City Range Doesn’t Matter — Here’s How to Measure Real EV Range
If you read an EV review, and they quote a city and a highway range, ignore the city range. Why?
Consider three scenarios:
City only like commuting to office, school to pick up kids, a mall, etc. Any EV will more than enough range, so it’s not a factor to even worry about1.
Long distance, like Bangalore to Hyderabad, where the city part of the journey is dwarfed by the highway part. So you need to worry about highway part2.
Mixed, like Bangalore to Mysore, where you may spend 1½ hours in Bangalore and 2 on the highway. Here, it sounds like both the city and highway ranges matter. But the city part of the journey (Bangalore + Mysore) is only 28 km while the highway part is 131 km3. So when you add 131 + 28, the 28 doesn’t make a significant difference. Even if it’s off by 50%, the range reduces from 131 + 28 which is 159 km to 131 + 14 = 145 km. But if the 131 is off by 50%, the range reduces from 131 + 28 which is 159 km to 65 + 28 = 93 km which will strand you on the expressway.
In all three cases, the city number doesn’t matter. Consider only the highway number. Considering irrelevant factors will confuse you and lead to wrong decisions, since the human mind is limited — it can consider only a few factors before it gets overwhelmed.
If multiple reviewers quote different ranges, consider the lowest. If that’s not enough for you, don’t buy that car. Would your rather be stranded on the expressway because you were optimistic or have too much range left over because you were cautious? Always plan cautiously.
How to test range yourself
The most reliable way to determine if an EV’s range is sufficient for you is to test it yourself.
As discussed above, testing should be in the worst-case scenario. Bring family or friends along for the ride. Run the AC as high as you can tolerate. Use sport mode. Turn off coasting regen4.
Find an empty expressway. If you’re in Bangalore, that’s the Chennai expressway. If the dealer refuses a test drive there saying that reaching the expressway will take too long, find a dealer near the expressway. Take the test drive at whichever time the expressway is empty. If it’s a friend’s car and you have control over the timing, be on the expressway by dawn if that’s when it’s empty.
At the expressway ramp, reset the trip meter. Then, maintain the speed you usually do, erring on the higher side. If you drive between 80-100, maintain a minimum speed of 100 kph on this test drive. So drive between 100-110. If you ever find your speed lower than 100, floor it to get back to 100 immediately. If you typically drive between 100-120, your target speed for this test drive should be 120-130. If you tend to drive as far as the car goes, in this test drive, floor it from beginning to end.
Drive till the charge depletes by at least 20%. At the expressway exit, consult the trip meter — it will tell you how far you’ve travelled and how much energy was consumed, based on which you can calculate the range.
If you have a tailwind, it will artificially inflate the range. So ignore that number. Instead, drive in the other direction and use that number instead.
Besides, malls are starting to feature chargers, so you can charge while you shop.
Besides, if you reach Hyderabad and need to recharge before you can make your way across the city, Hyderabad has plenty of fast chargers.
Arithmetic can be unintuitive: the percentage of the journey that is within the city is drastically different whether you measure time or distance.
Unless you never use sport mode, in which case don’t use it for the test drive.
Unless you always use coasting regen, in which case keep it on for the test drive.