Electric driving is a completely different experience. Done with sporty driving, keeping your eyes closed for anyone who overtakes you on the left on the highway, and above all, plan well and keep an eye on the range. But in the city center you may not have that much of a problem and an electric car is a real pleasure to drive. To avoid having to turn off everything on the highway on the way home, such as your air conditioning, heating or navigation display to save power, some preparation is necessary. After all, the family or locations you travel to for a visit are not all located next to a fast charger. So watch out!
range
In any case, never believe the range that car salesmen, manufacturers or the technical documentation would have you believe. If you want to use the BMW iX3, a real thoroughbred without emissions, in the cold winter days, there is no driving range of up to 461 km on the counter on the cold winter days, but only 278 km. This means that you cannot travel there and back from Eindhoven to Ghent or The Hague without having to plug in along the way. The maximum charging power is 150 kW, which means that you can top up about 100 kilometers in ten minutes when you are on the road fastned can visit and are willing to pay 0,69 EUR per kWh. If you don't, you will stand still for a long time to plug in and you have to plan well at the intermediate destination where a charging station is nearby.
driving green
The BMW iX3 rolls off the production line in Shenyang, China, where the joint venture BMW Brilliance Automotive has a factory. Energy is needed to make the battery for an electric car. This results in about 5.100 kilos of CO2 emissions. Nevertheless, even with those extra emissions included, an electric car is greener than a car that runs on diesel or petrol. You have the extra emissions for making the battery after 40.530 kilometers of driving (about 3,5 years). Rechargeable batteries can store less and less energy as they are used for a long time due to battery degradation. This also applies to the batteries in electric cars.
cobalt is the new gold
In the coming years solutions will have to be found for building batteries and extracting the necessary raw materials in sufficient mass. The battery contains raw materials such as lithium, graphite and cobalt. Lithium and graphite come from fairly developed countries. Cobalt usually comes from the African country of Congo. Some of the cobalt comes from illegal mines in Congo and is extracted from the ground by hand.
maximum driving range
Fast charging is possible at fast charging stations, often along the highway. You can then charge the battery from 30 percent to 40 percent full in 10 to 80 minutes. According to the website environmental center How long it lasts exactly depends on your car and the size of the battery. Above 80 percent, charging slows down. This is because more heat is released and the temperature of the battery rises. This causes the battery capacity to deteriorate faster.
Of course, for all models, the actual range depends on driving style, outside temperature, speed and environment. Many new Chinese brands often display at least as impressive numbers. The Xpeng P7, which is now for sale in Norway, would be 706 kilometers away. NIO states that you can easily reach 7 kilometers with the new ET1.000. According to Autoweek, the 'problem' with the numbers is that they come out of the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC). This is an outdated test method that gives results that are not very realistic in practice.
top ten maximum driving range (manufacturer's specification)
- Lucid Air Dream Edition: 837 kilometers (EPA)
- Mercedes-Benz EQS 450: 770 kilometers
- Mercedes-Benz EQE 350: 660 kilometers
- Tesla Model S Long Range: 652 kilometers
- BMW iX 50: 630 kilometers
- Tesla Model 3 Long Range: 614 kilometers
- Ford Mach-E RWD Extra Range: 610 kilometers
- BMW i4 40: 590 kilometers
- Volkswagen ID3 77kWh: 550 kilometers
- Skoda Enyaq iV 80: 537 kilometers
Also read: Fastned opens four fast charging stations in France