EPA fuel economy ratings include city, highway, and hybrid categories, but range ratings for electric vehicles include only the following categories. There’s a reason for that.
A new article published by International SAE and co-authored by car and driver Test director Dave VanderWerp emphasized that the EPA’s combined EV range rating is not a number that reflects highway driving. The article uses Car and Driver’s real-world highway testing method, which shows that electric vehicles fall short of the EPA’s allowable range when driving only on the highway.
The EPA has never called its range rating a highway number, and research shows why. In Car and Driver’s real-world highway test, which involves driving at a steady 75 mph, more than 350 internal combustion vehicles achieved better than 4 percent average fuel economy, 0% from their official ratings, but the average EV is down 12.5%, the journal noted in an article about the article.
Volkswagen ID.4 built in Chattanooga
The article’s authors explain the disparity between EPA ratings and real-world highway range. One is the fact that the combined figure is based on city and highway figures, but the 55% weighting is in favor of the city number, which is generally the more powerful electric vehicle category. As we have shown, EVs . EPA city/highway ratings is a better range guide if you really know the usable capacity.
The Car and Driver’s 75 mph stable driving protocol can also remove a crutch for the EV. EPA testing related to acceleration and deceleration. That’s not good for cars with internal combustion engines, which are usually most efficient at steady speeds, but less detrimental for electric cars, as it allows them to take advantage of regenerative braking.
Lucid Air Dream version
Cold weather should also be better incorporated into EV range estimates, as it affects usable numbers very differently depending on the model. wind direction can also have a big impact.
In the end, scope consistency and keeping up with expectations are perhaps more important How high is the range? the number itself is. But realizing the nature of EPA numbers helps produce some real-world results—for fresh airor some Tesla models—all more impressive.
