Anyone have R2 highway driving range to share? (I'm sure the color you picked looks great)

[Horsey]

The destination chargers

Destination charging is the key to unlocking the greatness of BEV travel. The problem is hotel charging sucks. It is either hogged by a-holes or broken. The good hotel L2 is not free, and includes an idle fee. That is rare.

The destination chargers I've used at hotels have a software feature where charging above 90% slows to a crawl so you're not charged for idling overnight. I highly doubt that this is a standard feature, but I did find it to be less bad than having to worry about not oversleeping and being charged an idling fee.

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[mkhuffman]

The destination chargers


The destination chargers I've used at hotels have a software feature where charging above 90% slows to a crawl so you're not charged for idling overnight. I highly doubt that this is a standard feature, but I did find it to be less bad than having to worry about not oversleeping and being charged an idling fee.

I see pros and cons to that approach. It is good because it reduces power consumption for the hotel, which might matter when there is high demand. But it does not discourage charging space hogs. I have to say, there has to be a special place in hell for people who refuse to move their vehicles when charging is finished.

I understand that nobody should be expected to move their vehicle at 3 AM if it finishes charging then. But that is not what I have seen. I have seen cars sitting there all day, well past a reasonable time for them to move. I have seen fully charged cars parked and plugged in early in the evening, when they definitely could move it. Just because you get there first does not mean you own the space. But these entitled a-holes act like they do.

Sorry, but charging space hogs are a huge pet peeve for me. It is part of why I think public charging still sucks. I have to say, though, that the DCFC situation is a lot better than it used to be. RAN stations are especially awesome. I always charge at a RAN station if I can.

 

[Supratachophobia]

I ran into an R2 owner in one of the flat states this past week. (Trying not be be specific.)

There was a consensus that based on the data, @75mph the R2 was doing about 10-15% below it's EPA consumption numbers.

 

[mkhuffman]

I ran into an R2 owner in one of the flat states this past week. (Trying not be be specific.)

There was a consensus that based on the data, @75mph the R2 was doing about 10-15% below it's EPA consumption numbers.

If accurate, that is excellent, and much better than I am expecting. 20% below EPA (at a minimum) is what I am expecting.

 

[azbill]

You’re from PDX, so you’re forgetting that it’s 40°C down here half the year lol. You lose range running the AC. I drove Tucson > PHX literally Monday for my R2 test drive and stopped at a SC for 20% of charge before returning home with about 25% battery in my Lightning. You’re also discounting the incidental driving once you get to the destination. Yes there are chargers here on i10, but when you’re down to 20% battery on the road, you’re now not within range of another charger if you’re in-between the cities. On a long trip, I’m not comfortable arriving without a buffer, and you should be too. I get it, you can’t die outside in the PNW unless it’s dead of winter, but down here, summers are brutal without AC and lots of water to drink.

We’re all going to have to be careful driving until there’s chargers at every exit like there are gas stations. Yes there are dry stretches for gasoline too, but good ICE cars get 100-300 more “kilometrage” than EVs right now.

And in all honesty, a 4 hour drive is the sweet spot for road trips before you should need to piss, stretch, and eat.

I never feel that I lose range running the AC, it is running all the time to cool the battery. Turning off the AC to the passengers saves nothing. I go Phoenix (far west valley, so ~140 miles) to Tucson at least once a year and have done it in 5 different EVs. One charging stop for the round trip, or in the case of last weekend with my Escalade, no stops. It is really easy now that BP has the 400kw chargers (16 plugs) in Eloy.

https://www.plugshare.com/location/755728

For me, the issue in the summer is the derating of the charging speed, due to the heat. Either the battery gets too hot, or the charger gets too hot. Tesla chargers are the worst in the heat, maybe due to the adapter, but maybe not.

 

[Zorg]

I tend to derate as well in triple digits temperature

 

[Horsey]

I see pros and cons to that approach. It is good because it reduces power consumption for the hotel, which might matter when there is high demand. But it does not discourage charging space hogs. I have to say, there has to be a special place in hell for people who refuse to move their vehicles when charging is finished.

I understand that nobody should be expected to move their vehicle at 3 AM if it finishes charging then. But that is not what I have seen. I have seen cars sitting there all day, well past a reasonable time for them to move. I have seen fully charged cars parked and plugged in early in the evening, when they definitely could move it. Just because you get there first does not mean you own the space. But these entitled a-holes act like they do.

Sorry, but charging space hogs are a huge pet peeve for me. It is part of why I think public charging still sucks. I have to say, though, that the DCFC situation is a lot better than it used to be. RAN stations are especially awesome. I always charge at a RAN station if I can.

I think the main difference here is whether the hotel in question is a resort or a place to sleep for the night. I never drive to resort style hotels, because I want to travel to and enjoy a place and not spend my whole time at a resort. I can see the situation that you’re talking about being quite annoying at resort style hotels that themselves are the destination. Not that I am putting down people who go to destination, hotels, but the two situations should yield totally different experiences in theory.

 

[Jeremy3292]

I ran into an R2 owner in one of the flat states this past week. (Trying not be be specific.)

There was a consensus that based on the data, @75mph the R2 was doing about 10-15% below it's EPA consumption numbers.

Sorry, but this is just unrealistic. We have enough data available to know that already.

 

[SANZC02]

I never feel that I lose range running the AC, it is running all the time to cool the battery. Turning off the AC to the passengers saves nothing. I go Phoenix (far west valley, so ~140 miles) to Tucson at least once a year and have done it in 5 different EVs. One charging stop for the round trip, or in the case of last weekend with my Escalade, no stops. It is really easy now that BP has the 400kw chargers (16 plugs) in Eloy.

https://www.plugshare.com/location/755728

For me, the issue in the summer is the derating of the charging speed, due to the heat. Either the battery gets too hot, or the charger gets too hot. Tesla chargers are the worst in the heat, maybe due to the adapter, but maybe not.

My guess is that it is the V3 chargers, not the adapter. I just finished a 6900 mile trip, frequently saw the message about rate slowed by charger on the V3 chargers, did not see it on any of the V4 chargers.

 

[CrazyOne]

The case for an EV will almost never be won on road trips. The road trip case is the one compromise you make owning an EV - It just takes longer for now.

However, the upsides outweigh the downsides for most. If you have or will have a level 2 charger at your house, unless your wife is frequently taking 5+ hour trips, I'd say the upside of NEVER HAVING TO STOP AT A GAS STATION AGAIN far outweighs the extra time on the occasional road trips. No smelly gas fumes, no watching ads on a gas station screen yelling at you, no dreading stopping on your morning commute wondering if you have time to fill up before you have to get to work. With an EV you wake up and the car is charged with a full "tank," (or whatever percentage you want).

And you no longer have to worry about the constant gas-price changes. My 300ish miles on my R1S cost me about $20 to fill up at home (15.5 cents kw/h * 131 kWh). For a comparable SUV (e.g., 20mpg) that equates to $1.33 cents a gallon in gas.

For my model Y - which is more like the R2 in size and efficiency than my R1S - I've saved $1,867 this year just on fuel over a comparable car. Of my total charging over 92% has been Level 2 charging at home or my parent's house (I installed a charger there). only 8% was at a Supercharger.

Or ... you can stick with gas and spend more of your life fueling your vehicle, changing the oil in your vehicle (no oil changes in EVs!), servicing the many moving parts in your vehicle, and spend more money overall ... just for a quicker occassional road trip.

IDK about your prices, buy mine are up 60% since 2022(when I bought mine) and they are on schedule to go up further 30% in next 2 years. Thanks to AI data centers.

 

[strykerwsu]

I promise I'm not trying to be a dick here, but, that still doesn't invalidate what I said in the original post. You're saying that the range in current EVs is sufficient, while I'm saying that it's not. You're proving my point by saying you need to charge in anticipation of driving through the open desert in the southwest. Until EVs have a 400-500mile range and there are plentiful charging stops, the average EV owner needs to be mindful when driving down here.

Granted, not everyone wants to leave their island bubble in a major metro area where the chargers are so plentiful that range doesn't matter; I absolutely never want to charge at public charging, because it's simply better to charge overnight at home/the hotel, while sleeping. The longer the range, the less public charging you have to do.

Dont agree on crazy long range, 260 miles is plenty and haven't had to "plan" a trip in 2 years as so many new stations every week. I live in Kansas so not the most populated part of the country and still plenty of chargers.

10 to 60% in 20 minutes has plenty of drive time and a good refresh period, especially for those of us getting older. Overnight hotels are great but still pretty hit and miss.

 

[mkhuffman]

Dont agree on crazy long range, 260 miles is plenty and haven't had to "plan" a trip in 2 years as so many new stations every week. I live in Kansas so not the most populated part of the country and still plenty of chargers.

10 to 60% in 20 minutes has plenty of drive time and a good refresh period, especially for those of us getting older. Overnight hotels are great but still pretty hit and miss.

We all know that 260 is in ideal weather and only after charging to 100%. There may be lots of charging options, but if you are on a long trip, you are charging 10-80%, which is only 70% of the battery. And then in winter you can expect another 20% range hit.

So 260 becomes 260*.7*.8 = 109 miles of range. IMO that is far from "plenty" and one of the huge reasons people are sticking with ICEVs.

In my R1T, I can get about 340 miles of highway range - in good weather and from 100% SoC to 0% SoC. I will never arrive at a DCFC station with 0% SoC. Regardless, on a trip in bad weather with multiple charging stops, the highway range of my R1T is 340*.7*.8 = 190 miles.

That isn't good enough. It is livable, especially since the weather in VA is somewhat mild even in the winter, but dude. It isn't enough. I am really hoping the Gen3 R1 has a bigger battery, like the 180 kWh one they originally planned.

 

[Jeremy3292]

10 to 60% in 20 minutes has plenty of drive time and a good refresh period, especially for those of us getting older. Overnight hotels are great but still pretty hit and miss.

From what I've seen on the few YouTube videos with DCFC testing on R2, it can do 10 to 70% in around 20 minutes. It falls off from 70 to 80%. I think Rivian sandbagged the numbers a bit so people are pleasantly surprised vs being disappointed. I've been hawking YouTube for these videos bc I'm very curious always about DCFC performance.

 

[usulio]

We all know that 260 is in ideal weather and only after charging to 100%. There may be lots of charging options, but if you are on a long trip, you are charging 10-80%, which is only 70% of the battery. And then in winter you can expect another 20% range hit.

So 260 becomes 260*.7*.8 = 109 miles of range. IMO that is far from "plenty" and one of the huge reasons people are sticking with ICEVs.

In my R1T, I can get about 340 miles of highway range - in good weather and from 100% SoC to 0% SoC. I will never arrive at a DCFC station with 0% SoC. Regardless, on a trip in bad weather with multiple charging stops, the highway range of my R1T is 340*.7*.8 = 190 miles.

That isn't good enough. It is livable, especially since the weather in VA is somewhat mild even in the winter, but dude. It isn't enough. I am really hoping the Gen3 R1 has a bigger battery, like the 180 kWh one they originally planned.

This is true, if you're constantly doing really long road trips. For a trip up to say 350 miles you can start at 100% and do one quick charging stop along the way. The 10%-80% range only matters if you're doing multiple charging stops and going 400+ miles. If you are doing that kind of road trip all the time, a massive EV is not the best choice right now. If you do it once or twice a year, maybe it's not too hard to put up with.

 

[mkhuffman]

This is true, if you're constantly doing really long road trips. For a trip up to say 350 miles you can start at 100% and do one quick charging stop along the way. The 10%-80% range only matters if you're doing multiple charging stops and going 400+ miles. If you are doing that kind of road trip all the time, a massive EV is not the best choice right now. If you do it once or twice a year, maybe it's not too hard to put up with.

Good points, except a bigger battery gives you the ability to add more kWh in the 10-80% fastest part of the charging curve. And a bigger battery gives you more flexibility to choose where you want to stop.

I want to stop at a RAN station. There are enough of them in VA for me to solely use them for most long drives I do. A smaller battery might require me to stop at one of those horrible EA things. And they are horrible. (Some are better than others, of course.)

A 180-kWh battery in my R1T would be freaking amazing to me. I will pay extra for it. I am tempted by the GM trucks, but they are just too big. The R1T is the perfect size for me. Now put a bigger battery in there!

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