Just how bad is the range on the motorway (85x)? & Powerpass worth it?

[wassap]

Hey Folks,

I had a walk around a Enyaq 85 a few days ago, and after looking on the configurator, i quite fancy a Sportline Plus, it ticks quite a few boxes for me. It will be a company car chariot, so i will be public charging aswell as home charging.

I found the range calculator on the skoda website and that scared me away from not only the enyaq but EV's in general. That calculator suggests in winter on the motorway with normal driving, that range is ~160 miles. Is this really the case? I know its a SUV body and EV so the motorway isnt the cars best place.

Also, the powerpass subscription, looks like it gives discounted charging on ionity, would this be on high capacity chargers aswell?

Thanks in advance

[Ken3966]

My vRS is currently around 200m range at 100% charge. In summer the best I ever saw was 290m range during a long m’way type drive.
In summer I averaged 3.5m per kW, currently nearer 2.7, and likely to reduce further in really cold weather.
Owners in really cold weather are driving them at -35 at moment.

Don’t forget that an ice car also uses more fuel in winter, my realistic range with some in reserve in tdi Karoq was 400m!

Other cold weather advantages is that with 10 mins of preheating before you go using app remotely the car, seats and steering wheel are all nice and warm, windows clear etc.

How often would you drive more than 160m in a day anyway, and if you charge at home each night it costs about 2.5p a mile and you can save loads on other electric use by washing etc at night.

If you can’t charge cheap at home or free at your employer/ subsidised by reclaiming mileage, getting an EV is not a good idea as charging away from home is around 10 to 12 times as much or 25 to 30+ pence per mile, far more than an ice car.

[wassap]

I can charge at home fine, but a 2 of my journeys a month are 500miles round trip so i will need to use public charging, i only get back 9p mile for these journeys, so if the range is as low as 160 then im 'out of pocket'. The Bik saving makes up for this a little i guess.

Thanks for the info, will have to look into it a little more.

[Goaty]

Hi,

Just a quick couple of comments based on my experience for 2 years in an 80:

At 70 mph in a UK Winter, with the heater on 21C and A/C permanently on to keep the windows clear of mist, I’d get well over 230 miles of motorway range. In the summer, probably around 290 miles. If you’re hard with acceleration and speed, this will drop.

PowerPass: I was paying around £120 / year for the PowerPass reduced rates at Ionity, which meant I was paying around 29 pence per kWh instead of 69 pence. This expired last November and I haven’t renewed as I’m about to lose the car (changed company). I’m not sure what the current reduced rates at Ionity are but I found I broke even after maybe 4 or 5 charges, as the reduced rate was around £30 less per full charge, than the non PowerPass rate would have given me. Easily worth it for me

[Dad]

I think the lower range in winter is reasonably well understood now however if you drive at above 70 (on a private road obviously ) then the range will significantly drop whatever the weather. I don’t think this is well known or explained to people looking to move to an EV. Range is significantly lower when driving at say 80mph +.

[Dad]

Just to add… so your overall journey time on a long trip can be significantly longer than an ICE car because you tend to drive slower and have to stop for leccie. It’s a double whammy. If you are used to leisurely driving then it doesn’t really matter I guess.

[Ken3966]

I think the lower range in winter is reasonably well understood now however if you drive at above 70 (on a private road obviously ) then the range will significantly drop whatever the weather. I don’t think this is well known or explained to people looking to move to an EV. Range is significantly lower when driving at say 80mph +.

It’s much worse fuel consumption in an ice car as well, however people still do it! Isn’t optimum speed about 56mph as best compromise between time taken and fuel used.
If you are doing a 120m trip and could average 60 it would take 2 hours, at 75 average it would save you only 24 minutes and could well cost you a fine and points!

[wassap]

Thanks for the info everyone, decent range in winter is not out of the question

[RichR]

Remember that you're recommended to take a break from driving every two hours (and once you get to a certain age, your bladder tells you that you ought to take a break about that often too) - so that's 140 miles at motorway speeds. So really you're planning to stop and add some charge (doesn't have to be a 100% charge) every 140 miles or so. Yes, I have managed over 300 miles in my 80 Sportline on the motorway (in the summer) without a charge, but I still stopped every 150 miles or so. I regularly drive from North Yorkshire to Cornwall and have never had to worry that I'm even close to running out of charge. I might have chosen to slow down a little to eke out a little bit more to get to a place I can charge that has nicer food or a faster charger, but even then I've had 30-40 miles of range remaining so could get to somewhere I can charge even if it wasn't as ideal.

When you charge at a 100kW+ charger, you'll add enough to do the next 150 miles in the time it takes you to walk to the services, go to the loo and get a cup of tea, then walk back to the car most of the time. So it's not as if you're waiting for the car to charge that much.

So yeah - don't worry about winter range, it's not really an issue as you'll easily be able to do 2-3 hours worth of driving even in the coldest and wettest of conditions (don't forget that wet roads sap economy on all cars too).

[XAPBob]

Got just over 3m/kWh at 70 over 600 miles after Christmas.
Some really nasty weather over the first 300, and less bad on the other 300 - but I was just sat at 70mph cruise control.

I'll try a little less excess speed next time.