Advice for EV newbie please

[salty]

State of Charge.

With an EV slower is better generally ... 50mph will give you more range than 60, which will give more than 70. This is due to drag/wind resistance, which increases by the square of speed increase. (e.g. the drag at 70 mph will typically be 4x the drag at 35 mph).

Slower might eke out more miles.
But, faster is much more fun.

 

[Rolfe]

Went to 5% the other day in me X Power.
Must admit being a tad, worried. Gonna try and not go below 10% in future.

I'm always heading for a known charging stop, and I always know how far it is. If the remaining range starts to look a bit tight I take about 5 mph off my speed until it sorts itself out. But I'm perfectly confident rocking up with five miles in hand.

In case of really adverse circumstances I'm prepared to substitute a closer charger, but I only had to do that once, in heavy rain, cold (for summer) and a strong headwind.

Really, there's no excuse for bricking a modern EV with a range longer than a first generation Leaf. Just slow right down and hypermile if you're worried. And do your >10% to 100% charge every few months to keep the GOM honest.

Slower might eke out more miles.
But, faster is much more fun.

Well, correct. Drive the way you want to and stop when you need to. That's it.

 

[Anon70]

Went to 5% the other day in me X Power.
Must admit being a tad, worried. Gonna try and not go below 10% in future.

In case of emergency, turning off the HVAC will gain 5-10 miles range, just makes all the windows steam up in colder/damper conditions

 

[Rolfe]

It will not do that unless you turn it off at the start of the journey, and if you're already playing that close to the wire when you set off, you are making a very big mistake. You're far better off cutting your speed by maybe 5 mph than turning off the HVAC, it will get you far more range.

If you turn off the HVAC when you're starting to sweat a bit it will make very little difference, because you already took the hit of having the HVAC on for most of the journey.

In case of emergency, SLOW DOWN.

 

[FrancisM]

There's no harm running an NMC battery down to 10% as long as you don't leave it there but charge shortly after arrival.

 

[Anon70]

It will not do that unless you turn it off at the start of the journey,

I have seen it change range at different times in a journey not just the start. I guess it depends on the ambient temp and if the heater or A/C compressor is having to cycle to maintain cabin temp.

 

[EVnewbie2024]

Slower might eke out more miles.
But, faster is much more fun.

I am happy to pootle along the motorway at 70mph but the speed and performance is one of the biggest draws of an EV for me, and if I have to worry about occasional bursts of speed to overtake and be neurotic about remaining miles then it does rather take away the pleasure of driving

 

[siteguru]

I have seen it change range at different times in a journey not just the start. I guess it depends on the ambient temp and if the heater or A/C compressor is having to cycle to maintain cabin temp.

HVAC Off gives a range estimate of about 6% more miles vs On. @Rolfe's point was that if you're already down to a low SoC, so a low remaining range (e.g. 25 miles), then turning off HVAC will only give you an extra couple of miles on the GOM at best ... your actual working range would increase much more if you just slowed down.

 

[Rolfe]

I have seen it change range at different times in a journey not just the start. I guess it depends on the ambient temp and if the heater or A/C compressor is having to cycle to maintain cabin temp.

Yes, that's true, but the extra range it will display reduces as the journey progresses. If you're already low enough to be nervous it won't gain you much at all.

I think driving without the HVAC (when you need it) is pointless. It's the classic anti-EV trope of the driver shivering in a sheepskin jacket with condensation running down the windows to get a few miles extra range. The days of that sort of discomfort should be over. Either stop slightly sooner, or drive slightly slower.

 

[salty]

Yes, that's true, but the extra range it will display reduces as the journey progresses. If you're already low enough to be nervous it won't gain you much at all.

I think driving without the HVAC (when you need it) is pointless. It's the classic anti-EV trope of the driver shivering in a sheepskin jacket with condensation running down the windows to get a few miles extra range. The days of that sort of discomfort should be over. Either stop slightly sooner, or drive slightly slower.

Or charge more often.

 

[Rolfe]

I think that's covered in "stop slightly sooner".

 

[salty]

I think that's covered in "stop slightly sooner".

Ah, ok. You meant stop to charge slightly sooner. Thought you meant brake, slightly sooner.
That's all it boils down to really. Simple's. It's not Quantum Physics .
Don't over think it.

 

[Brian0]

...and make sure the heated seats are off. I have never used them but somehow the driver's seat was on for a trip to Gatwick. Only 60 miles, but used half of the battery capacity. Now I know how to turn it off! Must read the manual one day...

 

[LenEV2016]

...and make sure the heated seats are off. I have never used them but somehow the driver's seat was on for a trip to Gatwick. Only 60 miles, but used half of the battery capacity. Now I know how to turn it off! Must read the manual one day...

Heated seats use a negligible amount of electricity, far less than the HVAC

 

[Brian0]

Heated seats use a negligible amount of electricity, far less than the HVAC

Must have been the M4/M25/M23 then. The seat was uncomfortably hot, so there was an incentive to get the journey over quickly.