Historically, mainstream automotive magazines and websites have been slow to accept pure electric cars as a legitimate technology. That is changing, as evidenced by Edmunds.com recently gathering nine electric cars for a drive along a standard 105.5 mile test loop.
“With most of these cars, this is just a first step for each of the company’s electrification [program],” said Edmunds’s Automotive Editor James Riswick. “In many ways, this is a first step for us too at Edmunds, because this lays the groundwork for future electric car testing.” The auto website plans to continue using the real-world loop—at 8 am morning traffic in Southern California, with an average speed of 29.5 miles per hour—as new all-electric models hit the market.
The list of tested vehicles included: Tesla Model S, Toyota RAV4 EV, BMW ActiveE, Coda EV Sedan, Honda Fit EV, Ford Focus BEV, a VW Golf EV prototype, 2011 Nissan Leaf, and a Mitsubishi i MiEV.
The results showed that without much trouble, all of the vehicles can beat EPA estimates for driving range. In the case of the Toyota RAV4 EV, the real-world range was 144.5 miles, compared to an estimated range of just 103 miles.
Regardless of the results, the fact that Edmunds has established a benchmark for future EV range testing is itself a milestone: electric cars are perhaps one step closer to mainstream acceptance.
Yeah, so what was the deal with Jim Motavalli's range numbers on the i MiEV?