What is my car’s range?
Electric cars are ideal for the city. Most eCar drivers also tend to cover short distances, such as the daily commute to work or to the supermarket. Nevertheless, one of the most important questions before buying an electric car is: “What is my car’s range? After all, for holidays, business trips and the like, there will also be the occasional long-distance journey.
What does my electric car’s range depend on?
The range depends largely on the battery, but also on the vehicle weight, shape and engine. The higher the range, the more expensive the vehicle, such as the Tesla S and X models. Although these models have an extremely high range of 600 kilometres, they also cost up to six figures. A more practical cost/benefit ratio here is offered by solid models like the Renault Zoe, which is available for around €24,000 and has a 400 km range. However, the development of batteries is progressing rapidly, which means that high-capacity batteries can be offered at ever reducing costs.
In most cases, the electric car’s range is specified by the manufacturer. If you want to check whether the information is correct, you can proceed as follows: to calculate the range, divide the battery capacity by the energy consumption and multiply the whole by 100.
Range (469 km) = Battery capacity (85 kWh) / Energy consumption (18.1 kWh / 100km) * 100
This gives you a guideline. However, the real range always depends on other factors, such as driving style or heating use. In addition, the full capacity is often not available to protect the battery.
Winter tip for more range
As already mentioned, the range of your car depends largely on which additional energy guzzlers are used during the journey. Heating plays an important role, especially in winter. Did you know that switching on the seat heating is usually enough to warm up a vehicle sufficiently? You often don’t even need to turn up the heating inside your car – so you save energy and extend your range at the same time.
