You'll need to be more specific, as it depends on the road. My Passat GTE gets great EV mileage at 60mph on a flat road, but rubbish at 60mph on the fun roads. We're talking 4.4miles/kWh vs 0.8miles/kWh.

 

On a dual carriageway / free flowing single carriageway if I set the cruise control to 50-55mph I would have no problem achieving 20 miles from a charge.

The bigger drain for you will be using the heater over the speed of the car.

It amazes me just how far the car can travel compared to how little heat / puff can be created by the same amount of energy. We're talking say 12 miles difference in range between heater off and heater on max. You would think it would take a huge amount of energy to move a decent sized car for 12 miles compared to blowing a bit of warm air. Either the electric motors in EVs are very economical and well designed or creating hot air is incredibly wasteful.

Either way I have a similar commute and charging setup daily to yourself. Even in these times I rarely use the heater (bar pre heating) and I've soon got used to driving on cooler temps I never feel cold now getting in the wife's car I feel like I'm going to melt when she's got the heaters blasting out. Slightly cracking the window is all you need to keep the screen demisted and safe.

 

The bigger drain for you will be using the heater over the speed of the car.

This is misleading and/or wrong! The heater draws around 2kW once the car is at temperature (assuming e.g. 3-4C outside and 20C inside the car). Whereas plowing along at 70 mph uses between 16-25kW. Speed has a significant impact on the range of any EV.

One of the reasons EV range is worse in the cold is a combination of battery performance being worse (the GTE is no exception, and it does not heat the battery pack like some other EVs) and the cabin heater. But the effect of the cabin heater is much less significant at speed. It's much more of an issue for a driver that does a city commute consisting of a lot of stop and go driving, with time waiting at lights - in an ICE car that heat is 'free' from even a stopped, warm engine, but an EV has to use the battery to provide that at all times.

 

I think you will find it tight, particularly in winter. If you can accelerate slowly to a steady speed and maintain it you are in with a chance, if you have to brake / accelerate a lot due to traffic or it is hilly you will struggle more.

Using departure timers and pre heat so that the car and battery are nice and warm when you leave home / work will also help range

If you have electric seats they will keep you warm much more efficiently than the heater.

 

Thanks all for replies, looks like it might be touch and go however even if I have a couple of miles to spare I think economical wise it would still be a hit for me as would still get most of the way on electric!
Any other tips or advice much appreciated!

 

Cheeky plug for the car I am selling on the off-chance that it is of interest

A little older than you mentioned, but I think you'll struggle to find a nicer example.

Price to include 12 months VW warranty.

FOR SALE: Highly specified VW Golf GTE in excellent...

I originally responded to Mermoo's thread (here: Looking for used GTE - no longer required) but as he ultimately decided on a different car choice, and as I don't intend advertising my car via the usual channels before January, I thought I would put my car's details here on the off-chance that...

www.speakev.com

 

How much is the car going to cost to purchase outright? Will the car be covered by the manufacturers warranty? If not, there are many threads on here about owning an EV/phev out of warranty. Have you considered sidestepping this risk by leasing a brand new EV? Worth reading the Cheap Deals thread in the EV Discussion forum as part of your decision process. There are good deals appearing all the time if you keep watching it.

 

My commute is 21 to 23 miles each way and I can (just) normally manage the whole commute just on electrons, BUT that's hypermiling 50 to 55mph on a dual carriageway and with no heater on. Easy in the summer (when I can go a little faster) but a real struggle in the winter.

 

If you’re only driving 19 miles to work, recharging, then driving home just leave it in ‘electric’ if you find you’re running low on range pop it into ‘battery hold’. You’ll still get battery use at low speeds as the battery is ALWAYS available in some respect.
That’ll be the most efficient use of the car if you want to avoid using self *charging fluid





*petrol.

 

You might have to run the engine briefly on the coldest days, but that’s not a bad thing, it’s a hybrid you’re meant to use it occasionally