Find out about the range of the electric car – this is WLTP, NEDC and EPA

ELECTRIC CAR GUIDE

Range, driving cycle and WLTP – what does all this really mean? In the era of the electric car, how far you can drive on a charge is crucial, but the range can vary greatly depending on the season and driving style. Here’s everything you need to know.

Fifteen years ago, few people asked the question how far a car could go on one tank when it was time to buy a new one. Inconsequential number, more interesting was how much fuel it drew per mile. And the mere thought of manufacturers giving an official figure for how quickly a car could be refueled would have sounded strange.

But nowadays the range per “tank” and how quickly it can be filled are two of the most important parameters for many electric car buyers.

With the electric car, there will be a lot of new concepts to keep track of. Therefore, here is a short glossary of electric car terms that are worth knowing before the purchase.

Scope: We start with the most basic, range. This is presented as a number from car manufacturers, but the devil is in the details. The officially stated value is a distance that comes from a type approval process where the car model has been tested according to a driving cycle (see below). Range is usually given in km.

Official consumption: For a car with a combustion engine, the consumption is given in litres/mile. Simple and graspable. In the world of electric cars, the equivalent concept is kilowatt-hours (kWh) per 100 km, although in Sweden we often choose to indicate kWh/mile. This figure, for example 1.49 kWh/km, is calculated based on a driving cycle and how much battery capacity a car has. Consumption is stated in kWh/km or kWh/mile.

Battery Capacity: It is common for manufacturers to visibly display an electric car’s battery capacity. However, this is often indicated with a gross figure. This means that even if a battery is for example 84 kWh, perhaps only 77 kWh of this is available for driving. The manufacturer keeps the remaining (in our example 7 kWh) as a reserve so that the battery is not damaged by total discharge/overcharge. Battery capacity is given in kWh.

Driving cycle: A model for how an electric car’s consumption should be determined. This includes city, country and highway driving to simulate how a car can be used in real life. In the world and historically there are several different driving cycles.

The world’s different driving cycles

WLTP. Stands for World Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Protocol and since September 2019 is the driving cycle used to test cars in Europe.

NEDC. Stands for New European Driving Cycle and was a driving cycle used from 1992 until it was replaced by WLTP. The driving cycle was criticized early on (1998) because there was a large discrepancy between the official and the real consumption in a car. Just before it was replaced, it appeared that it could differ up to 40 percent. In China, however, a variant of the NEDC driving cycle is still used.

EPA. Stands for Environmental Protection Agency, which is the American nature protection agency that has developed the driving cycle used in the United States. This is the test regime considered to be the toughest of the three official ones used by car manufacturers – and therefore this range is often the closest to real-world consumption.

RDE. Due to several consumer organizations questioning official figures even after WLTP was introduced, some manufacturers have also chosen to present emissions for how models perform on a rolling test bench. Here, analysis equipment has been hung directly on their cars. However, this is a test that is used to measure emissions (mainly nitrogen oxides, NOx), so it is done on pure fossil cars or plug-in hybrids

EcoC2. The organization Autobest has since 2021 tested electric cars in real conditions and through certified measurement produced a consumption figure that can be compared to what a normal European user can expect. The organization also measures charge losses during fast charging and examines how large range reserves a car has even after the battery indicator is at 0 percent.

This affects the range of the electric car

Official consumption figures are treacherous. It is doing yourself a disservice to expect that it will be possible to drive as far as the manufacturers indicate. So what is influencing?

Car model and battery capacity

It goes without saying that larger batteries provide longer range, but also that larger and squarer car models have higher consumption for, among other things, aerodynamic reasons.

Temperature

Unlike a car with a combustion engine, cooling affects the range more. The engine in an electric car does not generate any heat of its own, but the battery must be heated to keep within the correct temperature range. In addition, comfort heat cannot be stolen from the engine either, but that must also be generated with energy that could otherwise be used for propulsion.

Driving style and speed

This is not specific to an electric car and is actually quite different from an internal combustion engine car. In city traffic, with a lot of braking and acceleration at moderate speeds – then the electric car is much more energy efficient as it can use energy during braking.

But at higher speeds this is lost and at motorway speeds the braking force recovery is close to zero.

Brake force recovery/brake force regeneration

An electric motor has the nice property that, in addition to driving a car, it can also act as a generator to recover energy. Most electric cars have a basic setting which means that as soon as you release the gas pedal, the engine starts to act as a generator. This means that it slows down somewhat – and directs the energy into the battery.

How much can be recycled depends on the engine, model and how the car manufacturer programmed it. In long downhills it can actually regenerate quite a bit.

One pedal driving mode

Related to brake force recovery, it is an energy regeneration setting that means the car is braked hard enough that you only need to use the brake pedal in an emergency. For those who have not tested the function, it can be experienced as scary or troublesome – but after getting used to it, it is usually appreciated.

Road conditions and topography

Water, snow and ice on the road are three things that increase friction, which in turn means that more energy is required for propulsion. It is the same with hilly terrain. If you are going up in the mountains, it means that more energy will be required to get you to higher altitudes.

Tires and air pressure

Which tires the car has has a great influence on the range. On a car, it is precisely the contact of the four tires with the ground that determines the friction (air resistance/friction excluded). Here there are many different options and since 2021 all tires have an energy label where you can read out their rolling resistance.

Good tires with correct air pressure provide the best conditions.