[shusson]

> There are some parts of this planet where it it very hard to envision mass EV adoption.

A lot of EV's are already at 500km range. Within this decade we should see 1000km range. Add some charging infrastructure and we are gold. Just look at the chargers Tesla has built in California (and there is still a lot of potential to improve).

[ReptileMan]

No EV has 500 km range when you drive it in real world conditions. If you drive it with normal highway speed - 140-160 km/h you can barely get 250.

[redox99]

In real world conditions the highest range Model S can do 320 miles (515km) [1]

Also 140-160 km/h aren't normal highway speed. They are in fact illegal in almost all countries.

[1] https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a36302930/tesla-model-s-lo...

[ReptileMan]

Who cares if they are legal if everyone drives at them. I was cruising in Turkey lately with 170 and was often overtaken with people at 200+.

Speed limits are just glorified toll boots made to extract revenue from people with powerful cars.

[Tade0]

In markets with significant EV adoption there's usually either section control on highways or a competent traffic police force.

Also manufacturers are moving away from providing 200km/h+ capable cars. Volvo is pioneering this citing safety concerns.

[kwhitefoot]

Do you have a new EV? My 2015 Model S 70D has a nominal range of 330 km and as far as i can tell it does pretty close to that unless I am running at high speed (110 km/h or more) or doing a lot of hill climbing. So I'm pretty sure that a newer EV, especially a lighter one or one with a larger battery and lower power motor would have a longer range.

140 km/h and above is not a normal highway speed in any country except Germany and even there it is not really that common. I returned from the UK to Norway last week. It was about 26 hours of driving through France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, the amount of time I spent at more than 130 was just a couple of hours.

[baq]

my vacation this year was 1500 km one way, at least 80% of which was done at 130km/h or more (both ways). i was one of very many doing a trip of this length judging by license plates at the destination.

[kwhitefoot]

So you were exceeding the speed limit almost all the way? My journey was a similar distance and only the German stretch had any roads with speed limit higher than 130 km/h. Perhaps next time I do it I should record the speed as I go. The average speed was probably about 60 km/h so the amount of driving above 130 must have been quite small, some of it was a lot faster than that though, just for fun on the autobahn.

And of course the vast bulk of traffic on the roads is very much slower. Also quite a lot of ICE cars are not built for sustained driving at high speeds anyway.

[adrianN]

And how many of those kilometers were in areas so remote that it's impossible to build a fast charger there?

[sandworm101]

I'm my above story, speed limit was generally 100/110kph and involved constant hill climbing. It would have been a test for any Tesla. Lots of point-of-no-return driving where the links between chargers was more than 1/2 of total range, which is scary in avalanche/fire/flood country.

[badpun]

Poland has around 1200 km of motorways where the limit is 140 km/h.

[kwhitefoot]

Thanks, I misremembered it, I thought it was 130 km/h. But that still doesn't change the fact that most driving is at far lower speeds, even on the motorway.