EV batteries naturally love the summer. You get around 20% more miles than you’d get from a full charge in the dead of winter. But for many of us summer also means more road trips. To help make each journey in your EV a pleasure and as efficient as possible, there are several things you can do to increase your EV’s efficiency:
Check your tyres – the more miles you cover the bigger the difference a dip in tyre pressure makes to your range. Make sure you check the recommended pressures (inside your car door) and adjust. Don’t just wait for the dashboard notification of really low pressure!
Plug-in to precondition – in the winter you’ll have come across this tip to pre-warm your car. Preconditioning has its uses in the heat too. It’s not just about your comfort for that first ten minutes, it also ensures you can depart from home with maximum battery range when you need it.
Park cool – seek out the shade to save your battery from the heat. You won’t need to waste your battery on air-con when you start up on the way home.
Eco mode – If you know you’re prone to being a little heavy on the pedals, these modes help by ‘dulling’ the responses of the accelerator, which makes them great for helping you get the most miles when you need it. As you get used to keeping an eye on the efficiency of your electric car, you’ll probably end up doing this all by yourself, by anticipating the slow-downs and not accelerating or braking aggressively. This is the zen of EV driving.
Leave room for regen – If you can do the day’s trips without a full battery, depart at 80%. This allows room for regenerative braking to add to the battery. Once you get used to how easy and smooth it is to drive in regen mode, you won’t want to return to normal braking on country roads or stop-start traffic.
Check your EV tariff – As well as increasing the efficiency of your driving, reduce the carbon impact of your charging by picking a green EV tariff.