No matter what kind of car you drive – gasoline, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or electric – filling up is an inconvenience. Whether you’re just going through your daily routine or on a road trip having to stop is a pain, especially in the winter or in bad weather. Which is why range is so important.
While range is the number-one thing people talk about when it comes to electric cars, it matters to us even if we drive a gasoline vehicle. Many drivers will talk about how many miles they get out of a tank of gas, versus what kind of miles per gallon it gets.
That’s because, ultimately, the convenience of range is more important. We’d likely rather drive a thirstier car that will go longer between (more expensive) fill-ups than a super-efficient car that requires frequent stops.
Depending on the type of green car you’re looking at, figuring out its range can be as simple as reading a spec sheet or looking at a web site. Or you might need to do a little bit of math.
If you’re researching gasoline cars it can be a little bit frustrating to figure out what vehicles offer you the most range – the EPA doesn’t rate gas cars for range the same way, they do for electric cars. But the EPA does rate gasoline cars for city and highway miles per gallon (MPG), which you can use to calculate a vehicle’s range.
Go to the vehicle manufacturer’s website and look up the fuel capacity of the vehicle you are considering. Once you know how many gallons of gasoline the vehicle can hold, you can multiply that capacity by the miles per gallon to determine range.
For instance, if the car you are investigating has a 15-gallon gas tank and gets 30 miles per gallon on the highway, expect a highway driving range of 450 miles.
Hybrid cars use a combination of gasoline and electric power. Many hybrid cars can run on electric alone for short periods of time, which can complicate the range calculation a little bit. The easiest figure to use when calculating a hybrid car’s range is the EPA’s MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent) number.
MPGe is an energy efficiency metric that was created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2010, as the first plug-in hybrid and electric vehicle models were being introduced to the market. Its purpose is to relate the amount of energy used by alternative-fuel vehicles to that of their traditional gas-powered counterparts.
Using the MPGe figure, you can calculate the total range of a hybrid vehicle using the fuel tank capacity -- the same as you would for a gasoline vehicle. A hybrid or plug-in hybrid with a 15-gallon gas tank that gets 40 miles per gallon on the highway would deliver a range of 600 miles.
The total distance an electric car can travel is determined by an electric car’s battery capacity and its overall efficiency. Battery capacity is measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh) – and the bigger the number, the better (like having a bigger gas tank).
Overall vehicle efficiency is the result of multiple variables including size, frontal area, weight, and performance. Efficiency can be measured in multiple ways. Using basic math lets you determine how far you can go on a single charge.
There are two easy-to-find figures that can help you calculate an electric car’s overall range.
One method is measured in MPkWh, or miles per kilowatt-hour. The higher the MPkWh, the more efficient the vehicle. Multiply the MPkWh rating by the kWh size of the battery to get the theoretical range. For instance, an EV with a 100-kWh battery rated at 2.5 MPkWh will deliver range of about 250 miles.
You may also see ratings for kWh/100 miles. Divide the battery’s capacity by the kWh/100 miles rating then multiply by 100 to determine your range. An EV with a 75-kWh battery rated at 35 kWh/100 miles will go 214 miles on a full charge.
Now that you know how much range your car is capable of, how do you maximize the range you get out of every tank of gas, every battery charge, or a combination of both? While each type of vehicle has its own nuances, there are some tips that apply to all vehicles.
Ensure your vehicle isn’t carrying around any unnecessary baggage – in terms of weight and aerodynamics. Leave behind stuff you don’t need; the extra weight is literally dragging you down. Remove roof rails, bike racks and other exterior accessories unless they are needed.
Check that your tires are in good condition and at the correct pressure. As the only point of contact between your electric car and the road, an improperly inflated tire can have an outsized effect on how hard your car must work.
Adjust your driving style – driving more smoothly and carefully can help to improve your miles per gallon and increase the range from every charge. You’d be surprised at the difference a few miles an hour makes. Slowing down your highway cruising speed by 5 mph will have a significant impact on your energy consumption. You’ll increase your range and may discover that you’re more relaxed as well.
Unnecessary braking, steering, and accelerating wastes precious energy and reduces the comfort of your passengers. Anticipating situations that will arise while driving means that you’ll spend less time and energy reacting. Use smaller throttle openings to build up speed over time. If you can anticipate the need to slow down, you can lift off the throttle earlier to coast and help charge the battery with regenerative braking.
By driving with a little bit more care, you’d be surprised at how much extra range you’ll get – no matter what kind of vehicle you drive!
If you're shopping for an electric car, one of the primary considerations is range -- that is, how far will the car go on a single charge. There are multiple variables that will determine your particular needs, including your driving habits, the availability of chargers throughout your region and, most importantly, your budget.
A few years ago, EV ranges were fairly limited and there were only a handful of cars to choose from. Today, there are more than 40 new electric vehicles, and many that are offered with a choice of battery capacity, ranging from 100 miles per charge to more than 500 miles, making it possible to find something to fit nearly any driver. Below, you'll find the key factors to consider when calculating how much range is enough for you.
If money is no object, choosing an electric vehicle could be as simple as picking the car with the most range: the $138,000, 516-mile Lucid Air Grand Touring. But more likely, you don't have unlimited spending power and so your budget will determine what range is available to you, depending on which EVs you can afford and the battery capacity (standard range versus long- or extended-range options, if available) you should choose.
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Generally speaking, the more range and battery an EV boasts, the bigger the price tag.
The battery is one of the most expensive components on an electric vehicle, directly affecting the power, range, charging time and price. New developments in battery chemistry promise to eventually bring the price down, but the rule of thumb is that the bigger the battery, the bigger the EV's price tag. Optional equipment can reduce range while also costing extra. That's something to keep in mind when deciding whether to upgrade to all-wheel drive or a flashy performance package.
Hyundai's Ioniq 5 SE Extended Range, for example, drops from 303 miles in rear-drive configuration to 266 miles with AWD, which costs $3,500 more. So if you live in sunny Southern California, perhaps that's not a worthwhile upgrade.
On the surface, it's a bit of a no-brainer: The most important thing to consider when shopping for an electric car is how much driving you do on an average day. It's a deceptively simple question that I find most drivers often overestimate.
Due to the ubiquity and speed of gas stations and a historic focus on miles per gallon rather than miles per tank, many American drivers don't have an accurate picture of how many miles they travel on most days of the week. Thinking about electric cars requires a bit of a perspective shift. According to 2021 estimates by the Federal Highway Administration, the average driver in the US covers just under 40 miles per day, a range that could easily be covered by almost any EV you can buy today.
Due to the nature of averages, however, your mileage will undoubtedly vary. Drivers in rural areas or suburbanites with long commutes may log significantly more miles on a given day, while urban dwellers in tightly packed cities or remote workers usually drive less than our hypothetical average driver (if even at all) on most days. Spend a couple of days keeping an eye on your current car's trip computer or plot out your regular routes using a service like Google Maps to get an accurate idea of your personal daily needs and you may find that you need less range than expected.
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The average American driver only travels around 40 miles per day, but you'll want to leave a bit of wiggle room for unexpected and irregular trips.
And be sure to leave yourself some wiggle room. Some days you'll drive more and others you'll drive less. Most of us don't exclusively drive the same route, every day, seven days a week. There will be variations -- detours for traffic, weekend shopping, visits to friends and family -- that you'll want to account for in your estimate.
Read more: Every EV Available in 2023, Ranked by Range
Now that you know how much range you'll need per day, the next step is figuring out how and how often you'll be able to charge. If your home has a garage or driveway, installing a home charger means you can start every day with a full (or mostly full, if you're only charging to 80%) battery pack. This means you may be able to get by with fewer miles between charges, since you'll be resetting the range every evening. Additional destination charging at your office, retail locations or other destinations you frequent can lessen your dependence on a big battery and big range.
If you live in an apartment or multifamily building with a shared charger or no charger at all, however, you may want to consider an EV with enough range to get you through a few days between charges. (Though, frankly, if you don't have access to consistent charging, holding off on going electric may be a better idea.)
Where you live can have as much of an impact on your EV's range as your driving does. Freezing ambient temperatures can sap as much as 25% of an EV's rated range according to an Idaho National Labs study. And if you crank the heater, range can drop by as much as 41% according to a 2019 study by AAA. At the other end of the spectrum, blasting air conditioning on a hot day can reduce an EV's range by as much as 17%, according to the same study.
The advent of heat pump technology and sophisticated thermal management systems can help minimize the impact on newer, more advanced EVs, which often don't take as much of a winter range hit as those in 2019 did, but a range penalty is usually unavoidable at the extremes. So if you live in an area with long, harsh winters or extreme heat, consider accommodating for some shrinkage in your estimates when selecting an EV.
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Extremely cold weather can have an adverse effect on electric vehicle range, which you'll need to account for in your estimates.
If you take frequent long road trips, it may be worth considering EV with as much range as possible. However, depending on where you live, high-speed DC fast charging stations and Tesla Superchargers can usually be found at frequent and regular intervals along major interstate routes, reducing the need to go overkill on per charge range.
In my experience, how quickly your EV can recharge is just as much, if not more, of a factor in an EV road trip as how much range you're packing. Our long-term Kia EV6 test car boasts around 274 miles of range on a full charge, but it's one of the fastest charging EVs in its price bracket at around 233 kW. That means I can get from San Francisco to Los Angeles with only two 20-minute stops. More range would mean fewer legs, but I'd probably want to stop for food and a stretch every two or three hours anyway, even in a gasoline car.
You, on the other hand, may want longer intervals between stops. Maybe you want more of a range safety net because the charging infrastructure isn't as developed in your neck of the woods. Or perhaps you enjoy camping, exploring or outdoor activities that take you far off the beaten path. These are all factors that may drive you to select an EV with larger reserves than ours.
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I find that charging speed has a bigger impact on road tips than extreme range.
Generally, it's a bad idea to run your EV's battery flat -- and not just because you don't want to be left high and dry roadside. Most lithium-ion batteries have a sweet spot, usually between 10% and 80% charged, where their chemistry is at its happiest and healthiest. Repeatedly nuking your battery can have an adverse effect on the overall range, long-term. Almost all EVs have built in reserves -- a portion of battery capacity that you don't have access to -- to help minimize degradation, but if you're planning on keeping your EV for years to come and want to preserve as much of its range as possible, consider keeping your battery in the sweet spot for daily driving, only charging to 100% when you need it and never draining the battery flat.
With this in mind, the Mazda MX-30 -- one of the least expensive, but shortest-ranging new EVs you can buy today -- drops from an EPA-estimated 100 miles per charge to a less impressive 70 miles in the sweet spot or around 90 if you take the time to charge to 100% every time. That'll cover Jane Q. Average's hypothetical 40-mile commute, but doesn't leave much wiggle room for unexpected diversions. If this is going to be her one and only car, she may want to consider other affordable alternatives such as the Hyundai Kona EV, with its 258 EPA estimated miles, or the 275-mile VW ID 4.
That said, your EV doesn't need to be your only car. According to the most recent US Census data, a majority of Americans own at least one car, with 37.1% owning two vehicles and 21.9% owning three or more vehicles. So if you plan on keeping a gasoline or hybrid vehicle in your driveway alongside your new EV, a vehicle like the Mini Cooper SE -- a premium electric compact that the automaker tells me is often its target buyers' second or even third car -- could still be a compelling EV option, despite its short 114-mile range. The less expensive EV could, then, serve as an efficient commuter or around town car, while your longer-ranging vehicles pull duty for, say, road trips or weekend excursions.
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