With more publicly available chargers in its supercharging network, and its  much larger batteries, Tesla has been far and away the best (and arguably only) battery electric vehicle (BEV) for regular and easy long-distance travel.
But has the time come where public charging (and the BEVs themselves) have started to catch up?
In an interesting take on this, watch the You-tube video made by Norwegian Bjorn Nyland and his mate Pawel Dalene. They set up a ‘race’ (more like an economy trial really) between a Hyundai Kona Electric and a Tesla Model X P90DL from Oslo to Trondheim and back again, covering almost 1000 km in the process.
The aim is to find out which is easier and quicker for long-range driving using publically available charging.
The ground rules? Basically two:
- The Tesla is limited to the Tesla Supercharger network, and the Kona to the public CCS fast-charging network and
- neither are to exceed the speed limit by more than ten per cent.
The result – well, I’ll leave you to watch the video on https://youtu.be/inAQNHKhcrA
It is just over one hour long, so you may want to skip to the end (although it is an interesting video to watch through if you have the time). The video also offers a good view of the features of each vehicle and to hear some unfiltered personal driving experience opinions of the two cars.
So, whilst desperately trying to avoid ‘spoilers’, I will say their efforts show just how mainstream BEVs have become for replacing an ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicle for all forms of travel.
So buckle up, click the link and enjoy the journey!
Bryce Gaton is national newsletter editor and Victoria branch committee member at the Australian Electric Vehicle Association.
