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We all like to gripe about the limited range of electric vehicles, especially if you don’t own one. But I was pleasantly surprised this spring when my EV travelled farther on a single charge than it has ever done before.
How much farther?
My car, a Hyundai Ioniq 5, comes with an estimated range of 390 kilometres on a full charge. In the winter, when cold temperatures and beefy winter tires hamper my vehicle’s efficiency, I’m lucky to exceed 300 kilometres.
But by the third week of May, my range rebounded above – get ready for it – 460 kilometres. That means I’ve recently exceeded the manufacturer’s estimated range by more than 70 kilometres, or 18 per cent.
Perhaps 460 kilometres is still not enough to wow EV skeptics, some of whom would need a perpetual motion machine to satisfy their demands for driving eight hours straight without so much as a bathroom break.
However, I was thrilled.
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I’m not usually too fussed over range, since even 300 kilometres in a city is more than enough for me. Still, better-than-expected range means less charging, which is convenient when you don’t have a home charger (like me). Attaining better range is a bit of a game I like to play as well.
More importantly, though, beating range estimates means your EV is even cleaner, since it’s consuming less power. Oh, and it means that it’s even cheaper to run.
For anyone who is still a bit perplexed by this whole range thing – a central figure to EV ownership – here’s a quick refresher.
Every electric vehicle comes with a manufacturer’s estimate of how far it can go on a full charge.
It’s an estimate because the folks at the factory can’t possibly know your route. Climbing hills, driving fast on highways and battling cold weather exert a significant drag on the efficiency of a car battery.
Many EV owners, me included, have accepted that range estimates are often best-case scenarios. Our batteries usually deplete faster than expected, which can feed range anxiety – the fear of sputtering to a stop before you reach your destination.
As well, we quickly discover that we can’t get a full charge. That’s because batteries last longer when we don’t charge them to 100-per-cent capacity or deplete them to zero. Range, then, is a theoretical number. It’s not a great route planner.
That’s why exceeding a manufacturer’s estimated range is so satisfying.
Spring weather, when it’s not too hot and not too cold, is easy on a battery.
Urban driving, with speeds generally below 40 kilometres per hour, is not taxing either. Yielding to a city’s stop signs, potholes and stray squirrels puts to full use regenerative braking – essentially, the battery gets a charge as the EV slows – which can extend range even further.
In May, I benefited from all these conditions, which may be the first time anyone has praised potholes. Or squirrels.
I found that my vehicle’s efficiency, or how many kilowatt-hours I’m using to drive 100 kilometres, regularly dipped below 12, down from more than 20 in the winter (the lower the number, the better the efficiency).
At the start of a long-distance journey on the Victoria Day long weekend, my car’s electronic brain – drawing from recent efficiency stats – estimated I could get a range of 404 kilometres with the battery charged to 87 per cent. The implied range of a 100-per-cent charge, therefore, was 464 kilometres, a personal best.
Could I cancel my trip and stay off the efficiency-killing highway just to preserve this brag-worthy figure? It was tempting. Alas, after a high-speed trip that also used liberal amounts of air conditioning, my vehicle’s estimated range has dropped to a level that is once again a little worse than the manufacturer’s estimate.
But the thrill of attaining significantly better-than-expected range, if only briefly, lives on. And it has spawned at least three takeaways about EVs.
First, if you – like me – spend 95 per cent of your driving days doing mundane urban things, you might be pleasantly surprised by an EV’s range when driving conditions are good.
While range remains a source of anxiety for some drivers, it may be more than enough for most people, most of the time.
Second, battery efficiency isn’t a pointless number tracked by EV nerds like me. The better the efficiency, the lower the cost to operate an electric vehicle, which absolutely must be taken into account when sizing up the cost of buying a new EV.
Sure, the upfront expenses are higher than for an equivalent gas guzzler. But gas savings can be more than you expect if you have access to cheap charging.
And lastly, EVs can perform surprisingly well under mainstream uses, such as stop-and-go commuting. Despite wild tales of batteries being depleted in traffic jams, congestion has little impact on a battery’s state of charge.
Indeed, you may discover a slow commute is just the thing to extend your range into record-breaking territory.
Oh my gosh, I just praised traffic.