Electric cars are not an anomaly in the automobile scenario anymore. While the entire industry is working on building a portfolio around them, EV sales are topping the charts too.
Norway is a prime example of this, where the sale of electric cars recently trumped the sale of gasoline ones for the first time in any region across the world. Even with the increased adoption, majority still doubts the range of such EVs. Trumping all such doubts, a YouTuber recently created the world record for driving the most miles in an EV within 24 hours - a whopping total of 2781 km (1,728 mi).?
Bj?rn Nyland managed to cover the distance within a period of 24 hours in a Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD.
With the run, Nyland broke a previous record of 2644 km, set last year, also in a Model 3. Nyland recorded an average speed of around 170 km/h (105 mph) while moving on the Autobahn, Germany, chosen to keep the trip a ¡°realistic¡± one with no closed course. Just the Autobahn roads and the common road rules.
The stops that Nyland took during the trip brought the average speed of the trip down to 115 km (72mph) over 24 hours. This translates to quite a higher speed than the regular attempts at the record, which tend to maintain efficiency during the course to prolong the range of the electric cars and reduce the time taken to charge them during the attempt.?
To tackle this problem, Nyland chose Ionity quick chargers in Germany instead of the Tesla supercharger network.
As per a report, the Ionity chargers presently have a much faster charging rate than the Tesla ones in Germany.
Nyland recorded a 186 kW charging rate in his video at one point.?
(Image: YouTube/ Bj?rn Nyland)
Also read:?Braking Story: A Single Pedal To Drive Your Car
Nyland took another smart approach to keep the charging times short. He charged the car only up to around 60% of its battery¡¯s full capacity. This is because a fast charging rate is achieved in electric cars only up to a limit, after which the charging rate tends to taper off. So, essentially, Nyland risked increased number of charging stops in exchange for much lower time at each one.?
And the plan worked! With a total of 850 kWh of energy spent during the trip, Nyland and his team (of course, Nyland wasn¡¯t the only one driving throughout) managed to cover a total of 2781 km in 24 hours, setting a new record.?
The record is quite different from those attempting to churn out the maximum efficiency of an electric car, as those focus on getting the maximum efficiency out of the vehicle and hence drive at low speeds. With his record, however, Nyland has proved that electric cars are just as capable of handling a long-distance haul at a high performance output with nearly as much time spent in a gasoline car (if not less) without any problems. You can watch Nyland's attempt at the record here:
Now we understand that electric cars are just as potent as the gasoline ones over long distances. But a crucial part of this is a wide network of charging stations.
In India, such a setup is not available at the moment. While the country¡¯s government is pushing towards such an infrastructure, for now, the fact of the matter is that such a record is practically impossible in the country. But that does not give you any reason to doubt an electric car¡¯s capability, right?