Are you fed up with being sold unachievable mpg claims, based on the New European Drive Cycle imposed by legislative bodies?
Well it appears that range anxiety in electrical vehicles has an unexpected, but welcome, side effect in regards to realistic range claims.
Measured on the New European Drive Cycle, the new VW Volkswagen e-up electric car, which goes on sale in the UK early next year, has a theoretical range of 160km or 99 miles.
But wary of overstating the case and being pilloried by stranded customers, VW revised that figure, suggesting that a more realistic expectation should be 75 to 103 miles in summer and 50 to 75 miles in winter.
That in itself is a welcome act of honesty, but today I got to sample the VW e-Volkswagen Up for the first time, driving more than 70 miles on an eco-rally in Germany.
As the name suggests, the aim of this exercise was to be as frugal as possible. So it was up the mountains I crawled, and on the way back down again I did my upmost to gather momentum and indulge in a spot of regenerative braking.
But over the course of the event, held in bright, dry conditions, which took in its fair share of villages, traffic light stops and hold ups, I averaged close to 30mph as I drove to hit reasonably tight time targets. It transpired that overall I managed to use energy at an average rate of 9.3kWh/100km – which could potentially gave the Up a range of around 112 miles, thanks to its 18.7kWh battery.
Now I wouldn’t call my driving style 'real world' but it wasn’t far from realistic for everyday use – and it was in excess of both VW's stated claim and the NEDC cycle's. Net result: I was highly impressed.
Legislation won't, of course, allow manufacturers to publicise anything other than the NEDC results for internal combustion engines, but more's the pity in my opinion (although What Car?'s independent True MPG figures are worth a look if you want to explore such things in detail).
As I found with the e-Up, a dose of realism adds credibility to the car and reassurance to the driver.
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Magazine test figures are no more reliable than the official one
Sad to say, but I don't have any more confidence in the fuel test figures obtained by magazines than I do with the "official" ones. For example, this 70 mile test was the result from an "Eco rally" where participants were presumably aiming for the best mpg possible.
We don't know if it was an a to b route, or a circuitous one, nor do we know whether any slipstreaming was permitted, or whether the test equipment (including the car's odometer) was calibrated. And what were the weather conditions? in my experience a car's fuel consumption varies by around 10% between UK summer and winter (probably a lot more for electric cars), so any test made at a high temperature is likely to be flattering.
The NEDC test is without doubt unrepresentative of most people's driving, but at least it attempts to control variables and present a level playing field.
Agree with artill .............
.... that the EU official mpg figures do neither the consumer nor the industry any favours at all, being so unrealistic as to be wilfully misleading in many cases. I think Autocar should take a lead and publish only their own figures that are achieved on test and ignore the "official" figures altogether. Let the manufacturers do whatever they have to or are legally obliged to do, but just because they can only publish "official" figures does not mean that Autocar has to give them prominence as well.
Electric cars were trundling
Electric cars were trundling around at 30mph one hundred years ago,so what's the big deal?IAviation went from the Wright brothers to concorde in less than 70 years,so in comparison the progress in electric cars has been pitiful.
Machines like the e-Up are little more than an afternoons indulgence for motoring journalists,who can then go home in their real cars having sampled the latest novelty.Anybody limited to the e-Up as their only car would soon find its real world abilities sadly lacking.Along with that glorified moped,the Renault Twizzy,this is another in the list of headline making machines that lack any real substance or innovation.
Companies like Renault and Volkswagen could,and should,be doing a lot better.Given such an easy ride by the ever compliant motoring press,though,it's no wonder they can get away with making such leisurely and complacent progress.