EV range: real v claimed

[Deleted User 1874]

The panacea is elusive, I'll pay that. However, in my view, the charge (excuse the pun) towards full electrification isn't it. I'm no engineer but a more concerted move towards enhancing self charging hybrid tech should present far more opportunities than what you see in EVs presently.

But surely any hybrid still has an ICE?
And that is the whole point....getting rid of ICE within xx years....isn't it?

I think there's a lot of smoke and mirrors about electrification. I believe most manufacturers are talking about hybrids as if they are full EVs. So talk of X % of "electric" cars by 20?? really means hybrid + BEVs, not only BEVs. But I think they are now gearing up to produce more BEVs than they planned to even just a couple of years ago.

[Paul]

^^
I drove the Panemera hybrid at Silverstone awhile back; great car, great drive, 16 miles electrical autonomy and a V6 petrol engine for 99% of the drive!

Annecdotally , someone I know very well has just chopped his year old Merc C class hybrid in for a new Skoda Superb D. Despite the BIK and occasional congestion charge advantage, he just couldn’t cope with the 30 / 35 mpg the petrol Merc was giving (he does 25 - 30 K per annum)

[Hedgehog]

Was just going to post about fuel consumption then read this. The fuel gauge on my GTS is criminal. It drops from estimated 250 to 200 miles (approx example) within the first 10 miles of driving (even if not driven hard).
Never been too bothered over mpg and wont be trading in any time soon but the gauges are a joke and this is probably the most uneconomical modern car I have owned.

I'm going to go out on a limb here....your fuel gauge is not simply a stick which reads the level in the tank. The car's onboard systems will calibrate your range depending on a whole range of factors. It's no fluke that if you sit the car at 60mph on a clear motorway your range data starts to increase. My S, on a quarter tank may still show 100 + miles to empty after a motorway journey. Once in London traffic...that number will be smashed to pieces!!

Equally, it's no fluke that if you're in a 2 tonne SUV with a 3 litre twin turbo petrol sitting in front of you in stop start heavy traffic, where occasionally you accelerate in Sport out of frustration (please don't lie...everyone does it!), your range data will fall because your fuel consumption will be heavier. Sorry to break that all to you!

Thank you for that. Who knew
I think you missed my point. We often do long European trips and the stated range of of the fuel gauge in the GTS is simply not achievable in the real world.

Couldn't agree more. Many is the time that I have come back from a steady motorway drive of about 100 miles with more miles apparently left in the tank than when I started.

I see you have an SD.

The GTS will at best show a few more miles of range on motorway runs after urban driving but we have never managed to get the gauges to read more after a journey than before.
Would be curious to hear if any GTS owners have experienced different

[Wing Commander]

Surely depends on the circumstances?

If you take any car for a really ‘enthusiastic’ blast over a short route, the predicted miles to empty tank will tumble.

Then go on a very leisurely drive averaging say 50mph on A roads and the predicted miles to empty tank will climb noticeably?

Am sure in my car I’ve seen the above happen.

So depending on the length of the second journey above, you could feasibly end the ‘gentle’ drive with a higher ‘miles until empty’ figure showing that when you started that trip.

[Paul]

My GTS “instant” (the first mfd display) varies considerably as others have stated. The display you get when you first start the car is only your current trip consumption but based on your last known trip.
So, for example, you were out yesterday trundling around and acheiving the GTS of 25mpg for an hour or so.
Today, when you start the car that will be your base assumption for the range with what’s left in your tank. So you start the car, on full “choke” in the cold and pop to the shops on a nice bit of empty road at the GTS sporty average of 17 mpg for 10 minutes. That’s why the instant range reading is so variable.
I have had the instant range increase if, for example, my yesterday trip was short and sporty and my today trip is a long motorway run.

EDIT - as Simon says above

If you use the scroll wheel and go round to mfd 2 and / or 3 you’ll get the longer term figures for “since you last zeroed it” and “ life if the car”
My first SD was fairly accurate on range over the 9000 miles I owned it, but using the second reading not the instant which varies for the reasons above.
Sorry if I’m preaching to the converted (and if anyone on here really cares about fuel consumption)