Electric Car Range on my car is way lower than the number stated on my contract. What are my rights?

MattMattMattUK

jon81uk said:

sapan_babel said:

njkmr said:

I think what the OP is saying is that it only ever shows a range of 38kms, from fully charged so hes asking why the literature he was given, advised on, said it should charge to 51kms.
They clearly think this is false information as a car charged to 38km,s may never and probably will never ,achieve 51km,s from a full charge?
It if was charging to 51kms as estimated range and doesnt achieve this then yes many factors come into play and manufacturer will argue why it doesnt achieve this but they are saying it charges only to 38kms in the first place so given false info before purchase?

This is precisely my point. I am not talking about WLTP or mileage I am getting when driving. I am talking about just charging my car to full capacity and showcasing the number contracted to me. I totally understand that it will provide me less capacity of charge in winter but I have had this car for 2 years and it has never gone above 38KM or 24miles!  

range and capacity are not the same thing. The capacity of the battery will be something like 18kWh. The range is how far you can drive on that charge and as many people have said is dependant on many factors.

The comparison with a petrol car is that the capacity of the fuel tank is 50 litres but the range calculated by the computer will vary, depending on the type of driving.

Exactly this, we do not say "I put 500 miles of fuel in my car". I have a 55 litre tank, it takes 55 litres of fuel, not 500 miles of fuel. If I drive in lots of traffic, or if I drove like an idiot then I might only get 300 miles out of a tank, the most I have ever got out of a tank was 640 miles and it was still showing as 80 miles left, across a year I average 500, but that varies throughout the year depending on driving conditions and what driving I end up doing. 

TELLIT01

I presume an EV consumption varies in much the same way as a petrol or diesel car does.  Heavy right foot mean reduced range.  With EV even things like the heater etc will affect range which wouldn't be the case in other vehicles.  Range, for EV or petrol is just a guestimate based on average fuel consumption figures.  Even those figures are generally derived from entirely artificial driving conditions.

born_again

TELLIT01 said:

I presume an EV consumption varies in much the same way as a petrol or diesel car does.  Heavy right foot mean reduced range.  With EV even things like the heater etc will affect range which wouldn't be the case in other vehicles.  Range, for EV or petrol is just a guestimate based on average fuel consumption figures.  Even those figures are generally derived from entirely artificial driving conditions.

Your right. You right foot is the defining effect on range, after the effect of weather.
 Although a ICE does lose range heating car, as more fuel is used by a cold engine.

TBH, EV heating while when starting from a cold car, has a effect on range, it soon tails off as car heats up & heater is not working as hard.
Pre heat car & it has very little effect on range.

In reality EV or ICE are exactly the same in terms of loss of range, just in a EV it is in your face via GOM XXX miles left. 
How many people actually look at miles left in a ICE, until maybe the light starts flashing as you are nearly out of fuel.

MeteredOut

Alderbank said:

DullGreyGuy said:

sapan_babel said:

njkmr said:

I think what the OP is saying is that it only ever shows a range of 38kms, from fully charged so hes asking why the literature he was given, advised on, said it should charge to 51kms.
They clearly think this is false information as a car charged to 38km,s may never and probably will never ,achieve 51km,s from a full charge?
It if was charging to 51kms as estimated range and doesnt achieve this then yes many factors come into play and manufacturer will argue why it doesnt achieve this but they are saying it charges only to 38kms in the first place so given false info before purchase?

This is precisely my point. I am not talking about WLTP or mileage I am getting when driving. I am talking about just charging my car to full capacity and showcasing the number contracted to me. I totally understand that it will provide me less capacity of charge in winter but I have had this car for 2 years and it has never gone above 38KM or 24miles!  

That number is a guesstimate based on a number of factors such as how you've been driving recently. The only way you'd get the WLTP 51KM is if the vehicle has been used exactly as specified in the WLTP test for a period of time which would include ambient temperatures etc.

This ^.

In particular the WLTP for an EV is determined by running the vehicle from 100% charge down to 0%. This is impossible to do with normal driving since the battery protection circuitry prevents the battery from being completely discharged so the real world range will always be lower.

I've read that some EVs displaying 0% actually still have a few kWh charge kept aside, in additional to the protective buffer most have at the upper and lower ends.

Eg, the VW 82kWh battery advertises 77kWh usable, with a 2.5kWh protective buffer on the upper and lower ends - the car will never use these buffers.

But I've seen one diagram posted that indicated that 0-100% on the dashboard is actually the 5-77kWh range of the remainder of the battery (so each 1% is 7.2kWh, not 7.7kWh), and if the driver gets to 0% on the dash, they actually have 5kWh remaining (though the car may go into "turtle mode" at that point).

Might be less likely for a hybrid to have this though.

Keep_pedalling

sapan_babel said:

njkmr said:

I think what the OP is saying is that it only ever shows a range of 38kms, from fully charged so hes asking why the literature he was given, advised on, said it should charge to 51kms.
They clearly think this is false information as a car charged to 38km,s may never and probably will never ,achieve 51km,s from a full charge?
It if was charging to 51kms as estimated range and doesnt achieve this then yes many factors come into play and manufacturer will argue why it doesnt achieve this but they are saying it charges only to 38kms in the first place so given false info before purchase?

This is precisely my point. I am not talking about WLTP or mileage I am getting when driving. I am talking about just charging my car to full capacity and showcasing the number contracted to me. I totally understand that it will provide me less capacity of charge in winter but I have had this car for 2 years and it has never gone above 38KM or 24miles!  

So when you charge from 0% to full how much is going into the battery in kWh? 

born_again

Add in PHEV battery will never go to 0%. Don't know about Volvo, but Kia will not go below 10 to 15%

Keep_pedalling

born_again said:

Add in PHEV battery will never go to 0%. Don't know about Volvo, but Kia will not go below 10 to 15%

It will however go down to 0% of the usable battery so if the OPs care has the 18.7kWh battery he should see a bit over the 14.8kWh (accounting for charging losses) usable going in. If there is something wrong with the battery then the charging will switch off before before reaching that level.

sapan_babel

Aylesbury_Duck said:

sapan_babel said:

njkmr said:

I think what the OP is saying is that it only ever shows a range of 38kms, from fully charged so hes asking why the literature he was given, advised on, said it should charge to 51kms.
They clearly think this is false information as a car charged to 38km,s may never and probably will never ,achieve 51km,s from a full charge?
It if was charging to 51kms as estimated range and doesnt achieve this then yes many factors come into play and manufacturer will argue why it doesnt achieve this but they are saying it charges only to 38kms in the first place so given false info before purchase?

This is precisely my point. I am not talking about WLTP or mileage I am getting when driving. I am talking about just charging my car to full capacity and showcasing the number contracted to me. I totally understand that it will provide me less capacity of charge in winter but I have had this car for 2 years and it has never gone above 38KM or 24miles!  

Have you checked that the specification of the car and its battery match that in your paperwork, precisely?   Might there be slight model differences and you have a car that isn't precisely what your paperwork says it is?

What outcome are you after?

I am trying to understand if I was misled to buy the car and if there is a legal base here. Thank you

MeteredOut

sapan_babel said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

sapan_babel said:

njkmr said:

I think what the OP is saying is that it only ever shows a range of 38kms, from fully charged so hes asking why the literature he was given, advised on, said it should charge to 51kms.
They clearly think this is false information as a car charged to 38km,s may never and probably will never ,achieve 51km,s from a full charge?
It if was charging to 51kms as estimated range and doesnt achieve this then yes many factors come into play and manufacturer will argue why it doesnt achieve this but they are saying it charges only to 38kms in the first place so given false info before purchase?

This is precisely my point. I am not talking about WLTP or mileage I am getting when driving. I am talking about just charging my car to full capacity and showcasing the number contracted to me. I totally understand that it will provide me less capacity of charge in winter but I have had this car for 2 years and it has never gone above 38KM or 24miles!  

Have you checked that the specification of the car and its battery match that in your paperwork, precisely?   Might there be slight model differences and you have a car that isn't precisely what your paperwork says it is?

What outcome are you after?

I am trying to understand if I was misled to buy the car and if there is a legal base here. Thank you

You weren't and there isn't.

Aylesbury_Duck

sapan_babel said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

sapan_babel said:

njkmr said:

I think what the OP is saying is that it only ever shows a range of 38kms, from fully charged so hes asking why the literature he was given, advised on, said it should charge to 51kms.
They clearly think this is false information as a car charged to 38km,s may never and probably will never ,achieve 51km,s from a full charge?
It if was charging to 51kms as estimated range and doesnt achieve this then yes many factors come into play and manufacturer will argue why it doesnt achieve this but they are saying it charges only to 38kms in the first place so given false info before purchase?

This is precisely my point. I am not talking about WLTP or mileage I am getting when driving. I am talking about just charging my car to full capacity and showcasing the number contracted to me. I totally understand that it will provide me less capacity of charge in winter but I have had this car for 2 years and it has never gone above 38KM or 24miles!  

Have you checked that the specification of the car and its battery match that in your paperwork, precisely?   Might there be slight model differences and you have a car that isn't precisely what your paperwork says it is?

What outcome are you after?

I am trying to understand if I was misled to buy the car and if there is a legal base here. Thank you

From what you'd told us, the answer to both of those appears to be no.