The average range of electric cars (Ev cars) depends primarily on two factors – #1. the kWh capacity of the battery pack and #2. the gross weight of the car. Once you know these 2 common factors, you can easily conclude the EV car average and give an accurate figure to others.
In addition to battery capacity and the weight of the EV car, there are some other factors that might affect an electric car average and these factors are:
- Vehicle’s present condition,
- Battery’s age, (how old is it now?)
- Weather condition,
- Road infrastructure, and
- Charging percentage
I’m going to provide details based on a new vehicle, where the weather conditions are fair ( between 22 to 36 degrees Celsius), and the road infrastructure is okay. This indicates that the car is new and now how much range you will get in it. So dive now below to know more about EV car average:
In India, a typical hatchback EV car having 19 kWh battery capacity can provide a range of 180-190 kilometers on a single full charge on Indian roads. An EV having double the battery capacity i.e. around 38 kWh, can deliver 360-370 kilometers on a single charge.
So, if you go with a rough idea, then you can conclude that an EV car with battery pack of 24-30 kWh; will generally provide 240-300 kilometers of range on full charge.
Below we have some entry level EV car models from Tata, Citroen, and MG. Check their average:
- MG comet EV comes with 17.2 kWh battery pack and delivers a range of 180-190 km (the car is light in weight and compact).
- Tata Tiago EV comes with a 19.2 kWh battery pack and provides a range of 180-190 km per charge.
- Tiago Long Ranger version with a 24 kWh battery pack can reach 260-270 km on a single full charge.
- The Citroen eC3 EV has a 29 kWh battery pack and a range of 260-290 km.
- Tata Nexon EV with 40 kWh battery pack offers range of 390-400 km (consider heavy in weight and SUV type look)
If you check EV car brochures, you’ll see the range is higher. But friends, in real environment these claims fail and you get an average of 15% less than the company claims. So in the case of Tiago EV, where the company claims it has a range of 215 km, it gives a range of 170-180 km.
So do we have a formula to calculate the Ev car average in real environment (on road average of EV car)?
Well, there is no such formula, but based on the analysis you can calculate a fair average. This will give a some idea, how much average your EV car will give on full charge.
- 1 kWh battery capacity means you will get a range of ~13 km
- 24 kWh battery capacity means you will get a range of ~312 km
- Lab tested range or company claimed range is 312-315 km
But wait guys, the above range is lab tested range (no extra weight, no air resistance, no breaks, no luggage, no uneven road, no use of AC etc.) Hence; in the real world, this claimed range gets fail and you get 15% less average. So to calculate accurate Ev car average use the below given formula.
- Lab Tested EV Car Range: 315 km
- Range loss in Real World (%) : 15% (it is around 15-17%, but we take an avg of 15%)
- Real World EV car Range: 315 x (100-15) / 100 = ~268 km
Note: an Ev car average is 10 km/kWh in real world, while in lab test EV average is 13 km/kWh.
Compared to petrol vehicles, EVs offer superior fuel efficiency. The per kilometer operating cost of an EV car is only ₹1-2, much lower than a petrol car. I’ve covered per km cost of EV car in previous articles, so I encourage you to read those for more details. But in general, EVs provide better range efficiency and lower operating costs than petrol vehicles.
I hope this provides a helpful overview explaining how the driving range of electric cars depends on battery size and vehicle weight.
Let me know if you have any other questions! I’m happy to discuss this topic further. Please share this article on social media if you found it informative. Your support helps me reach more readers.
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