Becoming stranded in an EV without charge could be a massive problem. Without widespread mobile chargers or V2V charging, there’s little that can be done with a stranded EV short of calling a tow truck. Luckily, there are a lot of systems in place to prevent you from ever running your battery that low. And a new test with the Hyundai Kona in Germany shows that with some smart driving, it’s almost impossible to end up too far from a charger.
In this test they pushed the Hyundai Kona to the limits by driving it as slowly as possible. After 35 hours of driving below 20 mph, they were able to eek out over 600 miles of range. That’s over double the EPA rated range of the Hyundai Kona.
We already knew that driving slower could improve range. Most EV’s will go into a “turtle mode” at low power to hopefully get you to a charger. But this test proves just how much range you can push out of an EV.
Most drivers will never need to go to such extreme measures to make it to a charger. But, should you ever find yourself in the situation that the nearest charger is just outside your range, slowing down a bit might help you make it there.
I think these results are not intuitive and this is definitely something every EV driver should know. There is a lot more range available to you in emergencies if you just drive slow.
Now, driving out of the middle of nowhere as slow as you’d drive through a school zone does not sound like a great time. Hopefully, no one ever has to drive a significant distance while conserving battery like this. But knowing that you CAN eke out significantly more range by driving slowly could drivers a lot of headaches.
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