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You’ve already made a strong green choice by going electric or hybrid. You’re saving money at the pump and cutting your carbon footprint with every journey. However, with a few extra strategies, you can push your vehicle’s efficiency even further.
Here are eight lesser-known tips that’ll help you maximise range, reduce energy consumption, and make your eco-friendly ride work even harder for your wallet and the planet.
Think of regenerative braking as an energy recycling system for your EV. Instead of throwing away braking energy as heat, it captures and reuses between 25% and 40% of it to top up your battery. The key is adjusting your driving style to let it work properly.
Think ahead and anticipate stops well before you reach them. Ease up on the accelerator early and let regenerative braking do the work through a long, gentle slowdown. Slamming on the brakes at the last second forces your friction brakes to take over, wasting all that free energy you could have reclaimed.
Aggressive acceleration asks a lot from an EV or hybrid. Every time you put your foot to the floor from a standstill, you’re expecting the battery to deliver maximum current in seconds. That’s hugely inefficient.
Smooth and steady wins this race. Gentle acceleration and gradual braking keep your power consumption low and your range high. It’s also arguably safer since you’re paying closer attention to the road ahead and planning your moves earlier.
Crawling along wastes energy on auxiliary systems relative to the distance covered, whilst very high motorway speeds create aerodynamic drag that devours your charge. Most EVs and hybrids have an optimal efficiency speed window, so find yours and stick to it when possible. Cruise control helps massively here since it maintains a steady speed far more efficiently than your right foot ever could.
Under-inflation increases rolling resistance, which forces your motor to work harder and drains your battery faster. Check your tyre pressure monthly and keep the tyres inflated to the manufacturer’s recommended levels.
This becomes even more important when you’re carrying heavy loads. Extra weight causes the vehicle to sag, which places excessive strain on your tyres and creates premature wear and uneven road contact. Both those things reduce your efficiency and cost you range with every mile.
Think of your EV as an athlete — it performs best when it’s lean and streamlined. Every extra kilogram requires more energy to accelerate and maintain speed.
Clear out unnecessary heavy items from your boot and cabin. More importantly, remove roof racks when you’re not using them. Studies show they can slash efficiency from 3.2 miles/kWh to just 1.9 miles/kWh when loaded, but it stands to reason there will also be an aerodynamic penalty from empty racks, too.
Heating the entire cabin is a major auxiliary power drain in an EV, especially during the winter months. Using the heater in cold conditions can increase battery consumption by as much as 47.48% compared to mild weather driving.
Your heated seats and steering wheel can warm you directly using a fraction of the energy needed to heat all that air. Save the cabin heater for truly freezing days and rely on seat heating for most of your winter driving.
Modern navigation has evolved beyond just finding the fastest route. Many apps and built-in systems now offer eco-friendly routing options that prioritise energy efficiency over raw speed.
These systems account for elevation changes, traffic patterns and road types to find routes that may take slightly longer but use significantly less energy. Following eco-routing recommendations can reduce fuel consumption by up to 9.3% compared to taking standard routes.
By extension, it is also likely to reduce battery consumption. Take the extra 30 seconds to enable this feature before you set off.
Preconditioning is one of the cleverest features in modern EVs and hybrids. It lets you heat or cool both the battery and cabin whilst the car is still plugged into the charger.
This uses mains power instead of your battery, which means you start every journey with a full charge and a comfortable interior. Your battery also performs more efficiently when it’s at the optimal temperature. Set it up through your vehicle’s app the night before, and you’ll maximise both range and comfort from the moment you unplug.
Maximising your mileage comes down to driving smarter. Squeezing every possible mile from your battery saves you money while also further minimising your environmental impact. Try one of these strategies on your next drive and see how much further you can go. You might be surprised at just how much range you’ve been leaving on the table.
