[Eli5] How can software updates in Electric Vehicles “unlock” more range. Isn’t range something that should be determined by the efficiency of the hardware?

Question

[Eli5] How can software updates in Electric Vehicles “unlock” more range. Isn’t range something that should be determined by the efficiency of the hardware?

In: 7

Answer 1

If you had a machine that chopped wood, and it used the same power and height of a chop each time, it’d use the same energy each chop

If you installed software that was able to analyze the wood and the axe and the weather conditions and whatever else may be a factor, then adjust the height and strength of the chop to try and guess the minimum power required to shop each piece of wood, you’d massively improve the efficiency of the machine’s energy consumption.

A car would be similar, if there’s a more efficient way to accelerate, brake, steer etc.. you could save a lot of energy.