Eli5: why does it seem that EVs’ efficiencies are much more sensitive that ICEV?

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Besides the obvious cold temperature that affect the batteries, it seems that everything else (incline, tires, air resistance, road conditions, etc) affect EVs disproportionately? Never heard of an ICEV loosing 50% range on a full tank because of bad conditions?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Battery temperature or the need for cabin heating do have a noticeable impact on a BEV’s range. The ICE’s inefficiency just makes heat available at no additional cost, which makes it able to run at more or less the same temperature condition year-round once it’s warmed up.

The other factors you explicitly mention don’t generally affect EV’s more than combustion engines. Incline, tires, air resistance and road conditions do affect the energy needed to push a vehicle forward, regardless of the propulsion system used. If a given situation needs twice the power from the engine, at a given efficiency the engine will need twice the input (electric or fuel). With an EV the efficiency doesn’t vary too much depending on the torque output and rpm, while in a combustion engine the variations are much larger.

So, for a climb in an EV, the additional battery consumption compared to a flat road will roughly reflect the increased power needed to push the car uphill. In an ICE you could see a relatively speaking lower increase in consumption than on the EV, in case the test speed and the given incline put the engine in a more efficient operating point. But the opposite could also happen, where let’s say the ICE has a 30% increase in consumption, the EV only 20%. Depends on the combustion engine, the tested speed and the incline.

What could make heavy workloads more noticeable on EV’s is that ICE’s tend to be more efficient at around peak torque, while EV’s are already efficient while cruising at 30 mph, so you’ll notice the full additional workload on the consumption.

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