don't know is one to explore in case you need to utilise it, which is how we view finding chargers so we know they are there.

None of those trips would really find us "suffering" range anxiety for our EV any season you wish to propose

[Mr Gus]

Got room for a solar (modified) car port Nowty?

Or as part of climate proofing, cooling frontage shaded overhang (plastered in solar) squeezed in under permitted development in a climate crisis, I think thats the sort of thing they'll be allowing (asking) people to do any year now, but likely any roofline will have to have water tank capacity due to nappy clogged storm sewers & month of rain in an hour scenario's.

[Oliver90owner]

Just how many, who intend actually keeping their EV for more than the lease period, would regularly charge their battery to 100% and run it to (nearly) 0%?

Does the ‘mantra’ of 20% to 80% still not hold for maximising battery life?

As I see it, regular steady charging, between those values, is the way to go to look after that expensive piece of kit. Hence, a larger battery, while costing a little on economy, may be the way to save one’s hard earned possession remains in good working order with minimum degradation.

[nowty]

Got room for a solar (modified) car port Nowty?

Or as part of climate proofing, cooling frontage shaded overhang (plastered in solar) squeezed in under permitted development in a climate crisis, I think thats the sort of thing they'll be allowing (asking) people to do any year now, but likely any roofline will have to have water tank capacity due to nappy clogged storm sewers & month of rain in an hour scenario's.

Believe me, I've thought about both, car port would have to be in front of house so would need planning permission and we have a steep sloping driveway which would make the panels face away NE from the sun. I did consider extending the front porch roof along the whole house frontage as a shade but the border with next door is not straight so could not go the full length and decided it was not worth it.

Only reasonable upgrade from now on is to replace the 4kW main roof system with a 6kW system now possible with higher efficiency panels. But that's only likely when the FIT contract runs out in 15 years time, and then I might be able to replace it with a 7kW or 8kW system if efficiencies keep improving.

[Mr Gus]

Just how many, who intend actually keeping their EV for more than the lease period, would regularly charge their battery to 100% and run it to (nearly) 0%?

Does the ‘mantra’ of 20% to 80% still not hold for maximising battery life?

As I see it, regular steady charging, between those values, is the way to go to look after that expensive piece of kit. Hence, a larger battery, while costing a little on economy, may be the way to save one’s hard earned possession remains in good working order with minimum degradation.

We are Oliver, & the SR+ tesla 3 has the new slightly less dense but "still in testing" deemed ok to charge higher & often percentage wise.
Of course that might also (like a regular battery benefit from a lower charge input to balance out, but that is the way we do it (2kWh) via 3pin 10 Amp plug.

That info is "wait & see" currently ..but fingers crossed that could make a smaller battery more acceptable, of course then we need to scrutinise charge speed ramp down @80% as is commonplace.