Illustration by Glenn Harvey
When I was shopping for an electric vehicle in 2021, I was given the choice between a car with an average-sized battery or the same car with a bigger battery. I scratched my head over that one for a while, and then went with my gut: Go with the cheaper option.
No regrets here, and not only because I saved a bundle of money. An EV with a modest range is perfect for my lifestyle, and I expect suitable for many other drivers, too.
My Hyundai Ioniq 5 has an estimated range of 354 kilometres. That’s based on the 2023 version; mine is the 2022 model, but essentially the same thing. The version I turned down has an extended range of 488 km. So, I saved about $4,000, but lost out on 134 km of range.
Sure, there are days when I’d like to go farther on a charge, especially when driving long distances in places where charging options are limited, such as Nova Scotia. But there are many more days – I estimate about 95 per cent of my driving experience – when I have more than enough battery capacity for my needs. My vehicle’s range is wasted on me.
This may be an unpopular opinion: Many EV owners aren’t satisfied with the range of their vehicles, according to ownership surveys by J.D. Power.
“Range satisfaction is not particularly good. There is still a lot of room for improvement before battery ranges sufficiently meet owners’ expectations,” Brent Gruber, J.D. Power’s executive director of electric vehicle production, said in an e-mail.
But hear me out. Statistics Canada reports that the average commuting distance for 93 per cent of car commuters is just 8 km each way. Even those few drivers with longer commutes travel an average distance of 40 km each way, which is still easily handled by most EVs.
Yet, range continues to dominate discussions about EVs, with longer range generally viewed as better.
A vehicle’s stated range is the estimated distance it can travel on a full charge under good conditions. In my experience, these estimates are based on flat terrain, warm temperatures, dry roads and travelling at speeds below 70 km/h.
Charging options can be spotty in some places, particularly along lonely roads, which is why the instinct to buy an EV with the best possible range is understandable. Nothing eases range anxiety – the persistent fear of your battery dying on you mid-trip – like a big battery.
Auto manufacturers are trying to satisfy the desire for longer range, especially as battery prices decline. Lucid, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Tesla all offer vehicles with ranges above 550 km, according to road-testing in California by Edmunds, the car guide.
But large batteries come with downsides. They cost more than smaller batteries. They weigh more, which drags down a vehicle’s efficiency. And large batteries require longer charging times than smaller batteries, all else being equal. So you might charge less frequently with a large battery, but end up spending the same amount of time plugged in over the course of a week.
More importantly, how much of that range do you really need?
For a family’s second car, perhaps used for daily commutes but not long adventures, shorter range might be ideal. If you can install your own charger at home, even better, because you can charge your vehicle overnight whenever you want. A charger at work would allow you the same freedom.
Even as a primary vehicle, a shorter-range EV could work if you don’t do much long-distance driving – or you don’t mind charging more frequently.
Peter Rawlinson, Lucid Group Inc.’s chief executive officer, told The Wall Street Journal recently that EVs of the future might only require a range of 150 miles (240 km) with better charging infrastructure – and that’s from a guy whose company is currently offering a vehicle with spectacular range in excess of 800 km.
The Mini Cooper SE is an example of an EV that has already tapped into this smaller-battery future. With an estimated range of 183 km, it might not appeal to road warriors, but the Mini wasn’t designed for carrying canoes or hauling motor boats either.
“The size of the battery and its range are in line with, and exceed, the typical use cases of a city car, while retaining the small footprint that Mini Cooper 3-door customers desire,” Jean-François Taylor, a spokesperson with BMW Group Canada, told me in an e-mail.
One tip: An EV’s estimated range is only the starting point for assessing its actual usable range. For the real world, multiply the estimate by 60 per cent.
That’s because a vehicle’s estimated range assumes you’ve charged your battery to 100 per cent and driven it down to zero. That’s not healthy for a battery over the long-term, and getting to zero could leave you stranded.
Instead, assume that you are charging the battery to 80 per cent most days, and driving down to 20 per cent before recharging – for a usable range of 60 per cent.
In my case, that gives me a range of at least 200 km, which is more than enough for the vast majority of my driving in and around Toronto. For me, 95 per cent of the time, a larger battery is a wasted battery.