The experience of owning an electric vehicle is different from that of an internal combustion engine, as per InsideEVs. You must pay closer attention to where and how long you must charge while traveling to your destination. It is also not a drawback because gas and diesel cars also need to stop for fuel; it’s just a little different.
However, having a driver who drives erratically next to you throws all this attention to detail out the window.
Enter former TopGear presenter Rory Reid and CarThrottle star Alex Kersten. The two wanted to know if driving quickly would drain an electric car’s battery. Their video is posted on AutoTrader’s YouTube channel:
Nissan Leaf battery’s performance
We all likely already know the answer to that query given that the experiment was conducted at a chilly 26.6 degrees (-3 degrees Celsius), but what’s more informative in the video is how rapidly the old, first-generation Nissan Leaf breaks down. When driving sensibly in a previous video taken by Rory Reid, he could get 66 miles from the Leaf’s battery. However, with a heavy foot on the gas pedal and the battery at a less-than-ideal temperature in this video, it’s anyone’s guess.
No one seems to believe that the car will travel more than 33 miles as the two, along with those operating the cameras, place some wagers.
The car’s range meter initially displays 42 miles in eco mode and a full battery. Remember that the vehicle was manufactured in 2012, and the odometer read 73,671 miles when this video was recorded. The car’s 24 kWh battery had an EPA-estimated range of 73 miles when it was new; since then, it has lost 42% of that capacity.
The old Leaf can accelerate to 99 mph reasonably quickly, but after just 3 miles on the road, the battery meter reads that the range has dropped to 24 miles. When they reached the 20-mile mark, the car began to sputter and eventually lost power entirely, with the odometer reading 21.6 miles, 16 miles after the range meter left the room.
