When taking on something new, people make assumptions about what we know – and need to know – based on their own knowledge. If something is obvious to them, they don’t think to mention it.
My first outing in our EV
When we picked up our electric car eight years ago we were excited but also more than a little green – and I don’t mean in the eco sense. At least John had driven automatic before. Me – I’d only ever used a gear stick.
The salesperson gave us a swift introduction to the car – how to set the driving position, how to plug the car in, how to access sat nav. Some things he just set up for us: switching on the whine to let pedestrians know we were there, sidelights onto automatic so we were never without, setting the computer to show us number of miles rather than percentage.
I was the one to drive it home – John was going on to a meeting – so I set off very tentatively. Only a two mile journey, but high tension as you can imagine. (I once drove a friend to pick up her new car, then managed to drive into the back of her at a roundabout as we drove home. Arghhh!)
I pulled up outside the house and saw that I had apparently used five miles. What!! There was clearly something very wrong with this car – we’d been sold a dud.
Why did no one tell me?
This clearly came under the title of ‘this is obvious, so no need to mention it’.
I now know that the display showing miles, used and available, actually summarises energy used rather than distance travelled, even though it’s expressed in miles. Very confusing.
Regenerative charging
EV’s use Regenerative Charging. You have the option of different driving modes that increase the amount of friction caused by braking and coasting. That friction creates electricity that is stored in the battery. So for my favourite journey of 30 miles:
- The display shows that I’ve used about 28 miles worth of energy to get there
- On the way home, I use max 5 miles and sometimes nothing at all!
Some people prefer to see the percentage of the battery still left to use rather than number of miles for this reason. I quite like the challenge of how far I can go on how little.
Just remember that the way the car uses energy is an indication of how you’re driving:
- Driving fast uses more energy
- slow coasting uses little energy
- braking and coasting downhill creates energy that will be saved in the battery
Use the mileage counter as an indicator and adjust your driving style accordingly. If you have plenty of miles and you’re in a hurry then go for it. If you have time, might as well go more carefully and save miles.
Even electric miles cost money – unless you have solar panels. And even when you have solar, the friction of the tyres causes pollution.
Steady careful driving is better on many fronts, but at least you know you can go for it when you need to.
Managing the silence
It’s quite a change to drive in silence – really lovely in fact – but you need to pay more attention to pedestrians. They can no longer rely on hearing to tell them when a car is near, so you have to do that thinking for them.
No revving the engine to give a gentle indicator of your presence. You could blow your horn but that’s pretty brutal. So it’s patience and maybe putting your head out of the window and calling to let them know you’re there.
As you pick up speed, the friction of tyres on the road takes over giving plenty of warning about your presence.
Remember to switch it off
This sounds daft but it is easy to leave on. Remember there is no sound, so you can easily get out in a hurry without switching off. The saving grace is that it won’t lock, so as long as you pay attention to the wing mirrors moving in, you’ll be fine.
There are plenty of warnings built in: like the fact that it won’t start either if you’re still plugged in.
So just pay attention – and always check it locks before you walk away. If it won’t lock, go back and check why not
Charging
Much has been made of range anxiety and I know just what that means. Because we have an eight year old EV, the maximum we get on one charge is 100 miles, so long journeys need some planning.
Charging points are increasing. But more importantly, newer cars have a much bigger range. Some as much as 350 miles – and how often do we drive for more than that without taking a break?
It’s all good hype for the media. In fact, stop to charge, go for a coffee and by the time you’re back, the car is ready to go.
How fast does an EV go?
There are different driving modes aimed at increasing levels of regenerative charging. So if you need to go fast – like on a busy roundabout where you need to slot in at speed – take off the eco button and go for it.
If you want to reserve your energy and be more environmentally friendly, go for fullest regenerative charging. The journey will take you a bit longer, but not by much.
Certainly the challenge that they are not fun to drive is spurious in my experience. When you want it they accelerate really fast, when you want the fun of seeing how far you go on least energy, they’ll do that too.
So go for a test drive and see what you think. And let me know if you have any questions.