While many electric vehicles owners find them to be reliable commuter cars, most EV ranges make road trips a near impossibility (unless you were to plan a trip on a route known to have charging stations). So the folks at Motor Trend’s Wide Open Throttle decided to put Tesla’s new all-electric Model S to the test. Could the EV sustain the 212-mile trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas on a single charge?
Jessi Lang and Frank Markus borrowed Tesla founder Elon Musk’s very own 85 kWh Model S for the trip. Granted, they took some energy-saving precautions: they kept the air conditioning off, and while making their way up to the Cajon Pass, drove as slowly as they were legally permitted to. And while most drivers might not have given up the A/C on a hot day in the California desert, the pair made it to Las Vegas - with 64 miles of potential range left in the battery.
While the Tesla Model S boasts battery power far greater than the current industry standard, the experiment demonstrates that EVs can be used for road trips. And, as battery ranges increase and highway charging infrastructure improves throughout the country, the day when people can use their EVs for longer journeys might not be as far in the future as we think.
Watch the video of the road trip:
Photo: YouTube screen capture
via [Treehugger]
