Norwegian road assistance company NAF has completed the world’s longest EV range test. The company tested 29 of Norway’s most popular EVs. They tested the actual range in the summer, what happens when EVs go into power-saving mode, and how they charge in heat degrees.
The Tesla Model Y Performance has received its official range and efficiency rating from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Its range is 315 miles on a full charge, and it is officially the most efficient crossover SUV in the US based on the agency’s fuel economy formula for MPGe (miles per gallon equivalency).
Legacy automakers have had some documented issues selling electric cars. In 2017, Sierra Club issued a report on EV shopping and found that Tesla stores provided a far more positive experience compared to Big Auto’s franchise dealerships. In 2018, another report in Nature found that “dismissive and deceptive car dealerships create barriers to electric vehicle adoption.”
One of the many reasons we love electric vehicles (EV) is, presumably, because we love efficiency. Compared to the woefully pushy, but highly asthmatic, internal combustion engine (ICE), the electric motor “suffers” from the opposite problem — it’s too darn efficient. In fact, it’s so efficient that it needs to tune down. A gasoline engine requires better airflow, less friction, again and again just to make it 40% efficient (and only within a restricted RPM range) whereas an electric motor is easily 85% efficient. Must we go on? Jaguar just showed how efficient the electric drivetrain is.
In the coming months, with some timing and volume variations by region, you will be able to choose from many affordable, generous range, compelling, and all-around-capable EVs that are coming on to the market. Whilst the Tesla Model 3 Standard Range is arguably the most keenly anticipated of the bunch, all of these EVs are great cars, much better than any fossil fuel vehicle (FFV) equivalent.
Road trips are the final frontier for electric cars to totally outshine combustion-engine vehicles (gas/diesel cars). Already clearly a better technology than combustion vehicles in every other respect, of all the electric cars currently on the market, only Tesla so far provides truly compelling road trip ready offerings. This is an area that other carmakers need to pay much more attention to if they have a hope of ever competing with Tesla’s stratospheric demand and world-leading EV sales volume.
