Friday, July 23, we did a trip to Murfreesboro TN from Huntsville AL and returned. Temperatures ranged 91-94 F (33-34 C). So the L2 charging: Normally I run about 67% SOC so we added 19.5 kWh ($0.11 * 19.5 = $2.15) to support faster speeds, ~75 mph (120 kph) and air conditioning. Once we got to Nashville, we had a long lunch while the car charged: We arrived home with ~15 miles indicated. I put the car on charger only one of the dogs decided to go 'walkies' by herself. So we did a full charge (1.1 + 49.7) * $0.11 = $5.59 and the car shows 230 miles range, originally 240 miles. I will adjust the SOC limit back to 67%. CONCLUSION $17.10 cost :: extra charge at home, SuperCharger fee for 1 hour, recharge full at home ~256 miles (~410 km) 18:00 - 11:30 ~= 6 hr, 30 min including 1 hr lunch+charge and ~30 min errand Bob Wilson
What strikes me in your report is your willingness to get to a point where you show 15 more miles of range. In my hybrid I'm showing more than 250 and thinking of filling up. And that doesn't even count maybe 2 gallons beyond the E symbol. I guess I'm unable to remember the last time I ran out of gas/range.
Range anxiety on your part? Remember that when Bob owned gasser Prii, he intentionally ran them out of fuel more than 50 times, for a variety of engineering tests and curiosity. I found numerous of his test reports useful or otherwise interesting. So running his EVs down to this level is easily within character. As is reporting his results and findings. And I well remember every time I've run out of gas. Only the first one was unintentional, the first tank on the very first car I actually owned, but with a faulty fuel gauge, more than four decades ago. The several others since were quite intentional, like certain of Bob's tests, to determine real fuel tank capacities and ranges. The results were quite useful. One of my past cars had far too much of its fuel capacity located below the 'E' mark. Knowing that got me past numerous tourist trap fuel prices to better prices beyond. Filling up with 250 miles remaining? For a couple of my past cars, you'd be stopping to refuel more frequently than my spouse needs a pee break!
Now that you mention it, it is the kidney imperative and/or a low price or the combination that has trained me to be so conservative in my range. And I have a weekly trash to the recycle and stop at the grocery store run that includes the local gas stop. I'm fortunate that there are two competitors that keep gas prices fairly low locally on my route. And frankly, I'd never want to depend on a single charging station being available. My typical long trip is 7 hours and two stops. So in theory it should be doable in the right EV. And we would have a 43+ MPG backup for the long trips that she would demand we use. My local trips are more like (one way) 80% 5 miles and the rest 20 miles and 50 miles so even a standard range should work.
Just two stops in 7 hours? Then you don't have the small bladder issue I was referring to. And low fuel price is one of the reasons I test my fuel tank limits early in a car's life, so that I can skip over some long stretches of overpriced fuel stations on certain routes. My most common long route is 400 miles, but vacation routes can be very much longer across very sparsely populated Western regions. When fuel services are 100 miles apart, they can charge any tourist trap markup they wish. Using GasBuddy to select reasonable on-route prices has become a normal practice, looking ahead a full tank or so, but also harvesting good prices early when opportunities are presented. Another reason for better knowing fuel tank range, is so that when adverse conditions arise unexpectedly, one can better make a choice whether to continue the route, or backtrack, or detour, or camp out until conditions improve.