Joined
·
5,192 Posts
I suggest we start using a new measure of energy, to be call the ElectroGallon, or ELG for short.
This unit equals 10 kWh, or 10 domestic Units.
Here's why. For a few years I've been driving an Ampera, useable battery 10.4 kWh. In general I've got around 40-45 miles out of this. I did an extreme test once, cross-country at dawn, max speed 40 mph, cresting hills at walking pace & coasting down to build up speed for next hill, pulling over into field entrances to let the occasional tractor race past me. I managed the magic 60 miles on a full charge!
That works out at 57 M/ELG. Any petrol car getting 57 M/Gall is doing well.
When getting 45 miles out of Ampy, that's 43 M/ELG. Again, ok for a heavy petrol car (~1800 Kg)
When describing this stuff to ICE owners, it's very hard to get across the concept of what 10.4 kWh means. They can grasp the idea that it costs appx £1.50-£2 when I tell them the cost, but it's not an easy concept to adopt. Think about it; 1 kWh is good for 3-5 miles, so is a very small amount in petrol equivalent terms. Our brains are used to working in whole units, not digits with more digits (still importamt & meaningful) after the decimal place. And how many more after the decimal place do we need? Again, decimal fractions aren't an easy concept.
What I found did work well was describing the electric capability of my EV by saying "Think of it as a cheap or even free gallon of petrol in your tank every morning". And that's actually a very good way to think of these Phevs, most are around this mark.
I'm now testing & comparing my Ioniq 38.4 kWh & ID.3 58 kWh EVs. To those techhies here, these numbers all make sense, and are needed to understand what I'm talking about. But Joe Petrol Public has no idea what's going on! Numbers in the region of 38, 45, 58, 70, that we toss around are actually rather on the large size for the typical human brain. Comparing these 2 EVs, I'm coming up with figures like 3.95 miles/kWh, 4.3, etc, that sort of region. Again, those wretched digits after the decimal point are cropping up again. Can't we get rid of them, and clarify the EV situation & make life a lot easier for Joe Petrol Public?
Answer is YES, IF we decide to talk about miles per 10 kWh used. Suddenly those 3.9, 4.3 etc become 39, 43, miles per ElectroGallon, M/ELG . One ELG will take your electric car roughly the same distance that One Gallon will take your petrol car. The cost of 1 ELG is around £2.50 at Braintree, £3.90 at Ionity, etc etc. Suddenly these are familiar values, easily remembered as they're is exactly the same sort of range as the well-known & well-understood Gallons & £.
This helps simplify understanding what car battery capacities "mean" to a petrol car owner. My Ampera has a 1 ELG tank. So it clearly needs help (petrol) if it's to go any real distance at all.
First model of Ioniq, 28 kWh, was a 3 ELG EV.
My Ioniq is a 4 ELG EV.
My ID.3 is a 6 ELG EV.
Newest Leaf is a 6 ELG EV. Etc etc.
Teslas can be 6, 7.5, 8, 10 ELG, whatever.
Suddenly the basic difference is obvious to all, and petrol car owners will have an instinctive feel for how far it's likely to go before they need a refill.
My first comparison of Ioniq & ID.s at 70 mph in the wet is this:
Ioniq 4 ELG car gets 33 M/ELG
ID.3 6 ELG car gets 30 M/ELG
Joe Petrol Public will soon get the message that you don't want to let the tank go much below 1 ELG left, so the arithmetic of what's useable is now obvious, it's so simple.
I don't need to add that the conversion factor of 10 makes the arithmetic trivially simple. And it gets rid of the need to use decimal points & digits after.
This unit equals 10 kWh, or 10 domestic Units.
Here's why. For a few years I've been driving an Ampera, useable battery 10.4 kWh. In general I've got around 40-45 miles out of this. I did an extreme test once, cross-country at dawn, max speed 40 mph, cresting hills at walking pace & coasting down to build up speed for next hill, pulling over into field entrances to let the occasional tractor race past me. I managed the magic 60 miles on a full charge!
That works out at 57 M/ELG. Any petrol car getting 57 M/Gall is doing well.
When getting 45 miles out of Ampy, that's 43 M/ELG. Again, ok for a heavy petrol car (~1800 Kg)
When describing this stuff to ICE owners, it's very hard to get across the concept of what 10.4 kWh means. They can grasp the idea that it costs appx £1.50-£2 when I tell them the cost, but it's not an easy concept to adopt. Think about it; 1 kWh is good for 3-5 miles, so is a very small amount in petrol equivalent terms. Our brains are used to working in whole units, not digits with more digits (still importamt & meaningful) after the decimal place. And how many more after the decimal place do we need? Again, decimal fractions aren't an easy concept.
What I found did work well was describing the electric capability of my EV by saying "Think of it as a cheap or even free gallon of petrol in your tank every morning". And that's actually a very good way to think of these Phevs, most are around this mark.
I'm now testing & comparing my Ioniq 38.4 kWh & ID.3 58 kWh EVs. To those techhies here, these numbers all make sense, and are needed to understand what I'm talking about. But Joe Petrol Public has no idea what's going on! Numbers in the region of 38, 45, 58, 70, that we toss around are actually rather on the large size for the typical human brain. Comparing these 2 EVs, I'm coming up with figures like 3.95 miles/kWh, 4.3, etc, that sort of region. Again, those wretched digits after the decimal point are cropping up again. Can't we get rid of them, and clarify the EV situation & make life a lot easier for Joe Petrol Public?
Answer is YES, IF we decide to talk about miles per 10 kWh used. Suddenly those 3.9, 4.3 etc become 39, 43, miles per ElectroGallon, M/ELG . One ELG will take your electric car roughly the same distance that One Gallon will take your petrol car. The cost of 1 ELG is around £2.50 at Braintree, £3.90 at Ionity, etc etc. Suddenly these are familiar values, easily remembered as they're is exactly the same sort of range as the well-known & well-understood Gallons & £.
This helps simplify understanding what car battery capacities "mean" to a petrol car owner. My Ampera has a 1 ELG tank. So it clearly needs help (petrol) if it's to go any real distance at all.
First model of Ioniq, 28 kWh, was a 3 ELG EV.
My Ioniq is a 4 ELG EV.
My ID.3 is a 6 ELG EV.
Newest Leaf is a 6 ELG EV. Etc etc.
Teslas can be 6, 7.5, 8, 10 ELG, whatever.
Suddenly the basic difference is obvious to all, and petrol car owners will have an instinctive feel for how far it's likely to go before they need a refill.
My first comparison of Ioniq & ID.s at 70 mph in the wet is this:
Ioniq 4 ELG car gets 33 M/ELG
ID.3 6 ELG car gets 30 M/ELG
Joe Petrol Public will soon get the message that you don't want to let the tank go much below 1 ELG left, so the arithmetic of what's useable is now obvious, it's so simple.
I don't need to add that the conversion factor of 10 makes the arithmetic trivially simple. And it gets rid of the need to use decimal points & digits after.
) we can then understand each other globally.
