EV Makers Should Provide Extra Range Data To Avoid Autoroute Surprises – Forbes

Electric vehicle enthusiasts say shortcomings like inadequate range and high prices have been eliminated but the latest EVs to hit the market show that is far from the case.

The Lexus RZ 300e, Kia KV9, Peugeot 3008e and Hyundai Ionic 6 are among the latest EVs to be launched in Europe and prospective buyers will assume they represent the very best available technology.

Yet all four fail the autoroute range test, as do their predecessors. This doesn’t stop EV boosters at their conferences, media presentations, and advocacy on social media sites asserting their utility can match the internal combustion engine.

New buyers of EVs need more information. Current range data rarely mentions speed, but it assumes about a 55 mph average. Tesla CEO Elon Musk admitted this to me at a Geneva Car Show press conference in 2016. It’s true that at this speed, EVs are very efficient. It’s only when high speeds are held for long distances that a big problem emerges. Particularly for buyers in mainland Europe, where the autoroute speed limit is often 130 km/h-81 mph. (It’s 70 mph in the U.K.). So it makes sense to be honest about range at these speeds, not least because it will be severely cut.

The Lexus RZ 300e (£54,595-$71,350 after tax) for instance (see table) claims a range of “up to” 297 miles, but the battery only filled to an average 224 miles. In autoroute cruising mode the range was slashed by 39%.

The Peugeot 3008e (£49,650-$65,000) claimed a range of 326 miles. This was repeated daily, but because of other wild results, which included an autoroute penalty of at least 50% and unconvincing explanations from Peugeot, it can’t be taken seriously. (Peugeot has been asked to comment).

The Kia EV9 (£77,025-$100,000) battery averaged consistently around the claim of 313 miles after six refills, but the penalty was 50% on the autoroute.

The Hyundai Ioniq 6’s (£55,735-$72,800) battery filled up to an average 270 miles compared with the claim of 384 miles, a 30% shortfall, while on the autoroute the penalty was 38%.

This www.wintonsworld.com data for each vehicle is the result of each being driven for a week over the same country roads and motorways in similar conditions. The data shows autoroute and battery inadequacies on more than 30 other EVs.

These negative results shouldn’t be a surprise because of the basic science.

Emmssions Analytics CEO Nick Molden put the problem this way.

“Air resistance (drag force) is proportional to the square of the speed. Drag will correlate (negatively) with range. So range will decline more than proportionately as speed increases. Vehicle design can change other factors, such as the coefficient of drag (Cd), which is why Tesla has focused so much on aerodynamics,” Molden said.

“All other things being equal, the drag force will be 164% higher at 130 km/h than at 80 km/h (50 mph) which is a speed increase of 63%,” Molden said.

Peter Wells, Professor of Business Sustainability at Cardiff Business School has summed up the problem like this.

“Range falls off a cliff at high speed. For an electric car, the extra energy required getting from 60 mph to 75 mph is astonishing and virtually doubles energy consumption to move all that air out of the way,” Wells told me in an interview a couple of years ago.

The Lexus, Kia and Peugeot all have very high-volume frontal areas which almost guarantee diminished high-speed EV performance. Vehicles like the Tesla Model 3 perform best because of their low frontal profile. Data from a 2,400-mile trip around France’s autoroutes showed a Model X, with its slightly higher SUV profile, averaged about 170 miles between charges. This compares with more than twice the range any cheap diesel could achieve.

Despite this, the mantra from EV aficionados doesn’t change. In an article published by Autovista24, Christian Schneider, director of content at EV Volumes said this.

“Range anxiety is not a big issue anymore with the current generation of EV’s,” Schneider was quoted as saying.

EV Volumes publishes electric vehicle and battery data.

This might be true one day when battery technology moves on to solid-state, but experts say this is unlikely to happen for the mass market for at least another 10 years.

New Automotive says it is an independent transport research organization with a mission to support the switch to electric vehicles. In a recent webinar presentation about the U.K. EV market, New Automotive listed three positives for EVs as – “lower running costs, lower impact on the planet, better for your local environment.” The three negatives were said to be “misrepresentation, misinformation, lies.”

The presentation could have included many widely accepted negatives including high price, cold weather, an inadequate charging network, and perhaps Germany’s electric grid which means about 25% of its EVs are effectively running on coal.

Ben Nelmes, CEO of New Automotive, defended the statement.

“The ‘negatives’ often associated with electric cars are not supported by the facts about the technology, nor the vast majority of the experiences of the people who have an electric car. Beyond the teething problems associated with the initial rollout of electric cars, there are no legitimate negatives inherently associated with this technology, which is why there is now such a strong consensus around its adoption,” Nelmes said in an email.

On its website, New Automotive said electric cars are key to managing climate risk.

“But the transition to electric vehicles is not happening fast enough. We exist to find ways to speed it up the world over,” New Automotive said.

EV range weakness surprises many buyers, not least because manufacturers use loose terms like range of “up to” in specification data. The mainstream media regularly report manufacturers’ data verbatim without comment.

This is why the industry needs to reveal long-range cruising as well as overall range. One range claim would be for up to 55 mph urban/rural/city driving. With effective regenerative braking this is likely to be very accurate. A second claim would be for autoroute cruising.

For many low-mileage electric car users with home charging, an EV would be more than adequate for probably 90% of average use. They could rent a diesel for the annual trip to the ski slopes, or the summer drive to the sun. EV pioneer Nissan used to offer free use of an ICE car a couple of times a year to buyers of its Leaf.

Until EV technology progresses to the next level, there will be substantial negatives. The industry would do well to be upfront about them. Meanwhile, if you spend up to $100,000 on a new EV, you are really buying a hugely expensive, luxury city car.