One of the reasons why a number of Australians are choosing an electric vehicle as part of a novated lease deal is because these vehicles are exempt from fringe benefit tax – yet another win! There are a lot of advantages to electric vehicles, such as the reduced emissions and the fuel savings, but you have to admit that topping up with electricity is a lot more of a hassle than topping up with petrol or diesel. You may have saved on fringe benefit taxes, but this may come at the cost of time.
Of course, you don’t have to sit there watching the entire time that the battery in your electric vehicle is charging. And you can plug your car in to charge overnight if you have a suitable box at home. In fact, if you have decided on an electric vehicle for your novated lease, then getting a home charging box installed would have to be a must. All the same, nobody’s going to say no to getting a bit more range out of your battery so you don’t have to factor in another half hour at the local fast chargers during your day.
The Golden Rule For Extending The Range Of An Electric Vehicle
The big thing to remember when doing anything inside your electric vehicle is that every form of energy will come from that battery. It’s not like in a regular internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle, where the kinetic energy comes from the fuel, the heat energy comes from the engine, and the electricity that charges your phone, switches on the lights and plays your favourite commuting podcast comes from the battery (and the motor – but we won’t get into a technical sidetrack here). All of these things – the heat, the sound, the light and the motion – have to be provided by that battery. You can summarise the Golden Rule for extending EV battery range as follows:
If it’s not necessary, switch it off.
Here’s some ideas that illustrate what I mean:
- Don’t charge your phone or other device while you’re driving – do it at home or in the office.
- Heat the seats, not the ambient air (this is why your electric vehicle probably has heated seats). Better still, don’t run anything that provides heat while you’re driving at all (unless you have to).
- Only switch on the air conditioning if you absolutely have to.
- Do you have to have the stereo up that loud?
Other tips for maximising battery range are similar to the ones for saving fuel in an ICE vehicle.
- If you don’t actually need them, remove things that increase drag (friction), such as roof rails and bike carriers.
- Drive gently, whether that’s accelerating or braking. Just because an electric vehicle has 0–100 km/h times that put the sports cars of yesterday to shame doesn’t mean that you have to drive like this all the time.
- Don’t carry excess baggage in your car (actually, that’s good life advice as well).
- Keep the tyres at the right pressure. Electric vehicles have special tyres thanks to the extra weight of the battery. If the tyre is too soft, this increases friction, which requires more energy to overcome when you want to move. Having your tyres too hard will also increase the drain on the battery, as it makes the ride bouncier, which increases the drag in the air.
- Make the most of adaptive cruise control, as this keeps the car going at a nice steady speed without accelerating or decelerating as you constantly correct.
- Drive using Eco mode most of the time.
However, it’s still important to enjoy your commute, so don’t feel like you have to switch off everything. Put your lights on (duh!). Keep warm if it’s chilly. Enjoy some music. But probably don’t charge your phone. And enjoy the benefits of your electric vehicle and the other perks of a novated lease.