This morning I had the opportunity to test drive a KIA Soul EV. It was a spur of the moment thing and I only had about three hours to get to Romford and back. I was keen to get there by 10am but wasn't ready to set off until about 9:10. I decided to take the quickest route which took me on the M25 and down the M11, 37 miles with most of it at 70-80mph.
I got to the dealership with 17% charge and only an hour at most to charge before having to head home. After the test drive I was having a chat with the guy who keeps all the cars clean on the forecourt. He was fascinated by my Zero and kindly gave the headlight a wipe. Whilst we were talking the charge indicator ticked over to 29%...
Needless to say, I didn't take the same route home! Thankfully I've discovered that using the shortest route on the Sat Nav is a great 'get out of jail free' card. The shortest route home was 26 miles and I made it with 3% charge left. It took about twice as long as the outbound trip, my wife was miffed, but I enjoyed the ride.
The most important part is that I wasn't, not for one moment, anxious about getting home. I would have been bothered if I couldn't have plugged in at the dealership, but I had asked on the phone before I left.
The knowledge that I could charge for an hour probably encouraged me to go faster than I should have on the motorway. If I'd been sensible I could have easily found a route that was shorter and a little slower which would have got me there with at least 50% charge. The same route home would probably have been a little quicker overall, but I was in a hurry to get there for 10.
I don't think I've really suffered with range anxiety at all with my Zero. I've learnt another lesson today about range and motorway riding; don't underestimate how quickly the battery will drain at constant high speed. However, even arriving with only 17% didn't bother me. I know I can rely on the State of Charge my bike reports. I also know that at low speeds I can get one mile for every percent of charge. It's easy to make that figure jump to one mile to two percent by riding in a spirited way with more time spent above 50mph. Constant speeds of 75 and above take the ratio a little over 1:2. On my DS I can't really average more than 75mph due to motor temp. If I'm careful, I can manage around ten miles or so at 80. Over 80 the motor temp just goes up too quickly.
In summary, this is great news for any readers that still worry about getting range anxiety. You'll get a good idea of the range you can rely on for mixed and spirited riding, for me it's 65 miles. However, it's great to know that you can easily extend your range by slowing down a little. You're effectively carrying a big reserve you can rely on if you have miscalculated: slow down and find the back route! :-)
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Topic: A good range anxiety story. (Read 827 times)