BYD Range and Range in general

I have done in excess of 15,000km so far in my BYD Atto3 extended range car. The distributer sells this car as having a range of 480km but this is far from reality in most cases and you would be naive to assume one figure would be accurate in all circumstances.

Factors affecting range vary greatly but it is fare to say some have a greater effect than others. Here are some of the main factors affecting range.

SOC - State of charge - obvious!

Battery health - most newer cars should still have reasonable health. Something to consider if buying 2nd hand.

Speed - up to around 60km/h and most resistance is friction with the road - best range if you could drive at this speed all day

Environmental factors such as head or tail winds, temperature of the air, road surface and possibly more.

Tyre pressure - if tyres are down even a few points this will increase tyre flex and consequently energy lost to heating up your tyres

Using A/C for heating or cooling - can use as much as 2 kW/hour extra energy depending upon external factors (NB ICE vehicles use wasted heat for heating)

Weight - yes more weight means more tyre flex etc. plus more energy used to accelerate and climb. EVs do recoup some of this energy upon braking and descending however.

For example my BYD regularly shows my 50km average usage to be around 12 kW/hr around the Central Coast where I live. This equates to a range of 500km. However when driving down the highway at 110km/hr my average drops to around 16-18kW/hr and would equate to a range of around 380km and even less if I have a head wind or am ascending etc.

To be conservative I have learned to assume 350km range. If I should get caught short then be prepared to drive slowly and conserve power until I reach a suitable charge point.

You may have heard of several acronyms referring to range such as NEDC and WLTP. You can look them up yourself for a more comprehensive explanation but essentially NEDC is more optimistic than WLTP and the EPA standard as used in the USA is even less optimistic, perhaps because they do more highway driving. In short and using my BYD as an example the 480km range as advertised would be the NEDC range. A more accurate range of 400-420 would be the WLTP range and if in the USA it would probably be 370km as the EPA range.

There are 2 EV mottos to live by...

1. Always charge if you can

2. The slower you go, the more range you will have

If you find yourself short then go slow or call the NRMA

Trevor