How to maximize electric car range

By Dejan B.. Published on September 24, 2020

Today, we will learn a thing or two about improving your electric car range. There are a couple of tricks that you probably know about from conventional gasoline vehicles, but there are also several other ways to maximize your car range that apply only to electric cars. To learn more, sit back and read on.

Maintaining Your Vehicle is Important

If you own an EV, you probably know that these electric cars are quite easy to maintain. However, some of the basic things like replacing your air filters and tire inflation are known to extend the life of the battery by several miles. Checking coolant levels is also important since many EV use liquid cooling to keep the motor working effectively. If your EV doesn’t have enough levels of cooling, some of the components can overheat and shorten battery life.

Route Selection

Nowadays, everyone is using apps which inform us about the fastest way to reach our destination, but often the recommended routes are not the most efficient. The truth is that when traveling at lower speeds electric vehicles perform best and preserve the most range. You should always consider taking that side road instead of a highway if you wish to maximize electric car range, especially if the drive on the side road is not that longer. For maximal efficiency choose a road with minimal intersections and without hilly terrain. There are some new plugins that come with inbuilt route algorithms for battery-saving, so you don’t have to do all of the research alone.

Take it Easy on the Accelerator

Gradual acceleration is something that will surely save you money and you will decrease the chances of searching for an available plug on your road trip. On the other hand, aggressive acceleration is not recommended simply because it drains the battery much faster and won't save you that much time anyway. You can also use the "Eco" mode which is built-in on some electric cars and automatically modifies your acceleration.

Climate Control

Depending on the temperature under which it performs, the efficiency of a battery in an EV changes. Things like air conditioning and heating of the vehicle tend to drain a serious amount of energy from the battery. In order to prevent this and save battery power, it is best to cool or heat your vehicle while it's plugged in. There are also apps for smart phones that pre-condition the car before you hit the road.

Driving Mode Settings

Most of the modern EV's have a number of modes available for better performance and they are just a push of a button away. While increasing performance, some of these features use up a lot of power from the battery, while others recapture energy. The problem is that each mode has a different influence on the battery and it's best to compare results collected from different modes of operation to see which gives best and worst results.