Quick Charge Scenarios Near Seattle (or Why I need QC with a 160 miler)

Since there were some questions about the need for QC with a 160 miler base Model S, I thought I'd put together a few scenarios. Here are the 4 very well travelled routes from Seattle.

First some background information. I've had my Leaf now for nearly 10 months and we have all been patiently waiting for the CHAdeMO quick chargers to come online. The news is that, 10 of these unicorns will actually come up by April next.



Notes :
- "Range" is the freeway range assumed 70% of the advertised range
- I've included a couple of QC that will come in later than Apr '12 under the EV Project
- I've assumed only 6.6kW L2 as that is what will be available (assuming they will be available at all)
- Though I've only talked about one way trip, without QC (or 20kW charger) it would be very difficult to make this a one day trip
- Timings are approximate
- All distances are from my home some 20 miles east of Seattle
- A 230 miler will be able to do all but the first drive without a recharge
- CHAdeMO will charge a Leaf to 80% within 30 minutes and near 100% in 1 hour
- Once the infrastructure issues are sorted out we will have QC every 40 to 50 miles throughout the I-5 corridor from Vancouver, BC to Baja California.
- This is the proposed map of QCs in western WA. The blue ones will be up by Apr '12. Hopefully the gray ones (using fedearl money) will be up sometime in the next 2 years.

onlinespending said:

How come you don't show any recharge on the Leavenworth route even though it's outside the range of the 40 kWh battery?

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Leavenworth is 110 miles away - and we can do about 120 miles on the 40 kilowatter. Actually, given the 5000 ft elevation change, we would probably need some charging in between to be safe.

onlinespending said:

yes, if he makes these trips with any degree of regularity, then it would likely make more sense to go for the larger battery pack options. However, what if he makes the trip twice a year but would like the option of taking his 40 kWh Model S on these trips? Personally I would just advocate getting a rental car or using a 2nd car for those trips if only done as irregular as twice a year.

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Well, the whole idea of getting a Model S for me - over Leaf - is that it has a larger range and will enable more travel to be done in EV.

As you can see, 160 mile + QC is eminently capable of doing the trips I want to do. Compared to the 300 mile car - I'd spend no more than 1/2 hour doing any of these trips. I shouldn't have top spend $10K more - that reminds me of the "let them eat cake" ;-)

fairlycool said:

Just posted in another thread as well but Tesla does not want people to quick charge more than 2% of entire lifetime if battery to it will kill the battery.

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As I posted there - I doubt the accuracy of this information. I think this is similar to Nissan's only 1 QC a day (which they clarified in the SanFrancisco townhall to mean only in hot conditions).

More importantly, we should understand the total capacity of the batteries and how much the BMS will actually use. If they are using near 100% and quick charge is done till that 100%, ofcourse it will kill the battery. But if QC is done till 80% (as the usual practice is) at the 1C or 2C rate that the cells are designed to handle, QC shouldn't have much of an affect on the battery - assuming the temperature is controlled.

efusco said:

The chemistry of that pack, the range impact with the more frequent QCs it would need vs a pack twice the size, etc. would just mean that you'd need to spend the money you're trying to save now on a larger pack later on a new small pack. Just get what you really need now, you'll have a better warranty, longer range, less need for the QC, and overall more satisfaction.

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Actually, given that the battery ages (without even being used) and the battery price is falling all the time - it makes a lot of sense to me to get the battery size we need now and upgrade later.