Re: Reserve power?
"ridiculous and unfair" seems a bit strong to me, but it's certainly incomplete. Then again, so is curb weight, but in a different way.
[VW = vehicle weight, FW = fuel weight, CW = curb weight]
VW + FW = CW
range_ice = k_ice * FW_ice
range_ev = k_ev * FW_ev
What happened with Tesla was, roughly, that k_ev reached a point where range_ev comes close to range_ice at nearly the same CW, because, as you point out, VW_ice is quite a bit less than VW_ev, even though FW_ev is much greater. But it's also undeniable that at present, k_ev < k_ice. So for a small increase in FW_ice, you can get very high ranges, it's just that there's not much demand for it since refueling is fast and easy and no one really wants to drive for 10 hours straight anyway.
It will be very interesting to see if k_ev is high enough for big trucks now; I suspect it's very close. For planes, I think we have a ways to go.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
