5 Easy Ways To Get More Range Out Of Your EV

Modern electric vehicles have come a long way since range anxiety was a real concern. These days, EV makers have to exceed at least 300 miles of EPA-verified range to be taken seriously. Sorry, Fiat 500e. Some EVs even claim a range of close to 500 miles. Still, for long road trips or if you’re planning on driving through an EV charging desert, it might be worth trying some techniques to extract a little more range from your EV’s battery. In addition to the usual ways to get more mileage out of cars in general, here are five ways to keep your EV going longer between charging.

Instead of wasting all the kinetic energy generated by braking like traditional internal combustion engine cars, hybrids and EVs can potentially capture all the lost energy and convert it into electricity that powers its battery. Each EV manufacturer has its own way of doing regenerative braking, but the general idea is that the electric motors that propel an EV can also act as a generator that captures the electricity generated at slow speeds.

In cases where emergency braking is not required, regenerative braking will step in and create short bursts of battery charge and bumps into the EV range. It’s hard to say how many more miles you’ll get for this, but the U.S. Department of Energy said that regenerative braking results in a 22 percent energy recovery for an EV in combined city and highway driving.

Unlike older gasoline-powered cars, which use a compressor to power the air conditioning, an EV will rely on its battery to pump cool air into the cabin. This means that EVs are using the same power source that gives you both air conditioning and range.

Instead, you may want to pre-condition your EV while it’s still plugged into an outlet at home. This way, all the burden of bringing your cabin to the right temperature will be taken from the power outlet, not the EV’s battery. Of course, you’ll still have to rely on the battery to keep you cool while driving, but you won’t have to work as hard to reach the right temperature. Alternatively, you can use basic techniques like wearing sunglasses, letting out stale air by rolling down the windows, or even opting for ventilated seats instead of turning on the AC.

On the other end of the thermometer, extremely cold weather conditions can also affect your EV range. In winter, cold temperatures can slow down the chemical reactions that produce electricity in your EV battery. According to the Department of Energy, cold temperatures could impact EV range by up to 32 percent.

consumer Reports Real-world tests showed that cold weather of about 16 degrees can reduce an EV’s range by about 25 percent when driving at 70 mph, compared to driving under similar conditions but in the mid-60s. Like running the AC on a hot day, driving in cold weather can cost you a certain amount of money due to the need to pump heat into the cabin.

While aerodynamics affect all cars and how efficiently they run, it is a major contributing factor to how EVs calculate their range. Less drag means more range, which is why many EV manufacturers boast about their low drag coefficient numbers, like the Lucid Air and its 0.197.

With this in mind, it’s important to remove any accessories from your EV that will affect its aerodynamics, including roof racks, bike racks, tonneau covers or crossbars. To gain even more range, you can try to keep your trunk clear as any extra weight will also reduce the efficiency of your EV.

While all EV drivers love to show off their blazing speed, it’s best not to take the lead foot when it comes to maximum range. When you press the accelerator, your EV has to burn a significant amount of electricity to accelerate. If you add that inefficient acceleration at each intersection, you could end up spending more time charging your EV in the long run.

To get more range from your EV, it is better to go on cruise control or tap into your EV’s eco mode. Furthermore, the faster you go, the greater the air resistance. In tests conducted by car and driverDriving at 55 mph and 75 mph speeds yielded more than 100 miles of range with the Kia EV9.