One other thing to mention is something I've brought up before. In a gas car you just drive. There's little concern over gas mileage as you drive and little or no real-time feedback on how your driving affects mileage. Who cares? There are gas stations everywhere.
That's the mentality we develop and sustain over our entire driving experience. And it can lead to some bad habits that are not evident in a gas car. Some people are extremely smooth and gentle with the throttle. (Surprisingly, race drivers top this list - precise throttle control is absolutely crucial to competitive lap times.) Others do all sorts of things that they can get away with in a gas car, but will limit range in an EV. Just one example is the pulse-and-coast technique, where the driver rarely holds the throttle steady. They are constantly poking and releasing the pedal to maintain their desired average speed. Another is not looking ahead, like continuing at speed when you can see you've got a red light ahead.
This is not to say these people are bad drivers, only that their technique didn't matter before.
Now it does. EVs are FAR more efficient than ICEVs (putting to use approximately 4X more of the energy available to them), so inefficient driving shows up far more. Fortunately, most EVs provide feedback that is extremely helpful. In the Ioniq 5 it's called the Power/Charge Gauge:
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Watch this gauge as you drive, play with the throttle a bit and you'll see that frequently you're using more throttle - and energy - than you need for prevailing conditions. For most of us, just this awareness of our influence on the machine as it does our bidding will increase our engagement in the process. For those of us willing to do a little adaptation, it's generally not long before range increases, and it feels perfectly natural to drive in that manner.
If you're afraid this will turn you into one of those hyper-miling lunatics that disrupt traffic, rest easy - efficient driving can be perfectly normal. For example, have no fear about mashing the throttle to the floor to squirt into a lane opening if that's what you need to do. Yes, the power meter will shoot to maximum, but only briefly. Short bursts are inconsequential. Energy-wise, actions like that are like a drop in a relatively large bucket.
Also, there's a tendency for EV noobs to go nuts with regen. It's good to use it instead of brakes as much as possible, but with both brakes and regen, using them is a loss of energy. With braking that's obvious, because the energy you used to get up to speed gets burned off as heat. But even with regen you loose energy - yes, you put some of it back in the battery, but every energy conversion has losses. Better to not have to scrub off speed in the first place, which leads to doing a better job of looking and thinking ahead.
For some all this will seem tedious, like going back to school. Not to worry - when you're in the mood, pay attention to this stuff as a diversion or a game. You'll likely find it will become habit over time.
That's the mentality we develop and sustain over our entire driving experience. And it can lead to some bad habits that are not evident in a gas car. Some people are extremely smooth and gentle with the throttle. (Surprisingly, race drivers top this list - precise throttle control is absolutely crucial to competitive lap times.) Others do all sorts of things that they can get away with in a gas car, but will limit range in an EV. Just one example is the pulse-and-coast technique, where the driver rarely holds the throttle steady. They are constantly poking and releasing the pedal to maintain their desired average speed. Another is not looking ahead, like continuing at speed when you can see you've got a red light ahead.
This is not to say these people are bad drivers, only that their technique didn't matter before.
Now it does. EVs are FAR more efficient than ICEVs (putting to use approximately 4X more of the energy available to them), so inefficient driving shows up far more. Fortunately, most EVs provide feedback that is extremely helpful. In the Ioniq 5 it's called the Power/Charge Gauge:
Watch this gauge as you drive, play with the throttle a bit and you'll see that frequently you're using more throttle - and energy - than you need for prevailing conditions. For most of us, just this awareness of our influence on the machine as it does our bidding will increase our engagement in the process. For those of us willing to do a little adaptation, it's generally not long before range increases, and it feels perfectly natural to drive in that manner.
If you're afraid this will turn you into one of those hyper-miling lunatics that disrupt traffic, rest easy - efficient driving can be perfectly normal. For example, have no fear about mashing the throttle to the floor to squirt into a lane opening if that's what you need to do. Yes, the power meter will shoot to maximum, but only briefly. Short bursts are inconsequential. Energy-wise, actions like that are like a drop in a relatively large bucket.
Also, there's a tendency for EV noobs to go nuts with regen. It's good to use it instead of brakes as much as possible, but with both brakes and regen, using them is a loss of energy. With braking that's obvious, because the energy you used to get up to speed gets burned off as heat. But even with regen you loose energy - yes, you put some of it back in the battery, but every energy conversion has losses. Better to not have to scrub off speed in the first place, which leads to doing a better job of looking and thinking ahead.
For some all this will seem tedious, like going back to school. Not to worry - when you're in the mood, pay attention to this stuff as a diversion or a game. You'll likely find it will become habit over time.
