This is how much energy electric cars can recover

(Al Bill24): Most people who buy an electric car soon discover that you don't need to use the brake pedal like you do with a gasoline or diesel car.

Because when you release the accelerator pedal in an electric car, the energy released is used to charge the battery – this is called RecoveryOr renew if you like. Just like a bicycle dynamo that uses energy from the rolling wheels to keep the light running.

How much energy the battery is being charged with, or how “hard” the car's brakes are, in some cars you can control yourself, often in the form of separate levers on the steering wheel, or via on-screen menus. It should also be added that the effect is weaker if the battery is cold, as it can no longer absorb as much energy, or if it is close to fully charged.

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Tested with a mountain ride

German AdakNAFF's sister organization took three cars on a mountain drive to precisely measure how much energy the car was able to recover.

The road was about 5.5 kilometers long and very steep, with grades of up to 10 percent. The three cars were first driven uphill, then turned around and drove the same stretch down the hill again.

Dacia Spring, one of the cheapest (and lightest) electric cars in Europe, had a consumption of 2.635 kWh/mile uphill and -0.705 kWh/mile downhill. Thus, ADAC concluded that the vehicle was able to recover approximately 35 percent of the energy. The car also weighs 1180 kg.

The long-term Tesla Model

The heaviest car, the BMW i7 (2,830 kg), recorded a speed of 5,934 kWh/mile uphill, but it was also the car that replenished energy on the slopes, with a consumption of -2,627 kWh/mile – about 50 percent recovery.

The battery on the Dacia Spring is charged with up to 15.9 kW of energy from downhill retrieval alone. The Tesla received a higher rating of 52.7 kilowatts, while the BMW i7 reached 55.1 kilowatts, which, by the way, is more power than a Dacia car with a fast charger can receive.

Total consumption for the entire trip was 0.965 kWh/mile for the Dacia, 1.557 for the Tesla and 1.654 for the BMW i7, so even though the cars regenerate more the heavier they are, it is still the lightest car that ends up with the lowest overall consumption .

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Nine tops the list

In terms of the Green NCAP measurements, ADAC also looked at how much energy is recovered during normal driving – in line with the driving cycles from the WLTP test.

There it becomes clear that when driving in the city electric cars recover the most energy – no wonder as they often stop in front of pedestrian crossings, road intersections and the like.

Green NCAP measurements show that it is precisely the Dacia spring that recovers the least amount of energy – 9 percent.

The Nio ET7 tops the list with 31%, ahead of the Hyundai Ioniq 6 (29%) and Volkswagen ID.5 (26%). On average, the models tested recover by 22 percent.