News just in: driving style has a huge impact on range.

VW has attempted to allay any range anxiety fears concerning its new ID3 with an impressive real-world economy run.

Swiss hypermiling expert, Felix Egolf, managed to drive a new ID3 1st Pro Performance from Zwickau (Germany) to Schaffhausen (Switzerland). This journey ordinarily takes six hours, but Egolf’s drive stretched it to anagonising nine hours on the road.

Using all the possible hypermiling techniques, such as slipstreaming trucks and being judicious with his throttle use, Egolf managed to eke 531 km from a single charge.

VW claims a real-world driving range of 420 km for the new ID3when configured with a 58 kWh battery pack.

Power consumption during Egolf’s journey was 10.9 kWh/100 km and his average speed 56 kph. There is no doubt that Egolf’s extremely slow and cautious driving is not representative of what an owner would achieve, but he did manage to exceed VW’s range claim by 26% – showing how much of an influence driving style is, regarding electric vehicle range

There is potential for the ID3 to go even further on a single charge, as Egolf’s journey was accompanied by a cameraman and equipment, which added a substantial 250 kg of weight to the car’s rolling momentum.

Balancing this record run with theID3’s additional mass burden, was a decision to run most of the distance without auxiliary power consuming features. That means SatNav, daytime running lights, infotainment and ventilation were all disabled, for most of the journey.

An interesting aspect of this endurance run is the question of elevation, which can prove particularly testing to battery-powered vehicles. The start point in Germany, was at 308m and the finish in Switzerland, at 403m – which means very little elevation gain was involved over the 531km journey.

*Despite the incredible irony of his name, especially relating to VW’s ID3 project, we can confirm that Felix ‘Egolf’ is a real person, with an impressive history in aviation, as an airline pilot and instructor.

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