Range - again

[PrudentOcean]

Yes, the Porsche engineers don’t like regen because it is inefficient — it’s the same reason they resist one pedal driving. You lose energy when you convert from stored electric charge into kinetic energy, and when you convert kinetic energy into stored electric charge.

Sponsored

 

[Barry41561]

I'm at 3400 miles, 4S, 20' Summer Michelins.
Averaging 3.4 miles / kWh, average speed of 32 MPH. As the weather has warmed up a bit, average for the past few hundred miles is between 3.7-4.0 miles /kWh.

 

[Petzi]

the german computer magazine c't has published an ev auto test in its latest issue ( https://www.heise.de/ct )
here are some interesting findings:

Tires:
Since everyday electric cars are almost always on efficiency tires, there is little to be gained in tire choice. You can reduce rolling resistance by increasing the air pressure. However, this will reduce grip. A tip: check the air pressure regularly and adjust it to the load.

The misunderstood recuperation
Most driving schools have been teaching the smoothest possible driving style for many decades, because fuel efficiency was on the curriculum in Germany early on. In other words, accelerate and brake as little as possible, or in driving school parlance: drive with foresight. People have learned this to varying degrees, but there is the idea that this does not apply to electric cars because the electric brake charges the battery ("recuperation"). But this is not true.

Let's assume two similar cars with an identical average speed. One vehicle moves at a constant speed, the other at varying speeds. It is probably already clear that the car traveling at a constant speed is the more efficient one. When driving unevenly, the losses accumulate: conversion losses in the converter during braking, battery losses during charging, increased driving resistance due to acceleration, everything twice, once for slowing down, once for speeding up. In addition, in order to achieve the same average in the overall calculation, you have to drive faster at the top, which consumes even more energy due to the higher air resistance. Although recuperation is always better than converting kinetic energy into pure waste heat through mechanical braking, the effects of recuperation are smaller than laypeople assume.

The ADAC measured the recuperation of electric cars in March 2024. During an almost ideal uphill and downhill drive on the Kesselberg, the cars achieved 35 to 50 percent energy recovery (net without battery losses); when driving in the WLTP cycle, the average was 22 percent of the energy used during acceleration. So keep in mind that you lose between 50 and 91 percent of the energy - despite recuperation.

Driving with the flow of technology
The overall efficiency of an electric car is made up of thousands of details. Today, every single control unit is optimized for energy efficiency - if only to reduce the load on the 12 V line and ensure the lowest quiescent currents. Customers have no influence on these things except through their choice of model. However, it is possible to ensure that they function optimally in detail.

It is probably clear to everyone that you can test whether something is missing in the driving profile in Eco mode. Less well known: If the car knows where the journey is going, it optimizes efficiency according to the route. For example, by anticipating recuperation before the next turn and adapting the driving style when driving over hills; navigation systems usually also work with topography data. To make use of this advantage, a destination must therefore be specified in the navigation system.

Car manufacturers therefore recommend activating route guidance even for known routes to the destination. This not only provides you with information on the traffic situation, but also optimizes efficiency. The ideal solution is to use cruise control with all driving aids over wide areas. It uses the data from the navigation system. However, many cars, especially German cars, have a function that slows down the cruise control when cornering. This is purely a convenience function, it costs efficiency. So if you have a good view of the bend, it is more efficient and usually easier on the nerves to deactivate it.

Conclusion
The greatest range factor by far is air resistance, which you can easily influence via the speed. The effects of high and low temperatures depend to a large extent on the location and equipment of the vehicle. A driving style that works with the car's technology rather than against it has a particularly strong effect. In this way, even the small optimizations made by the manufacturers have a cumulative effect. And as promised at the beginning: The vast majority of them also help combustion engines to become more efficient

 

[Cogs79]

I don't charge past 75% as I charge at home and barely use more than 3-6% when going back and forth to the office (I also charge there). With that said, now that the weather has improved, the car is estimating 476km at 75%. At 100% it theoretically means that I can get 634km in my mostly city and stop/go traffic driving, with an occasional sprint at 60-80km/h . That's...amazing! I have the 21" Macan Offroad wheels on Michelin Pilot Sport All Season (absolutely freakin' love these tires! Super quiet and incredibly smooth ride). I used about 2% charge to get to the office yesterday (19.0 km exactly), and the work charger showed that the car needed 2.2kW to charge back to 75%. Weather has been a beautiful 18-24 degrees C.

I drive very smoothly having 10+ years of Chevy Volt experience under my belt. I disabled regen which was tough at first as I was used to one-pedal driving on the Volt but I find that with regen disabled, I actually drive much smoother. I also used Innodrive when traffic was moving a bit and it also seems to be smooth with the throttle. Anyway, my example is mostly slow driving due to the traffic but I am really impressed with the efficiency. I once got 11.7 kWh/100km but I usually hover around 14.5kWh on my commute to work. I am in Montreal where speed limits are 70km/h on one section of the highway, and 100km/h but the potholes and horrible road condition acts like a natural speed limiter anyway .

Edit: For reference, I just passed the 2072km mark on the car since I got it mid-December last year.

 

[DTaxman]

I know everyone’s needs are different, but personally I’ve stopped worrying about my max range and average consumption. Turned off the widgets on my dash to give me efficiency feedback, regen impact, etc. I found it was impacting my enjoyment of just driving the vehicle. After the first couple weeks of range anxiety, I now think nothing about it. Got myself into a normal charging regiment — free EA charging session when I am out and about in certain areas, overnight home charging every couple weeks when needed. Again, totally understand everyone’s situation is different, but I love pushing this car when I need/want to without any self imposed efficiency guilt.

 

[sor]

I’ve run three different EVs now, with various wheels and tires on each, ranging from 190 to 270 miles of *usable* range, run them in winter, strong winds, air weather, and nothing has really made much of a difference in terms of when I charge or how many stops I make. I’ve learned not to sweat it, I’ll get the wheels I want and the car I want.

The things that *will* make an impact for my style of road tripping will be more stops and faster charging. The latter is where the Macan does well assuming the infrastructure is up for it.

 

[mlefebvre23]

Just turned my regen off yesterday cuz of this thread and today already had 15 more miles on the 80% charge. 4s, 22 spyders and without the regen feels like the thing would coast for days!

 

[wmras]

Just turned my regen off yesterday cuz of this thread and today already had 15 more miles on the 80% charge. 4s, 22 spyders and without the regen feels like the thing would coast for days!

I love auto regen - it is the most comfortable ride possible for passengers or yourself when you reduce the throttle, especially for rear passengers who may already be motion sensitive.

The good news is you never really turn off regen in the Macan. Unlike the Taycan, which has regen, auto regen, and no regen, the Macan only has regen and auto regen (on or off). In the Macan, "Regeneration Off" actually coasts without regen and then uses regen to track a vehicle in front of you if the vehicle is not driving as fast as you. It is great fun trailing someone while coasting down a mountain, but it tracks a little too close.

 

[Garylaw]

Wow, my average is 2.5 and yes i have regen on, so can always try disabling that. I genuinely drive very sedately 99% of the times

driving sedately 99% of the time, does that not defeat the purpose of actually buying the turbo?

 

[ColdCase]

.... the Macan, "Regeneration Off" actually coasts without regen and then uses regen to track a vehicle in front of you if the vehicle is not driving as fast as you. It is great fun trailing someone while coasting down a mountain, but it tracks a little too close.

Does it track too close even when the distance is set at the farthest level?

 

[dgkhn]

I show the below only to indicate that the search for range explanations is not simple. Both of the below are my Macan 4, standard 20" wheels and tires, auto regen on, similar driving patterns. The first set of graphs is from January, with temps below freezing, car garage-kept in a heated garage (about 45 degrees F in the garage). Second set is from May, temps in the 50s-70s F. Clearly a very big difference. Same driver, same settings, same driving location and pattern.

 

[Yves]

+ 500km of displayed range it used to be way less but it has creeped up over time and now on summer 20 inch Poten a tires, not the most efficient ones … getting more and more happy …
No regen, coasting, normal speed not overly racing but no slow poke normal driving with a mix of highway (2/3) 127km/h and 1/3 B roads 75km/h … speedometer so yo need to take off 5km

 

[Trevasann]

3 months owner of new Macan Turbo, warm weather arrived and still max range i have seen (on the display) is 255 and even that was with aircon off.

I’ve spend last two days doing a 30 mile round trip hardly pressing the accelerator to be super efficient and this is still the best I get. What am I missing folks. Is this just “real world” reality? Love, love, love the car, just was expecting range starting with a 3 in the summer.

I live in the desert. Last night when I charged to 80% I got 319 miles. Went to the gym which is 5 miles away and saw a 30m drop. Still it's the best range I've gotten since purchase last December. I have 3,200 miles on the car and range keeps getting better and I drive it like a Porsche should be driven and I don't try to limit consumption. Have noticed more miles used in higher elevations, Hang in there it gets better after a couple thousand miles.

 

[JerShanMan39]

I don't charge past 75% as I charge at home and barely use more than 3-6% when going back and forth to the office (I also charge there). With that said, now that the weather has improved, the car is estimating 476km at 75%. At 100% it theoretically means that I can get 634km in my mostly city and stop/go traffic driving, with an occasional sprint at 60-80km/h . That's...amazing! I have the 21" Macan Offroad wheels on Michelin Pilot Sport All Season (absolutely freakin' love these tires! Super quiet and incredibly smooth ride). I used about 2% charge to get to the office yesterday (19.0 km exactly), and the work charger showed that the car needed 2.2kW to charge back to 75%. Weather has been a beautiful 18-24 degrees C.

I drive very smoothly having 10+ years of Chevy Volt experience under my belt. I disabled regen which was tough at first as I was used to one-pedal driving on the Volt but I find that with regen disabled, I actually drive much smoother. I also used Innodrive when traffic was moving a bit and it also seems to be smooth with the throttle. Anyway, my example is mostly slow driving due to the traffic but I am really impressed with the efficiency. I once got 11.7 kWh/100km but I usually hover around 14.5kWh on my commute to work. I am in Montreal where speed limits are 70km/h on one section of the highway, and 100km/h but the potholes and horrible road condition acts like a natural speed limiter anyway .

Edit: For reference, I just passed the 2072km mark on the car since I got it mid-December last year.

Stupid question here...........how did you name your car "Night Fury"? Where is it that you can customize this?

 

[PrudentOcean]

Stupid question here...........how did you name your car "Night Fury"? Where is it that you can customize this?

In the My Porsche app, click on the icon in the upper right that shows a car parked in a garage, then click on the vehicle’s “More details” link, then the pencil next to the name.

Sponsored