Range Rage

In the past couple of months I have seen a trend that has been emerging from new EV drivers that I am calling Range Rage. This is completely different from range anxiety, the feeling that some EV drivers have that they won’t be able to make it to their next stop before their charge runs out. Range Rage is the reaction that people have when the range estimate that appears on their dash is different than what they expect or what the advertised range of the car is. Take this recent message and then let’s dig into it:

We recently bought an EV and have noticed that it never seems to get above a 265 mile range when charged to 100%. We took it to the dealer and they said it’s within the acceptable range. We live in Florida and always keep it on eco so I don’t know why we’d be getting such low range numbers. Has anyone else had an issue like this?

The GoM

Before we get into any discussion on what may cause your vehicle to have lower range, it’s important to understand something about that range estimate the car is giving you. Affectionately referred to as the GoM, the Guess-O-Meter is trying to make an educated guess of how many miles you will get out of a charge. To do this, it looks at your historical driving patterns. Every car is going to be a little different, but generally speaking it’s going to look at the last couple of charge cycles. That means that if you have driven your EV like a race car driver for the past couple of charge cycles, then that range guess is going to go down. If you, instead, drive it like a snail then it will probably go up. We will talk about the things that will alter this more in just a minute. For right now it’s important to know that it’s an estimate based on past performance.

This does not tell you how many miles you will actually get out of your charge. How many miles you go before you need to charge again is entirely dependent on the driving factors that are going on when you are driving on this charge. The GoM estimate doesn’t matter. It’s only there to give people some idea of what they might have left in the battery, range-wise.

But How Do I know if Something is Wrong With My Battery?

When people see a range that they may not expect, the first thought they may have is that there is something wrong with their battery. First off, it’s unlikely on a new vehicle that that is the case, but here’s a way that you can be certain.

If you look on your dash you should see something that tells you how many miles per kilowatt-hour you’ve been getting. This is generally since the last charge cycle, so can be useful to understand how efficiently you’ve been driving. Before you charge your vehicle, take note of what this is because it will accumulate that information since the last charge and give you an idea of what the GoM is working with to make it’s estimates. If you feel like you need to complain about the range of your vehicle, you need to provide this number from your last charge cycle (and preferably multiple charge cycles) because that will show people information about how you’re actually driving. But how do you know if this number is where it needs to be? A little bit of simple math can help out here.

First, you need to know the size of your battery and what the advertised range is. For this, we will use the Kia EV6 with AWD and an EPA estimated range of 274 miles and a 77.4 kWh battery. Simply divide miles by battery size to understand what mi/kWh is used in the calculation of your vehicle’s advertised range:

274 / 77.4 = 3.54

In this case, if your dash shows that you’re getting an average of 3.5 mi/kWh then you should be around the ballpark of your 274 miles of range. If you’re getting more or less than that then the range will follow suit. If you drive at 3.5 mi/kWh and the actual range (what you tracked on the odometer going from 100% to completely empty) is significantly off then you may have a problem, but it’s pretty unlikely to happen if you’re driving a new vehicle.

If you want to look how a full charge went, just look at your trip-ometer and see how many miles you went and what percentage of battery you used to go that far. Using that you can see what range you actually got rather than dealing with estimates. Understanding the efficiency numbers that we just talked about is still important though to understand WHY you’re getting the range you’re getting.

Getting Better Range

Now that we understand that the range on the dashboard is just an estimate from the GoM and how to understand if you’ve not been driving efficiently enough by looking at the miles per kilowatt-hour, let’s talk about some driving behaviors that you can do (and avoid) to improve your driving efficiency and get better range.

Acceleration

The first one is a biggie, because it can impact range regardless of where you drive. Because EVs have a lot more torque they can be incredibly fun to just mash down on the accelerator and quickly get up to speed. That quick acceleration comes at a cost of using additional energy. If you want to stretch your battery and go further on a charge, then accelerate slowly.

Regeneration

Make sure that the regenerative braking is on and at an appropriate level for how you drive. For city driving, you may want to have a higher level of regen so that you get more energy back as you stop at the various intersections you come across. For highway driving, either user cruise control and let the vehicle handle the regen level or set a low level (1 or 0) and leverage coasting on those long straightaways.

Speed

Lowering your top speed can help you get more miles off a charge as well. Typically EVs are at their most efficient somewhere between 20 and 40 mph and as you get over 65 mph the efficiency can really drop. If you don’t need to go on the highway at highway speeds then it will definitely help. But if you need to be on the highway for your travel then going the speed limit will extend your range.

Flatlands

This isn’t a driving behavior, but can help understand where your efficiency may be impacted. Going up hills and mountains can cause a drop in efficiency. Counter to that, if you go downhill it will increase your efficiency. You may not be able to alter your course to be flat or all downhill, however it’s helpful to understand that this may be impacting your efficiency numbers.

Climate Control

While the actual driving is the primary and significant factor that will effect range, climate control in you car can have some bearing on that as well. It’s recommended to set the cabin temperature to 72 and auto. This is one of those areas that I recommend setting it to wherever you are comfortable at though, because if you’re going to be in the car for several hours the impact is relatively small.

Things You Don’t Need to Worry About

We’ve talked about things to keep in mind when looking to extend your range. This is a list of things that you generally don’t need to worry about because the energy draw that they have over the course of a charge is so small.

• Stereo
• Headlights
• Cabin Lights
• Navigation

While these things do use some power, the amount is so small that it isn’t worth turning them off.

Wrapping Up

Seeing the GoM estimate of range can be concerning if it appears to be lower than it is rated at for a charge. You have three options when this happens. First, you can complain without understanding where that number comes from, second you can be informed and understand that your driving impacts range, finally, and most importantly, you can just drive. For longer road trips, driving your car to get extra range may be important, but for most day to day driving, the difference between getting 220 miles out of a charge and 300 miles out of a charge doesn’t matter except charging a little more often. My recommendation for day to day driving is to not worry about hyper-extending the range. Drive the EV and have fun, one of the reasons you probably bought your vehicle is that it’s fun to drive. So have fun! Relax in the knowledge that even if your aggressive driving takes 30% off the expected range, you’re still probably paying less than you would in gas.