Electric cars have up to a third less battery life than advertised when driven in real-life conditions, an investigation has found.
The official figures provided by car manufacturers for how many miles an EV can drive on full charge are based on a standardised test done only in warm conditions.
But an investigation by What Car magazine has found that when the cars are driven in the real-world, particularly in colder temperatures, their batteries go flat much faster.
In other revelatory news, politicians’ promises aren’t to be trusted, he won’t call you next time he’s in town, and she does love you just for your money, Mr. Murdoch.
A Belgian blogger recently made a post about his experience with an EV that he bought and he noted the same thing.
https://tobolds.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-electric-car-experience.html
The go to YouTube channel is Petrol Ped who is pro EV but scrupulously honest. As he says if you have overnight charging at home at off-peak rates, it’s happy days. But public charging points change the cost math completely, especially if you live in Yirrip with their excruciatingly high electricity prices. Communal charging points for apartments or street parking… well… EVs are for a very specific kind of customer.
I try not to be any more of an idiot asshole than absolutely necessary (so I slip occasionally, sometimes, not that often, OK once a day isn’t too much is it) and I have no a priori bias against EVs.
Petrol Ped “The reality of living with an EV” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JJHr78Ksx0
Jezza’s pal James on EVs.
“Internal combustion is fascinating like clockwork and it’s full of flaws and that’s what gives it mechanical character and that’s why we love it and you have to manage it you have to have a gearbox blah blah blah all this stuff it’s all great it’s very exciting but in terms of common sense the electric motor low maintenance quiet smell free no reciprocating parts makes more sense.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQY-VeA87cM “James May still isn’t convinced by electric cars.”
Bedfordshire, huh? It’s quite warm down there. For reference, Aberdeen is the same latitude as Sitka. I wonder how much I should deduct from their figures for being 450 miles north? The best of their cars do about 300 miles on a full charge. A return trip to Edinburgh – the longest trip I’m likely to do in one day – is about 260 miles. Happy days, right? A good margin of safety, right? Umm… at the bottom the article indicates a difference of 20% between summer and winter range so let’s lop off another 20% for Scotland being colder. We’re down to 240 miles. Oops. And then there’s charging the blasted thing: yes, I’m in a flat…
> Electric cars have up to a third less battery life than advertised when driven
> in real-life conditions, an investigation has found.
>>shrug<< Fuel efficiency numbers on petrol engines are a similar fantasy.
The only difference is that for an ICE refueling is fast and there's lots of gas stations.
clearly the advertisements of Electric Vehicles over promise and grossly fail to deliver.
An ICE is far more reliable in a variety of conditions and is faster to refuel
Errr…. no, at least not the Bolt. I live in a temperate region. Even at its worse this winter (19 deg F some nights), I had 210 miles of range. 67% of 260 quoted is 173 miles. Never dropped that low.
You could say “anecdotal” but I would say no. This was multiple nights.
Also, I drive like a NHRA driver… it would actually quietly range increase because the battery would warm as you drove, which means the miles/kwhr would actually get better. Granted GM saw fit not to tinker with the overall range calculation, but you could see the distance/kwhr start creeping up.
Or maybe they are talking about other brands? I suspect it depends on whether the battery pack is thermally conditioned or not.
This is the second article in two weeks that is repeating utter balderdash about EVs, I find it to be hilarious actually.
My only guess is that our government, for some reason, has seen fit to delay the transition that they viciously pushed up till now. I don’t care either way, but I probably will not buy a brand new piston engine road going vehicle for myself ever again. I will have to buy used gasoline trucks until such time the battery tech is good enough to make the move. I also realize that this is not realistic for all people, and the government should not be forcing the issue in either direction.
Probably depends on the make and model.
Depending on weather conditions I at times get slightly MORE range out of mine than advertised, and under most conditions it’s right on the range claimed in the advertising.
And that’s for an EV over 4 years old, when all the anti-EV pundits claim that by then the battery should have degraded enough to only give at most half the original range.
Only times when it’s degraded by 10-20% is during freezing weather in winter, which is only 2-3 weeks a year here.
Which is the case for petrol cars as well of course, because you use more power to heat it up in winter.