Gravity vs BMW iX5

[Saksak]

> That’s why in one of the OOS videos, the Rivian R2 Performance went roughly 255 miles at 70 mph when it’s rated for 330 EPA and the Tesla Model Y Performance went roughly 310 miles at 70 mph when it’s rated for 303 EPA. Rivian chose different cycles to get to 330.

What EPA regulation gives manufactures the ability to chose different cycles (other than the 2-cycle vs 5-cycle debacle)? The Rivian case is a great example of EPA city+highway not matching pure highway 70 mph, and to stop expecting those numbers to match.

I'm sure drivers can get 303 EPA on the Rivian by driving like the test conditions, which is a combination of city + highway, where the average highway speed is 48 mph. Why would you ever expect the same efficiency with average highway speed of 48 mph vs. 70 mph? The Rivian is a brick, so 70 mph pure highway will deviate greatly from city+highway. The Tesla is much more aerodynamic, so pure highway is closer to city+highway, where the wind resistance at higher speeds has less of an effect.

Don't get me wrong, I hate the EPA city+highway number, as those numbers are next to useless for car comparisons. Most of us want pure highway range numbers, and it's a mistake to use EPA numbers for this purpose. Ignore the EPA (city+highway) numbers and rely on independent, pure highway tests.

 

[The_Don]

There should just be a separate highway and city rating like ICE cars. Don't think we need to overthink this by asking folks to arbitrarily derate an all encompassing EPA range to closely match highway range.