[Excalibur]

That all depends upon how often you need that extended range. If you need it once a decade, is it worth carrying around all that extra weight and displacing all that cargo/passanger space all the rest of the time? I would say not.

Not to sound argumentative, but using the choices available to go out and purchase and take delivery as of the timestamp of this post there are the following options:

Telsa- very pricey, all electric, great range. This fits your statement perfectly and I'd agree here who needs an ICE since this has great range, but there are some deltas, charging with a special cable from what I understand being one of them. That aside, if you don't want an ICE backup, this is your car if you have the means!

Leaf- you sure as hell better have something with the Leaf because it was IMHO, sent out into the world like a shotgun shot. Batteries are not conditioned and in some cases are failing and/or degrading prematurely in certain conditions. That said, can you really count on the miles you got at delivery to be close to the mileage you'd get after say 6 months and a hot, hot summer?

Volt- great commuter car, but also able to drive cross country if need be using gasoline once the 40 or so miles have been depleted.

You have a 350 mile trip to take? You gonna do it in Telsa, you might not make the distance. Leaf? Not even close. Volt, prob can not only make it, but also have some gas left to create a few more electrons.

My point is, with what is available to take delivery of.... today, the ONLY car that you can drive like your regular ICE powered vehicle is the Volt. You don't need to buy a second car to do the longer distance hauls. It's a car that can live in both spaces....a great commuter car with all the bells and whistles and not use a much, if any gas for a LONG time, and at the same time a long distance vehicle capable of doing what any other conventional car our there can do, which the others on the market right now can't say.

That's why I haul an internal combustion engine in a manner similar to that of a locomotive.

When the day comes I can charge my car, get about 350-400 miles and charge it in 15-20 minutes and go another 350-400 miles, all electric is ready for the mainstream. Until then, we have what we have.

 

[Excalibur]

I hope folks don't take my post as I'm so pro-Volt that I am anti-anything else. Zythryn is right, folks but stuff to meet their needs. I do appreciate all that Tesla has done to get us where we are today. Though admittedly I have a gas burning Suburban (I have an RV), I could in fact have gone the Tesla route and if I could have gotten that car for the lease price I picked up the Volt, maybe I'd have that in my drive. I think they did do a great job engineering that car as GM did with the Volt. Time will tell how Fords foray in to EV goes, I believe it will be successful. To all the Leaf owners, I'm just not convinced Nissan thought it out that well. Like Tesla, Ford and GM, I strongly agree that battery maintenance is a must. The Leaf is a very nice car, I have nothing against it, it's just my personal belief, right or wrong.

Back to topic, I believe with the new charging standard that was just ratified, it will pave the way for that universal connection to be able to charge even the most hearty battery back in a matter of minutes, not hours, so regardless of what Tesla does, it sounds like within the next 5 years, there will be significant electric charging infrastructure where perhaps the ICE will be a museum piece in my lifetime. Right now we all bleeding edge pioneers. We are paying far more for the cars, the chargers, and as time passes costs will go down, abilities will grow and we'll have a handful of folks to thank for getting off our petroleum addiction...Elon and Lutz for sure.