[EV Fan]

Starting a new thread on EV specific Efficiency quirks as i could not find a relevant thread, other than the ICE fuel efficiency thread.
So any additional quirks that basically were not available or very difficult with an ICE.

Since i am always on a lookout for more means to improve my range(without hypermiling).
So looking for any additional tricks from all the EV owners on the forum.

Some of the quirks i noticed:
1.) Regen 1 & Regen 2 are far better than Regen 3 – Regen 1 covers the most distance while Regen 2 recuperates almost the same energy as Regen 3 but covers more distance.
One pedal driving on Regen 3 has given me lower figures than Regen 1 or 2 in the same setting/route.
It also seems to depend on the Driving Mode. I felt the Regen 1 on Sports mode in Kona is far milder than when in ECO mode.
Example-For the same drop of speed from 100 - 60kmph, it shows how much time it took and how much recuperation happened in terms of kms. Regen 1 took 15:01 and gave recuperation of +0.40km. Regen 2 & 3 gave almost same recuperation but different times.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/@BatteryLife/videos -> Hyundai Kona Electric - Ep 15 - Timing Regen Levels

2.) Following Eco band or Consumption Indicator on the MID – Almost all EV’s have this in some form or the other and they are quite effective in real time (i think even better than ICE’s fuel efficiency indicators). If you can track & follow these, then great but might need some balancing this with time constraints.
A hypermiling attempt with this made me realize that it can drive up the efficiency to 14-16km/KWh (70-60Wh/km) but can reduce the average speed from 60km/hr by about 10km/hr (i found it nerve-racking to get avg speeds higher than 60 as south kerala just does not have straight, multi lane highways with unidirectional traffic).

Source: https://www.youtube.com/@hyundai/videos->Drive Modes | 2020 - 2023 KONA Electric | Hyundai

3.) Driver only mode(love this one on Kona) – choosing the driver only mode on AC like in Kona & Nexon facelift, seems to lower AC load.
Went overboard on an attempt to hypermile by setting even the audio system to driver only. Definitely not for audiophiles.
Noticed this on the Kona/Nexon Facelift, although yet to figure how to record or quantify it properly.

4.) Scheduling AC at the end of a charging session – If you know you will be done charging and on your way in 30 mins. Then scheduling the AC to cool cabin at that time would utilize the charging session for the cooling. Saves a few watts that might give you a few more km’s. Technically this does not improve efficiency just proxy battery capacity addition Can run the blower on re-circulation for some time, if you had over-cooled the cabin. Yet to exploit this extensively.

5.) AC Charging @ lower Amperage – Balances the cells and that in turn seems to provide a better range. I felt the best i have got was when i charged @ 6A or 1.2KW.

Brief about my vehicle & driving style:
Vehicle – Hyundai Kona Electric 39.2KWh variant.

Driving Style – I am quite a defensive driver which helps even in the efficiency department.

Efficiency
Normal Driving with AC: 10-11km/KWh
Normal Driving without AC: 12-13km/KWh
Hypermiling: 14-16km/KWh (Not worth it & not even easily achievable unless its a traffic free road)

Disclaimer: Please note that at no point efficiency or range concerns, overrides road safety. Recommend everyone to do the same.
I believe defensive driving makes it stress free for every one.

[electric_eel]

Originally Posted by EV Fan

Starting a new thread on EV specific Efficiency quirks as i could not find a relevant thread, other than the ICE fuel efficiency thread.
So any additional quirks that basically were not available or very difficult with an ICE.

Since i am always on a lookout for more means to improve my range(without hypermiling). So looking for any additional tricks from all the EV owners on the forum.

Some of the quirks i noticed:
1.) Regen 1 & Regen 2 are far better than Regen 3 – Regen 1 covers the most distance while Regen 2 recuperates almost the same energy as Regen 3 but covers more distance.
One pedal driving on Regen 3 has given me lower figures than Regen 1 or 2 in the same setting/route.
It also seems to depend on the Driving Mode. I felt the Regen 1 on Sports mode in Kona is far milder than when in ECO mode.

You might have already seen my post on the theoretical reason against aggressive regen https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/elect...ml#post5583153 (Aggressive regen can actually reduce an EV's range on the highway | The science behind it)

It also discusses the inefficiency of using cruise control on undulating highways (mostly due to fly overs). I have experienced this quite often in the Thrissur Palakkad section of NH 544. Does that match your experience ?

[sidoxic]

In comparison to Kona, the XUV400 is pretty pathetic at efficiency. The best we've achieved is a 140-145 wh/km or 7 km/kWh. These are not hypermilling attempts but just being light footed. But I really doubt going under 125 is possible at all, let alone 100 which you casually achieve! Off topic, i really loved the Kona but had to give it a pass as we are frequently 2+ occupants, but I still think about it every now and then!

Back to topic: this is something I'm very keen on cracking. So thank you so much for your research and list! I've been tracking rides since a few months to find insights for 2 reasons - predictability and extension of extension, both of which are important in sub 350 real world range EVs.

Contributors to efficiency I've noticed
1) outside temperature.
These are monthly averages for Mumbai City + highways rides, similar routes and same driver.
April and May: 210 wh/km
June and July: 160 wh/km

2) number passengers
This is for a 160km roundtrip we do every week or so
2 occupants: 140 wh/km
4 occupants: 160 wh/km

Both of these are very EV specific.
The other turbo petrol and turbo diesel in the garage do vary with light and heavy footedness. So not adding those points here. Ford turbo Diesel doesn't care for either of these. Aircon performance impacts the turbo petrol slightly though, but the EV is giving a crazy variance here. Infact Highway vs City gives less % variance in the EV than the ICEs

Unfortunately, unlike your list, there are no work around for my issues! Its not like I'm gonna chuck passangers out on a hot afternoon for sake of range but maybe someday it will make for a good excuse

[electric_eel]

Originally Posted by sidoxic

In comparison to Kona, the XUV400 is pretty pathetic at efficiency. The best we've achieved is a 140-145 wh/km or 7 km/kWh. These are not hypermilling attempts but just being light footed. But I really doubt going under 125 is possible at all, let alone 100 which you casually achieve! Off topic, i really loved the Kona but had to give it a pass as we are frequently 2+ occupants, but I still think about it every now and then!

I use the nexon EV max and I get about 110 Wh/km consistently on longish highway run the number of persons do not make much of a difference (but mind you it is Kerala highway). Short runs are very unpredictable for example I have an about 1 Km "home stretch" which is very pathetic road (you can even say off road). One can only really crawl this stretch and I get above 250 Wh/km. Also the XUV 400 is a bigger and heavier car so expect some loss of efficiency there (Nexon EV is 1400 Kgs where as XUV 400 is 1578).

[oakpr]

Originally Posted by sidoxic

In comparison to Kona, the XUV400 is pretty pathetic at efficiency. The best we've achieved is a 140-145 wh/km or 7 km/kWh.

Same with MG ZS EV which ranges between 6-8 km/kWh. In fact my mileage tracker app says life-to-date efficiency has been 160 wh/km!

Summers are the worst for efficiency. I don't think ACC in MG is very intelligent either, I have observed it cuts off aggressively once target temperature reaches. Then the car heats up quickly (thank you panoramic sunroof) and then ACC has to work harder again, drawing more current. My solution is to discard "auto" setting, set low temperature like 21 degrees with recirculation mode and I have indeed seen increased efficiency with this.

I look at the Konas and Nexons getting ~110 wh/km and I can only watch in amusement. Then I watch European MGs going 115 wh/km in summer, before realising their summer at 22 degrees is what we call winter in coastal parts of India

[KingAlec]

Thanks EV fan for starting this thread. Much needed repository for crowd-sourced EV range related experiments and results.

Originally Posted by EV Fan

1.) Regen 1 & Regen 2 are far better than Regen 3 – Regen 1 covers the most distance while Regen 2 recuperates almost the same energy as Regen 3 but covers more distance.
One pedal driving on Regen 3 has given me lower figures than Regen 1 or 2 in the same setting/route.

My driving exploits have revealed similar results. For Nexon EV Prime, Regen 1 is giving the highest range.

Funny thing, the estimated range calculator in nexon ev is hardcoded to favor regen 3, however the default regen setting when one starts the car is regen 1.

So what ends up happening is that - looking at the estimated range calculator in the MID, more often than not, a new Nexon EV driver always tries setting the regen to level 3 in hopes to get a better range and ends up getting a worse range.

Something for the Tata Motors team to ponder about.

As Electric Eel had replied in a separate thread, Regen 0 level is an option too on empty stretches of roads, but my personal experience has been that for me, almost always whenever I have tried regen level 0, I have ended up consuming higher Wh/km than regen level 1. So much so that now I only shift to regen 2 in special cases otherwise regen level 1 gives me the most range.

Some other range extending quirks I have noted in my nexon:
1. [Nexon specific] When I have to switch on the AC, I press the 'ECON' button to switch the ECON ON. When I have to switch off the AC, I press the AC button. This saves me from the loop of using AC in 'Econ Off' mode, which at least theoretically uses more wattage.

2. Interesting quirk: I have noticed that the wh/km is lesser when on empty roads I accelerate a little and then let the car coast along on regen 1 - instead of trying to manually maintain a constant speed (which almost always ends up in me overaccelerating and then decelerating). I understand that theoretically maintaining a constant speed should be a better option. Practically it's very difficult to obtain. Cruise mode has its own problems, as explained by Electric Eel due to flyovers.

Guess I have just explained the 'anticipative driving' behavior above.

3. Tyre pressure makes a major difference. Whenever my range starts to drop, I check the cold tyre pressure, and more often than not, the pressure in a couple of tyres would be lesser by 1-2 points. Correcting the tyre pressure gives back the original higher range.

4. AC hack (pseudo, ridiculous for most): If you set the AC vents in such a way that the air falls on your hands (two-hand driving for me), you will feel the chill way earlier than what you would have felt in case the ac air is being distributed all around. Whenever I feel the chill on my hands- I switch off the AC and just let the fan run. This has minimised my AC use a lot. Like I said, it's a pseudo, ridiculous hack for most. Don't judge me for this.

Looking forward to read more tricks and efficiency quirks. Thanks.

[ferrarirules]

I easily get 120 wh/km from my Nexon EV Max on a regular basis. My usual settings for the drive are

- ECO mode with regen 3 in city and regen 1 on highways.
- AC is set to 26 with auto mode on.
- Tyre pressure is set to 35 psi.
- I don't go beyond 70 kmph in city (where traffic permits), 80 kmph on highways and 90 kmph on expressways (I know 90 kmph for expressways is slow but the lack of chargers on newer expressway pushes you for this).

Other factors -

- Time of travel also makes a big impact on efficiency but that is not specific to EVs. Lower the temperature, less is the load on the AC.
- Season - During extreme summers (temp beyond 40) of north the wh/km jumped to near 140.
- Passenger load - I have not seen a big impact of carrying more passenger in the car. I did a trip from Gurgaon to Sirsa covering 280 kms with 12% SOC remaining. There were 4 adults in the car with boot full of luggage.
- Regen - I let regen do the slowing 99% of the time rarely do i use brake. Regen 3 yields good results for me. One observation - Tata has a brilliant regen implementation if i reduce the regen to 0 and apply brakes for slowing down it still uses regen+brakes to slow down
- Cruise Control - I try and set cruise control where ever possible sometimes slow down or accelerate (when slight slowing or getting back to cruise speed is needed) using the speed setting buttons as well.

[KingAlec]

Originally Posted by ferrarirules

- Tyre pressure is set to 35 psi.

Isn't the recommended tyre pressure for nexon 33 psi?

Do you have the stock wanderer tyres? What are the effects of keeping 35 psi instead of 33 psi? Does the ride get bumpier?

More importantly - is it safe to do for long term?

[ferrarirules]

Originally Posted by KingAlec

Isn't the recommended tyre pressure for nexon 33 psi?

Do you have the stock wanderer tyres? What are the effects of keeping 35 psi instead of 33 psi? Does the ride get bumpier?

More importantly - is it safe to do for long term?

Yes, these are MRF wanderer tyres which come stock with the car. The recommended tyre pressure for Max is 34 psi minimum and 36 psi (full load) . It was covered in the teambhp review (Tata Nexon EV Max Review) as well. I keep it in the middle of the recommended range.

There is no considerable difference in ride due to 1 psi additional pressure.

[EV Fan]

Originally Posted by electric_eel

You might have already seen my post on the theoretical reason against aggressive regen

Absolutely, i just wanted to highlight that regen 3 is actually inefficient, as visible in the snapshot. Regen 3 & 2 have same recuperation but regen 2 allows the car to cover quite some distance more than regen 3.

Originally Posted by electric_eel

Does that match your experience ?

Undulating definitely, but found its less efficient even on flat sections. I think the cruise control seems to keep the motor engaged and actually never coast, the feel is almost like mild throttle input with regen 1 on sections where I would just coast.

Originally Posted by ferrarirules

- Cruise Control - I try and set cruise control where ever possible sometimes slow down or accelerate (when slight slowing or getting back to cruise speed is needed) using the speed setting buttons as well.

Tried every iteration of cruise but still seems to be a bit less efficient. Need to test it further, i guess.

Originally Posted by KingAlec

2. Interesting quirk: I have noticed that the wh/km is lesser when on empty roads I accelerate a little and then let the car coast along on regen 1

I did try the Pulse & Glide method, as it had seemed effective for ICE's but it did not seem to work with EV’s or there's something i am missing.

Originally Posted by KingAlec

So what ends up happening is that - looking at the estimated range calculator in the MID, more often than not, a new Nexon EV driver always tries setting the regen to level 3 in hopes to get a better range and ends up getting a worse range.

Originally Posted by sidoxic

The best we've achieved is a 140-145 wh/km or 7 km/kWh.

You might want to recheck with battery percentage. The MID figures can be misleading.
I take Roundtrip Odo reading/battery consumption as it accounts for all AC,Electronics (2 standalone dashcams & phones)& Battery cooling. So if the calculated value comes to 90-100 Wh/km, MID will be showing 80-90 (Kona's MID seems to take only motor consumption into account). I have attached a sample excel of my calculations.
Odo Readings.xlsx

But yes, I do think, the Kona is quite efficient compared to most EV's here(atleast as per the following website). Could not find reliable figures for XUV or the Nexon.
https://ev-database.org/

Originally Posted by sidoxic

Off topic, i really loved the Kona but had to give it a pass as we are frequently 2+ occupants, but I still think about it every now and then!

Rear Bench was a pain till i found a workaround, 1inch cushion (from my dining chair). Works well enough for me (i might do a padded cushion+seat cover during the next upgrade)
But i am more concerned on the low GC, the lowest of all EV's.

Originally Posted by KingAlec

So what ends up happening is that - looking at the estimated range calculator in the MID, more often than not, a new Nexon EV driver always tries setting the regen to level 3 in hopes to get a better range and ends up getting a worse range.

Originally Posted by KingAlec

What are the effects of keeping 35 psi instead of 33 psi? Does the ride get bumpier?
More importantly - is it safe to do for long term?

Originally Posted by ferrarirules

There is no considerable difference in ride due to 1 psi additional pressure.

The recommended tyre pressure for Kona is 36 psi and its literally bouncing around, so i stick to 35/34. It helps a bit, though still would have preferred something cushier. People in some of the international forums have indicated they have been able to manage 1-2psi lower on the long run. But I am not sure, hence I drive a bit more carefully with this in mind.

Originally Posted by ferrarirules

- Regen - I let regen do the slowing 99% of the time rarely do i use brake. Regen 3 yields good results for me.

Yes, this is definitely the biggest range multiplier.
Kona's Regen Boost can even bring the car to a full stop very quickly (It is way stronger than Regen 3, almost closer to regular Braking). If used at higher speeds, the Regen Amperage is high enough to even engage the Battery Care (cooling).

Originally Posted by ferrarirules

Tata has a brilliant regen implementation if i reduce the regen to 0 and apply brakes for slowing down it still uses regen+brakes to slow down

Yes noticed the same on Kona & MG. But at creep speeds, none of EV's do regen on pedal braking.

Originally Posted by sidoxic

this is something I'm very keen on cracking.

Most of my driving is defensive and uses the same concepts as ICE's.
1.) Starting from a complete stop – takes a huge amount of energy and minimizing stop & go situation or some form of rolling slowly than coming to a stop (if situation permits) saves quite some energy. Needs us to look far ahead and not have a line of vehicles on your tail.
This is not an easy possibility in bumper to bumper traffic but still can be done to some extent if you don’t move your car an inch every time & wait for sufficient gap to build up.(Although sometimes did face persistent honking, to close even that 1 inch gap asap.)
2.) Slower acceleration and deceleration – Found this to be quite an important factor just like the impact of higher speed. Even with higher speeds, it’s still possible to get good efficiency if acceleration and deceleration is linear / gradual. I used the consumption info or Eco Band on MID to get a feel of the acceleration on a trial & error basis, and slowly incorporated an acceptably milder acceleration.
Noticed only a small or sometimes no impact on the time of commute.
While initially the gap between my vehicle & the one in front widens but i eventually just catch up at next light/block.
3.) Sun shades – Unfortunately sun films are illegal in India but sun shades can go a long way in reducing the AC load. It also reduces the hot/burning sensation on the skin exposed to the sun, which in turn makes us decrease the AC temperature further than required.
4.) Closing vents – Closing the vents (co passenger & rear when not in use), seems to lower AC load. Noticed this, although yet to figure how to record & quantify it properly. It's same as "Driver Only Mode" in Kona, just have to close them manually.
5.) Sunroofs – I somehow have very less liking to it and don’t have any claustrophobic inhibitions, so I end up keeping it closed as it draws in a lot of heat during the day. Though i do keep it slightly open alongwith the windows if parked in the sun and where i can see the car during a driving break.
6.) AC Off / Blower only mode with Fresh Air Intake Open – On the rare occasion of a good weather, this might be a better option than switching between AC On & Off.
7.) AC temperature + Blower + Vehicle Speed – Yet to quantify this but Lower temperature with lower blower speed seems better than a higher temperature setting but high blower speed. Also if a vehicle is running, AC consumption is lower than at standstill/crawling speeds.I usually start running with windows open and/or blower only then start of AC after a few seconds in running.

[sidoxic]

Originally Posted by EV Fan

You might want to recheck with battery percentage. The MID figures can be misleading.
I take Roundtrip Odo reading/battery consumption as it accounts for all AC,Electronics (2 standalone dashcams & phones)& Battery cooling. So if the calculated value comes to 90-100 Wh/km, MID will be showing 80-90 (Kona's MID seems to take only motor consumption into account). I have attached a sample excel of my calculations.

Another thing that kona does beautifully over the XUV400 is battery stats in the MID.
Here we have only a wh/km readout which is basically an average from factory till date I think. Don't think there's a way to reset it, and it doesn't change with Trip A/B etc or after charging.

So I'm anyway measuring units consumed by the charger & SOC as a % of 39.4 kWh - both from a tankful to tankful, and putting it on a crude Google sheet. This is where I got my numbers from.

Thanks for the additional tips
Will do some testing and report back on this thread!

[Nanolover]

Tigor ev owners please note. The front tyre pressure mentioned per door sticker is 33 psi. We recently brought a Tiago ev also whose front tyre pressure ( quite comprehensive sticker in fact) states 35 psi for the front. Since in all ways both cars are identical, i have now bumped up the pressure to 35 psi. The ride is better ( I feel) and should have a positive impact on range.

I average 120 to 130 wh/km ( regen 1 , regen has been added to the tigor as part of service update). My driver manages 115 wh/km as he never exceeds 80. All this is with ac on. Usually our tigor runs 145 kms with 27% charge left ( we charge every 3 days). So almost 2 kms Per % of battery with ac on. Pretty decent I feel considering the weight of the car and the hot/humid sweatbox that is Kerala.

[electric_eel]

Originally Posted by EV Fan

Starting a new thread on EV specific Efficiency quirks as i could not find a relevant thread, other than the ICE fuel efficiency thread.
So any additional quirks that basically were not available or very difficult with an ICE.

Just one another trick from the cyclists book. Split stream driving. Of course this is very dangerous if you do it the way cyclists do but you can adapt it as follows on the highway.
Typically the cars form a pack (some one called it the wolf pack) chasing some slow moving trucks. They bunch up behind the trucks there till one by one they overtake the truck. By being a follower of a pack (with sufficient distance) you can get a good advantage on wind resistance particularly when there is strong head winds.

Having said that, acceleration- deceleration cycles are bigger consumers of power than wind resistance at least at 80-100 kmph. So if the pack is not driving at a steady speed and you try to keep up with them (in the process accelerate and decelerate often) then that is bad for efficiency.

[Cresterk]

Best advice I can give you is to remember that not even the most expensive EV can regenerate all of the energy lost while slowing down. Don’t think regenerative braking can just give back all the energy you lost while accelerating. Maybe you might get 50%. Don’t slow down unnecessarily. Maintain speed whenever possible instead of slowing down and then accelerating.

[W.A.G.7]

Wow! Those are some amazing inputs, above put there by everyone so far. I didn’t know there would be so many aspects to driving an electric car and maximising the driving range. I also didn’t know we could control the driving style and extract the maximum power and range from the same motor at the same time. Do the same principles apply to electric two wheelers as well? Is there a way to regulate the regen, to maximise the range and power in two wheelers; too?

But… think of it. if I need to do so many calculations for every trip that I do in my electric car/bike, when would I enjoy driving/riding the same? We get a car or a bike because we all like driving/riding. But ev’s involve a certain amount of “prep” work to do before and during the trip. And that’s what I don’t like about electric vehicles: cars in my middle class budget - I need to keep adjusting my driving style to make it to the next goal without getting stranded somewhere in between, whereas those ev’s where I don’t need to worry about my driving range- they are out of my budget!