How far can electric cars REALLY go?? – we drive 12 until they DIE! Tesla, BYD & more | What Car?

Summary

The script details an electric car winter range test assessing 12 EVs to compare real-world ranges versus official estimates. Cars are prepared identically then driven on a simulated route with town, highway, and motorway driving until charge depletion. The Tesla Model 3 and Mercedes EQE squeeze out the longest ranges while the Lexus RZ and Jeep Avenger fall far short of claims. The team evaluates efficiency ratings, noting optimistic trip computer readings on some models versus actuals. They also examine the value of adding a heat pump, determining the feature's added cost may not pay back over realistic ownership periods.

Takeaways

• 😀 They tested 12 electric cars in real-world winter conditions to see how far they could travel on a full charge
• 👀 The Lexus RZ had the worst range at 157 miles and was one of the most expensive cars
• 🚗 The Tesla Model 3 Long Range was the most efficient at 3.9 miles/kWh and had the second best range at 293 miles
• ❄️ Having a heat pump improved the ID.7's range by 14 miles over the non-heat pump version
• 💡 The trip computers weren't always accurate - some were very optimistic about efficiency
• 💰 Choosing an efficient EV over an inefficient one can save over £1000 in electricity costs per 10,000 miles
• 😕 Paying extra for a heat pump is unlikely to pay for itself in fuel savings within the car's lifetime
• 🏆 The Mercedes EQE had the longest range at 300 miles, 7 more than the Tesla Model 3 Long Range
• 💧 Wet and windy weather reduced how far the cars could travel versus official manufacturer claims
• 👍 The Tesla Model 3 provided excellent real-world range and efficiency at a reasonable price

Q & A

What was the weather like during the test drive?

The weather was cold (around 10-11°C on average), very wet with lots of standing water, and quite windy.

How many cars were involved in the test drive?

There were 12 cars involved in the test drive.

Which car officially had the longest range?

The Tesla Model 3 Long Range had the longest official range at 421 miles.

What was the test route?

The test route was roughly 15 miles long. It included 2.6 miles of simulated urban driving at 30 mph, 4 miles at a steady 50 mph, and 8 miles at a constant 70 mph.

Which car ran out of charge first?

The Lexus RZ ran out of charge first after 157 miles.

Which car was the most efficient?

The Tesla Model 3 was the most efficient, averaging 3.9 miles per kWh.

How much extra range did the ID.7's heat pump provide?

The ID.7 with a heat pump went 14 miles farther than the one without, 267 miles versus 253 miles.

Were the cars' efficiency readouts accurate?

No, many cars like the BYDs were very optimistic about their energy usage. The readouts did not match the calculated efficiency.

How far can you drive a Model 3 Long Range for $1000 in electricity costs?

At $0.79 per kWh public charging rates, a Model 3 Long Range can drive roughly 5000 miles for $1000 in electricity costs.

Which car traveled the farthest before running out of charge?

The Mercedes EQE went the farthest, covering 300 miles before running out of charge.

Outlines

00:00

😃 Starting the winter EV range test

The video describes the setup for a winter range test of 12 electric vehicles. The goal is to drive the EVs in real-world conditions until they run out of charge, showing what happens when they die and comparing their efficiency. Before starting, the cars are set up to be in the same condition - tires inflated properly, trip meters reset to zero, climate control set to 21°C. The 15 mile test route includes urban driving, steady 50mph, and 70mph motorway driving to simulate real usage. The cars are charged to 100% the night before and headlights turned on before testing in 6-10°C ambient temperature.

05:02

🏎️ Introducing the EVs in the test

The EVs in the test are introduced in order of predicted range performance. Long range Tesla Model 3 should go furthest at 421 miles. Next are two VW ID.7s (one with a heat pump) to test the heat pump's impact. More expensive EVs like Mercedes EQE, BMW i5, and Lexus UX300e have only mid-pack predicted ranges. Byd Seal and MG4 show good value. Lexus RZ and Jeep Avenger have lowest official ranges of 200-144 miles.

10:03

😵‍💫 Lexus RZ and Jeep Avenger die first

After a few hours the RZ is nearly out of charge with 14 miles remaining, while the Byd Seal still has 50%/177 miles left. The MG4 has 44%/111 miles left. As predicted, the Lexus RZ starts dropping off sooner than the Avenger. The RZ shows 0 miles remaining but limps on for 21 more miles before the tow truck collects it. The Avenger follows shortly after.

15:06

📉 Lexus UX has biggest range shortfall

The Lexus UX300e is next to die after covering 170 miles, 37.9% short of its official range and the biggest shortfall. At over £57,000, it's also the only car using old CHAdeMO charging. The Byd Dolphin is next after 188 miles - understandable given its urban runabout nature and £31k price. MG4 manages 227 miles which is good value, but cheaper MG4 versions make more sense.

20:08

🔋 Model 3 wins on range; EQE on mileage

The Volvo XC40, BMW i5, ID.7 without heat pump, Byd Seal, and ID.7 with heat pump all cover between 232-268 miles before dying. The Model 3 Long Range lasts 293 miles, while the EQE wins by 7 miles at 300 miles. However, the EQE has a 19% larger battery for £20k more cost. The Model 3's superior efficiency brings huge savings - £1162 less per 10k miles than the Lexus RZ.

Keywords

💡electric vehicles

Electric vehicles run on electricity stored in batteries instead of petrol or diesel. The video tests how far 12 electric cars can travel in winter conditions before running out of charge. The aim is to compare their real-world range to official figures.

💡range test

The video details a real-world range test for 12 electric cars to see how far they travel on a full charge in poor winter conditions. The 15 mile test route includes urban, highway, and faster 70mph driving.

💡winter conditions

The range test aims to replicate difficult real-world winter conditions, including low temperatures (10-11°C), heavy rain, wind, and standing water on roads. This negatively impacts EV efficiency and range.

💡mileage/range results

After complete battery discharge, results showed the Mercedes EQE traveled furthest at 300 miles. The Tesla Model 3 achieved 293 miles, while the worst ranges came from the Lexus RZ (157 miles) and Jeep Avenger (163 miles).

💡charging costs

Due to huge rises in electricity costs, especially public charging, EV efficiency now heavily impacts running costs. At 29p/kWh, the Tesla Model 3 would cost £740 per 10,000 miles versus £3,183 for the inefficient Lexus RZ.

💡heat pumps

Heat pumps transfer ambient heat into the car cabin instead of relying solely on energy-draining resistance heating. However, the video found the id7's £1,050 heat pump option only delivered a 5.2% efficiency gain, meaning extremely high mileage is needed to recoup the extra cost.

💡trip computer accuracy

The test uncovered inaccuracies in many EVs' trip computer estimates of energy usage and efficiency versus actual performance. For example, the BYD Seal and Dolphin trip readings were over 20% too optimistic.

💡test conditions

To ensure fairness, all cars used identical tires, had fully charged batteries, were tested on the same route/conditions, and cycled through drivers regularly. Range figures were standardized based on each EV's battery capacity.

💡comparative efficiency

Aside from outright range, a key aim of the test was comparing EV energy efficiency. Results highlighted the Tesla Model 3 as by far the most efficient (3.9 mi/kWh), while the Lexus RZ was least efficient at just 2.5 mi/kWh.

💡real-world relevance

The range test aimed to provide EV buyers with real-world educated guidance on factors influencing winter range, efficiency, running costs rather than relying only on official manufacturer claims which often fail to match up with reality.

Highlights

We tested 12 electric cars in real world winter conditions to see how far they would go on a full charge

The cars were charged to 100%, left out overnight, then plugged in again before starting the test with headlights on

The test route included urban driving, steady 50mph, and constant 70mph to simulate a typical long distance journey

The Tesla Model 3 long range officially has the longest range but the Mercedes EQE went furthest in our summer test

The BYD Seal impressed on a previous long road trip. The BMW i5 is expensive for only middle of pack range.

The MG4 Extended Range is good value but cheaper MG4s may be more recommendable.

The Lexus UX has one of the worst ranges but costs over £57,000 and uses old Chadmo charging.

The Model 3 was by far the most efficient at 3.9 mi/kWh. Efficiency affects running costs significantly.

The RZ was the least efficient using 2.5 mi/kWh, costing over £1000 more per 10,000 mi than the Model 3.

The BYD cars had wildly optimistic energy usage meters, while Lexus cars showed worse efficiency than actual.

The ID.7's heat pump improved efficiency by 5.2% but takes 85,000 mi to earn back the £1050 cost.

It wasn't extremely cold at average 10-11°C but very wet and windy which still reduced range.

The Lexus RZ had the worst range at 157 mi, 37.9% below its official figure and less than the cheaper Jeep.

The Tesla Model 3 managed 293 mi, while the larger battery Mercedes EQE won by just 7 mi.

Electric car trip computers can be inaccurate - check efficiency figures carefully.

Transcripts

action and we're off 14

miles there's some life in this thing

come on oh that hasn't gone

well electric cars are great when it's

hot and dry but what happens when the

temperature plummets and the heavens

open we've got 12 cars here and we're

going to drive them all in real world

conditions until they die we're going to

show you exactly what happens when

electric cars run out of charge and how

far all of these EVS will really go on a

typical Winter's day and then at the end

we're going to Crunch all the numbers to

see how they stack up for efficiency but

before we start testing make sure you

hit subscribe for lots more videos like

this

one right first things first we've got

to set these cars up and because this is

a relatively scientific test we got to

make sure it's fair so we want them in

basically the same condition so Dan what

are we doing with the tires so all of

them need to be at their recommended

manufacturer settings and that's what

you're doing here exactly yes so I've

got to attach the toing eye to these

cars so that when they run out of

battery and we pull over to the side of

the road they're ready to be put into

the trailer so I've just been in every

single car zeroing all of the trips I've

also set the climate control in each car

to 21° and they're now all in Eco Drive

modes with all the cars set up for the

test it was time for the driver briefing

as always because it wouldn't be safe to

deliberately run cars out of charge on

the public road we recreated real world

conditions at our private test center in

bedfordshire we followed a simple test

route of roughly 15 Mi which included

2.6 Mi of simulated stop start Urban

driving 4 mil at a steady 50 mph and 8

mil at a constant 70 the rationale for

the high percentage of high-speed

cruising is that drivers who want to

travel long distances in one hit are

likely to be using the motorway Network

the evening before the test the 12 cars

were charged to 100% And then left out

in the open for roughly 14 hours in 6 to

10° ambient conditions just before we

started the test they were all plugged

in again to check they were fully

charged and then the head headlights

were switched on the cars would be

driven repeatedly around our test route

in Convoy with driver changes and a

switch in running order at the end of

every lap to make things as Fair as

possible okay will so what cars do we

have here today well the car that can

officially go the furthest is the one

I'm driving right now that's the Tesla

Model 3 it's recently been updated this

is the long range version so the version

that can go furthest on a charge and the

official wtp figure for this guy is 390

MI however that is with the optional

19in Alloys this car has the standard

18in aerrow Wheels there isn't an

official wltp for that well it's exactly

the same as with the bigger Wheels but

Tesla estimates

421 miles so in theory this should go

the furthest okay just behind it though

is the VW id7 which I'm in now and you

aren't seeing double we have two pretty

much identical id7 on this test the big

difference is is though one of them has

a heat pump the other one doesn't so

driving them both on this wintry day in

real world driving conditions will let

us see if having a heat pump really

makes a big difference or not okay so

after that we've got the Mercedes eqe

quite an expensive executive Saloon and

actually we had one of those in our

summer range test that we did a few

months ago and it went furthest of all

of the cars that we had on that test

including the Tesla Model 3 although

that was before the Tesla's update

next up we've got the byd seal which is

a brand new model 3 rival from Chinese

company byd and we've already driven it

on a long road trip and we were pretty

impressed with it there but how is it

going to do today after that we've got

something that's quite a lot more

expensive it's the BMW I5 very good

electric car there's no doubt about that

but it starts at £75,000 so the fact is

sort of middle of the pack when it comes

to official range is maybe a little bit

disappointing but perhaps it will

surprise us in the real World Behind the

I5 in terms of official ranges we've got

the Volvo xc40 which has just had a

fairly major update giving it a much

bigger battery and we've got a twin

motor version on this test okay so one

of the cheapest cars in the whole test

next is the mg4 it's actually the topof

the range mg4 so the mg4 range starts at

27,000 this one is £365,000 it's called

the extended range and the official wltp

for that car is 3 123 mil and actually

we used that on a road trip a few months

ago against the Tesla Model 3 you can

watch that video if you want by clicking

the link up there at the top now if the

mg4 represents brilliant value for money

in the electric car world the next car

might not it's the Lexus ux and it's

just had a fairly major update from

Lexus however it is still a fairly small

electric SUV which can only fast charge

using a Chad Mo connector and the one

one that we've got here today is a Tumi

ux which costs £57,000 and it also has

one of the worst ranges here bargain so

that's almost twice as much money as the

byd dolphin so you've already mentioned

we've got the byd seal in this test this

is the much smaller dolphin it's a

little bit smaller than the mg4 costs

around £31,000 so when you factor that

in perhaps the range one of the weakest

here but understandable when you

consider the price and really you'd

expect the seal and the dolphin to be

pretty good in wet conditions wouldn't

you will but anyway next we've got the

Lexus RZ which is another Lexus in this

test which is also extremely expensive

and it really stands out towards the

bottom of the pack here but you never

know it could surprise us today let's

hope so okay so after that the final car

is the Jeep Avenger European car of the

year actually has the worst official

range of all these cars 200 144 mil

perhaps it will surprise us it does come

with a heat pump as standard and

obviously it's much much cheaper than

the RZ although still around about

£40,000 just under so not exactly a

bargain so will what's your money on to

win this test well as I said I reckon

the Tesla Model 3 probably has it in the

bag it's the longrange version of that

car we know the rear wheel drive we

tested that already and that returns

some fantastic efficiency figures but

given what we're seeing so far only a

few miles in then the id7 or at least

one of them could run this pretty close

and what do you think is going to die

first I reckon it's a toss up between

the Avenger and the RZ they've both got

very similar official ranges it really

depends on which one deals best with

these quite poor weather conditions

obviously a lot of rain and reasonably

cold temperatures today let's find

out

now if you're watching this in Canada or

Sweden or somewhere like that you might

be thinking this is not a winter at all

it's currently 11° according to the car

so not particularly cold and in the UK

even in Scotland you know it rarely gets

down to- 10us 20 really cold

temperatures like that but still this

sort of temperature is not ideal for

electric cars they will go quite a bit

further when it's 20 25° in the summer

and there's a lot more to contend with

as well so it's very windy today that's

not good for efficiency and it is

pouring with rain and there's a lot of

standing water on the road as well so

these cars are having to push through

that which again is harming their

efficiency and reducing how far they can

go on a full

charge so will we've been on the road

for a few hours now the sun's come out

the rain's gone away for a bit what car

are you in at the a minute so I in the

byd seal and I'm getting a little bit

annoyed because every time I try and put

the wipers on I indicate because the

stalks the wrong way around but there's

better news when it comes to the range

because at the moment I have 50% of

battery left and the car is telling me I

still have 177 miles left to go how

about yourself okay that's pretty good I

was also doing a lot of accidental

indicating in the seal but now I'm in

the mg4 I've got 44% of my battery left

with 11 miles of range Apparently that

is pretty good I'd say especially given

the price but do you reckon we were

right about which of these cars would

run out first so we checking with the

others okay so it's between the Avenger

and the rzed isn't it so let's find out

what they're on how many miles remaining

in the Avenger 52 miles what about the

RZ it's down to 14 miles 14 miles so

that's a 75 77,000 electric SUV and it's

going to run out of juice quicker than a

byd dolphin that's 31 Grand and a Jeep

Avenger this this mg4 is going to be on

the road for like another eight hours

and the RZ will just be broken down do

you think it will die pretty much when

it gets to zero reading miles or will it

get a second wind and do another 100 or

so no I suspect it will get to zero and

die there but there's only one way to

find

out

okay so I am now in the Lexus RZ and

I've just started a circuit which is

around about 15 miles and the car is

telling me I have 7 miles left so if

that's correct then we're going to run

out completely on this journey at the

moment we're doing very low speed stuff

we're doing the stop start at 30 m hour

but in a minute we're going to be doing

50 and then 70 M hour and I expect that

figure to start to go down very quickly

and and if we don't run out this time

it's almost certain that we'll run out

next and guess who's in it

then and you know what we're just ping

off the highspeed circuit we've done

143.5 mil hour so that means I have made

it round a full circuit and it also

means dog revolter is in the car next

and I think given that there is zero

miles left according to the trip

computer there's a pretty good chance

that he is going to have to deal with

the car running out which is quite

funny great it's been on zero miles for

quite a while now so let's see what

happens okay we've survived the town

section at 30 mph can we actually get up

to 50 mph performance is quite

restricted but we're almost there

47

49 50 m an hour now okay how long can

this keep

going we made it through the 50 mph

section so now we've got to get up to 70

and we've been going for 14 miles with

the car saying that it has no miles aing

but I am struggling to get up to 70 mph

I'm at 56 57 my foot is flat to the

floor

58 oh I'm getting overtaken by everyone

I'm losing power I'm dropping I'm down

to 59 mph 58 55 I think this is going to

be a really really painful slow death

now 5150 my foot's still flat on the

floor and we're just very slowly losing

power 49 oh oh no oh I really thought we

stood a chance of making it a whole way

around will what's happening in the

Avenger I'm currently cruising at 36

miles hour I still have 1% of the

battery according to the car so I reckon

it's only a matter of time obviously

I've done a couple more laps than you so

I won't be last but I think I might be

second from Bost I think the recovery

truck is going to be quite busy for the

next hour

okay so the Avenger is actually the

first one certainly when you look at

time to die it's done 162 miles

according to the trip computer but the

rzed started to drop off quite a bit

sooner so I reckon this has actually

done more miles or will have done by the

time that we finish I've got my hiis

jacket on because this car needs to be

now taken to a oh and I'm moving I'm

moving I'm moving didn't expect that

happen I'm going onto the tow

truck well we've been in limp mode for

what feels like several hours now we're

still moving forwards at 8 m an hour

we've been on an empty battery for

almost 20

miles okay so the Avenger is first back

at the charging point so if we're

talking about time it was definitely the

first to die but I'm not sure if this

will have covered more miles than the RZ

because that car started to die quite a

bit sooner than this although I've heard

that somehow it is still crawling around

the circuit right now or beit at about 6

M hour so I think now it's about time we

found out which of our cars went

furthest and also we talked about how

efficient they all

are so we're talking about range first

and then we're going to cover efficiency

and as you've just seen the jeep was the

first to fully die but it actually still

traveled further than the RZ and the RZ

trip computer was showing a remaining

range of 0 miles after just 136 mil but

it kept going for another 21 M after

that remember though the last 3 miles

were going at about 9 M hour so in total

it covered 157 Mi meaning that one of

the most expensive cars on this test had

the worst range of the entire lineup so

the Jeep Avenger was next it does cost

roughly half as much as the RZ but it's

still not exactly cheap it cost almost

£40,000

and it covered 163 miles now we should

clarify at this point that we didn't

just go by each car's trip computer

because they were all reading slightly

differently so what we did was we took

an average of the trip computer reading

at 100 miles and then we adjusted all

the figures accordingly yes we did and

next to die was another Lexus it wasn't

a particularly good day for the Japanese

manufacturer it was the ux

300E and it was third to drop out

covering 170 Mi which was

37.9% short of its official range and

that was the biggest shortfall of any of

the cars here the other thing to mention

about the ux is that the one that we had

on test costs more than £57,000 and it's

the only one of our contenders that uses

the old-fashioned Chad mod connector to

Rapid charge and if you find a Chad

connector and connect to it then you

need to wait for almost 1 hour and 30

minutes to get a 10 to 80% top up

because the ux can only accept a maximum

charging rate of 50 KW so not a

particularly recommendable EV on the

evidence of this test uh next Fallout

the running was the BD dolphin that

managed 188 miles now okay that's not a

particularly long range by Modern

Electric Car standards but the dolphin

is a small little Urban runaround it has

a footprint about the same size as a BMW

1 series then that's a little bit more

understandable and also it's the

cheapest car here it costs 316 95 and

that's in the range topping trim sure

the next eight cars all managed at least

another 35 mil but it was the mg4 that

went next and in total the mg4 extended

range covered

227 miles which is pretty impressive for

an EV that costs less than

£37,000 but it is the most expensive mg4

that you can buy alongside the X power

and really we do think although it still

represents good value for money it's

really the cheaper versions of the mg4

that are more recommendable and make

more sense even if they can't travel for

quite as far on a full charge absolutely

I agree with that so next drop out 5

miles later was the Volvo xc40 recharge

now this is the new updated one it

recently got a bigger battery and we

were testing the twin motor version so

it's very quick and that managed 232 mil

not bad at all although that was about

30% shy of its official wtp range the I5

was next and to be honest you might

expect a better winter range than the

253 miles that it managed to cover

because it cost almost £80,000 but the

I5 did at least get relatively close to

its official range after that it was the

id7 without the heat pump that dropped

out the running just one mile later and

then another mile after that it was the

new byd seal that fell out of the

running so the BD seal has a pretty good

range when you consider that it is much

cheaper than cars like the id7 and the

I5 and it actually beat those cars will

beit by a small margin and it was the

id7 with the heat pump which finished

third overall it managed an extra 14

miles on top of what the id7 covered

without the heat pump and eventually the

id7 with the heat pump died after 268

miles okay so the final two now was only

seven miles in it in the end but sheer

battery size did eventually win the day

so the model 3 longrange that managed

293 Mi and the eqe managed 300 mil on

the nose but then when you consider that

the eqe as I said has a much bigger

battery has a 19% larger usable capacity

it costs almost 20,000 more to buy than

a model 3 then perhaps such a small

margin of Victory isn't that great and

the model 3 was also by a country mile

the most efficient car that we had on

test and it averaged 3.9 m per kilowatt

hour and the reason that efficiency is

important is because if an electric car

has a massive range but terrible

efficiency then it's like having a fuel

powerered car with a massive tank that

means it can travel 800 miles before you

have to fill it up but if it's doing 10

m per gallon then it's going to cost you

an absolute Fortune so you'd be better

off having a car with a smaller fuel

tank which can't travel quite as far in

one hit but is much more efficient and

would then cost you a lot less money and

a few years ago when electricity prices

were really really cheap and any

electric car was Far cheaper to run than

an equivalent petrol or diesel

efficiency wasn't such a big

consideration but electricity prices

have skyro rocketed particularly you'll

notice that if you're using the public

charging Network so it's a much bigger

consideration for buyers now or at least

it should be and you might be surprised

by the difference in running costs

between the electric cars that we had on

this test you might so if you take the

Tesla Model 3 for example as you

mentioned that was the most efficient

car we tested and if you were to charge

that up exclusively at home at the

current energy price cap that's around

29p per Kow hour then you would spend

roughly £740 in electricity every 10,000

MI now of course we know a lot of EV

buyers use cheaper overnight tariffs so

let's just say for argument that you

were paying 7p per kilowatt hour then

that 10,000 Mi would cost you

£179 but on the other hand if you were

doing all your charging at a public

charger at say 79 P per kilowatt now

this is a Tesla it has access to the

supercharging network so that's

generally a bit cheaper but let's base

it on 79 P per kilowatt then you would

be paying £

2,021 for every1 10,000 miles you

covered and that's for a very efficient

electric car we've also got the numbers

for the RZ which not only had the worst

range but it was also the least

efficient car that we had on test and it

managed just 2.5 m per Kow so 10,000 m

in that would cost

282 on the 7p overnight tariff £

1,168 at the home price cap or

$3,183 if you're using the public

charging Network so you could

potentially be saving an extra

1,162 on electricity every 10,000 Mi by

choosing an efficient EV over a thirsty

one yes and although some people might

be thinking well those cars aren't

direct Rivals you're comparing one large

SUV against a much lower selika

executive Saloon but even if we look at

more direct Rivals so take the byd seal

for example that would cost

you7 more every 10,000 Mi if you were

charging at 29 P per kwatt hour rising

to

£536 more if you were paying 79p for

every Kow hour at a public charging

station so even though not all buyers do

worry about efficiency when they're

choosing an EV they really should and

one final point on efficiency we

realized in this test that the trip

computer what the car is telling you

it's achieving isn't actually always

right so the numbers that we have the

efficiency calculations we've got

they're based on the actual miles that

we covered divided by the usable

capacity of the battery and we found

that the actual efficiency was in lots

of cases very different to what the car

was saying that it was achieving good

point so we found the efficiency meters

in the BMW I5 the Jeep Avenger the mg4

and the Tesla Model 3 were pretty much

spot on there were some big

discrepancies so the two bys for example

they were wildly optimistic about their

energy usage take the dolphin that was

claiming 3.9 m per kwatt which was the

same as the Tesla Model 3 was delivering

much very impressive very impressive

figure but actually when you calculate

the numbers it was only doing 3.1 m per

K so that's an error of more than 20%

and obviously nowhere near as impressive

as 3.9 m per Kow hour not at all the

energy meters in the two 87s were also a

little bit optimistic by a much smaller

degree though on the other hand in the

two lexuses the eqe and the xc40 the

meters in those cars claimed they were

delivering worse efficiency than they

actually were very interesting but what

about heat pumps then so we had two

identical id7 one with a heat pump one

without a heat pump and what did we

learn from this experiment so yes heat

pumps in theory are supposed to improve

efficiency because they can pull heat

from the ambient air and transfer that

into the car's interior so that's more

efficient than using a resistance heater

to warm up the cabin now a lot of

electric cars a lot of our contenders

came with one of these as standard but

in some cases you have to pay extra so

on the id7 you have to pay £1,050 if you

want a heat pump that is quite a lot of

money the two cars as you say were near

enough identical they had the same

Wheels the same tires they were in the

same trim the only difference other than

the heat pump was that the one with the

heat pump also had a panoramic roof so

that would have added a little bit of

weight but we're talking small margins

now the heat pump did improve efficiency

and range as you mentioned earlier so

the efficiency was 5.2% better it went

from 3.3 to 3.5 miles per kilowatt hour

but the trouble is even if you're doing

all your charging on the public charging

Network and you're paying 79p per

kilowatt hour then you will need to do

85,000 Mi before you've earned back that

,050 in electricity savings and only

then will you start to actually save

money and if you're charging at home

particularly if you're on a cheap

overnight tariff then you'll be doing

half a million miles or more which you

probably won't even have the car then

the car will be in a scrap peep

somewhere sure before it's paid back the

initial cost of the heat pump crazy so

if you get a heat pump as standard then

great but if you have to decide to pay

more to have one then it probably won't

actually add up potentially not is

important to point out that this was on

the day in different conditions in

cooler weather perhaps with different

cars then the difference the Improvement

might be slightly greater but yes

absolutely is something worth thinking

about and obviously we do acknowledge

that the temperature on the day wasn't

minus 20 so it wasn't like we were

conducting this test in a Nordic winter

but what was the average temperature for

the actual testing that we were doing

the average temperature was between 10

and 11° during testing it was a little

bit colder when we soak the cars

overnight so clearly there are other

countries in the world that have much

harsher winters this is specific to the

UK and as I mentioned earlier even

though it wasn't actually that cold it's

very wet a lot of standing water and it

was quite windy as well sure okay so

there you have it thank you very much

for watching this video if you want to

see another one make sure you click that

link up there and to get more

information on this test and all the

cars involved and if you want a great

deal on your next car go to whatcar.com

by clicking there