Want More Miles From Your EV? Lose Weight!
October 23, 2023
By Paul Homewood
h/t Philip Bratby
Some wonderful tips from the useless Telegraph for squeezing a few miles more out of your EV!
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/how-get-most-miles-out-your-electric-car/
The tips include:
- Don’t drive when the weather’s too hot or cold
- Turn your heating down in winter
- Fit a heat pump
- Don’t use the motorway
- Lose weight
- Slow down
The best advice they could give is stick with a proper car!
As usual, the commenters hit the nails on the head:
72 Comments
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
From an ignorant intelligent POV, throw out all the spare batteries it’s carrying around!
Huh, would you believe it :(Just came in Mail): 500 kilograms of green materials – throw that shyte out right away before it smells !! https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/peugeot-introduces-electric-suv-with-400-mile-range/?linktype=title&channel=email&campaign_type=thomas_industry_update&campaign_name=tiu231023&tinid=228365584
Take cash and a long extension charger and knock doors on your journey to recharge on your way – you might even get a biscuit and a cuppa inc in your tenner – but some houses might put up no charging signs .
Or you can park your EV in the garage next to your betamax and buy a season bus ticket.
Here is a very nice picture of trolleybuses with overhead cables
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolleybus#:~:text=A%20trolleybus%20%28also%20known%20as%20trolley%20bus%2C%20trolley,suspended%20from%20roadside%20posts%29%20using%20spring-loaded%20trolley%20poles.
I estimate it will cost no more than £5 million a mile to electrify our roads to enable EV’s to use them so barely a £trillion all in. A bargain.
I haven’t quite worked out how overtaking will work but I am sure that is a minor detail
Then all we need is coal gas and oil to make the electricity – cant think where I got that idea
The Highway Code tells us to achieve the speed limit when possible and safe to do so.
Slowing down is not an option.
From the article:
“Keeping to a maximum charge of 80pc or less for most occasions is a good idea”
This is an utter myth!
Does anyone really imagine that if the max/min charging cycles is between 20% and 80% manufacturers wouldn’t include automatic charging restrictions to spare the battery from under/over charging?
You are mythtaken.
Owners manuals say to avoid charging over 80%.
It also takes to charge that last 20%
Perhaps, only to save their precious batteries, therefore you get only a fraction of their use (charging 40% – 60%) in order to increase the time the batteries last.
On the other hand, I have never owned a mobile phone where the manufacturer mentions the 20%/80% rule.
I assume you own an EV so have intimate knowledge of suggested charging protocols.
Owners manuals are available on line. Free. You don’t actually have to buy the car to get the pdf.
I’ve never seen a manual that didn’t say 80%.
‘Don’t drain below 20%’ is less formal. I recently read a Mercedes manual and it did not mention low discharge. Though I imagine owners don’t need encouragement not to push it. Anxiety probably picks up under 20%.
So, indeed, useful range is only 60% of published values.
Not so.
If the owners manuals state not to drain the battery below an ‘indicated’ 20% or above an ‘indicated’ 80% then there will only be 20% of the actual battery content available for use.
If the convention is not to drain batteries below 20% manufacturers will restrict batteries to that so when it ‘indicates’ 0% there is still 20% left. Similarly, when it ‘indicates’ 100% it’s really at 80%. It’s in their interest to both maximise battery life and achieve the best mileage.
Therefore, restricting charge to an ‘indicated’ 80% is 40% below the batteries real capacity. Similarly, charging at an ‘indicated’ 20% is charging the battery when it’s only fallen to 40% of it’s real capacity.
Then there’s Hybrids and Plug in Hybrids. Their batteries can easily fall regularly to 0%.
A Hybrid on the motorway will easily run out of charge ‘completely’ at an ‘indicated’ 0% when the initial battery power is exhausted.
Manufacturers are not daft. They know that if it regularly went from 0% to 100% with no buffer capacity the battery would be wrecked very quickly.
So, yes, the 20%/80% rule is a myth, even if the manufacturers recommend it in their literature, which I can’t find. I would be interested what owners manuals you downloaded that state the recommended restrictions because their stated mileage achievements would be vastly reduced were their recommendations followed.
So when EVs have run out of charge, there’s actually 20% left? I don’t think so
Try thinking so a bit harder. Give an idiot consumer a battery that will die in 3 years from 0% – 100% charging or give him one controlled between 20% and 80% and have it last 10 years.
OTOH The 20%/80% charging rule is a complete myth and batteries car operate reliably from 0% to 100%.
Either way, the 20%/80% rule is a myth.
Mercedes EQS Owners Manual, p. 204
As a result of its basic characteristics, the
storage capacity of and the amount of energy
available from the high-voltage battery decreases
over the course of its life. Due to this, both
the maximum electrical range that can be achieved
by the vehicle and its maximum electrical
output can be impaired.
The following factors could accelerate the
aging of the high-voltage battery:
R Frequent full charging (condition of charge
100%) of the high-voltage battery, in particular
without subsequently driving directly
afterwards
R Frequent rapid charging with direct current
(mode 4)
R Leaving the vehicle idle for lengthy periods
at high ambient temperatures
# To avoid accelerated aging, please
observe the following recommendations
when handling the high-voltage battery.
Recommendations for handling the high-voltage
battery:
R Every six months, when the outside temperature
is above 50°F (10°C), park the vehicle
overnight with a state of charge below 20%.
R Charge the high-voltage battery with direct
current (mode 4) only if necessary.
R Charge the high-voltage battery to a state of
charge of 80% on average. Beyond a state of
charge of 80%, charging time will be prolonged
considerably.
R If leaving the vehicle idle for lengthy periods,
park up the vehicle with a high-voltage battery
state of charge between 30% and 50%. Do not
keep the high-voltage battery continuously
connected to power supply equipment.
R If leaving the vehicle idle for lengthy periods of
time avoid high ambient temperatures if possible.
R Check the high-voltage battery’s state of
charge every six weeks (/ page 218).
R Charge the high-voltage battery if the state of
charge is below 20%.
That is so convenient, so much simpler than filling up a fuel tank when you need to!
charles allan
This is crazy – one’s life will be taken up with assessing and fussing over the car battery every hour of everyday trying to squeeze a little extra life by following
instructions you never used to worry about with petrol/diesel – how can you watch the temp and do anything about it ? park in the nearest forest ?
What a waste of energy ,time and worry . We’ll all need temp controlled garages .
Your statement was:
“Owners manuals say to avoid charging over 80%.”
The only reference in your passage is:
“The following factors could accelerate the
aging of the high-voltage battery:
“Frequent full charging (condition of charge
100%) of the high-voltage battery, in particular
without subsequently driving directly
afterwards
So, charge it to 100%, then drive it and it will be fine.
“Charge the high-voltage battery to a state of charge of 80% on average. Beyond a state of charge of 80%, charging time will be prolonged considerably.”
In other words, charge it too 100% if you want but it will take a long time.
“Charge the high-voltage battery if the state of
charge is below 20%.
So, between 0% charge and 20% charge, charge the battery up.
Other than by contortions resulting in a hernia could that be interpreted as ‘charge the battery only between 20% and 80%.’
Like I said, it’s a myth. Were letting a charge fall below 20% or rise above 80% be damaging to the battery under normal working conditions, manufacturers would electronically limit the charge to 20% with an ‘indicated’ 0% and 80% with an ‘indicated’ 100%.
And what law suit would await a manufacturer if someone died in a snowstorm, 5 miles from home, with 20% left in their battery?
I’ll repeat. The whole thing is an utter myth.
The article is more of a warning not to buy a BEV. With a replacement battery at +£10,000 why an earth would you even consider supplying the grid from your BEV for a few quid. The Powers That Be are going to have to realise that BEV’s are inferior to ICE vehicles and the average person is just not going to buy them, too expensive, dangerous, charging at home just not possible unless you have a driveway and sufficient capacity on the local distribution system.
Throughout my working life I had one rule “When you are in a hole.. Stop Digging ”
BEV’s are not a solution, synthetic fuels and maybe hydrogen are more likely, but not in the next 25 years.
Do away with all passenger seats & luggage space and put in extra bigger batteries …that should do it
Iit’s strange world where a decent diesel car could probably tow an EV further than the EV could manage on its own battery.
Only if you put the battery car on a trailer since you can’t tow them on their own wheels.
Trade it in for a diesel or even petrol vehicle is the only tip needed.
Or even, don’t buy an EV in the first place.
Most sensible suggestion ….one I support
‘Don’t drive when the weather’s too hot or cold
Turn your heating down in winter’
This advice is being given to people rich enough to buy a Tesla. Who aren’t going to do any of these things. Robbins is barking at the moon.
“Don’t drive when the weather’s too hot or cold
This wording reminds me of two stories.
First, Goldilocks who found the 3rd of a trio “just right” [exp. Porridge].
Second, Garrison Keillor’s fictional town Lake Wobegon “… where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” [See wiki Garrison_Keillor]
Very interesting new video from the USA discussing why the sales of EV’s has slowed right down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZlsZwcIgpc
Slowed right down? Record year.
https://www.coxautoinc.com/market-insights/q3-2023-ev-sales/
So losing 12kg will make a difference in a car weighing 1700kg? Assuming kg = range then the extra mile will make all the difference
People buying EVs don’t want to get more miles, or to lose weight.
Also don’t take an ev out in the rain :
Edinburgh couple fume as they are handed £17K bill by Tesla as they ‘drove in rain’
But the most important reason to not get an ev is because they’re just too dangerous and will be banned from underground/multi-storey car parks, ferries, tunnels and bridges.
I once experienced “Range Anxiety” in my diesel powered motorhome, when returning from a few days in the Peak district. The low fuel warning light came on just as the needle hit the red bar on the fuel gauge (which the book says means you have no more than 30 miles left), but I pressed on the 20 miles to a fuel station near my home. I got 76 litres in the 90 litre tank, so could have safely gone further. The trip showed 491 miles, giving an average of 29.97 mpg – not bad for 3 tons with plenty of hill climbing involved – and I don’t hang about on main roads. How would that translate to an EV only future?
and you missed out on a 4 hour wait at a charging station, if it was working !
There was an interesting edition of Top Gear in the days of Clarkson and Co. They had a challenge of getting to Blackpool without refueling from somewhere in Europe I think. Clarkson had a diesel, possibly a Jaguar, and tried to empty the tank near his home. In the end he made the destination with fuel to spare. Unlike the other two.
I have had range anxiety in my diesel car….until I remember the can of diesel in the boot.
brilliant
range anxiety – charles allan
Thats a new disease for the shrinks to treat. If Pfizer could develop a pill for it that keeps you calm even when stuck in the middle of nowhere .
A self-driving autonomous EV control by wireless updates, restricted to 15 min cities with a citizen bad behavior off switch ie not paying your government taxes/bills etc…isn’t a future for me
Save weight by not getting in it. It can drive itself so no worries.
I have recently watched several You Tube videos about electric cars at the beginning of the twentieth century. Because ICE and steam cars were so crude in the early days of motoring, EVs were quite an attractive proposition. They used lead acid batteries, had a range of around sixty miles and could cruise at around 20mph. They were cleaner, easier to use and more reliable than the alternatives of the time. As petrol cars became more efficient and refined they eventually came to dominate and they displaced steam powered and electric cars completely.
At that speed, with that range and with those batteries you’re describing milk floats!
James ‘Captain Slow’ May looked at battery cars in one of his series and concluded that the realistic range had barely changed since they were first tried, especially if you try to use them as you would a normal car.
Yes they were slow but all cars were slow at the time. I think that EV technology was pretty much fully developed very early on so, while petrol cars gradually got quicker and more reliable the electric cars stayed much the same as they were.
But not as slow as a milk float loaded up with crates and crates of milk bottles etc, etc! We would be regularly overtaken by Morris Minors and the like
I doubt many read the whole article, since this gem appeared as the 6th ‘tip’ :
“Get off the motorway”
“If you have been driving for a while, you’ll probably be aware that a petrol or diesel car is normally at its most efficient when driving at a constant speed – for example, on a motorway or dual carriageway.
In an electric car, that accepted wisdom gets turned on its head. This is because EVs can use regenerative braking – effectively using the motor as a dynamo – to harness the kinetic energy you’d normally be wasting when you’re slowing down.
So if you’re accelerating and braking a lot – for example in town or rural driving – an EV can partially replenish its battery as it’s going along. On a motorway, however, there are far fewer opportunities for an EV to do this, which means you tend to find motorway driving saps an electric car’s battery the fastest.”
Eh !!
Surely this breaks the laws of physics. Deliberatel;y driving ‘off motorway’ (often a longer distance) and using regenerative braking to top up the battery at regular stops and acceleration after cannot put more energy into the battery than would be saved by simply driving at constant speed?
Or did I miss that part of the physics curriculum?
“Or did I miss that part of the physics curriculum?” No you missed nothing at all of the physics curriculum – your understanding is perfectly correct. What all of us missed was the course on Political Control Mechanisms and how to intimidate people into believing any old BS
Not to mention all that extra air pollution from the brake dust, or the cost of replacing brake pads more frequently…
And the tyres, steering and suspension components, etc.
I have just re-read the article. This bit caught my eye:
“À la (driving) mode
Most electric cars come with different driving modes – normally labelled ‘Sport’, ‘Normal’ and ‘Eco’, or some variation thereof.”
Clearly they have missed a trick. What about ‘S&S mode’ guaranteed to top up the battery when driving on a motorway ! Just keep stopping ! the regenerative braking will extract the maximum amount (probably around 30%) of the kinetic energy convert it to elect, pump into into the battery and then hey presto use that energy to accelerate back up to speed and an extended range. What is not to like?
Simples !!
Seems like cancelling the 1st law of thermodynamics – thats how flubber works – we have a breakthrough !
charles allan
Growing up I had a bicycle with a dynamo that powered the lights. It was fitted by the front wheel and when needed you put it in contact with the tyre. Must be quite easy to fit something similar to a battery car.
I filled up a diesel Ford Transit Van today. It took about 1 minute and gave me over 600mile range. How long would an E-van take to charge to give that range?
Andrew English’s review of an electric Toyota van gives some useful pointers. Steer well clear unless you’ve been overdosing on the Kool- Aid
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/toyota/toyota-proace-electric-review/
Just love that article – “from 50kWh with a WLTP range of 142 miles and 75kWh which gives a range of about 205 miles. ”
….a WLTP range???? That would be
“The Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) measures the range of a car travelling at an average speed of 28.8 mph in summer temperatures from a 100% to 0% state of charge.”
In other words an incredibly short range when travelling ridiculously slowly in perfect conditions and running the vehicle from an improbably high charge level down to zero and packing up by the side of the road.
Pathetic.
The old bumper cars had a much better range
WLTP: the Would Like To Pretend range
Probably explains why although Milk&More have said that they are moving to battery delivery vehicles, out here in the countryside, mine chap still drives a diesel Transit.
Payload?
“The 50kWh version gives a payload of 1,226kg and the 75kWh option gives a payload of one tonne. Both will tow a maximum of 1,000kg.”
So the 75kWh gives a payload of a full tonne, whereas the the 50kWh version can only carry 1,250kg
WOW !
In what universe is 1250kg less than 1 tonne?
Or have I, or the author of the article, missed the point?
Just asking
It’s all very well to rightly scoff and ridicule, but once Labour is safely elected the green crap will go into, er, overdrive. All this will become mandatory all too soon no matter how much nor how many roll their eyes; no matter what the societal impact or cost; the agenda is not open to question because it’s based on ultimate control and not on practicality or science or answering problem, because there isn’t one.
Last week on my holiday in the Dolomites I rented an e-bike as that was all they had. I thought it would be a novel alternative to my carbon gravel bike. I went on a 90km tour along the valley, which was rather hilly, however for the last 30km (uphill) the battery indicator was on the lowest bar (<25%). Such was my range anxiety that I decided to switch off the motor and use my legs – hard work considering the weight of the bike! I arrived exhausted with just a few amps to spare… it convinced me never to buy an electric vehicle.
The cost comparison with the diesel equivalent is remarkable. Why would anyone buy the EV?
Fools and their money…
They missed out only driving downwind to reduce friction from the air. Having to wait for the wind to change direction to go home would only be a bit more waiting for people who must be used to waiting.
Charles Allan – We used to do that on our bikes but I’ve just had a brainwave – why not fix sales on EV’s like you get on the beach buggies – just about to phone Elon .
god, had an episode of range anxiety – fuel gauge down to one bar in my Picasso, only 70 miles left
Regarding electric vans. I remember seeing TV ads from Amazon flexing their green credentials with their new fleet of electric vans. I’ve never seen one out and about, ever. What’s the betting that, when they tried them out they found them to be completely useless and quietly stuck them in a warehouse somewhere. Come to think of it, electric vans and commercial vehicles are extremely rare sights out on the roads generally.
We live in darkest Cornwall quite close to their Mt Hawke centre
I have yet to see an electric delivery vehicle they all seem to be rather battered Mercedes diesel vans
Given the distances involved and the stop/start nature of the task you would think a company like Amazon would be using EVs if there was a financial case
Van Prices (ex VAT) are illustrative:
VW Transporter Diesel, cost new £28-35k, second hand 2021 models £25-28k
VW e-Transporter, cost new £37-40k, second hand 2021 models £14-15k.
One of these is fit for purpose and hence holds its value, the other not so much.
‘’Merseyside police and Merseyside fire and rescue service were called to the exit at J6, northbound, of the M57 at around 8am on Tuesday, October 24. At the scene they found a Range Rover was on fire.
The fire was soon extinguished and crews remained on scene to hot spot the area. At 9.14am crews handed the scene over to Merseyside Police and left’’
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/fire-fighters-close-lane-range-27970220
Another Range Rover on fire today for no apparent reason, the fire crew put out the fire within an hour using water ….no intense heat, no thermal runaway, no explosion, no white smoke, no burning through concrete floors, therefore not an EV or Hybrid
Will the Police ever adopt battery patrol cars? Could be a boon for crims
Speaking with a police motorcyclist he told me that his force had to replace 4 motorbikes, they opted for EV motorbikes, but they had to buy 8 so that half where always on charge and at three times the cost (imported from the USA)…..madness
”A police force using electric vehicles is struggling to respond to crime because the batteries keep going flat, a Police and Crime Commissioner said” BBC report
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-62049834
Would fitting sails to a battery car improve its range?