TS4U & Thomas Nagy push EV to its limit!
Practicality of EV’s in the real world
We organised this challenge to highlight that Electric Vehicles are now a viable option for most people’s lifestyle. According to data from the Department for Transport on every MOT test in Britain, the average distance a car covers annually is now just 7,712 miles and falling year on year. That’s an average of 22 miles a day, which even the shortest-range electric vehicles on sale can easily quadruple on a full charge. The official National Travel Survey (NTS), published last year, revealed that the average person in England now only takes 594 trips by car a year, compared with 678 in 2002.
Fewer trips and fewer miles driven
But why UK drivers are taking fewer trips and driving fewer miles is not clear, although there are a number of potential factors. Rising fuel costs are a likely cause, with prices surging from under 105p at the end of December 2015 to 120p in 2017. Last year they broke through the 130p level but have since fallen back to their current average of 122p for a litre of unleaded. Business mileage has also fallen significantly as the tax regime has cut the number of company cars, but cheap Uber taxi rides, and fewer visits to the high street as a result of online shopping may be having an impact on car-usage patterns.
Do Electric Vehicles live up to manufacturers claims?
Starting the journey on the M23, Nagy began with the manufacturer stated 153 mile range, though this initially increased to an extremely optimistic 198 miles. However, stop start traffic on the way out of Crawley meant this began to drop faster than expected. Average speed limits on the M23 began to claw back some range, with steady 50MPH driving ideal for electric vehicles. At junction 17 of the M25 with 93 miles to go, the car had 100 miles of range left in the battery and the outcome of the challenge could have gone either way.
Changing opinions on Electric Vehicles
Speaking to Fix Radio (a station dedicated to tradespeople), who kept in contact throughout the challenge, Nagy said: “If you were driving this with a very gentle right foot and trying to do an economy drive, I’m pretty sure you could get quite a bit more out of it. We made it with normal driving, it’s altered my opinion on [electric cars].”
Categories: Electric Vehicles