How much range is required on electric vehicles ?

1. EP Tender
Technoparc, 22 rue Gustave Eiffel, 78300 Poissy
Tél. : +33 (0)1 80 72 60 23 - +33 (0)6 09 36 09 26 - jean-baptiste.segard@eptender.com
SASU au capital de 290 000 €, SIRET 753 074 350 00038
How much range is required on electric vehicles?
Our analysis is founded on extensive real life data of trips in the US published in this research. It
shows that a vehicle with 100 miles range can satisfy 100% of the needs of 9% of the population only.
But, if an alternate solution is available during two “adjustment” days (for long distance trips), then
19% of the population is 100% satisfied. The figure jumps to 30% satisfied with 6 alternate days. With
a 200 miles EV, 75% of the population can satisfy 100% of their needs with 6 alternate days only.
So, with EVs having a range of 100 to 200 miles, the usage of EP Tender from 2 to 6 times in the year
can satisfy 100% of the needs of 75% of car users. And a corollary to this conclusion: carrying a much
heavier and much more expensive energy storage on board the EV (battery or REX) is an overkill,
making it non-competitive as compared to ICE vehicles, and requires unsustainable subsidies.
% users satisfied vs range 100 miles 200 miles
EV 9% 30%
EV + 2 energy module days 17% 49%
EV + 6 energy module days 30% 75%
EV + 25 energy module days 75% 97%

2. EP Tender
Technoparc, 22 rue Gustave Eiffel, 78300 Poissy
Tél. : +33 (0)1 80 72 60 23 - +33 (0)6 09 36 09 26 - jean-baptiste.segard@eptender.com
SASU au capital de 200 000 €, SIRET 753 074 350 00038
Another angle with similar conclusions comes from a
research published in August 2016 in Nature Energy. We
have extracted the chart on the right, showing the statistical
distribution (from real usage data) of the energy demand per
day of a car, assuming it has an electric powertrain.
A battery of 19 kWh (Zoe is 22 kWh) satisfies 87% of driving
days of the whole population in a year. Adding 20kWh, to
reach 40 kWh, satisfies 9% more days. Adding another 20
kWh, to 60 kWh, satisfies 1.5% more days, while going to
80kWh will satisfy another 0.5%, etc. In other words, the
marginal utility of a larger battery is massively decreasing,
while its cost and weight remains linear, with a major impact
on the base platform as well.
We have here a further confirmation that a range of 100-200
miles (batteries of 30-60 kWh) will remain the optimal
balance between marginal cost and marginal utility.
The remaining 2.5% to 1% must be satisfied by other means,
which is the purpose of EP Tender.
The powertrain modularity we are proposing is a way to increase massively the number of electric
miles driven by the whole population, at an affordable cost, and with a much accelerated rate of EV
adoption.