Tips for electric car efficiency

The electric car is gradually consolidating as a real alternative to combustion-engine vehicles, and the doubts that potential buyers had with regard to autonomy, speed and price have progressively disappeared. They are increasingly becoming a real purchase option. Prices are not as high as many think and their autonomy has increased compared to recent years.

Depending on the model, their autonomy can be up to 741 km. This more than enough if you take into account that daily journeys are usually less than 60 km. The sector is working hard to increase this distance, and in 2023 Mercedes Benz released a prototype, the Mercedes Vision EQXX, which has more than 1,000km of autonomy.

There is no problem with the speed of the electric car either, taking into account that some models can go at more than 260km/hr without any problem. Recharging costs about €5 every 100 km, although this depends on the vehicle.

Once you know this, all you need to know is: How is an electric vehicle maintained? What are the best conditions to make it really efficient? 

The city: This is the ideal scenario for an electric car

The first thing you need to know is where it is better to drive with an electric vehicle. The electric car was initially created for the city because there are more and more regulations for protection against pollution. As the distance to drive is lower, you stop more often and there are more charging stations, this makes it the ideal scenario.

This does not mean that electric car users should be afraid of motorways. Even though this is where more battery energy is consumed, there has been significant progress in electric mobility and there are more and more installations.

Where and when to charge an electric car

An electric car needs a charging station where you can plug into an electricity network. This can be located in your garage at home, in the car park at a shopping centre, in some public car parks and in charging stations.

There are four types of recharging:

• Conventional: These are the most common type in the domestic environment and they have a power between 3.7kW and 7.4kW
• Semi-fast: This type of charging is used by those who are going to park for between an hour and an hour and a half. This is the type of recharging undertaken in shopping centres, work centres, supermarkets, etc.) It has a power of between 7.4kW and 22kW).
  
• Fast: This type of recharging is ideal for service stations and roadside restaurants where the user will stay for a short period of time (between 20 and 30 minutes).  It has a power of 43kW AC and 50kW DC.
• Ultra-fast: This is the latest in recharging and it has an output of 150kW and over. The battery can be charged in just 5 minutes!

As for when, the best time to charge your vehicle at night which is when you have the cheapest electricity tariffs.

Things you can do to increase the autonomy of an electric car

Accelerating and braking for greater energy efficiency

Because the engine of an electric car responds so quickly, the impulse is to step down hard on the accelerator. But you should avoid doing this so as not to waste battery power.

Braking, on the other hand, enables electricity to be recovered so advantage should be taken of this as much as possible.

Monitor the heating

In winter you tend to switch on the heating even in the car and the same happens in summer with the air conditioning. The use of both of these will affect the electric vehicle's consumption. The best time to adjust the temperature inside the car is while it is in the garage and connected to a charging point. This way you will save on battery energy.

Remove anything you will not really need

Is there a roof rack on the car? A roof rack or any decorative element that breaks the aerodynamic shape of your vehicle can affect the performance of an electric car. Even the smallest things should be removed if they are not needed so that they do not affect the efficiency of the vehicle.

Inertia and planning the trip

In an electric vehicle you need to keep the speed as constant as possible. To do this you should try to anticipate the stops because if the trip is well planned you can increase the autonomy of the car by up to 20%.

A good way to save on energy is to let the vehicle move by inertia as much as possible, without using the accelerator. This is a situation you can take advantage of when a road that slopes downwards or when you are approaching a traffic light. 

Driving modes

The performance of almost all modern electric vehicles can be modified to meet your driving needs at the touch of a button. Some modes increase performance at the expense of the battery, others enable you to maximise battery range at the expense of acceleration and there are even models that help drivers maximise efficiency when going down a slope.

You really need to experiment and test each mode, as well as taking the other the tips to make an electric car more efficient. Checking the data corresponding to the different driving styles for yourself is the most effective way to understand the differences between them better.