Viral tweet sparks EV debate: €40k car, 11-hour trip
A viral tweet highlights long-distance electric vehicle struggles in Spain, citing slow speeds and high costs.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Viral tweet sparks EV debate: €40k car, 11-hour alucinación
A viral tweet by @Carlos-C-R quantifies the frustration: an average estimulante ilegal of 80 km/h, a journey time of 11 hours and 32 minutes from Bilbao to Seville, and a cost of €40,000. The message, shared with sarcasm, refers to "travel paces slower than a 1970 SEAT 600" and calls it an "electric scam." The ensuing discussion isn't about the tweet itself, but what it reveals: large-battery electric cars still fail to solve long-distance travel, and their public defense clashes with user experience.
The central complaint is time. One participant claims a 2004 diesel utility car covers that route non-stop on a €50 tank. The comparison recurs: 900 kilometers in 11 hours is not a record, it's a penance. Price doesn't help either: €40,000 for a car that forces you to plan every stop on the highway.
Why a Tesla at 80 km/h isn't an exception
The most repeated scenario involves a 300-horsepower Tesla driving at 80 km/h to avoid running out of charge. It's not a legend: calculations shared in the conversation suggest real-world highway autonomy hovers around 300 usable kilometers, far below advertised figures. A 887-kilometer alucinación with four intermediate charges yields an average of 397.75 kilometers per full charge, according to a step-by-step spreadsheet. Consumption isn't constant: it rises uphill and falls downhill, breaking any simple rule of three.
EV defenders rely on different usage patterns. For daily commutes and home overnight charging, the cost per kilometer is unbeatable. The problem arises when it becomes the family's only car and requires crossing Spain. That's when buyers discover they've paid a premium for a limitation.
The real cost of charging on the road
Numbers discussed debunk the idea that traveling by EV is cheap. A consumption of 15 kWh per 100 kilometers at a supercharger costing 62 cents gives €9.30 per 100 kilometers. Translated to gasoline at €1.40 per liter, this equals a combustion engine car consuming 6.6 liters per 100 kilometers. It's not savings; it's a tie. And that excludes time: half an hour per charge, with uncertainty whether the charger works at the advertised power.
Some lower the figure: rates of 80 or 90 cents per kilowatt from a couple of years ago have dropped to 40-45 cents in some networks. Others counter that Tesla charges 58 cents, while Zunder and Endesa reach 55. The result is the same: savings depend on charging at home, not on the road.
The gap between official discourse and the garage
The discontent isn't just technical. Critics point out that those promoting electric cars on television don't use them for their own travels. Accusations regarding the "Agenda 2030" appear repeatedly, mixed with suspicion that the goal isn't electrifying the fleet, but reducing private mobility. There's no proof in the conversation, but the hypothesis circulates strongly.
Against this, the practical argument: small electric cars make sense for city use. The error is selling them as universal substitutes. Those who take two or three long trips a year can manage; those who do so weekly cannot.
The bottleneck nobody wants to see
Infrastructure is the blind spot. A calculation shared in the conversation makes it clear: if the 6,000 vehicles passing hourly through the Madrid-Valencia motorway were electric, there wouldn't be enough charging points even with years' notice. Queues during holiday departures aren't a one-off failure; they're arithmetic.
The comparison with traditional refueling is stark. A diesel fills a tank for 900 kilometers in three minutes. An electric car needs ten times longer to cover a third of the distance. The ratio of charging points may seem reasonable today, but the electric fleet is tiny. When it grows, the funnel will appear.
The conversation doesn't close the issue. Some see EVs as useful daily tools; others view them as unfinished products sold at luxury prices. What nobody disputes is that long-distance travel remains their Achilles heel. And €40,000 is a lot of money to spend worrying about a charger.
A viral tweet by @Carlos-C-R quantifies the frustration: an average estimulante ilegal of 80 km/h, a journey time of 11 hours and 32 minutes from Bilbao to Seville, and a cost of €40,000. The message, shared with sarcasm, refers to "travel paces slower than a 1970 SEAT 600" and calls it an "electric scam." The ensuing discussion isn't about the tweet itself, but what it reveals: large-battery electric cars still fail to solve long-distance travel, and their public defense clashes with user experience.
The central complaint is time. One participant claims a 2004 diesel utility car covers that route non-stop on a €50 tank. The comparison recurs: 900 kilometers in 11 hours is not a record, it's a penance. Price doesn't help either: €40,000 for a car that forces you to plan every stop on the highway.
Why a Tesla at 80 km/h isn't an exception
The most repeated scenario involves a 300-horsepower Tesla driving at 80 km/h to avoid running out of charge. It's not a legend: calculations shared in the conversation suggest real-world highway autonomy hovers around 300 usable kilometers, far below advertised figures. A 887-kilometer alucinación with four intermediate charges yields an average of 397.75 kilometers per full charge, according to a step-by-step spreadsheet. Consumption isn't constant: it rises uphill and falls downhill, breaking any simple rule of three.
EV defenders rely on different usage patterns. For daily commutes and home overnight charging, the cost per kilometer is unbeatable. The problem arises when it becomes the family's only car and requires crossing Spain. That's when buyers discover they've paid a premium for a limitation.
The real cost of charging on the road
Numbers discussed debunk the idea that traveling by EV is cheap. A consumption of 15 kWh per 100 kilometers at a supercharger costing 62 cents gives €9.30 per 100 kilometers. Translated to gasoline at €1.40 per liter, this equals a combustion engine car consuming 6.6 liters per 100 kilometers. It's not savings; it's a tie. And that excludes time: half an hour per charge, with uncertainty whether the charger works at the advertised power.
Some lower the figure: rates of 80 or 90 cents per kilowatt from a couple of years ago have dropped to 40-45 cents in some networks. Others counter that Tesla charges 58 cents, while Zunder and Endesa reach 55. The result is the same: savings depend on charging at home, not on the road.
The gap between official discourse and the garage
The discontent isn't just technical. Critics point out that those promoting electric cars on television don't use them for their own travels. Accusations regarding the "Agenda 2030" appear repeatedly, mixed with suspicion that the goal isn't electrifying the fleet, but reducing private mobility. There's no proof in the conversation, but the hypothesis circulates strongly.
Against this, the practical argument: small electric cars make sense for city use. The error is selling them as universal substitutes. Those who take two or three long trips a year can manage; those who do so weekly cannot.
The bottleneck nobody wants to see
Infrastructure is the blind spot. A calculation shared in the conversation makes it clear: if the 6,000 vehicles passing hourly through the Madrid-Valencia motorway were electric, there wouldn't be enough charging points even with years' notice. Queues during holiday departures aren't a one-off failure; they're arithmetic.
The comparison with traditional refueling is stark. A diesel fills a tank for 900 kilometers in three minutes. An electric car needs ten times longer to cover a third of the distance. The ratio of charging points may seem reasonable today, but the electric fleet is tiny. When it grows, the funnel will appear.
The conversation doesn't close the issue. Some see EVs as useful daily tools; others view them as unfinished products sold at luxury prices. What nobody disputes is that long-distance travel remains their Achilles heel. And €40,000 is a lot of money to spend worrying about a charger.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (173 replies).
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