How I got 350km range from my Nexon EV Max: No hypermiling & with AC on

I have set my AC at 22.5 degree Celsius which is more than the comfortable temperature and I was able to extract efficiency of 125 wh/km with 5 souls on board.

BHPian shamanths3 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello Fellow BHPians,

After a month of driving, I wanted to share my experience with you all on how I am able to extract the MAX out of my car (pun intended) without the need for any hypermiling. Most of the observations may be common and already our experts may have pointed this out in other posts, but I am posting in the hope that it might help some new enthusiasts.

How I drive my ICE cars

I have owned two cars previously and both have been petrol, however, I do have experience with Turbo Diesels. I am always the one who ignores fuel efficiency and concentrates more on the RPM's sweet band. And on highways, I always have had a heavy right foot.

How I have adopted EV driving

I don't like to drive my cars with windows down and so the climate control is always on. There is no change here compared to my previous cars. But the major change has come in the way of my acceleration of the car and the way I apply the brakes.

Acceleration:

I drive in 2 styles like most people, Inside City and Outside City.

Inside the city, I am slower and cautious, so the graph usually has spikes above and below the blue line more often than not because of the Bangalore traffic. It is very difficult to keep the power line constant and steady. Also, the acceleration is usually sudden and I demand immediate power from the Motors, otherwise, I will have to hear a lot of honkings or someone will try to cut me off.

On the Highway and open roads is where you can extract the most out of your battery and motors.

Contrary to popular belief, I have observed that MAX comes to its own while driving on highways and open roads where you can maintain a constant power graph. The effects of regeneration are something you can ignore. The way I drive is to try and keep the Power bar as low and parallel to the Blue line. Also when accelerating there shouldn't be a spike, but a gentle slope till you reach the required acceleration.

I will detail how you can do that below:

1. Avoid manual acceleration as much as possible and use Cruise Control (CC). CC is your friend and I should really commend Tata for such a wonderful implementation of the CC in an EV.
2. If you ever need to brake or decelerate due to traffic or road conditions while on the CC, don't wait and immediately resume the CC once you are clear, and observe how gentle the power graph rises. This is how we should normally drive.
3. CC doesn't actually depend much on Regen, although I have seen that sometimes regen does happen. So don't disengage the CC in downhills as it will manage the speed on its own and try to keep the bar constant.
4. Keep any speed you want, I have been able to extract the same range even at 100kmph+ speeds. The major variable is how the stretch of that highway is, if there are a lot of uphill climbs, then the CC needs to add more power to maintain the speed and thus reduce the range.
5. Do not think too much about overtaking. Stick to your lane and let the CC do its job, but always be cautious and be prepared to brake. Don't worry, Max has one of the best Brake setups and you will slow down on a dime.
6. Night travel seems to reduce the range a little bit, although not too much due to the use of Headlights and High Beams.

Braking:

Just 2 points here,

• Use regen as much as possible. I feel for City Regen 2 is the best and for Highways regen doesn't matter as much.
• Be gentle on brakes, IVBAC does its job in recovering the energy and doesn't affect the feel of the brakes. I haven't had any issues in adjusting from the Sharp Hyundai brakes to the EV brakes.

Conclusion:

As you can see in the image below, I have set my AC at 22.5 degree Celsius which is more than the comfortable temperature and I was able to extract efficiency of 125 wh/km with 5 souls on board with 50:50 City and Highway driving, however, most of my driving is with just 2 and in highways where I can get even more range. I have tested this Theory on multiple roads, like Mysore-Bangalore, Bangalore - Hassan, and Bangalore - Doddaballapura highways and the result seems to be the same. Cruise control is your best friend.

I was able to see a range of 417km after charging to 100% (forgot to take the pic later). But I have never been able to extract 400 km+ range. So assume in highways 300 km+ is always possible and 350 km is totally possible if the Cruise Control is used on a good highway.

[PS: All of my ranges here have been with the AC on and I never switch it off. All the creature comforts like Wireless charging, Dashcam and Speakers are used as and when needed.]

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