chill's Journal: EV Real World Mileage

I'm a little over 40 days in with my new Hyundai Ioniq 6 and wanted to share some of my experiences in driving an EV as well as charging. To put things in perspective, I live in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, which means there are no long areas of flat road at all. Everything is hilly with my house being at 660 ft elevation, but the nearest shopping center is at 450 ft and 5 miles away, with a bunch of up-and-down in between.

The official EPA fuel economy estimate for my car is 103 MPGe combined city/highyway with a rated range of 270 miles on a full battery. That works out to 33 kWh per 100 miles, according to the window sticker, or a calculated 3.0 miles per kWh. That's the full EPA estimate.

The car records these numbers in three groups -- all time, since last charge, and current trip. With the settings I have these numbers are in miles per KwH for efficiency. For the rest of the world, except Myanmar, who doesn't use Freedom Units, measurements are in kWh per 100 Km.

My actual usage, 2,950 miles over 40 days (I've been busier than normal), has recorded 3.7 mi / kWh as opposed to the 3.0 window sticker, so I'm getting about 23% better mileage with my driving habits than EPA rating. On short runs to town an back (10 miles roundtrip), I'm averaging between 4.1 and 4.5 mi / kWh. The car is reporting a full charge range estimate of 326 miles when I topped off. I am expecting the difference comes from the EPA calculations are on the "normal" drive setting of the car, which engages both drive motors regularly, and also they don't include any regenerative braking. I routinely drive using the "Eco" setting, which is more aggressive at shutting down one motor when cruising, and use a fairly aggressive brake regen setting. I don't notice the difference in the settings, except when accelerating from a dead stop, or rapid overtaking to pass. "Eco" behaves more like an ICE car, but still quicker off the line than almost anything other than a sports car. A quick tap on a steering wheel-mounted button gets me to "Normal", and a double-tap to "Sport" -- which brings me to around a 4-second to 60 MPH, neck-snapping level of acceleration.

So, for me, not paying special attention to driving, I end up with right around $0.03 per mile fuel cost to drive ($0.12 per kWh local electricity cost, 3.7 mi / kWh) or 120 MPGe. While my car came with the 20" wheels with no option for the 18", switching to the manufacturer 18" rims would up the fuel economy estimate to 121 MPGe combined with a 316 mile rated full-charge range. But if I did switch, it would actually be cheaper for me to buy aftermarket. Fast.ca makes titanium wheels that are 20 lbs(9 kg)/wheel lighter than the stock Hyundai wheels. If I was going to obsess over range efficiency, I think the combination of ligher and smaller on the wheels would easily bump me to a full-charge 350 mile range.

Note: For those who aren't familiar with car wheels, the actual tire size on the 18" and 20" is the same. The difference is the amount of sidewall exposed, with the 20" being physically larger rims. Those larger rims are metal and heavier, but "more aggressive" and "prettier". It is mostly a cosmetic thing, but the smaller wheels provide a smoother ride as well as a more economical one.

For comparison, today's fuel rates in my area are $3.69, $3.89, $2.99, and $6.49 all per US gallon for Regular Unleaded, Highway Diesel, E85, and Untaxed Kerosene.