Why you should own an EV if you live in a hilly area
If you happen to live in a hilly area, owning an electric car could turn out to be a better decision than you may have realised. It’s often the case that useful features in new technology can be overlooked. But here, in this short article we will look at the benefits of driving an electric car on steep roads.
Regenerative brakes in an electric car
Lets start with driving down steep hills in an electric vehicle.
You may have heard that electric cars have something called regenerative braking. Very simply, this is a system that uses the car’s electric motor to slow down the vehicle instead of using traditional disc or drum brakes.
When the driver lifts up on the accelerator, the regenerative braking is activated. The electric motor works by using large magnets and when it stops receiving electricity from the battery, a magnetic resistance builds up inside against the car’s momentum. This acts like a dynamo or a generator (much like the windmills on wind farms). It’s this resistance that slows the car and this feeds electricity back into the battery.
The regenerative braking setting can be toggled from high to low in most EVs. In its highest setting, it can substantially slow down the vehicle which can be particularly useful in controlling the car’s speed during hill descents.
On the highest setting on a steep decline, you can begin to lift up on the accelerator pedal and regulate your speed. It’s a great way of preventing the car running-away with itself. Too often do we see brake lights shining for long periods on steep hills. This drastically wears out the brake pads and discs and can go so far as to cause overheating and brake fade. Drivers of manual cars tend to drop a few gears to perform a similar action, but this only consumes more petrol which is the opposite of regenerative braking.
Some electric cars can go around 100,000 miles between brake services due to full use of this technology. Using the highest regen setting will save the cost of regularly replacing your brake pads. There is no wear to the electric motor.
Acceleration and Hill Climbing
Electricity instantly delivers full power of the motor in less than second or two. A traditional car engine on the other hand needs time to build up its momentum (its revs) to deliver peak power, and relies on gears to build up speed. We have all felt the power of an engine reduce as we begin to climb a steep hill, and find ourselves dropping a gear or two to maintain engine momentum until we’re holding at 40mph in 3rd gear to reach the summit.
In electric cars there are no gears or other moving parts as points of friction, so all the torque is instantly available. The result is effortless hill climbs which is a feeling of gliding that you soon take for granted, and forget why cars in front of you can’t maintain the speed limit.
Of course, just the same as in fuel cars, you will use more energy to climb a hill, but some of that spent energy can be recouped by regen braking when going down the other side. The energy recovery and efficiency is therefore better than a fuel car. You’ll save money on fuel.
There are some limitations with electric cars, however. The obvious one is charger availability if you don’t have a driveway. But the focus of the article has been to see the positives and give a new perspective on what EVs are capable of — maybe presenting an aspect of them you hadn’t considered.
