Consumers’ expectations for e-cars are still unrealistic…can’t hold a candle to conventional combustion engine vehicles.
When it comes to performance parameters like fuel consumption, car manufacturers’ brochures often boast figures that in reality are only possible under really ideal conditions. But rarely are such conditions the case in real life. The result: disappointed consumers.
The VW Up. Image cropped from VW.
Electric cars are notorious for their limited range and need of constant recharging – factors that are often overestimated by buyers. Recently German auto reporter Lisa Brack put her brand new electric car through a long distance, wintertime test. The result was hardly thrilling.
“The result is sobering – she saves time by consistently freezing,” reported the German kreiszeitung.de here, on Ms. Brack’s test.
13 hours of driving and charging
Ms. Brack and EFAHRER.com conducted the long-distance test on her new VW e-Up by driving it from VW in Wolfsburg, where she had picked it up, to her home in Munich.
The 650 km trip would normally be done easily in less than 7 hours with a conventional diesel engine car (assuming no traffic jams) and without the need to stop to refuel. But for Brack in her new VW e-Up vehicle, the trip needed almost 13 hours – a time the kreiszeitung.de describes as “appalling”. Numerous hassles were encountered.
No heating
After being handed her new car from VW in Wolfsburg, she departed for Munich at 2:45 p.m. The subfreezing weather was a major drawback for the VW e-car. According to the kreiszeitung.de, “the heating stayed off for almost the entire journey in freezing temperature” in order not to draw down the battery so quickly. This meant that to survive the trip, Brack had to take along a generous supply of “hats, scarves, gloves and generally warm clothing” and hope to find enough CCS charging stations along the way. Without these charging stations, getting the batteries charged up would take much longer.
In total she needed three charging stops.
Reached destination at 3:30 – in the morning!
It was 3:30 in the morning by the time Brack reached her destination in Munich, half frozen to death.
According to the kreiszeitung.de, she made the crucial mistake of charging up too seldom and wasted much time charging the batteries to 100% instead of 80% (the last 20% take the longest). “Charge faster, accept a little less range and charge again earlier – but again faster.”
“One more charge alone would have saved 1.5 hours,” she commented.
“As it was, however, the trip turned into a long winter excursion that she will not soon forget,” reported the kreiszeitung.de.
Expectations too high
The experience shows electric vehicles, though practical for short trips, still have a long way to go before they can keep up with today’s modern diesel and gasoline engines. Studies also show that e-cars offer very little, if any, lifetime CO2 savings.
[…] 650 km Wintertime Trip With VW E-Car Took 13 Hours, 3 Recharges And Lots Of Warm Clothes […]
If she had read your article from mid-2021,
she would never have attempted that trip.
https://notrickszone.com/2021/07/21/horror-trip-german-retired-couple-need-26-hours-to-make-765-km-vacation-trip-in-e-car/comment-page-1/#comment-1315358
There have been other similar articles such
as one from England — Nine hours to go 130 miles
in an electric Porsche.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/nov/28/electric-cars-porsche-charging-network
Jut over 400 miles. Oh well never mind.
She should have started her trip when it was dark, picked the coldest night of the year, and kept the heater and headlights on in order to be comfortable and safe throughout the trip. It makes no sense to take such a trip, in order to compare the viability of an EV, and not choose the worst circumstances. Under these same circumstances the ICE would have had no problems, and kept the driver safe and comfortable.
How long would the trip have taken then?
A Ford 150 (pickup truck) will do that in 7 hours with heat and radio, plus wipers if needed — while carrying 450 kg. Oh, and no stops unless you need to P.
To be cautious, I’d plan one stop of about 10 minutes.
I think I could have done it in under 6 hours with an Audi A6 diesel.
The A6 likely gets 1/3 better mpg at a higher speed than the F150 at about 60 mph (95 kph). Still, either will keep you warm, dry, and on the road.
Good stuff, Pierre. One note-typo in last line, it says “e-cars off very little, if any, lifetime CO2 saving”
w.
Thanks! 🙂
Hydrogen is the future. Damn the inefficiency, full speed ahead!
Talk of efficiency/inefficiency are a misdirection in any event. On the one hand, they compare final output with original potential at the source. On the other, they do not. i.e. they do not mention we have to build a 1 MW turbine to realize .3 MW of electricity. That means we need 3 times as many 1 MW turbines to realize the same original 1 MW potential. Closer to 5 times as many solar panels. In that context, it becomes clearer under what scenario we will more quickly exhaust available resources.
What difference does it make if we lose efficiency at the beginning or the end of the chain?
And other than nuclear, renewables are the only scenario which offers significant and meaningful emissions reductions. Yet they are inherently inefficient. Coupled with transmission and charging losses, likely ultimately more inefficient than fuel and/or hydrogen.
[…] 400 miles (650 km) Wintertime Trip With VW E-Car Took 13 Hours, 3 Recharges And Lots Of Warm Clothes […]
[…] 400 miles (650 km) Wintertime Trip With VW E-Car Took 13 Hours, 3 Recharges And Lots Of Warm Clothes […]
[…] must develop a coherent energy strategyBritain Goes Off the Rails on Energy and Biden Is Following!400 miles (650 km) Wintertime Trip With VW E-Car Took 13 Hours, 3 Recharges And Lots Of Warm ClothesBiden’s war on American energy made us dependent, againWe should not compare electricity […]
[…] must develop a coherent energy strategyBritain Goes Off the Rails on Energy and Biden Is Following!400 miles (650 km) Wintertime Trip With VW E-Car Took 13 Hours, 3 Recharges And Lots Of Warm ClothesBiden’s war on American energy made us dependent, againWe should not compare electricity sources […]
[…] develop a coherent vitality techniqueBritain Goes Off the Rails on Energy and Biden Is Following!400 miles (650 km) Wintertime Trip With VW E-Car Took 13 Hours, 3 Recharges And Lots Of Warm ClothesBiden’s battle on American vitality made us dependent, once moreWe mustn’t examine […]
[…] must develop a coherent energy strategyBritain Goes Off the Rails on Energy and Biden Is Following!400 miles (650 km) Wintertime Trip With VW E-Car Took 13 Hours, 3 Recharges And Lots Of Warm ClothesBiden’s war on American energy made us dependent, againWe should not compare electricity sources […]
[…] must develop a coherent energy strategyBritain Goes Off the Rails on Energy and Biden Is Following!400 miles (650 km) Wintertime Trip With VW E-Car Took 13 Hours, 3 Recharges And Lots Of Warm ClothesBiden’s war on American energy made us dependent, againWe should not compare electricity […]
[…] develop a coherent energy strategyBritain is ahead of the rails in energy and Biden is following!400 miles (650 km) VW E-Car Winter Ride Takes 13 Hours, 3 Charges And Lots of Warm ClothesBiden’s war on American energy has made us dependent againWe should not compare power sources […]
[…] must develop a coherent energy strategyBritain Goes Off the Rails on Energy and Biden Is Following!400 miles (650 km) Wintertime Trip With VW E-Car Took 13 Hours, 3 Recharges And Lots Of Warm ClothesBiden’s war on American energy made us dependent, againWe should not compare electricity sources […]
[…] […]
[…] develop a coherent energy strategyBritain is ahead of the rails in energy and Biden is following!400 miles (650 km) VW E-Car Winter Ride Takes 13 Hours, 3 Charges And Lots of Warm ClothesBiden’s war on American energy has made us dependent againWe should not compare power sources […]