which cars have the best mixed autonomy?

This is the most important exercise of our Supertest: measuring fuel consumption and average range on a route. Here is the ranking of our results.

Autonomy! Today, this term is on everyone’s lips when talking about an electric vehicle. But over the years, the evolution of technologies and the generalization of electric vehicles, the radius of action becomes, with some exceptions, a non-issue. This is true in any case for the daily use of an electric car. On the highway, it’s another story and we’ll have time to come back to it with a complete summary.

In the meantime, this is the use that the WLTP certification cycle features in its measurement protocol, with four driving phases. If the standard wants to simulate the behavior of several million drivers, it is always far from the truth. Which is pretty normal, but not very representative. And for good reason: the values ​​are measured at a distance from external obstacles with a relatively low average speed. To get a little closer to reality, we developed a rigorous and repeatable measurement protocol for each car to obtain mixed autonomy. The only variables were the tires fitted to the test vehicles and the temperatures outside, despite all our precautions to fine tune the conditions. Because, for obvious logistical reasons, as you can imagine, it is difficult, if not impossible, to combine several dozen models for simultaneous measurements over 1,000 km. This is how we ride from midnight in the summer to get the lowest possible temperature, and we attack around 6/7 pm in the winter, as soon as the sun sets to avoid its effect on the operation of the air conditioning, and Sunday to overcome. the effects of traffic on our ways of driving.

As a reminder, our mixed autonomy measurement consists of a 100 km loop performed in both directions to smooth out the effect of topography (ie, 2 x 50 km). It consists of three equal parts in town, on the road and on the expressway, to obtain at the end of each section an average speed corresponding to the use according to our observations, with a final average of 58 km/h . For information, the WLTP cycle has four phases with a final average speed of 46.6 km/h. To calculate the autonomy, we perform a very simple mathematical formula that consists in relating the total net capacity of the battery to the observed consumption. For greater accuracy, we also compare the evolution of the gauge with the number of kilometers traveled, which is always relevant (except for the Nissan Ariya 87).

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Test – Nissan Ariya 87 kWh: consumption, range and performance measured

In this ranking, we cannot fail to also indicate the average final consumption to fully measure the efficiency of a car. Since the battery is larger, it allows a model to show an attractive autonomy, and camouflage, in certain cases, its unreasonable appetite. A consumption that must of course be considered today. Because when the charging network is less complete and charging times are faster, autonomy will take a back seat in the collective consciousness, as is the case with any thermal car where only consumption is decided.

Best mixed autonomy: the Nissan Ariya 87 far from the rest, but…

In the small game of best autonomy, the Nissan Ariya 87 hit the headlines. Because in addition to taking first place by 56 km ahead of the BMW i4 eDrive40, the Japanese SUV is the only one on the list that exceeds the WLTP value! Which means that the approval value is pessimistic (which is surprising at a time when this is the main selling point), or there is something wrong with the fuel consumption. This second hypothesis seems the most likely, as we detailed in our report. According to our multiple observations, the displayed consumption will be deceived by the transferred gauge, which will give, after countless hours spent on a calculator, almost 475 km of average autonomy. However, it wasn’t enough to knock him down the rankings. On the third step of the podium is the Tesla Model Y Performance which measured 457 km that day.

The last on the list is as subject to debate as the first. And for good reason: the Volkswagen ID.3 was tested in cold temperatures and with winter tires. A combo that particularly weakens its average consumption. So, it is less efficient than Aiways U5, by far the most economical vehicle this year. Here again, the temperature didn’t help it, but it’s hard to imagine it passing the 330 km mark according to our estimates. With their small batteries, the Peugeot e-208 and Renault Zoé R135 are logically at the bottom of the list, but manage to stay above the 300 km mark.

Apart from two excusable exceptions, none of the 15 cars tested were under the 300 km mark of mixed autonomy, according to a fairly daily route. This leaves a six-day margin in the worst case to a user who will do 42 km of a French driver without recharge solutions between two days. On average, our panel car showed a range of 381 km, for 17.9 kWh/100 km of consumption in a combined cycle. If we do not observe any regularity in terms of appetite, there is no doubt that a battery of at least 75 kWh is needed to consider passing the bar of 400 km of average autonomy.

On the other hand, it is interesting to observe the ranking in terms of consumption as well, because the references are driving. This is how, almost efficiently in the end, the Peugeot e-208 returns to first place by showing itself as the most sensible of the herd with 15.3 kWh / 100 km. Then came the Renault Mégane e-Tech tested in the summer and the MG 5. Small car, small battery, short range, but also low consumption. Still in the same chapter, note the close results of the Nissan Ariya (16.3 kWh/100 km), the Tesla Model Y Performance (16.4 kWh/100 km) and the Renault Zoé R135 (16.5 kWh/100 km ). Also, note that the Kia Niro EV coped with the task with an average of 17.5 kWh/100 km, despite winter tires and cold temperatures during its test: we estimated the excessive consumption of this Famous SUV from our services at only 10%.