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EV needs 13 freezing hours to get 650 km with 3 charging stops and no heater

VW E-up! Electric Vehicle

VW e-Up                                | Photo by M 93

A German car reporter bought a new VW e-Up car in Wolfsburg and drove the 650 km to Munich. But the weather was freezing and to get further on each charge Lisa Brack kept the heating off most of the time. She still needed three charging stops and took 13 hours to get home.

Gosselin said that a diesel car would usually finish that trip in seven hours without a fuel stop (and with a heater running).

13 hours of driving and charging

 The subfreezing weather was a  major drawback for the VW e-car. According to the kreiszeitung.de, “the heating stayed off for almost the entire journey in freezing temperature” in order not to draw down the battery so quickly. This meant that to survive the trip, Brack had to take along a generous supply of “hats, scarves, gloves and generally warm clothing”…

According to the kreiszeitung.de, she made the crucial mistake of charging up too seldom and wasted much time charging the batteries to 100% instead of 80% (the last 20% take the longest). “Charge faster, accept a little less range and charge again earlier – but again faster.”

“One more charge alone would have saved 1.5 hours,” she commented.

So with better planning  she only needed an extra 4.5 hours. Imagine if she’d had passengers and suitcases and her EV was 10 years old?

h/t Jim Simpson

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