What Car? magazine have a done a feature on how far a selection of EVs will travel (on test track) and what happens when they run out of power. Tesla is still the most efficient but interesting that they’ve said that the 3 and Y both behave differently when they run out of power.
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
What Car EV feature
- Thread starter up_north
- Start date
sleepydoc
Well-Known Member
But that's just the point - you should never assume there's any buffer, nor plan on using it. I see your point, though - people may see this and start assuming. At that point I have to fall back to 'stupid is as stupid does.'
As far as ICE cars go, many cars have the fuel pump submerged in the tank, using the petrol as to cool the pump and running the tank dry risks damaging the pump so it's a bit different. The other difference is that EVs give a much more precise indication of battery charge remaining, down to a single percent. ICE vehicles use an analogue gauge and turn on the fuel light when there's about ⅛ tank left. Many cars do give an approximate 'distance to empty' reading but that's also an estimate.
I find it fascinating and bizarre how often I read about people running their cars down to empty or precipitously low SoC.
It’s bad enough when people do it in ICE cars, but at least you can walk and back to a petrol station with a jerry can. We all know what’s involved in getting a depleted EV going again, and how long you might be in some random place while you wait for it to charge up a bit again.
Why do people do it? I honestly don’t understand.
It’s bad enough when people do it in ICE cars, but at least you can walk and back to a petrol station with a jerry can. We all know what’s involved in getting a depleted EV going again, and how long you might be in some random place while you wait for it to charge up a bit again.
Why do people do it? I honestly don’t understand.
Nick77
Deep Blue Model 3 LR (2021 MIC)
Yeah if I'm going to be marginal, even as much as 10% then I'll go out of my way to charge.
sleepydoc
Well-Known Member
Agreed - the lowest I’ve had mine was about 15%. That was driving home and I had a backup location to stop and charge if it looked too tight.
thats like 50 miles left - if you’ve been tracking your energy usage and its predicting getting to your destination around 10-15 you should be pretty comfortable (assumnig your destination has charging)
I've regularly (and quite happily) run my battery down to 2-3%. The state of charge is there so I'm going to use it. That being said I would never let the battery reach zero...AND THEN keep driving until it stops. That's just irresponsible and article focusing on that makes little sense.
sleepydoc
Well-Known Member
There's actually good evidence that discharging and charging the battery from 60-40% four times causes less degradation than a single cycle from 90-10%.
I normally charge up to 85% and don’t discharge below 20%. It’s only when I go on trips that I charge to 100% and drive down to low single digits. Which is probably more than average but not enough to cause any significant degradation. I’ve done about 8,000 miles in the last year and lost no range.
The previous year I kept charge between 80-20% and lost 5%.
Yes, with an SR+ you are obliged to push percentages to cover serious distances. As you say, if it's to facilitate longer trips and you charge promptly it shouldn't be an issue. Having said that I drove back from the south coast of England to the Scottish Borders not starting out with a high SOC ... about 56% I think ... but I still only needed 2 charging stops en route... which isn't bad for an older SR+.
Jason71
Well-Known Member
Compelling as that evidence is i am not sure your study has accounted for all of the variables
I've only once had my battery down very low. Screen said 2 miles by the time I got home, I really don't think I would have pushed it any further at the time, though this is comforting.
