MikeBoxwell
Well-known member
I'm driving a Mitsubishi iMiEV as my main car at the moment. Like the Nissan LEAF, this has a claimed range of 100 miles. In reality, this equates to a real world range of around 75 miles if I'm driving carefully - i.e. top speed of around 60mph and gentle acceleration. This can drop to nearer 50 miles if I'm driving like a lunatic.
Me? Drive like a lunatic? Surely not, officer...
In the winter when it gets really cold, the range does suffer. The coldest it got for me last winter was -4°F (-20°c) and the range dropped to around 50-55 miles when driven carefully and down as low as 28 miles when driven harder.
That said, the Mitsubishi iMiEV is not the same car as the LEAF. The range on my G-Wiz drops only by around 6-10 miles in really cold weather, but that is because it has a pretty efficient battery heating system built in.
When discussing range, I normally recommend that people work out how many miles they usually drive in a day and then double it. The figure they get is the minimum range of electric car they should buy. So if you're usual daily drive is 50 miles, buy an electric car with a 100 mile range. If your usual daily drive is 20 miles, you need a 40 mile minimum range on your electric car.
That way, you've got enough range in hand for the occasional emergency, for the odd diversion and for the time you just plain forgot to plug the car in (and yes, that does happen). It also means you never have to worry about range. Simple.
Me? Drive like a lunatic? Surely not, officer...
In the winter when it gets really cold, the range does suffer. The coldest it got for me last winter was -4°F (-20°c) and the range dropped to around 50-55 miles when driven carefully and down as low as 28 miles when driven harder.
That said, the Mitsubishi iMiEV is not the same car as the LEAF. The range on my G-Wiz drops only by around 6-10 miles in really cold weather, but that is because it has a pretty efficient battery heating system built in.
When discussing range, I normally recommend that people work out how many miles they usually drive in a day and then double it. The figure they get is the minimum range of electric car they should buy. So if you're usual daily drive is 50 miles, buy an electric car with a 100 mile range. If your usual daily drive is 20 miles, you need a 40 mile minimum range on your electric car.
That way, you've got enough range in hand for the occasional emergency, for the odd diversion and for the time you just plain forgot to plug the car in (and yes, that does happen). It also means you never have to worry about range. Simple.