EV ranges

[Arborbridge]

Do anyone have any experience, or have read tests of how electric car range might vary with usage of the other equiment in the car?

I have in mind particularly what might happen on a journey through the winter months when lights and heater use will be at maximum on my journey to Devon and how the range might shrink compared with lighter usage.

Salesmen are remarbkably vague about such things and make the potential problem of having to stop and recharge sound as though it's just like fitting it in while you have a cup of coffee. No different to a petrol car!

Arb.

[Howard]

Do anyone have any experience, or have read tests of how electric car range might vary with usage of the other equiment in the car?

I have in mind particularly what might happen on a journey through the winter months when lights and heater use will be at maximum on my journey to Devon and how the range might shrink compared with lighter usage.

Salesmen are remarbkably vague about such things and make the potential problem of having to stop and recharge sound as though it's just like fitting it in while you have a cup of coffee. No different to a petrol car!

Arb.

I don't think led lights will make any difference to the range. Our KIA Soul EV has a range of around 300 miles if driven gently at slower speeds. Driven at 70 mph in March on a windy day in rain with the heater on the range dropped significantly to around 250 miles. Like other BEVs, the car's usage of electricity can be reduced by mainly using the heated seats and heated steering wheel which use less power than the fan heater.

I haven't driven the car in freezing winter weather yet as it was delivered in March. However I am intending to drive to central London next month which will be a good long-distance test mainly on the motorway in, probably, cold weather. The car will be charged to 100% before we go (at 5p per kWh) and I'll use mains electricity to pre warm it just before starting.

I'll report back on how the journey works out and the range achieved. I'll be driving at 70 on the motorway but it is not likely that we'll have to use a public charger.

regards

Howard

PS I'm expecting the journey to cost under £5 for electricity and parking. I read that parking in Mayfair for four hours in a BEV will cost 83p if Westminster Council are to be believed. If we went in our petrol car which does 40 mpg the cost would be around £30 for petrol, £15 congestion charge and at least £20 to park. The savings seem too good to be true!

[scrumpyjack]

In my ID.4 if I switch off climate control the estimated range left instantly increases by as much as 10%. I don't know how 'intelligent' this is.

Some EV cars are going to have heat pump heating/cooling systems put in which should reduce the energy needed for temperature control in the car.

[Arborbridge]

Do anyone have any experience, or have read tests of how electric car range might vary with usage of the other equiment in the car?

I have in mind particularly what might happen on a journey through the winter months when lights and heater use will be at maximum on my journey to Devon and how the range might shrink compared with lighter usage.

Salesmen are remarbkably vague about such things and make the potential problem of having to stop and recharge sound as though it's just like fitting it in while you have a cup of coffee. No different to a petrol car!

Arb.

I don't think led lights will make any difference to the range. Our KIA Soul EV has a range of around 300 miles if driven gently at slower speeds. Driven at 70 mph in March on a windy day in rain with the heater on the range dropped significantly to around 250 miles. Like other BEVs, the car's usage of electricity can be reduced by mainly using the heated seats and heated steering wheel which use less power than the fan heater.

I haven't driven the car in freezing winter weather yet as it was delivered in March. However I am intending to drive to central London next month which will be a good long-distance test mainly on the motorway in, probably, cold weather. The car will be charged to 100% before we go (at 5p per kWh) and I'll use mains electricity to pre warm it just before starting.

I'll report back on how the journey works out and the range achieved. I'll be driving at 70 on the motorway but it is not likely that we'll have to use a public charger.

regards

Howard

PS I'm expecting the journey to cost under £5 for electricity and parking. I read that parking in Mayfair for four hours in a BEV will cost 83p if Westminster Council are to be believed. If we went in our petrol car which does 40 mpg the cost would be around £30 for petrol, £15 congestion charge and at least £20 to park. The savings seem too good to be true!

Thanks for that and please report back on how you get on. Best of luck finding a charging point which is vacant for use. I walk passed a car charging at a point near Covent Garden last night, and I thought it must be a difficult situation - stuck in the middle of London, running out of charge and the nightmare of finding vacant place to charge. I can imagine a new rash of parking wars by desparate EV drivers.

I note you bought a Soul - I tried a Niro at the weekend, though the self-charging one. It would be about the right size but I had doubts about the driving position - couldn't get comfortable and the wheel seemed tiny which caused a strange aching in the shoulders. Oddly, very little leg room under the wheel because one needed the seat high up on its travel. Altogether, didn't seem to fit me, whereas the Toyota Cross felt fine from the start. The KIA self-charging Niro is really not at all impressive mpg-wise with 43mpg on the test drive. Unfortunately, the garage only let me have 30 minutes in it, which I thought particularly mean.
My Merc gave me 63 at the weekend, on the same road though admittedly on a longer run.

Thinking about EVs, but you see, it's me range anxiety, doctor.

Arb.

[Arborbridge]

In my ID.4 if I switch off climate control the estimated range left instantly increases by as much as 10%. I don't know how 'intelligent' this is.

Some EV cars are going to have heat pump heating/cooling systems put in which should reduce the energy needed for temperature control in the car.

That'll bang the price up!

[Hallucigenia]

I have in mind particularly what might happen on a journey through the winter months when lights and heater use will be at maximum on my journey to Devon and how the range might shrink compared with lighter usage.

10-15% is the kind of hit that gets touted for winter driving.

it is not likely that we'll have to use a public charger.

This is the key point - the vast majority of people end up just charging at home. Someone I know had a Leaf for 2 years and public-charged twice, just out of curiosity to see how it worked, in case they needed it for real.

[BobbyD]

In my ID.4 if I switch off climate control the estimated range left instantly increases by as much as 10%. I don't know how 'intelligent' this is.

Some EV cars are going to have heat pump heating/cooling systems put in which should reduce the energy needed for temperature control in the car.

That'll bang the price up!

It's a grand on the base ID.4 which is a £35k car, so if you need the extra it's not really going to alter the equation too much. If you go for the bigger battery where it will have more effect it'll make even less difference proportionally whilst adding 32 miles to your (official) range at +10%. Not cheap, but not exactly expensive for the benefits it bestows.

Edited to add: if you want cold weather ranges look at bjorn nyland's range tests or 1000km challenges on YouTube. They are run in Norway, and the temp is generally on the low side. Eg: https://youtu.be/OHP1RNcXG50

[Arborbridge]

Two relevant stories on You and Yours today. One saying how wonderful his EV was, the other how she had had problems finding a charge point which worked (despite planning the journey) and eventually ran out of juice. A simple 100 mile journey took six hours and she was towed home by the RAC afet a number of phone calls to BP pulse to sort things out and trying a couple of charging points.
To be fair, she did have a low range car, (100 miles, I believe) but even so she ought not to have been let down in the middle of Sussex by BP on a journey she had planned carefully. East Sussex is hardly on the moon.
I suspect that on a long range car the same problem would arise, but just after a different distance!


Arb.

[scrumpyjack]

Two relevant stories on You and Yours today. One saying how wonderful his EV was, the other how she had had problems finding a charge point which worked (despite planning the journey) and eventually ran out of juice. A simple 100 mile journey took six hours and she was towed home by the RAC afet a number of phone calls to BP pulse to sort things out and trying a couple of charging points.
To be fair, she did have a low range car, (100 miles, I believe) but even so she ought not to have been let down in the middle of Sussex by BP on a journey she had planned carefully. East Sussex is hardly on the moon.
I suspect that on a long range car the same problem would arise, but just after a different distance!


Arb.

100 mile range is really very marginal. I've only had to charge away from home on one trip, to North Norfolk, and planned my charging options carefully. Basically it came down to Tesco or Morrisons, in several locations, and I had no problems. My Pod Point app could tell me in advance if the chargers were available and I went for Tesco Fakenham because they were 28p per kw vs Morrisons Geniepoint at 42p. The Fakenham Tesco had a 50kw charger (pay) or 22kw + 2 x 7kw (Free). I used the 50kw to get a reasonably quick uplift. I also used the Tesco 7kw at Swaffham. It does make one realise one needs at least 50kw chargers to avoid hanging around and there need to be a lot more of them. But if you have 300 mile range you have far more flexibility on where to top up than if only 100 miles.

[AJC5001]

Lat weeks episode of "Click" on the BBC News channel had a report on a portable EV battery charger - the EV equivalent of a jerrycan for an ICE car.
Available on iPlayer https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0011hcn/click-can-tech-save-the-world starts at 19:14.
Zipcharge is its name. Charge at home in 60 minutes, charges car in 30 minutes, 4kwh gives 18 miles in a Nissan Leaf. Costs £49 on subscription or £1500 outright. Currently only a prototype but expect to be available this time next year.
So not cheap, but I could see this sort of thing being in every AA/RAC/Green Flag etc recovery vehicle in the future.

Adrian

[nmdhqbc]

let's be honest the op is not curious at all. they're against EV's and pretending to be neutral and learning to have a pop at them.
i'm a petrol driver who is 80% sure the next car will be an ev. no skin in the game. mind you an ev owner should not have skin in the game either really. they tell us that they're happy with theirs so i'm inclined to believe them. and the vast vast majority of ev owners love them. they learn a bit about how to make them work for them and after a little adjusting they love them. and a lot don't need to adjust at all, especially the ones with off street parking. I am more inclined to listen to those people with the actual ownership experience than folks who have never owned one. of course the odd fool will buy a completely unsuitable one and drive it idiotically but they should not put off sensible people from considering one.

[vrdiver]

let's be honest the op is not curious at all. they're against EV's and pretending to be neutral and learning to have a pop at them.

What?!!!

The OP's post pretty much mirrored the same questions I have, and I'm pretty sure I'm interested in EVs (as my next car will be one, unless something pretty drastic happens in the meantime).

Rather than make assumptions about the OP's position, why not take the post at face value and answer the question, or if unable to do either, just move on?

VRD

[Hallucigenia]

To be fair, she did have a low range car, (100 miles, I believe) but even so she ought not to have been let down in the middle of Sussex by BP on a journey she had planned carefully. East Sussex is hardly on the moon.

Just wait until you hear how BP let down the drivers of petrol cars in East Sussex a few weeks ago...

[nmdhqbc]

The OP's post pretty much mirrored the same questions I have, and I'm pretty sure I'm interested in EVs (as my next car will be one, unless something pretty drastic happens in the meantime).

Rather than make assumptions about the OP's position, why not take the post at face value and answer the question, or if unable to do either, just move on?

VRD

not so much the original post but the follow up comments. if you read it all and think we can take the original post on face value then i admire your faith in humanity. feels to me like the op was spring loaded with reasons not to EV waiting for someone to take the bait by answering the question.

[Arborbridge]

The OP's post pretty much mirrored the same questions I have, and I'm pretty sure I'm interested in EVs (as my next car will be one, unless something pretty drastic happens in the meantime).

Rather than make assumptions about the OP's position, why not take the post at face value and answer the question, or if unable to do either, just move on?

VRD

not so much the original post but the follow up comments. if you read it all and think we can take the original post on face value then i admire your faith in humanity. feels to me like the op was spring loaded with reasons not to EV waiting for someone to take the bait by answering the question.

Hang on a minute! As the OP I posed a genuine question. I am interested in replacing my car with either a Hybrid or an EV and I am trying to get my head round the various facts and in particular the practicalities. It's one thing to listen to a salesman, but would you swallow what they say wholeheartedly? I doubt it. You would do what I am doing - asking around to see what experiences people have had.

Rather than being "spring loaded" with reasons not to buy, I am actually asking for the opposite: reassurance in order to take the plunge.

I think you do me a disservice.

[nmdhqbc]

I think you do me a disservice.

i did not expect you to admit it

[bungeejumper]

I think you do me a disservice.

i did not expect you to admit it

Arb, don't feed the troll.

BJ

[Arborbridge]

I think you do me a disservice.

i did not expect you to admit it

Arb, don't feed the troll.

BJ

Thank you. Actually, what he said made no sense anyway.

[nmdhqbc]

Thank you. Actually, what he said made no sense anyway.

what don't you understand? perhaps i can explain.

[airbus330]

https://www.news18.com/news/buzz/tesla-car-runs-out-of-battery-blocks-traffic-for-3-hours-london-car-park-elon-musk-4416851.html

All is well