I recently saw that the Tesla Model S plaid version has a battery pack with allows it to drive over five hundred and twenty miles on a single charge. This number is absolutely remarkable, but it also has me thinking. Us Americans don’t have the European privilege of a well-developed, nationwide public transportation network, and that’s really reinforces our reliance on the automobile. What’s quite interesting is how sensitive we appear to be in adopting electric cars, especially when it comes to range figures. Europeans commutes are pretty small there aren’t a lot of long-haul journeys with require several hours of daily driving. However, the US is quite geographically large and sparsely developed compared to Europe.

I recently saw an interesting statistic on the American commute. On average, Americans Drive 16 miles to work each direction, which brings the total daily average to 32 miles. If you were to include going out for a lunch break, you could throw a few extra miles in and you would still be well under 50 miles of range.

If our commutes are short and well below the average electric cars capability, then why are we so sensitive? Why do we feel like we need so much range?  Electric cars clearly outperform ICE-powered cars when it comes to torque and speed. As seen in Tesla’s crash tests, these cars are often much safer and more storage options for us.

I think that part of our thirst for longer range can be attributed to the American dream of road tripping. We like to think about driving long distances over a period of several days, crossing the country and sightseeing. We take into consideration traveling across several states to see family members or to go on vacation. However, for most daily commutes, even a hundred miles on a single charge would more than suffice for most Americans.

We Americans are interesting when it comes to deciding what we want in a vehicle. Most Americans commute by themselves singularly and with nobody else but themselves in the driver’s seat. Yet, many of us drive big trucks and large SUVs which have the capacity to carry large families and heavy equipment. Americans tend to lean towards having excess utilitarianism in their vehicles. This may be one factor that contributes to Americans desiring electric cars with much longer ranges.

Personally? I live in Montana. The distance between cities is vast and there aren’t very many stops in between each one. I find myself traveling to Wyoming quite often. It’s a 400 mile commute, and honestly, that’s a lot of driving for one day. I’m not sure the human body is capable of traveling much more than 700 miles in a single day. So as far as electric cars go, I think we’re getting pretty close. any longer, and you’re driving for 12+ hours per day. 

What do you think? How much range should an electric car in the US actually have? What are we afraid of?