2024 4xe is disappointing... gets no range increase

[MaskedRacerX]

Electric isn't really the answer. In America, we travel way too far for electric cars to be feasible. We also like to travel abroad to different areas of the country and even with the electric stations, who is going to wait there for hours on end for a recharge. I went to the mall a few days ago and watched as all 30 electric stations were occupied with people recharging their batteries, with the families in the vehicles!! That's crazy! Seems like a better fit for someone who is retired, drives to the dinner, drug store than heads home for the day.

Generally, you don't have to "wait for hours", that's kind of not how the charging model works.

Home charging is a HUGE gamechanger for general, everyday use, and I'm talking 100+ miles daily, come home, plug in, a couple of hours, you're "topped off".

But I realize your specific point was about long[er] range driving.

I know everyone can design some scenario where an EV isn't the best option, ("I had to jump in my car at midnight and drive to Alaska from Florida as quickly as possible while towing a 5000-lb trailer!"), but as someone who's a huge car enthusiast, who's owned 20+ vehicles (SUVs/Jeeps, performance, verts, sedans, ICE/PHEV/BEV) and really understands a wide range of use cases, an EV works more times than not.

We travel quite a bit, lots of trips to Orlando (MCO, Universal), our place in The Keys (Largo), up to Atlanta for a lot of concerts - we mostly fly outside of about 5-6 hours driving, but have done a drive to PA (from FL), that's a 13-14 hour trip for us - in a Tesla M3P, that was two standard stretch/bathroom breaks of about 15-17 minutes each, a stayover at a place where we left fully charged, two more 15-17 minute breaks, and arrived 865 miles away (... and FWIW, at a consumables cost of about 1/4 of gas). That's about an hour total charge time out of 14 hours of travel (which about our stop-gas-stretch-whiz time over a 14 total drive time).

Also keep in mind there's a ton of destination chargers, i.e., L2 at hotels, parks, airports. When we go to Universal (3-4 times a year), we charge for free at the onsite resorts, and make the 270 mile around trip without any stops for ~$4. Just like my scenario above where we charged right next to a hotel, we were stopped anyway, it was "free time".

Don't get me wrong, I get it, I get the desire for the slightly simpler ICE fueling model, heck, we took the 4xe to Savannah last weekend because I knew it was an easier fuel up (I have a couple of stations I usually hit in/out, it's almost like a drive-through), and to be honest, I wasn't sure about the hotel's parking situation and the Jeep is WAY more curb friendly (it wound up being fine, huge, spacious valet lot right across the street on the river). I'm the guy who had a 55g drum of VP C110 gas (and a pump system) in his shed, it's not like I'm coming at this from someone who doesn't "get it".

Just my $0.02, I was a HUGE naysayer, we got the 4xe, I started getting it, made the change from my GT convertible to the M3P, and I was really all in. I'm done with Tesla, but even thinking about a really fun ICE alternative like an M3 Comp xDrive bring me back to the pump and I don't want to do that again. So I'll keep the M3P till it's returned in mid-'24, and maybe our R1S will be up for delivery, or I'll have a Recon on order, or something, hahaha, I'll let Future Me worry about that :D

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[Mocopo]

I would think the 4xe would still be good to get to your hunting spot. I would drive it on gas mode until you get close and then switch it to full electric to take it the rest of the way right to your spot. Pretty good idea. ?

Ya I've actually thought about that, for some of my local spots it would work pretty good. For my big hunts I usually travel a couple hundred miles and camp for as much as a week at a time, so it won't do me any good for those trips. Really what would be cool is if there was an efficient way to solar charge it. Here in AZ with 360 days of sunshine a year, that would help a ton.

 

[JeepViking13]

Ya I've actually thought about that, for some of my local spots it would work pretty good. For my big hunts I usually travel a couple hundred miles and camp for as much as a week at a time, so it won't do me any good for those trips. Really what would be cool is if there was an efficient way to solar charge it. Here in AZ with 360 days of sunshine a year, that would help a ton.

Gotta be some kind of aftermarket roof panel solar charger to keep the battery charged. That would be the ticked to really save money.

 

[Pinky Tuscadero]

Just sold an item on marketplace and dropped it off to a 4xe guy who parks on the street in front of his garage-less house. I can imagine to him the range is useless regardless as who the F would sit around waiting for their Jeep to charge at a charging station when you can dump 20 gallons in it in 3 minutes.
Electric and this type of hybrid is doomed until they have something for the other 85% of the population who could never charge at home
I do like them though

 

[pantheman75]

It depends on your commute. With my 7 mile commute and daily recharges I was on pace to only need to refuel every 2000 miles or so before my 4xe imploded and needed to be replaced under the lemon law.

 

[Zandcwhite]

Just sold an item on marketplace and dropped it off to a 4xe guy who parks on the street in front of his garage-less house. I can imagine to him the range is useless regardless as who the F would sit around waiting for their Jeep to charge at a charging station when you can dump 20 gallons in it in 3 minutes.
Electric and this type of hybrid is doomed until they have something for the other 85% of the population who could never charge at home
I do like them though

I highly doubt 85% of vehicle owners can't charge at home. At this point, highly populated cities are full of people who don't even own vehicles. Further, as an electrician in the bay area I can't think of a single business that I've worked at that doesn't have EV chargers in their parking garages. Most of the big companies like Google and Apple offer free charging to employees. Every local university has chargers and some even offer free charging to students. Malls, grocery stores, movie theaters, etc all have chargers. The 4xe is not an EV I'd consider if I couldn't charges at home or work, but I'd say in my area at least the majority of people could do both.

 

[BigMaCro]

Gotta be some kind of aftermarket roof panel solar charger to keep the battery charged. That would be the ticked to really save money.

Really what would be cool is if there was an efficient way to solar charge it. Here in AZ with 360 days of sunshine a year, that would help a ton.

Solar panels on the roof just can't make a meaningful difference to the HV traction battery.

if you took a really good, big panel and strapped it to your roof, that panel can put out 300W in direct overhead sunlight. The battery in the 4xe has a capacity of 17,000Wh, and people complain that's too small. 17,000Wh/300W =56 Hours of direct sunlight to charge. So maybe 4 days to charge the battery in Arizona, disregarding efficiency losses in charging equipment, which would be significant because the low voltage of the panel has to be boosted to 400V of the battery.

 

[BigMaCro]

Go ahead and use solar, but to keep your 12V battery topped up and fridge running

 

[m3reno]

It's easy to say just plug it in. But what do the majority of people do living in buildings in or around NYC or other cities do? They park blocks away in different locations daily, just run extension cords from their homes?

 

[Zandcwhite]

It's easy to say just plug it in. But what do the majority of people do living in buildings in or around NYC or other cities do? They park blocks away in different locations daily, just run extension cords from their homes?

The majority of people in cities don't own cars anymore, they Uber or zip car or other ride share.

 

[m3reno]

The majority of people in cities don't own cars anymore, the Uber or zip car or other ride share.

Oh ok....I guess all the cars parked overnight is just my imagination. The majority of my co-workers live in multi family dwellings in the Bronx and they all drive to work through-out the five boroughs including Long Island were it can take up to 3 1/2 hours one way with traffic. Are you suggesting they all sell their cars and uber to work?

 

[Zandcwhite]

ALL the cars parked over night, maybe 50 around a 300 unit building? Not to question your math, but you do realize a majority is more than half right? There would be 600~ vehicles parked around that building if everyone drove everywhere. In my opinion, you probably shouldn't be buying any $50k+ vehicle if you live in an apartment regardless of fuel source but that's a whole other topic. Clearly some people need cars, especially those who work throughout the 5 boroughs, but that's far from the majority. If I had to live in an apartment, it would be one near my work. If I had to commute for work all over the city, I'd move to the suburbs where I could own my own space, weld on my jeep if I want to, or even charge an EV or 2 but that's just me. Just hang out at any major office building around their typical start time and watch how the MAJORITY arrive for work... it's not in their personal vehicle. Those that do are the exception. According to NYCEDC, ~40% of households own a vehicle, which is only 25% of adult individuals owning a car as most of those are couples sharing 1 vehicle.

 

[ag4ever]

I would think the 4xe would still be good to get to your hunting spot. I would drive it on gas mode until you get close and then switch it to full electric to take it the rest of the way right to your spot. Pretty good idea. ?

Hunting was one of the factors in buying my 4xe. I do ALL of my hunting using electric vehicles. I use a golf cart that I converted from SLA to using reclaimed Leaf batteries. I can make about 3 laps around the 2,500 acre ranch before needing a recharge. Buddy has a Ranger EV with SLA batteries. He can do about 2 laps and carries an inverter generator for the times we run out of range. We primarily night hunt with no windshield using thermals and light intensifying gear. I have not had an opportunity to use the 4xe yet, but come next winter it will be nice having a vehicle with heat AND having the windshield down that we can use to hunt out of. I anticipate being able to make more laps around the ranch than time would allow (dusk to dawn).

If I was worried about the electric range, I would run in e-save until ‘close’ to my stand and then run in electric. Define close how you want, for me close has to be at least a mile, or more.

 

[Bmeister]

Electric isn't really the answer. In America, we travel way too far for electric cars to be feasible. We also like to travel abroad to different areas of the country and even with the electric stations, who is going to wait there for hours on end for a recharge. I went to the mall a few days ago and watched as all 30 electric stations were occupied with people recharging their batteries, with the families in the vehicles!! That's crazy! Seems like a better fit for someone who is retired, drives to the dinner, drug store than heads home for the day.

Can you please run for a Congressional seat from your state? Your post has 1000% more practical logic than that coming from many of our current crop of Congress critters.

 

[Bmeister]

The majority of people in cities don't own cars anymore, they Uber or zip car or other ride share.

I'm not sure from where you get your stats; I have properties in Chicago (unfortunately) and the surrounding burbs and every single tennant has a vehicle; it's a parking nightmare. Now, that's just my take on Chicago; looking at registered vehicles and populations from just a few states, the per-capita majority DOES own a vehicle...unless the govt supplied data I perused was wrong.

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