New Delhi. Thanks to modern technology and larger battery packs, electric vehicle (EV) range is no longer a problem like it once was. However, there is still a popular belief that electronic components such as air conditioning (AC) put a lot of strain on the electric vehicle battery.

To find out how much an air conditioner can drain a car’s battery, CarDekho recently conducted an AC battery discharge test on the Tata Curvv EV and Tata Nexon EV where the air conditioner was run for 30 minutes.

The long-range variants Tata Curvv EV (55 kWh battery) and Tata Nexon EV (40.5 kWh battery) were selected for this test. Before testing began, the Curvv EV had 61 percent battery left, while the Nexon EV had 75 percent battery left. In both EVs, the temperature was set to 24 degrees and the fan speed to level 2, one after the other, and we sat inside for 30 minutes waiting for the results.

What were the results?
After running the air conditioner for 30 minutes, it was found that the battery percentage only dropped by 1 percent in both electric vehicles. The Curvv electric vehicle’s battery percentage fell from 61 percent to 60 percent, while the Nexon electric vehicle’s battery percentage fell from 75 percent to 74 percent.

Low impact on range
After this test, a slight decrease in the real range of both electric vehicles was also observed. There was a decrease of 3 kilometers in the range of the Nexon EV and a decrease of 4 kilometers in the range of the Curvv EV.

This test refutes the popular belief that electronic components, particularly AC power, place a heavy burden on the electric vehicle battery.

The long-range model of the Tata Curve EV has a larger battery of 55 kWh, which offers a longer range than the long-range model of the Nexon EV. However, the torque output of both cars is the same.

Tags: car news, Electric vehicles