'Real World' Range. A valuable guide to EV performance, or complete BS?

[@francisoleary7010]

I’m interested to know what you do about regen settings - whether it’s on auto or you play with the paddles, leave it set at one level or turn it off. I’m finding that efficiency goes right up if my default is no regen, and then use it actively on descents, bends and coming up to junctions. I’m very happy with how it’s going, 2 months into running my e-Niro 4+. Regarding depreciation, that’s how I was able to access EV ownership. I wouldn’t be so pleased if I had bought new, but that would have been way out of my budget. I considered personal leasing but the numbers just didn’t feel right for me.

[@kiae-nirodiariesencore4270]

On first having the car I used to experiment with different regen settings, depending on the type of driving we were doing...short/long journeys, local roads/autoroutes. In the mountains I played around with using the paddles manually to get a feel on how much control I had on descents without using the brakes. In the end I just left it in 'auto' and there it has stayed. I do use the paddles manually sometimes, mostly when going into a town. I hope you get good service out of your e-Niro and thanks for watching.

[@rivergladesgardenrailroad8834]

fancy picking up those speeding tickets last time, I can remember in the 80's flying along the N roads and D roads, confident that we would get flashed comming up to a police van, so we all slowed down, and then promptly speeded up the otherside, everyone did it. Now we just leave it on cruise control ALL the time.

[@rivergladesgardenrailroad8834]

12.4kw per 100, that's really good Sir.

[@commuterbranchline8132]

I have been an EV driver since 2013 and in those days we often joked that ‘WLTP’ range figures meant ‘Would like to pretend.’ I agree that manufacturers should be more realistic with their range figures. Some education, especially for new drivers, would really help folk transitioning to EV’s. Understanding that energy stored within the battery is just theoretical potential range and that the range you may actually achieve is determined by your driving style and environment factors should be explained by dealers. However that reality may impact sales, and assumes the dealer’s understanding of the matter. We have owned and driven a Kia Eniro First edition since purchasing it in 2019 and it’s been amazing, with just servicing and consumable service items to keep things moving. The only blemish on its reliability record has been the 12v battery failing at 91,000 miles which I replaced with a 55ah unit after watching your video! I would buy another e Niro based on our experience and I’m keen to explore the cooled ventilated seats in the higher specification model. Thanks for sharing your experiences of the car, keep up the excellent videos.👍

[@kiae-nirodiariesencore4270]

Thanks for your comment, it's good to know that my 12v battery experience had some value for you. I am some way behind you on distance travelled but good to know yours is still going strong at around 150,000 km.

[@rivergladesgardenrailroad8834]

we have seat cooling in our Kona S2, but yet to use it, as the cars inside does not seem to get hot, even on sunny 36° day here in South Australia. We do sit on Sheepskins, though....softer.

[@kiae-nirodiariesencore4270]

@@rivergladesgardenrailroad8834 Great to hear from you in Australia. Sheepskin! that sounds like luxury...I am off to test drive the new Kona Electric on Tuesday in Poitiers, bit of a half-day out with a friend of mine who has one of the 28 kWh Ioniq...back in 2017 he was a true early adopter. Thanks for watching.

[@devonbikefilms]

Nice one sir. As it struggles to get over 13°c here in the UK, I’m noticing my mileage potential is creeping up. While our electric cars struggle to meet their WLTP figures, I never had an ICE car that regularly beat their official L/100km or MPG figures either. As today was sunny, a 4 hour charge to add 20% (60 to 80% approx) was 99% sunshine according to my charger. It’s hard not to look a little bit smug….😊

[@kiae-nirodiariesencore4270]

Absolutely agree re: ICE cars, yet the media doesn't ever mention that. I've booked a test drive in one of the new Kona EVs in Poitiers on Tuesday morning, should be interesting. Here it is dry, sunny and cold, getting down to 2 or 3c at night...needless to say the efficiency has dropped off a bit.

[@jcflippen1552]

Always enjoy your reports. Still hankering after a 4+ in the future. Car seems to hold up beautifully as the ideal EV. 👍

[@kiae-nirodiariesencore4270]

Yep, so far so good but have you tried out the new Kona electric? It gets great reviews and I'm going to test drive one on Tuesday at the dealer in Poitiers. I'm not in a position to buy right now but it will be a half-day out with a friend of mine who has had a 2017 Ioniq from new, it's where he gets that car serviced..should be interesting.

[@davidviner4932]

We are driving to the south of France in my wife's Audi A3 diesel convertible in July, It can cover 600+ miles easily and we've proved that even in zero degrees temperature and with a few minutes to refuel so the claimed 300 miles on the KIA isn't very impressive at all. So for us an EV would be something worth considering if it was fully depreciated (Tesla from £100K sown to say £15K) and as a run around, but for the long runs I don't think they can match ICE yet. The fact is the depreciation is the real killer and that's why the vast majority of EVs are company cars

[@kiae-nirodiariesencore4270]

And your point is? I've been driving since 1974 and in that time have owned diesels that could also on a full tank do 500 to 600 miles (VW Passat, BMW 5 tds and others)...but it made no difference to the amount of time I sat driving on each sitting. You will not actually drive 600 miles to the south of France in July in one go, you will stop along the way several times in fact as you will need to eat, drink, use the bathroom, stretch your legs and take your eyes off the road. The only difference is that when I do that I plug in to a rapid charger. We have family in Switzerland, near Zurich which is just over 1,000 km from here...so we have a lot of experience of long hauls to there and the UK.. As for depreciation, the UK is an outlier when it comes to who buys new cars. It isn't the same here where most cars are bought by private individuals. The e-Niro is holding its used value much better than equivalent ICE cars. Thanks for watching.

[@austin2planks]

Kind of feel the same about the phrase, WLTP doesn't help the situation as even in the marvellous e-Niro capable of well over 300 miles can be down to under 220 on the cold rainy UK motorways. Perhaps we need a more 'real world' test cycle! It doesn't help that some OEMs are making crap EVs that cant get near their WLTP outside of a lab let alone surpass them like Kia. That further discredits the test.

[@decimal1815]

You need some Yorkshire hills to really test the range. Or a trip to the Alps!

[@st-ex8506]

Swiss EV driver here: I drive a lot in the Alps. It hurts the range remarkably little because of regenerative breaking... unless of course your destination is an alpine resort at altitude... but then, you'll get that range back on the way down.

[@decimal1815]

@@st-ex8506 I find that in the UK hill tend to use about 2x the energy to go up as you get back in regen on the way back down. That's partly because a lot of stop-start driving is required: when you need to stop for on-coming traffic, then start climbing uphill for example, this uses a lot of battery. On the way downhill, again the car doesn't get the chance to really re-charge the battery for very long before you need to stop.

[@st-ex8506]

@@decimal1815 OK! I accept your findings, as going up an alpine pass, or the road up to a ski area is quite different in style of driving, I guess. I have come with my own set of statistics. Going up and then down a hill, or. a mountain pass, costs roughly 1.6 km or 1 mile per 100 meter of elevation. Let's suppose that you have 10 such hills on your road, it is going to reduce your battery's range only about 16 km or 10 miles... not much really. Your numbers are a bit worse, but not much.... and that is probably due to the driving circumstances you described.