Tesla

[dougbee]

They are only addressing range and efficiency. What about heating the cabin during the annual Wisconsin ice age? EVs are just not practical here. On the other hand I would like an electric bike for the summer.

I've had a winter with the Model Y and central New York weather similar to Wisconsin (2 years in a row of over 10 feet of snow). Before leaving you can turn on the climate control with the app on the phone. Even the coldest days its at the temperature you set it to in 10-15 minutes. As comfortable as any car I've ever owned.

 

[Tour 931]

That great WI company Kwik Trip has started adding high speed chargers to their stations recently, so hopefully they will become a lot more commonplace in the near future. https://www.kwiktrip.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Binder2.pdf
There are quite a few apps in addition to the ones that the EV manufacturers provide for their owners, that map out chargers along pretty much any route of travel you may want to take. Granted, there are some areas that have far fewer than others, but with some relatively easy planning you're very unlikely to be left stranded anywhere.

Kwik Trips are everywhere here although I doubt many will get chargers this far out of the big cities. Here EVs are ridiculous to own. At least cars and trucks. I wish they made more electric side by sides because few people take them more than five miles from home and seldom ride more than 20 miles in a day. They would be perfect for anyone that owns 40 acres.

I have a friend that has a Mach-E Mustang in Los Angeles. There it’s very practical. But this isn’t California.

 

[Tour 931]

I've had a winter with the Model Y and central New York weather similar to Wisconsin (2 years in a row of over 10 feet of snow). Before leaving you can turn on the climate control with the app on the phone. Even the coldest days its at the temperature you set it to in 10-15 minutes. As comfortable as any car I've ever owned.

How far can you drive when it’s -30F? I mean factoring in heating?

 

[dougbee]

How far can you drive when it’s -30F? I mean factoring in heating?

Definitely lose range, not as much as towing I would guess. It doesn't get that cold here, maybe -15 but that isn't all the time. Not like you have in Wisconsin. The gas cars I've had definitely lost mileage in the winter because of the gas blend and time idling if you had a car starter. But battery loss is more for sure.

A couple of YouTube channels if people are interested - Frozen Tesla is a guy from Saskatchewan who has done a lot of tests in Winter with real numbers for his work commute. Very helpful to me to see real numbers before buying. And another channel is WisconsEV is a guy (I think he lives in Madison) who is documenting when new charging stations pop up in your state. He goes to them and "rates" them for amenities etc.

 

[Tour 931]

Definitely lose range, not as much as towing I would guess. It doesn't get that cold here, maybe -15 but that isn't all the time. Not like you have in Wisconsin. The gas cars I've had definitely lost mileage in the winter because of the gas blend and time idling if you had a car starter. But battery loss is more for sure.

A couple of YouTube channels if people are interested - Frozen Tesla is a guy from Saskatchewan who has done a lot of tests in Winter with real numbers for his work commute. Very helpful to me to see real numbers before buying. And another channel is WisconsEV is a guy (I think he lives in Madison) who is documenting when new charging stations pop up in your state. He goes to them and "rates" them for amenities etc.

Thanks. I can see someone in Madison owning an EV successfully. However in this rural area they just are not practical. I still think an off-road EV with solar charging would be great here. Even an electric tractor. Bothe these tractors are diesel and could easily be electric and still be practical. Which reminds me I have to make a diesel run to town.

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• Tour 931
• 52 minutes ago

 

[TheSongDogHouse]

I had looked at the VW EVs ( as well as pretty much every other EV sold in the US), and while a VW fan in general, I was disappointed in the range offerings of their EVs, so not too surprised with your experience. Range was probably the main thing I looked at when researching EVs.
As EV's go, the Silverado is one of the least efficient in miles/kWh, but overcomes that with its large size battery to get one of the best range offerings/$ even when towing, if you believe the YouTubers experiences . As mentioned earlier, I felt the range loss with age would still leave it in pretty good shape as we wind down our needs for range.
Frankly, I think BYD from China is so far ahead of the US manufacturers in terms of battery & charger technology, performance, comfort, and cost, that if the tariffs are ever removed the US car companies are going to be in really big trouble.

Yeah, I was a fan of VW until they announced they were making everything EV.
This is another example how delusional they were:

VW's ID. Buzz Went From $35,000 Markups To $20,000 Discounts | Carscoops

Big discounts mean you can score a new ID. Buzz for less than a Honda Odyssey

www.carscoops.com