Driving electric vehicles on highways was once unthinkable, but now it's a reality even during long holidays. Although they still can't perform well under extreme conditions, under normal circumstances, electric vehicles have an advantage over fuel-powered cars for long-distance travel.
As the Spring Festival approaches, people embark on their journey home. During every long holiday, the issue of electric vehicles traveling long distances almost always trends on social media, and it seems to be an inevitable criticism for electric vehicles, especially during the Spring Festival holiday when the combination of high-speed travel and low temperatures often leads to poor performance from electric vehicles, resulting in even more criticism.
Particularly during recent heavy traffic jams on highways in Hubei, the protection time that electric vehicles can provide for drivers and passengers is at most 12-24 hours, which is very fragile compared to the 24-48 hours that fuel-powered cars can generally endure. This has led to a lack of confidence in using electric vehicles for long-distance travel. But is the reality really that unbearable?
Electric vehicles are inherently less resistant to extreme conditions
Firstly, electric vehicles are naturally more vulnerable to extreme situations, which is not related to energy replenishment or charging, but determined by the inherent properties of electricity.
In most natural disasters, electricity is the first source of power to be interrupted because it relies on the power grid. Any issue at any node in the network during a natural disaster can lead to the paralysis of the entire network, and the convenience that comes with daily life is accompanied by vulnerability in disasters.
Take Japan, a country prone to earthquakes, as an example. One of the important reasons why the development of electric vehicles in Japan is very slow is that Japanese consumers lack confidence in the usability of electric vehicles during disasters. During disasters, it is much easier to obtain fuel than electricity. Therefore, in Japan, there is a special configuration for ordinary hybrid vehicles: the vehicle cannot be charged, but it is equipped with a high-power discharge interface. This is to enable the car to become a mobile generator with a large fuel capacity during disasters.
Simply comparing the ability of electric vehicles and fuel-powered cars to provide protection for drivers and passengers under extreme conditions shows a huge difference under different circumstances. Take heavy traffic jams on highways as an example, the conclusion of which is superior, electric or fuel-powered, varies completely depending on the season.
If it's spring or autumn, because air conditioning is not needed, the vehicle does not need to consume energy to maintain the temperature inside the cabin, and there is almost no difference between fuel-powered cars and electric vehicles. Electric vehicles have a slightly better user experience because they do not have idle fuel consumption.If it's summer, under the condition of long-term air conditioning cooling, electric vehicles are better than fuel vehicles. When fuel vehicles are parked, the engine works for a long time, which can lead to insufficient heat dissipation. The energy consumption for long-term air conditioning cooling remains high, and the cooling capacity will gradually deteriorate. Electric vehicles, in addition to cooling the cabin, also need to maintain the battery temperature. Therefore, after the initial phase of cooling the entire vehicle, due to the battery's ability to absorb more heat and the absence of a large heat source like the engine, electric vehicles consume less energy in maintaining temperature during the summer.
If it's winter, under the condition of long-term air conditioning heating, fuel vehicles are significantly better than electric vehicles. In low-temperature conditions, the chemical performance of the battery decreases, and the power consumption of the battery to release the same power increases. Moreover, because electric vehicles do not have an engine as a heat source, they can only rely on electric heating and heat pumps. The energy consumption for heating the cabin is twice or even more than that of fuel vehicles. Therefore, in extreme conditions such as high-speed heavy traffic jams, the time that electric vehicles can provide protection for drivers and passengers is generally no more than 12 hours, and at most no more than 24 hours, while fuel vehicles can generally last for 24-48 hours.
For example, a car owner stuck on the expressway in Hubei described that with a fuel vehicle, after starting the engine and running the air conditioning for 20 minutes, it takes an hour and a half for the car to cool down completely after turning it off. When starting the air conditioning, although it takes a bit longer to heat up, the energy consumption is not high. Moreover, after turning off the engine, the warm air can still be maintained for a while due to the relatively high temperature of the radiator.
However, if it's an electric vehicle, after running the air conditioning for 20 minutes, it cools down completely within no more than 30 minutes after turning it off. Moreover, the process of starting the air conditioning from cold to warm is very energy-consuming, with heating power at more than 6 kilowatts. Running the air conditioning for 20 minutes consumes more than 2 kilowatt-hours of electricity. A vehicle with a battery capacity of 60 kilowatt-hours can only support at most 30 such cycles, and considering driving and other energy consumption, lasting 24 hours is already the limit for electric vehicles.
Under normal circumstances, electric vehicles are more comfortable for long-distance travel.
The fragility in extreme situations does not mean that electric vehicles cannot travel long distances. With the increase in the range of electric vehicles and the improvement of the charging network, electric vehicles are already on par with fuel vehicles in terms of efficiency for high-speed long-distance driving within 1000 kilometers, without encountering extreme situations.
During holidays, news about charging queues at expressway service areas and conflicts over charging piles often make headlines. However, charging at service areas is actually the least recommended method for electric vehicles during holidays. Driving off the highway and charging in the nearest city often leads to faster charging speeds and better rest conditions at charging stations. Since there is no queue and the charging speed is fast, the time cost is almost the same, and the charging experience is greatly improved.
Taking my personal experience as an example, driving from Beijing to Luoyang, the total distance is about 900 kilometers, which used to take about 9 hours with a fuel vehicle. Before this Spring Festival, driving an electric vehicle with a claimed range of 610 kilometers, I charged at a shopping mall in Shijiazhuang and a hotel in Anyang, arriving in Luoyang in a total of 10 hours.
The first charge was in the basement of a shopping mall, where I could eat and rest inside the mall. The second charge was in the parking lot of a hotel in Anyang, with rest conditions far better than at the service area. The maximum charging power of both charging stations exceeded 200 kilowatts, and the actual charging power was around 100 kilowatts, much higher than the charging speed at service areas.
Therefore, the anxiety about energy replenishment due to insufficient charging conditions at expressway service areas is not real anxiety, but rather anxiety caused by insufficient understanding of the charging conditions along the way. In this regard, various navigation and charging software should make more efforts. In the charging planning for electric vehicle navigation routes, they can consider charging stations with better conditions and faster speeds in the cities along the way, exclude service area charging stations with serious queues and low charging efficiency, and adjust the charging plan according to real-time charging queue situations. The accumulated queue data over the past few years is sufficient to support navigation software in making such intelligent route planning.In addition to the issue of energy replenishment, the experience of long-distance travel in electric vehicles (EVs) is comprehensively superior to that of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. At high speeds, the noise and vibration from the ICE engines are significant barriers to comfort, and the optimization of aerodynamic drag coefficients in ICE vehicles is generally not as good as in EVs, resulting in higher wind noise. Additionally, ICE vehicles often do not use low-rolling-resistance tires, making tire noise more noticeable. Due to their heavier body weight and better optimization of aerodynamic characteristics, EVs are generally more stable at high speeds.
With less noise, lighter vibrations, and a more stable body, long-distance driving in EVs is more friendly to passengers and drivers, especially the driver. Under the premise of proper energy replenishment planning, the level of fatigue experienced while driving an EV over the same distance is lower than that of an ICE vehicle.
Therefore, during peak holiday travel periods, the driving experience of an EV on long journeys is often not determined by the driver's skill but by their energy replenishment planning ability. Don't just focus on those old, slow, and crowded charging piles in the service areas; broaden your horizons and look at the cities along the way. You will find that traveling long distances in an EV, even during peak holiday periods, is not a difficult task in today's context.
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