Busting the range anxiety myth
We recently drove the BYD Atto 3 electric vehicle from its home base in Bonifacio Global City to Forest Lodge Hotel in Baguio.
The objective of the test drive is to prove to prospective EV owners that range anxiety is the thing of the past, with typical battery ranges of 400 to 600 kms that is standard among EVs available in the market today.
The BYD Atto 3 has a range of 480kms on a single charge. The one-way distance from our starting point in BGC, to our hotel is 264kms. Theoretically, with 480km of battery charge, we should be able to reach our destination easily with plenty of battery charge to spare.
As I have mentioned in my previous article on EVs, driving an EV requires planning your trip no matter what the distance may be. There is still a shortage of public charging stations in the country today. Planning every trip with your EV is a must. First, you should know how far your target destination is. Second, you should see to it that your EV is fully charged before beginning your trip. And lastly, in case of an emergency, you should know the nearest charging station that is available. These three steps are necessary for a stress-free journey using an electric vehicle.
So, off we go to Baguio via Marcos Highway passing through SLEX, NLEX, SCTEX, and TPLEX. We had a brief stopover at the Shell Mobility Station located at Rosario, La Union before entering Marcos Highway. Distance covered from BGC to the Shell Mobility Station is 230kms. Although we have enough juice to reach our destination, we stopped at this Shell Mobility Station to experience what fast charging is all about. This Shell station is equipped with a 150kw DC fast charger. It can charge your EV to 80% charge in less than 30 minutes. We were left with 41% battery charge upon arrival in the Shell Mobility Station in Rosario, La Union. This leaves us with 59% battery charge with a remaining range of 197kms- more than enough to reach Forest Lodge Hotel that is only 35kms away. Nevertheless, we charged our BYD Atto 3 EV for 5 minutes fast charging that increased our range to 221 kms, before traversing Marcos Highway towards our hotel in Baguio City. We arrived mid- afternoon with 25% charge remaining or 120 kms left of battery energy. At the end of the first day, we were truly impressed by the performance of the BYD Atto 3 EV.
Day 2 was more challenging. Our EVs were charged to only 85% overnight that gave us a range of 408kms. And we took the long road going home via Asin Road then stopping at Rosario, La Union for lunch. But this time around, we were not allowed to recharge our batteries upon reaching Rosario, La Union. Going back to BGC via Asin Road is a total of 306 kms. Theoretically, we could reach BGC with more than 100 kms of battery range to spare.
The road going back to BGC is mostly downhill. There was a lot of braking along the way which brings me to a topic called regenerative braking. As you release your accelerator and use your brakes going down a steep slope, the energy produced by braking recharges your battery. This is one of the coolest features of the BYD Atto 3 EV. After traveling 76 kms mostly downhill, energy spent while driving was almost fully recovered via regenerative braking.
We started with a range of 408 kms when we left Baguio. And after going down to Rosario, La Union via Asin Road, we still had a battery charge reading of 404 kms, thanks to regenerative braking, we were able to recover energy that was spent as drove down the mountain! With 230 kms to go, we had more than enough charge to make it to the BYD headquarters in BGC despite the heavy traffic we encountered along the way to BGC due to Friday payday.
There is no doubt in my mind that with an extended battery range between 400 to 600 kms, proper planning of trips and regenerative braking, range anxiety for EVs is now a thing of the past.
This historic test drive only proves that the future of mobility has arrived.
By Boying Soriano
