Weblog Bas – Why range anxiety is indeed a theme

Last week I got 18.4 kWh / 100 km with the Mercedes EQS suv. I was really watching. For such a huge tank, that is unlikely good at temperatures below ten degrees. Especially since I couldn’t manage it under similar conditions with the lower but ditto obese BMW i7. There, 21 kWh/100 km turned out to be the maximum achievable, while he did more than decently for more than 2600 kilos of meat – see photo. Then you see how the engineers do their best. Until now, BMW seemed to be at the forefront of the German premium players in terms of energy efficiency, but Mercedes is taking real steps with its extremely streamlined models, although Tesla continues to spare king.

The mass brands don’t come close to that benchmark at all. The Volkswagen ID.5 GTX achieved an average consumption of 26.2 kWh/100 km in a German test. That is really a lot – and more than necessary. I came up with ID.4, ID.5 and the Skoda and Audi relatives under twenty, albeit with difficulty at times.

There are reasons for the fact that the test consumption in car magazines is usually far above mine. I test in a flat country, drive as carefully as possible. That doesn’t make my results unrealistic. Every EV driver can get my scores with a little attention. I’m not going to drive ninety. The air conditioning remains on, when overtaking I occasionally tap the 130. But in practice, of course, the magazines are closer to the sobering reality than I am. You don’t look at your speedometer all day. Working people are sometimes in a hurry.

All understanding. It does mean that with the 77.4 kWh battery of your ID.5 you won’t even get 300 kilometers without my precautions. And if the circumstances are against you, just hide. Weather and wind have a dramatic impact on your driving range and therefore your freedom of movement. The difference between headwind and headwind in a BMW i7 is between 21 and 26 kWh per hundred kilometers. The ID.Buzz I got under twenty in a sunny late summer Denmark came to 26.9 last month after 168 kilometers of storm and rain. Boing.

Yes, we all already knew. Fortunately, we can take it into account, and we now load faster than we could have dreamed ten years ago. Nevertheless, we do not settle enough at the inescapable conclusion; that charging-free long distances with electric cars still require huge batteries. With the i7 (105 kWh) and the EQS suv (108) I have seen more than 500 kilometers appear on the displays after charging. But with a casually ridden electric mid-sized car, on a windy February day, after 300 kilometers, the cake is over. More can. Do you have to bulk up the money. Or you break your premium addiction and buy a Model 3 Long Range for half of what those fat Germans cost. But maybe you still wanted a Mercedes or a BMW. Or, cough cough, something affordable.

The theme gets brushed off a bit, over range anxiety the optimists won’t let you moan anymore, but I’m convinced that it still holds back quite a few people. Me as an EV driver sometimes too. Then, if it is stormy or freezing, I would rather take the Volvo or the Audi to pick up an electric Mercedes in the far west. Don’t feel like chilling for a while, sorry. Not in the mood for tickle stress.

That’s why those solid-state batteries really have to come out within a few years, otherwise the range with the associated restrictions of freedom will remain a stumbling block for buyers, especially if they spend a lot of money. Let me put it this way: I see too many iXs at the BMW dealer. Phenomenal car. But the battery of the entry-level model, quickly one ton with a few options, has a net capacity of 71 kWh and a charging speed of 150 kW. You don’t want that. All the more so because it is quite busy at the charging station. Even in Groningen you regularly have to wait your turn at Fastned these days, and at De Hackelaar along the A1 I saw it swarming with people waiting last week. How do you feel when you have just spent a huge amount of money? Well, I can explain that to you.