How many of you have needed to add more than 5ish gallons of gas on the trail? No 'what if' bs, but actually needed the range to make it back to civilization?
Batteries are impacted by a number of factors, heat and cold being major contributors, as well as age. The "range" goes down over a period of years, and what might have once been a 200 mile range is now a 100 mile range 5 years later.
Is it really hot out that day? Because if so, your 200 mile range might be more like 150. Electric batteries also drain incredibly fast at highway speeds, so if you plan on driving 20-30 miles to your destination, by the time you get there, your range would probably be something like 120-150 (assuming a 200 mile total range).
Would you like to take that thing in the mud, water, dragging it over rocks, etc? How waterproof or mud resistant do you think all those electronics are? It's about way more than just range.
What will you do it when the electronics start acting up after wheeling it in the mud, and it can't be driven home because it now simply won't start?
Would it be fun to off-road an electric Jeep? Yes, it would indeed... if you had a support crew to follow you around, as well as a mobile generator, just incase.
So yeah, it's about way more than just "range" I would say.
And at the end of the day, once 5-7 years passes and that battery is no longer any good, how much do you think it costs to replace?
Well, I can tell you that the 14 Kw battery on the Zero SR/F motorcycle I was thinking about buying was a whopping $6000 to replace, and the battery was only warrantied for 5 years.
So I have to imagine the battery on an electric Jeep would be even more expensive.
The cons far outweigh the pros, at least at this point in time.
However, if you're driving it in town to take the kids to soccer practice or run errands, I think it's a great idea.
