Neil Winton is a senior contributor at Forbes, covering the automotive industry in general and electric vehicles in particular. The views expressed are his own. He was formerly European auto correspondent for Reuters, wrote the “European Perspective” column for the Detroit News, and has written for the Wall Street Journal.
If you have just received a new electric car, you can expect some unpleasant surprises. The dealer took you for a test drive and you were very impressed by how smooth the car ran.
They would have ventured out onto the highway and experienced its fantastic performance, which is more like that of an Italian supercar than that of an ordinary SUV.
The specification would have impressed you. If it was a new Hyundai Ioniq 6, for example, you would have been told that the range was 384 miles and the car would sprint from 0-60mph and on to 115mph in under five seconds. Even though the price was around £55,000, what’s not to like?
It won’t be long before you get some nasty surprises, though. The contract probably included a home charger, and after a few days you’ll plug it in. This is where the infatuation starts to crumble. You charged the car overnight to get the cheapest electricity tariff, and the next day you look at the range when it’s “fully charged.” It says 270 miles, not 384 miles. Where did the other 114 miles go, you might ask?
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The Honda e:Ny1 2023
HONDA
Slightly downhill, tailwind
The answer will not amuse you. The dealer will have mumbled something about official figures and WLTP. This stands for Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure. All electric vehicles sold in Europe are rated according to WLTP.are rated from WLTP despite the fact that this Theoretical computer data never comes close to real-world results. Cynics might say WLTP is the acronym for Slightly Downhill, Following Wind (SDFW) in some obscure European language.
Then you set off for a business meeting. It’s 300 miles on the highway. You brace yourself for a long distance drive at an indicated 80 mph, just like the rest of the traffic. After an hour, you glance at the range indicator and you’ve already covered 120 miles. That’s because this car loses almost 40% of its promised range at highway speeds. If you start at 100 miles, you’ll only get about 60 miles at that speed. That’s because the physics of electric cars compared to diesels. At high revs and high but legal speeds, the electric motor has to strain to provide the extra power. At these speeds, a torquey diesel has settled into a relaxed and powerful low-rev gear.
Peter Wells, Professor of Business and Sustainability at Cardiff Business School, put it this way.
Area falls off a cliff
“At high speeds, the range drops dramatically. For an electric car, the extra energy required to go from 60 to 75 miles per hour is staggering, and the energy consumption to clear all the air out of the way practically doubles,” Wells said.
It’s not just the Ioniq 6. This scenario is typical for all electric vehicles. You’ve probably heard the radio advert for the new Honda e:Ny1, The unit promises a range of 257 miles, but in reality it averaged 160 miles per charge for me. Highway performance was a little better, at just 27 percent less than the promised high-speed range, but that equates to a highway range of just 120 miles.
They are aware of the threat posed by new Chinese electric cars. They are technically very impressive, have high quality and competitive prices. But on the highway they perform worst: the Polestar 2 (made by Geely in China) achieves 59 percent of the promised range, the BYD ATTO 3 61 percent and the BYD Seal 66 percent.
The Hyundai Ioniq 6 (2023)
HYUNDAI
Without Tesla
There is one notable standout, and that is Tesla. The Model 3 and Model Y offer a battery capacity of 360 miles and 331 miles respectively, and after charging, they will give you almost exactly that range. On the highway, however, the same rules apply for EVs and ICE vehicles, and the Model 3 has a 30 percent penalty and the Model Y 45 percent. The latter is an SUV and has a much higher profile, which increases wind resistance.
Why is this probably news to you? After all, the media regularly writes reviews of these vehicles. Why haven’t they informed the public? Automakers provide scant statistics, and the process of vehicle launches doesn’t make it easy for the media to examine the data in detail. Range is often quoted as “up to” a large number. However, some reviews are written after reporters borrow the cars for a week. There is no excuse for more details not coming to light in this process, but most reporters probably don’t have chargers at home. Battery and range claims are not tested.
The automakers’ range figures don’t say that the data was taken at an average speed of probably 55 mph. There’s no suggestion that fast motorway driving will kill the range. There’s no suggestion that the battery may never come close to the WLTP figure when recharging.
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Neil Winton is a senior contributor at Forbes and writes about the automotive industry in general and electric vehicles in particular.
DELIVERED
Face the challenge
Car manufacturers must accept their responsibility.
Manufacturers should clarify that the range claim is based on an average speed of 90 km/h, that the loss when driving in the fast lane is (say) 50% and that the battery often does not even come close to the WLTP value.
Have fun driving your electric car.