Saturday 2 April 2011

The practical range of electric vehicles

How far can you drive?

Greencarreports.com have been test driving electric vehicles and speaking to owners and have come up with the following guide for the range you can expect to achieve:



2011 Nissan Leaf:                 75 to 100 miles
2011 Mitsubishi imiev:           65 miles
2011 Tesla Roadster:            125+ miles
2012 Ford Focus:                   80 to 10 miles
2012 Coda Sedan (US only): 130 miles (claimed)
2012 smart Electric Drive:      65 miles

Deduct 30% when the outside temperature is below freezing, deduct a further 15% when using the heater, and deduct a further 10% if not driving in Eco mode. Of course if you can find (and your car accepts) Level 3 Fast Charging, then 10 to 30 minutes is enough to solve all your range issues. Also worth noting: the 2012 Toyota iQ electric will offer a range of 65 miles. Perhaps manufacturers are waking up to the fact that such a range is more than adequate for city usage (and has a potentially big impact in price reduction).

EV owners, how does this fit with your own experience?