Road Trips and Motorways and Miles…

[Doodle74]

I managed to get myself a new 22 plate ZS short range by luck a month ago after only a 13 day wait. Never done EV before so completely new to all this. So far it’s been pretty much plain sailing but it’s definitely a little different!

This week threw up a little thing so thought I’d see if you more experienced guys could shed a bit light for me. We had to do a little road trip on the M6. Total mileage was 194 miles from home to destination. We had 170 when we left and had done a bit planning for stops on the way. After going 60 actual miles the car had lost 90. This was a pattern whilst on the Motorway and we ended up having to stop twice down and three times coming back (diversion of 30 miles to factor in on the return!). I think Husband drives like he has Miss Daisy on board since we got the car (much to my frustration) so it’s not like we were tearing it up or anything. I guess what I’m asking is is it normal to need 2 or 3 stops on this length of journey? Does motorway driving eat the miles? Or is the car range display just not very accurate?

 

[andi51081]

You will use more range if doing 70mph, drop that to 60/65 and you may see quite a difference. It also depends on whether you were using AirCon a lot as that will use more range than normal.

 

[Merry]

You need to stop using the taking the cars range on the GOM as gospel. It's just a guess based on your average/previous trip. If you rarely use a motorway it's always going to over estimate its range when you do.

A more helpful figure is your miles per kw/h figure. Generally, in this sort of weather I've seen 3.5 miles p/kWh , with an average speed of 60mph, where the cruise is set to 67mph. With that sort of efficiency you'd get 171 miles in an SR, so you're clearly using a bit more than that.

Could be for a number of reasons, traffic, cruise control use, driving style.

I wouldn't say there's anything wrong with the car itself.

 

[Bluesparky]

I am still testing out mileage on our 2021 Zs, only had it a few weeks, have done same motorway journey ,1 driving economically 55-65, & no air con, then same journey at 70 with air con, was only 45 miles but there was no noticeable difference in battery and was bang on with the milage given by the cars estimate. Since done a couple of longer journeys , not driving particularly economical , seem to get better than predicted mileage . Perhaps we are lucky and just have a very good battery ?? Seem to be hitting 161 miles +

 

[Gadget Geek]

I am still testing out mileage on our 2021 Zs, only had it a few weeks, have done same motorway journey ,1 driving economically 55-65, & no air con, then same journey at 70 with air con, was only 45 miles but there was no noticeable difference in battery and was bang on with the milage given by the cars estimate. Since done a couple of longer journeys , not driving particularly economical , seem to get better than predicted mileage . Perhaps we are lucky and just have a very good battery ?? Seem to be hitting 161 miles +

If you are driving regularly on the motorway then the GOM will use that as its baseline and will give an accurate range estimate.

 

[Jomarkh]

I have two routes that I can take to work. One is shorter but slower and I get 4.3m/kWH the faster longer route takes it down to 3.8m/kWh.
The only thing that really kills range is speed above 60mph.

 

[sgt4hed]

I drove to Coventry and back last week... 83 miles each way.

Averaged 4.3m/kWh

I drive at 60 using MG Pilot
I drive in Eco (mostly, though have got the same consumption rates in Normal)
I control the A/C manually as Eco reduces the fan speed when it is set to auto

So in short I think the bit that got me the good consumption was dropping to 60mph (something I have done for a couple years anyway after owning a plug in hybrid before this one) and no doubt if it wasn't 872638746 degrees outside at the time (last Tuesday's heatwave day 2) I wouldn't have needed the A/C and could have achieved more. But essentially I travelled 166 miles on 49% battery (I have a long range Mk2).

 

[Headgas1]

Yes i find driving on the motorway very frustrating because the GOM drops drastically if you go 70mph or higher for any distance , the faster you go in an ICE car the more efficient it becomes and it’s the complete opposite in my EV luckily I don’t do much motorway driving .

 

[sgt4hed]

Yes i find driving on the motorway very frustrating because the GOM drops drastically if you go 70mph or higher for any distance , the faster you go in an ICE car the more efficient it becomes and it’s the complete opposite in my EV luckily I don’t do much motorway driving .

That's probably because when doing 70mph on the motorway the electric motor is drawing about 120A and is spinning at over 8 thousand RPM... for EVs to be really efficient on a motorway they will need to be mated to a gearbox of some sort... ICE cars are only efficient on the motorway because of the gearbox

 

[MichaelJHunt]

the faster you go in an ICE car the more efficient it becomes

Perhaps you can demonstrate this unusual feature of the Internal Combustion Engine.

 

[N2STY]

Every ice car will have its own sweet spot on the motorway some as low as 50mph some more modern cars 65mph but as soon as you pass the sweet spot buy buy fuel economy this is why some automatic gearboxs are more fuel efficient than manual gearboxes with 8 to 10 gears for years it was the other way round my car can sit at 65/70 just over 1000rpm in 8th gear

 

[Maciej]

Yes i find driving on the motorway very frustrating because the GOM drops drastically if you go 70mph or higher for any distance , the faster you go in an ICE car the more efficient it becomes and it’s the complete opposite in my EV luckily I don’t do much motorway driving .

That is Objectively untrue. Mpg drop rapidly at faster speed. You can drive significantly further doing constant 60 vs constant 70. It is less visible on ICE because they rarely give you estimated range to a mile and with larger ranges of 400 to 500 miles hardly anyone cares.

On the other hand my rule of thumb is to drive normally in my short range ZS and just stop after approx 2 and half hours to charge and it worked well for me so far

 

[kitkev]

Just done maidenhead to heathrow only a short journey of 18 miles all m4
Started with 80% battery and 226 miles in eco

Kept to 50 to 55 all the way at one point added a mile to 227 arrived with 79% and 225 miles showing just amazes me what you can eck out by just taking it easy and no rush light foot on peddle

 

[Maciej]

Just done maidenhead to heathrow only a short journey of 18 miles all m4
Started with 80% battery and 226 miles in eco

Kept to 50 to 55 all the way at one point added a mile to 227 arrived with 79% and 225 miles showing just amazes me what you can eck out by just taking it easy and no rush light foot on peddle

My concern is that by driving 50 on motorway you are actively causing hazard to other drivers. 60 is the slowest I would ever consider going on a motorway

 

[hmadsen]

My concern is that by driving 50 on motorway you are actively causing hazard to other drivers. 60 is the slowest I would ever consider going on a motorway

If i want to "hypermile" i just find a lorry, set the ACC to 95 kph, and let the ACC keep the distance. I also reduce the distance to setting 2 to get a bit closer, both to try and get in behind the lorry, to reduce drag, but also to reduce the distance so that i dont have a ton of cars pulling in between us, making the ACC brake to keep the distance, and so on.

Was actually able to do 200+ miles with an (empty) trailer and a roof box last week.

 

[kitkev]

My concern is that by driving 50 on motorway you are actively causing hazard to other drivers. 60 is the slowest I would ever consider going on a motorway

M4 has been 50 for past 2 years max on there at moment is 60 so no effect on other road users on a 4 lane motorway

 

[Maciej]

M4 has been 50 for past 2 years max on there at moment is 60 so no effect on other road users on a 4 lane motorway

Fair enough also crazy that it is that speed for that long

 

[Headgas1]

That is Objectively untrue. Mpg drop rapidly at faster speed. You can drive significantly further doing constant 60 vs constant 70. It is less visible on ICE because they rarely give you estimated range to a mile and with larger ranges of 400 to 500 miles hardly anyone cares.

On the other hand my rule of thumb is to drive normally in my short range ZS and just stop after approx 2 and half hours to charge and it worked well for

Ok then thanks

 

[sgt4hed]

My concern is that by driving 50 on motorway you are actively causing hazard to other drivers. 60 is the slowest I would ever consider going on a motorway

50 is not a hazard at all, plenty of Lorries going that speed due to them either being very full and close to their weight limit or going uphill

 

[sgt4hed]

If i want to "hypermile" i just find a lorry, set the ACC to 95 kph, and let the ACC keep the distance. I also reduce the distance to setting 2 to get a bit closer, both to try and get in behind the lorry, to reduce drag, but also to reduce the distance so that i dont have a ton of cars pulling in between us, making the ACC brake to keep the distance, and so on.

Was actually able to do 200+ miles with an (empty) trailer and a roof box last week.

this is what I do when I am not in a hurry ACC to 60mph and just tuck in behind the first lorry I come across, but on distance setting 1, car will still brake in time in an emergency, otherwise it wouldn't be an option and makes it so that even BMW drivers can't find a gap between you and the lorry