Non- motorway routes for EVs

[tali1]

Sat-navs give Non- motorway route options , so do EVs perform more efficiently on A and B roads and get longer range ? (even with longer non-mway journey )

[robbieduncan]

I suspect that travelling at a constant speed on the motorway will be more efficient that speeding up and slowing down on A or B roads. If your are worried about efficiency use cruise and travel a bit slower on the motorway. 60 will be massively more efficient than 70 or 80

[jjwilde]

I mean... kinda. The slower you drive the further it will go, that's why the 'record' for distance from, say, a Tesla is something like 670 miles to a charge.

But with modern EVs (Tesla, Niro, Kona, Zoe etc) you should get 200-300miles on the motorway no worries.

[RobDickinson]

Constant speed is better, lower speed is more efficient to a point (depends on heating etc).

Speeding up and slowing down using regen has an energy cost (you get back roughly 70% round trip), so in traffic you'll probably do worse overall than keeping a constant speed on motorway (say 30-50mph vs 70mph). if the A/B roads are clear they could well be better bu you can always go slower on motorways... (I know, I wouldn't either).

[anonymous-user]

autopilot on b roads is pretty efficient. requires discipline otherwise

[RobDickinson]

sambucket said:

autopilot on b roads is pretty efficient. requires discipline otherwise

I've tried to match AP's efficiency and consistency and I cant get close.

[cailean]

You don't have to drive at or over the speed limit, it's not a target...

[craigjm]

robbieduncan said:

60 will be massively more efficient than 70 or 80

Do those rules still apply in the same way as ICE cars?

[RobDickinson]

craigjm said:

Do those rules still apply in the same way as ICE cars?

More so, theres far less cost to going slower in an EV

[leef44]

cailean said:

You don't have to drive at or over the speed limit, it's not a target...

But then you get angry people behind you, shouting "don't you know how to drive, get off the road?"

[romeogolf]

tali1 said:

Sat-navs give Non- motorway route options , so do EVs perform more efficiently on A and B roads and get longer range ? (even with longer non-mway journey )

By the time you've got a few extra miles out of the battery, surely you'll have driven those extra miles taking a less direct route on back roads?

Yes, slower speeds are more efficient, but as others have said, there are also losses with changes of speed. Sitting at 60ish on the motorway will probably do you better than trying to find another route.

[anonymous-user]

craigjm said:

robbieduncan said:

60 will be massively more efficient than 70 or 80

Do those rules still apply in the same way as ICE cars?

a small pedantic but important point, please don't confuse "efficiency" with "consumption"!!

To a large degree, EVs are not actually about "efficiency" because they always efficient . A typical PMAC electric motor has a peak efficiency of around 98% and a minimum efficiency of 96% as compared to an ICE that only reaches a peak efficiency of around 25%, but has a min efficiency of 0% (idling).

For an EV, what we need to talk about in cinsumption, ie how much power is it taking to move the car, rather than the efficiency with which it is converting chemical energy in the battery to kinetic energy.

Broadly, the energy required to move a car against atmospheric drag goes up with the square of speed, and so around 40 to 50 mph, this starts to dominate other losses, such as tyre drag, rolling friction (bearings etc).

[SCEtoAUX]

As someone who has covered over 50k miles in a Nissan Leaf, my tip here is to not use cruise control.

From my experience it does not use the throttle as cleverly as a human.

[leef44]

SCEtoAUX said:

As someone who has covered over 50k miles in a Nissan Leaf, my tip here is to not use cruise control.

From my experience it does not use the throttle as cleverly as a human.

this depends on the driver, I'm with you on this one - it's the same with ICE.

If you are looking far enough ahead then you can anticipate when to let off the throttle whereas cruise control may continue until it gets closer to upcoming traffic, brake and then accelerate up again as it frees up.