I can’t stand so much about my EV – it may be the future but if you ‘don’t want to freeze to death’ you lose mileage
The electric vehicle revolution may be well underway, but one new car owner has pointed out that key reliability issues still need to be resolved before petrol cars are completely replaced.
In a YouTube short film, the driver showed how just turning on the heater drastically reduced his estimated mileage in real time, even when the electric vehicle was parked.
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Automotive YouTuber Miles (@CarswithMiles) was road testing a Hyundai IONIQ 5 when he took to his platform to tell his viewers that electric vehicles are still behind the curve.
“Everyone says electric cars are the future, and that’s true to a certain extent,” Miles said.
“But there are certain things that make electric cars very difficult to live with, and this IONIQ 5 definitely reminded me of that.”
Since range is a major fear factor for electric vehicle owners, people are paying particular attention to it – and Miles was no exception.
“In the all-wheel drive configuration of the IONIQ 5, the range isn’t that great anyway, but if you also want to stay warm and not freeze to death, that definitely comes at a price,” Miles continued.
On camera, Miles showed how the range dropped from 80 miles to 65 miles after turning the heater on.
But the heat-to-mileage ratio wasn’t the only problem he illustrated with his electric vehicle.
After significantly shortening the range, Miles explained that using the IONIQ 5 charger with a public charger was unnecessarily complicated.
“Unless you own a Tesla, successful charging is only guaranteed about 60 percent of the time,” Miles said.
“Whether you’re at an Electrify America station or a Level 2 charger.”
However, Miles is not the only one to complain about the unreliability of public charging.
According to JD Power, one in five charging attempts fails, usually because the charger doesn’t work, the adapters are misplaced or defective and there are long queues at the charging stations.
The more public charging stations are created, the more drivers can charge.
Miles also filmed how the Hyundai’s main screen was blank and unresponsive.
“Electric vehicles are basically computers on wheels, and sometimes the computers just aren’t good,” Miles said.
The off screen also happened to have his GPS displayed, making it difficult for him to figure out his next move.
All in all, Miles said he would still recommend the car, even though he was aware of its limitations compared to gasoline-powered vehicles.
“Electric cars aren’t bad, and this IONIQ 5 isn’t bad either, but there are certain things about the IONIQ and electric cars in general that really need to be clarified before we can consider electric cars the new standard.”
His viewers tended to agree, with many comments agreeing that charging was the hardest part of owning an electric vehicle.
“I own an electric car and I would say the worst thing about an electric car is the fact that people who live in apartments don’t have the option to plug in overnight,” one commenter said.
Another user quickly explained that they would not be switching to an electric vehicle any time soon due to the lack of charging infrastructure and costs.
“I’ll probably be among the last to get on the EV bus,” they said. “Not charging at home saves you any money and is still quite expensive and inconvenient.”
Some users took issue with Miles’ comment that the range decreased after turning on the heater, saying the same thing would happen with an internal combustion engine car.
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