Neil Winton is a senior contributor for Forbes and writes about the automotive industry in general and electric cars in particular. The opinions expressed are his own. He was previously the European auto correspondent for Reuters, wrote the European Perspective column for the Detroit News and contributed to the Wall Street Journal.
If you’ve just taken delivery of a new electric car, get ready for some unpleasant surprises. The dealer would take you for a test drive and you would be very impressed with its luxurious silence.
You would hit the highway and taste its fabulous performance, more like an Italian supercar than an ordinary SUV.
The specification would impress you. If it was the new Hyundai Ioniq 6, for example, you’d be told the range was 384 miles and the car would sprint from rest to 60 mph in less than five seconds and on to 115 mph. Even though the price was around £55,000, what’s not to like?
However, it won’t be long before a few unpleasant surprises emerge. The deal probably included a home charger and you plug it in after a few days. This is where the crush begins to crumble. You’ve left your car charging overnight at the cheapest electricity rate and you look at the range available the next day when it’s ‘fully charged’. It says 270 miles, not 384 miles. Where did the other 114 miles go, you ask?
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2023 Honda e:Ny1
HONDA
Slightly downhill, downwind
You will not be amused by the answer. The salesman mumbled something about official numbers and WLTP. This stands for Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure. All electric cars sold in Europe are WLTP ratedare evaluated according to WLTP notwithstanding theoretical computer data will never come close to real results. Cynics might say that WLTP stands for Slightly Downhill, Follow Wind (SDFW) in some obscure European language.
Then you go to a business meeting. It’s 300 miles by highway. You’ll settle for long-distance cruising at an indicated 80 mph, just like the rest of the traffic. After an hour, you look at the remaining range indicator and it’s already 120 miles. That’s because this car loses nearly 40 percent of its promised range at highway speeds. If you start at 100 miles, it will get you about 60 miles at those speeds. That’s because of the physics of EVs versus diesels. At high revs and high but legal revs, the electric motor is straining to produce extra power. At these speeds, the revving diesel settles into a relaxed, powerful low-rev walk.
Peter Wells, Professor of Business and Sustainability at Cardiff Business School, put it this way.
Range Falls From the cliff
“Range is falling off a cliff at high speed. For an electric car, the additional energy required to go from 60 mph to 75 mph is staggering and practically doubles the energy required to remove all the air from the road,” Wells said.
It’s not just the Ioniq 6. This scenario is typical for all electric cars. You’ve probably heard the radio commercials for the new Honda e:Ny1, which claims a range of 256 miles but actually averages 162 miles per charge for me. Its highway performance was slightly better with only a 27% penalty over the promised high-speed range, but that translates into a highway range of just 118 miles.
You will be aware of the threat of new Chinese electric cars. They are very impressive technically with high quality and competitive prices. But they fare worst on the highway, with the Polestar 2 (made by Geely in China) beating 59 percent of its promised range, the BYD ATTO 3 61 percent and the BYD Seal 66 percent.
2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6
HYUNDAI
Except Tesla
There is one notable exception and that is Tesla. The Model 3 and Model Y offer 360 miles and 331 miles of battery capacity, respectively, and they’ll give you just that much on a charge. But on the highway the same EV vs ICE rules apply and the Model 3 has a 30% penalty and the Model Y has a 45% penalty. The latter is an SUV and has a much higher profile which contributes to wind resistance.
How come this is new to you? After all, the media regularly write reviews of these vehicles. Why didn’t they inform the public? Car manufacturers provide basic statistics and the process of launching a car does not make it easy for the media to examine the data in detail. The range is often described as “up to” a large number. However, some reviews are written after journalists have rented the cars for a week. There’s no excuse for the process not revealing more details, but most reporters probably don’t have home chargers. Battery and range details not tested.
The automakers’ claims don’t specify that the data was generated at an average speed of probably 55 mph. There’s never even a hint that speeding down the highway will ruin the range. There is never any indication that when you recharge the battery it will never come close to the WLTP claim.
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Neil Winton is a senior contributor for Forbes and writes about the automotive industry in general and electric cars in particular
DELIVERED
Step Up To The Tale
Car manufacturers need to step up.
Manufacturers should clarify that the range figure is based on an average speed of 55 mph, the penalty for driving in the fast lane is (say) 50 percent, and the battery often doesn’t even come close to WLTP.
Happy EV motoring.