Go further, for longer: How to get the most out of your EV battery

Volvo’s latest electric vehicles are capable of up to 500kms in range from a single charge. That’s more than double the average weekly kilometres travelled in Australia, according to ABS data (12,100kms a year equates to 233kms a week). But achieving maximum range does depend on a few factors – and there are some easy ways to get the most out of EV batteries to go further, for longer.

Firstly, driving style. As with combustion engine vehicles, if the pedal is to the metal you will use more energy. Smooth driving at lower speeds will deliver the best efficiency. So think ‘what would a (good) taxi driver do?’

Weather conditions – cold weather in particular – can also affect battery range due to the impact of temperature on the battery’s chemistry. Luckily Australia generally doesn’t get very cold compared to other parts of the world. But when the mercury drops, remember that heated seats and heated steering wheels use less energy than the heater.

On the flip-side Australia certainly does get hot – and it is worth pre-conditioning the car during charging via the Volvo app so it’s already at a comfortable temperature before you start to drive. This will save the battery a little bit of work and add extra kilometres of range every time.

How you charge also impacts range over time. Very fast DC chargers – or ‘ultra rapids’ in industry parlance – get a lot of power into the battery very quickly and so are great for charging on the go. But slower charging speeds minimise risk of long-term battery degradation, which is why Volvo Cars recommends AC charging the battery up to 80-90 per cent capacity for typical daily driving and ideally not letting it fall below 20 per cent too often. (More detail here.)

Most manufacturers recommend not charging much beyond 80 per cent on the fast DC chargers either – but that’s partially a timing issue: The way battery chemistry and physics work mean that it can take about the same time to charge from 20-80 per cent via a DC charger as it does to get that last 20 per cent, because the DC charger slows down to avoid overcharging and damaging the battery. So it’s more time-efficient to get an 80 per cent high-speed charge on long journeys – and then take a break and do the same again a few hundred kilometres down the track.

**Pedal power**

There’s also another way to put more kilometres in the battery: Driving via the ‘one pedal’ option – and it can make a big difference, up to 20 per cent, according to RACV.

It takes a little getting used to, but essentially one pedal driving means using the accelerator pedal to both speed up and slow down, which allows regenerative braking to kick-in.

In combustion engine cars, braking energy is converted to heat and lost. But in EVs it can be fed back into the battery – as the motor acts like an electric generator – and for city driving, with a lot of stopping and starting, all that braking energy quickly adds up.

All of Volvo Car Australia’s fully electric models come with one pedal driving as standard (don’t worry, you still get a brake pedal), which means more power, less waste, reduced brake wear – and longer distances between charging.

Find out more about Volvo Car Australia’s fully electric range here, or contact your local retailer.