Technology

Right. Open road should be more around 770Km. I have a BYD Han 2023 that has a claimed range of 550Km, and I get just about 420Km realistically, at a steady 110Km/h with a few bursts of up to 150Km/h to get away from idiots doing 80 on a 100 (or just to show off the torque to other types of idiots like BMW and some Tesla drivers 😏). I do still get a bit over the claimed 550 if I don't leave the city and drive as if I was afraid of tickets.

I mean, that's still pretty darn impressive.

For better or worse, it's one of those sticking points keeping many away from electric. I was like that several years ago, but I've noticed my driving patterns since then. I can't do electric because I can't afford a new car and even worse I'm an apartment dweller, so there's no infrastructure. But if I could, I absolutely would get a vehicle. Long as it had a couple hundred miles of range, that's all I need (we have a second car anyway, so if we needed longer trips, we're covered). And less battery means moving less mass means even cheaper to run.

But my dad went looking a few years ago and ended up with a gas car again - because they do take trips and drive sometimes, and so the idea of having to recharge, even on infrequent trips, was a sticking point. But with 500 miles of range, it's getting to the point where that's getting close to a day's comfortable driving for a lot of people, and if you can charge overnight, then it becomes enough for trips and it helps eliminate the range anxiety.

I think once people start transitioning over to electric, their second vehicle might have less range…