Out of Spec new YT video: Road to Gravity

[Elfin]

The average “station dwell time” at a gas station is 12 minutes, from pulling in to leaving, plus 8 minutes of “off route time” getting to and from the gas station. Depending on the car that might give you 300 miles range. 20 minutes per 300 miles works out to 6.7 minutes per 100 miles traveled.

A Gravity leaving the house fully charged would need no charging stops for the first ~400 miles. If after that we assume the same 8 minutes getting to a charger, 2 minutes wasted at the charger plugging in, etc, and then 19 minutes to charge 300 miles on a 400 kW charger you get 9.7 minutes per 100 miles thereafter.

So on a 1000 mile road trip the gas car would spend 67 minutes fueling, while the Gravity would spend 58 minutes charging. Which means that with destination charging and well placed chargers you’d actually spend less time stopped in the Gravity than the typical gas car, and the advantage should increase as trips get shorter.

Wow. I hadn’t expected that.

In OOS test Taycan was still 4.2 minutes slower per 100mi than ICE (128 min / 3045mi / 100mi). I bet they'll do this with the Gravity some day.

 

[flarbear]

The average “station dwell time” at a gas station is 12 minutes, from pulling in to leaving, plus 8 minutes of “off route time” getting to and from the gas station. Depending on the car that might give you 300 miles range. 20 minutes per 300 miles works out to 6.7 minutes per 100 miles traveled.

A Gravity leaving the house fully charged would need no charging stops for the first ~400 miles. If after that we assume the same 8 minutes getting to a charger, 2 minutes wasted at the charger plugging in, etc, and then 19 minutes to charge 300 miles on a 400 kW charger you get 9.7 minutes per 100 miles thereafter.

Is it really 8 minutes on a road trip where every few exits there are chargers or gas stations lining the exit ramps?

 

[PetevB]

Is it really 8 minutes on a road trip where every few exits there are chargers or gas stations lining the exit ramps?

Probably not, I suspect it's faster in most road trip cases (depending on how you hit the lights). But above are the numbers I found quoted for this type of study.

 

[WeighingGravity]

I think 8 minutes sounds pretty reasonable IMO (4 minutes detour off then back on to highway). You almost always end up going a mile or two off the main road to find a charger (it can be less for a gas station as they're a little more plentiful) but sometimes also you have to go way off the beaten path, make a U-turn, hit 3 lights wrong, etc etc.

 

[Blue Lectroid]

The average “station dwell time” at a gas station is 12 minutes, from pulling in to leaving, plus 8 minutes of “off route time” getting to and from the gas station. Depending on the car that might give you 300 miles range. 20 minutes per 300 miles works out to 6.7 minutes per 100 miles traveled.

A Gravity leaving the house fully charged would need no charging stops for the first ~400 miles. If after that we assume the same 8 minutes getting to a charger, 2 minutes wasted at the charger plugging in, etc, and then 19 minutes to charge 300 miles on a 400 kW charger you get 9.7 minutes per 100 miles thereafter.

So on a 1000 mile road trip the gas car would spend 67 minutes fueling, while the Gravity would spend 58 minutes charging. Which means that with destination charging and well placed chargers you’d actually spend less time stopped in the Gravity than the typical gas car, and the advantage should increase as trips get shorter.

Wow. I hadn’t expected that.

And then there is the rest of the year with an EV, which folks far too rarely mention! Run the analysis of time spent charging vs. time spent gassing up if you have a home charger over the course of a year. It is comically bad for the ICE driver.

So what if the five or six times per year I road trip it takes me a bit longer (PG “Pre-Gravity)? The rest of the year my 10 second plug in every 2-3 days more than makes up for the weekly stop at the pump by my fellow ICE driver. IF you have home charging and don’t take trips very frequently that are longer than 200 miles, charging speed is almost irrelevant and yet it is a source of great concern for so many…

 

[borski]

Run the analysis of time spent charging vs. time spent gassing up if you have a home charger over the course of a year.

I literally can’t help but laugh out loud every time I’m at a Costco and look at the gas line.

Things I do not miss, partial list:
1) waking up in the morning going “shit, I need gas.”
2) having to clean up the gas that accidentally spilled all over my damn car and shoes (not common, but has happened)
3) forgetting that *this* station is full-service and now I have to tip and pretend I want my windshield cleaned
4) literally ever having to worry about “hm, I wonder what gas prices are today”

 

[hmp10]

And then there is the rest of the year with an EV, which folks far too rarely mention! Run the analysis of time spent charging vs. time spent gassing up if you have a home charger over the course of a year. It is comically bad for the ICE driver.

So what if the five or six times per year I road trip it takes me a bit longer (PG “Pre-Gravity)? The rest of the year my 10 second plug in every 2-3 days more than makes up for the weekly stop at the pump by my fellow ICE driver. IF you have home charging and don’t take trips very frequently that are longer than 200 miles, charging speed is almost irrelevant and yet it is a source of great concern for so many…

I'm more of your mindset on this. I'm relatively indifferent to charging times on road trips. What drives me crazy is arriving at a charging station to find somewhere between half to all the charging posts malfunctioning and/or a stack of cars waiting for the 1 or 2 charge posts that are functional . . . i. e., the "EA Experience".

 

[LuvLucy]

I literally can’t help but laugh out loud every time I’m at a Costco and look at the gas line.

Things I do not miss, partial list:
1) waking up in the morning going “shit, I need gas.”
2) having to clean up the gas that accidentally spilled all over my damn car and shoes (not common, but has happened)
3) forgetting that *this* station is full-service and now I have to tip and pretend I want my windshield cleaned
4) literally ever having to worry about “hm, I wonder what gas prices are today”

Favorite thing I do not miss - having to sit in a greasy service center waiting room for hours on end multiple times a year to have oil changed/transmission fluid/brake fluid/coolant/etc/whatnot (and deal with the "service advisor" who treats everyone like a dummy). In 4 years of driving a Tesla, I changed the windshield wipers myself once, LOL.

 

[borski]

Favorite thing I do not miss - having to sit in a greasy service center waiting room for hours on end multiple times a year to have oil changed/transmission fluid/brake fluid/coolant/etc/whatnot (and deal with the "service advisor" who treats everyone like a dummy). In 4 years of driving a Tesla, I changed the windshield wipers myself once, LOL.

Oh true I forgot about the jiffy lube hustle

 

[PetevB]

I'm in complete agreement re the time spent at gas stations during normal course of business. The gravity will be our household's fifth full EV and sixth plug in car, but my wife was hesitant for years due to range anxiety. When she finally made the switch it took her two weeks to decide she was never going back, and not gassing up once a week was a big factor.

That said longer trips are a big deal for me personally, as there are/ were times I need to do a ~600 mile day trip with a work stop in the middle (likely doing that again this Friday in fact). In this case adding an hour to the round trip makes the difference between seeing my kids that day or not, or coming in to the house late and tired or not. Unfortunately the Gravity will be my wife's car, and there will be car seats in it, but...

An aside, but I'm also curious about range exchange- efficiency, impact on battery life, etc. My wife parks at home during the week and we've got 15.6 kW of solar on the roof and my wife's able to charge up during the day. I get home after the sun's gone down and get stuck charging up on a more expensive (OK not much, NEM2) and dirtier mix of energy. If range exchange was viable, however, that might offer an alternative.

 

[JB67]

Oh true I forgot about the jiffy lube hustle

(Out of curiosity) Am I one of a dwindling breed that changes their vehicles oil? Did anyone on the forum do that before getting an EV?

Or, still do it now while waiting on the Gravity?

 

[borski]

(Out of curiosity) Am I one of a dwindling breed that changes their vehicles oil? Did anyone on the forum do that before getting an EV?

Or, still do it now while waiting on the Gravity?

I've done it. I see no particular reason *to* do it myself though, haha.

 

[JB67]

I've done it. I see no particular reason *to* do it myself though, haha.

Yeah I started doing it because my Dad taught us children how to and we were expected to maintain our own cars. The idea of having someone else do that is still somewhat foreign to me, but…. Ironically enough my 70+ year old father is taking their cars get the oil changed, so maybe I should just give in…..

 

[borski]

Yeah I started doing it because my Dad taught us children how to and we were expected to maintain our own cars. The idea of having someone else do that is still somewhat foreign to me, but…. Ironically enough my 70+ year old father is taking their cars get the oil changed, so maybe I should just give in…..

My dad was similar. "When you can find and fix the four things I broke, you can drive the car" lol

 

[Elfin]

(Out of curiosity) Am I one of a dwindling breed that changes their vehicles oil? Did anyone on the forum do that before getting an EV?

Or, still do it now while waiting on the Gravity?

I do all my own oil changes. I don't trust mechanics. I think it's been 20 years since I've had a mechanic work on a car.
Not sure when I should change the gearbox oil in my Model 3...

 

[JB67]

I do all my own oil changes. I don't trust mechanics. I think it's been 20 years since I've had a mechanic work on a car.
Not sure when I should change the gearbox oil in my Model 3...

On that topic, you might be interested in this video:

Not a Model 3 but……

This is a EV mechanic that lives up in Portland, OR (about an hour north of us), and I have found his videos to be educational on what the pack and motors of EVs’ look like, and how functionally everything works at an individual vehicle level. But as with anything OoS, can be a little long.

Useful for something to watch/listen while doing chores!

 

[EVCar]

(Out of curiosity) Am I one of a dwindling breed that changes their vehicles oil? Did anyone on the forum do that before getting an EV?

Or, still do it now while waiting on the Gravity?

Except for the free maintenance plan that came with our new cars, I've always done my own oil change. for years.
Why? For me, I actually save time doing this myself, rather than waiting around at the dealership and I know exactly what I put in the car.
For our Honda minivan, I also change the transmission fluid every 20-30 K miles.
Once, I even bought a used MB diesel sedan for my son to learn the basic mechanics.
Unexpectedly, and perhaps not surprisingly, I ended up doing most of the work by myself, including the tedious chore of troubleshooting the annoying vacuum leaks in these dinosaurs.

 

[Knucklehead]

(Out of curiosity) Am I one of a dwindling breed that changes their vehicles oil? Did anyone on the forum do that before getting an EV?

Or, still do it now while waiting on the Gravity?

I have a similar perspective as others who have changed their own oil: it is faster than taking it somewhere, and I have full control over what happens to my vehicle.

But since I started driving EVs, I have much less desire to change the oil in my other vehicles. Just took my wife's Jeep to the dealer to have them do it along with state inspection and tire rotation. I guess as I get used to not having to worry about it in what I drive, I just want it to go away in the ICE vehicles we have.