Hill Climbing in EVs
Posted by Max Dunn Mon, 19 May 2008 15:42:00 GMT
When driving an electric vehicle (EV), it is important to know how far you can go on a full charge. On flat ground, the range will be pretty consistent and the only variable will be if you are driving around town or on the freeway. But how will your range be affected when you are driving up a hill?
This is an important question to me because I like to go surfing in Santa Cruz which is about 30 miles away and requires a climb of 1500 feet over a mountain range.
As a rule of thumb, you can add 10 miles for every 1000 feet you climb. So to take the Santa Cruz example, the peak is 15 miles away and a climb of 1500 feet, so it would actually take 30 miles of energy to get to the peak.
Going downhill of course, won’t take as much energy and will actually add some energy if you have regenerative braking. So the total trip to Santa Cruz is likely to take about 37 miles worth of energy.
RAV4 owners have reported that it takes less energy to climb a hill, only 6 miles per 1000 feet. One owner reported driving to Mt. Baldy which was 20 miles away and a climb of 6000 feet. He used about 60 miles worth of charge to get to the top. However, coming back down he added 20 miles of charge, so the round trip only took 40 miles of charge, or only the linear distance disregarding the climb. Ref
Bottom line is that while you need to be aware that it takes extra energy to climb hills, EVs can handle them with no problem.