It may be a conceit, but I believe I have a reasonable idea on how to get good mpg from an ICE vehicle, especially around our urban environment and without breaking laws.

I don't hyper-mile or drive slowly or do anything to annoy other drivers, I just allow a couple of extra metres and anticipate traffic conditions.

I'm also aware that there is a difference in best economy and best efficiency of an ICE engine.

I've got no real experience with EVs other than the occasional drive, but I am interested in them and read/view the reviews of any potential future purchase.

The reviews annoy me as they often make illogical claims regarding consumption rates. For instance, there is often the statement that highway consumption is compromised because 'they don't get the opportunity to execute regen braking like they do in urban stop/start traffic'.

Sure, regen braking will make some difference (recovering energy rather than wasting it with friction brakes), but surely the biggest influence is speed and overcoming the total drag (frontal area x drag coefficient) which increases fourfold when you double the speed.

Open highway and on our rigorously policed speed limits I'm happy to average 100kph (100/110 kph speed limits) around my urban areas I am lucky to average 30kph (40/50/60 kph speed limits) out of peak traffic.

Can anyone provide an idea of kw consumption is shown at various constant speeds? say 20/30/40 increments to 110 and I don't care if it is kph or mph.

Can you confirm that you are better off using low regen and maintaining a steady speed rather than heavy regen braking?

Similarly, can you coast (no regen, no current used) in an EV? Is it more economical to coast than using light regenerative braking?

Be interested to hear informed opinions.

Edited 5 July5 Jul by Gerrycan

Well I'll give it a shot. 5 years / 70k miles in EVs, mainly VAG products.

33 minutes ago, Gerrycan said:

The reviews annoy me as they often make illogical claims regarding consumption rates. For instance, there is often the statement that highway consumption is compromised because 'they don't get the opportunity to execute regen braking like they do in urban stop/start traffic'.

This is a fallacy in general as you point out. When driving in urban stop/start EVs will often perform better than comparable ICE in terms of efficiency, due mainly to the regen from constant braking but on the open road not so much. This is another pro in the urban EV argument.

36 minutes ago, Gerrycan said:

Can anyone provide an idea of kw consumption is shown at various constant speeds? say 20/30/40 increments to 110 and I don't care if it is kph or mph.

For me, 50mph in my ID.3 will give around 4.8 miles / kWh. In my previous ID.4 this would have been 4.1 for the reasons you give (weight & frontal area). Note the most recent ID.4 models have a more efficient motor than mine did and will give better economy.On the motorway I cruise at 65mph and get 4.2 from the ID.3 and 3.8 from the old ID.4.

42 minutes ago, Gerrycan said:

Can you confirm that you are better off using low regen and maintaining a steady speed rather than heavy regen braking?

Yes in my experience you are. I use heavy regen for downhill sections like you would change down and use engine braking on ICE vehicles.

43 minutes ago, Gerrycan said:

Similarly, can you coast (no regen, no current used) in an EV? Is it more economical to coast than using light regenerative braking?

Yes indeed. Many EVs have coast as default. VAG cars have an 'intelligent' drive mode where the car coasts for as long as possible then regens to slow you down for roundabouts etc. It relies on the sat-nav data to know about bends, junctions etc. and the ACC to look out for obstacles in front.

Driving an EV economically is not witchcraft, but uses the same principles as you would in ICE. Speed above 60-65 really impacts consumption IME.

Edited 5 July5 Jul by Luckypants

5 hours ago, Gerrycan said:

It may be a conceit, but I believe I have a reasonable idea on how to get good mpg from an ICE vehicle, especially around our urban environment and without breaking laws.

I don't hyper-mile or drive slowly or do anything to annoy other drivers, I just allow a couple of extra metres and anticipate traffic conditions.

I'm also aware that there is a difference in best economy and best efficiency of an ICE engine.

I've got no real experience with EVs other than the occasional drive, but I am interested in them and read/view the reviews of any potential future purchase.

The reviews annoy me as they often make illogical claims regarding consumption rates. For instance, there is often the statement that highway consumption is compromised because 'they don't get the opportunity to execute regen braking like they do in urban stop/start traffic'.

Sure, regen braking will make some difference (recovering energy rather than wasting it with friction brakes), but surely the biggest influence is speed and overcoming the total drag (frontal area x drag coefficient) which increases fourfold when you double the speed.

Open highway and on our rigorously policed speed limits I'm happy to average 100kph (100/110 kph speed limits) around my urban areas I am lucky to average 30kph (40/50/60 kph speed limits) out of peak traffic.

Can anyone provide an idea of kw consumption is shown at various constant speeds? say 20/30/40 increments to 110 and I don't care if it is kph or mph.

Can you confirm that you are better off using low regen and maintaining a steady speed rather than heavy regen braking?

Similarly, can you coast (no regen, no current used) in an EV? Is it more economical to coast than using light regenerative braking?

Be interested to hear informed opinions.

Bjorn Nyland and Batterylife Youtubers do lots of this testing and publishing all the way up to genuine 130 kph. Most EVs not good at speed limit motorway speeds as they are tallish due to the battery pack beneath the floor. Those who need to do such long journeys at speed tend to go for TESLAs, Polestars, some Mercs and increasingly BYD models. Happy with our 5, Mini and Scenic.

In the Scenic most of my braking is with paddles which can set level of regen. On motorway I put it in level 0 which is freewheel when no power being applied.

Edited 5 July5 Jul by lol-lol

I'm a double interloper here as I no longer drive a Skoda and also drive a PHEV not an EV! My PHEV being a Seat Leon with the 1.5 engine/powertrain which I believe is similar to the one in the latest Superbs etc.
My old diesel Octavia would get pretty near to the "official" consumption figures over a long run at steady speed (70mph) on fast roads (motorways in the UK).

However I believe EVs are less good at matching official figures on motorways.

I think this is because, during the official test cycles, and thinking about the total energy used across the cycle, compared to my old diesel, an EV uses a lower % of that total energy during the urban parts of the test cycle, due to regen, and therefore a higher % of the total energy over the faster roads.
Whereas my old Octavia had no regen capability so would have used a relatively higher % of the total energy over the urban section, and a lower % on motorways. This meant it was easier to get near to official figures on a long motorway run in my old diesel than it would be for an EV.

One other thing which my PHEV does (and I imagine EVs do) is use regen braking to reduce speed, for instance if you have cruise control set on a road with downhill sections.

This can be very useful but every time you use regen braking there's still some energy loss. So over a road which gently goes up and down a few times, you pay a price for holding that speed as it applies power then regens with every energy conversion losing some energy.

For that type of road I prefer to coast in intelligent automatic regen mode as mentioned above (interestingly I don't have ACC but it still slows me down when following a vehicle in front).

Various BEV,s drive totally different. Some require virtually no touching of the brakes and there are variouis types of using regen braking and degrees of regen braking. Easy to use Shif-ters, paddles or switches are best to use just like dropping a gear IMO. Motorway speeds as in 70 mph can achieve good efficiency dependent on weather conditions and ambient temps and maybe using no or little regen braking. It is very much about which BEV it is and how simple or complex. Sometimes just driving and putting in D and getting a move on is far more efficient than over thinking and messing about. ie driving with passengers, watch the road but not thinking too much.

Edited 7 July7 Jul by Evolution13