Why do electric cars need to be charged faster than advertised?
This is similar to gasoline cars, whose actual fuel consumption is often much higher than advertised, but charging an electric car takes longer than filling up with gas, so it is less forgiving.
The answer lies in official testing. Currently, electric vehicle range figures are determined using the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Cycle (WLTP). This is the same cycle used to determine fuel economy for internal combustion engine vehicles. However, it is not a perfect match for real-world driving conditions.
Just as internal combustion engine vehicles often consume more fuel than their manufacturers claim, the reason why electric car batteries run out faster than advertised is because the testing conditions are more ideal than real-world. While the new WLTP cycle is more realistic than Europe’s previous NEDC cycle, it still doesn’t accurately reflect the actual operating conditions of a car.
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In reality, electric vehicles do not operate under ideal conditions as they do in testing, so the battery drains faster. Photo: Getty |
With an electric car, the difference between actual and advertised figures is more noticeable because the faster battery drain is more annoying than with a gasoline car. Refueling takes at most 5 minutes, while charging an electric car, even with a fast charger, takes tens of minutes to continue the journey.
Another issue to note is that electric car batteries lose power less in warm conditions and lose power more quickly in cold temperatures. Therefore, new electric car models are often equipped with quite complex battery heating and cooling systems to create the ideal temperature for the battery. However, these systems themselves also cause energy loss.
Introduced in the 1980s, the NEDC cycle simulates driving conditions on urban and suburban roads. However, the tests are conducted in laboratories, collecting data under ideal conditions, based on typical operating conditions in Europe, rather than using data from real-world conditions in different countries around the world.
The WLTP test is carried out at 23°C and 14°C, with the 14°C driving conditions being added to the 23°C conditions using a complex formula. Colder temperatures will cause the battery to run down faster than the ideal conditions achieved in the test, while the car will use more energy to cool itself in summer. Batteries perform best in warm, stable temperatures.
In addition, running devices such as heaters, fans, seat heaters, lights and wipers also consumes battery power when it is cold; or the same goes for running the air conditioner at full capacity in hot weather.
Several consumer organizations have conducted tests to find out the difference between the "ideal" number and the actual operating range of electric cars. The results show that the actual number is on average about one-fifth lower than the level announced by the manufacturer. Therefore, electric car owners need to pay attention to this so that they can proactively plan to charge their vehicles' batteries on each trip.
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