How to get the best range from your electric car | WLTP explained

What does that actually mean? The wltp test is the world harmonized light duty, vehicle test protocol and who doesnt love a good protocol. These days, in its simplest form its the test that all new vehicles must go through to work out their fuel economy and Emissions for electric cars. The wltp test works out their range. Each car goes through a 30 minute test, drive design, simulate a wide range of different driving conditions and styles, with an average speed of 46 kilometers an hour and a top speed of 131 kilometers an hour, its scientific stuff. But the limitation is that its done in a lab, so the final number that the test comes up with the range that your new electric car officially has might not be achievable, under all circumstances its a good estimate. But how do you know how much range youll actually get and what makes the most difference to your range when youre driving its all about a balance of energy, you need to draw energy from the battery to turn the electric motor to drive the car. You can trickle a bit of energy back into the battery under braking, but whats more important is how much and how often youre drawing energy out equally important are the factors that mean you need to draw more out. More often, those factors are broadly how you drive, where you drive, whether youre carrying anything heavy and whether youve got anything sticking up into the airflow were going to take this skoda and Yak out for a spin and talk about the kind of difference your driving style Makes as well as how much energy youll be using on different types of Road plus were going to tell you how optional extras, such as roof boxes or bike racks, can affect your range for now.

Im driving quite sensibly Im trying to anticipate Corners coming up accelerating as gently as I can, and trying to lift off and use the brake energy, recuperation, B mode. Thats a system that slows the car down by using the drag of the electric motor, which then acts as a generator returning a little bit of charge to the battery hang on. If pumping up your tire says, fuel wouldnt stretch the range in an electric car too, not quite you should never pump your tires up beyond their recommended pressures, but its definitely a good idea to make sure that your tires are correctly inflated and in good condition. Modern car tires, especially those fitted to EVS, are designed to have low rolling resistance or in other words its just easier to push them along, and that saves you quite a bit of battery charge. Of course, that only works if the pressures are right, so you should get out and make sure that your tires are pumped up correctly and you should do it regularly. Its been estimated that over a Years driving incorrectly inflated tires, could cost you as much as one full charge in an electric car like this Im. Gon na put my coat on now because its getting a bit chilly. But what if I turn the heat up in an EV air conditioning and heating systems are becoming more efficient, but in general cranking up the AC or turning up the heat will knock around 20 to 25 kilometers off your range of course, theres more than how you Drive and whether or not you use the air conditioning to how much range youre going to get where you drive makes a dramatic difference, too.

Motorway driving cruising at a constant 120 kilometers per hour will eat up way more range than driving on a road with lots of Corners at slower speeds. The temperature outside the car is just as important, if not more so really cold weather will affect the ability of your cars battery to hold a charge, and on top of that, if its cold out youll be using your heater more so properly wintry weather can take A chunk out of your range, maybe as much as 25. In some cases, weight is an obvious one if youve got bags or boxes of stuff in the booze, all the time or maybe youre carrying passengers regularly. That will reduce your range every time I accelerate all. Those added kilos have to be brought back up to cruising speed and that takes energy from the battery. I need to carry lots and lots of stuff for a holiday. What if I want to fit a roof box? Anything like that can affect your aerodynamics. If you fit a roof rack or a roof box, for example, youre going to knock quite a bit off your range. If youre cruising at Motorway speeds with a roof box, then you can wave goodbye to around about 50 kilometers of range Towing is even worse. If youre hauling a caravan, you could be cutting two thirds off your range and dont forget wind, Ireland is a spectacularly windy country. Driving into a headwind will drive up your energy consumption.

If you want to work all this out before you leave, there are some online tools that can help skoda, for example, has a calculator on its website that allows you to work out roughly how much range you can expect from your EV, depending on different scenarios. Its not a guarantee exactly, but it means you can get a decent idea before you set off and I might just teach you some good habits too were off the motorway now and youll see pretty quickly once you get onto main roads with a hundred kilometer an Hour, limit or city streets with a 50 kilometer an hour limit that your electric consumption will go way way down. Actually, this is one of the things that makes EVS ideal for Rural drivers. Country roads are perfect for EVS, as cruising speeds are never that high plus youll almost certainly have a driveway to park up and charge overnight on.