As of: March 18, 2024, 4:30 p.m
By: Sebastian Oppenheimer
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Electric cars can recover energy when braking.
But how much electricity do electric cars recover through recuperation?
The ADAC compared three cars.
Refueling while driving?
Impossible with a petrol or diesel engine.
However, there is something similar in electric cars: using so-called recuperation, electric cars can recover energy when braking.
When the driver goes downhill or brakes, the electric motor works as a generator: the rotating wheels drive it - in principle like a dynamo on a bicycle used to be.
This is exactly why towing an electric car is very dangerous, as the vehicle can be seriously damaged.
But: How much electricity can electric cars recover through recuperation?
The
ADAC
tried it out.
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Recuperation test: ADAC pits three electric cars against each other
The automobile club had three different electric cars compete against each other: a Dacia Spring Extreme 65 (33 kW, 1180 kg test weight, front-wheel drive), a Tesla Model Y Max Range (387 kW, 2186 kg test weight, all-wheel drive) and a BMW i7 xDrive60 (400 kW , 2830 kg test weight, all-wheel drive).
According to the experts, the trio was deliberately chosen to be extremely different in weight and performance.
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For the test, a 5.5 kilometer uphill and downhill journey on the Bavarian Kesselberg was recreated on the test bench in order to exclude external influences such as traffic and weather.
The crucial question: How much of the energy used uphill could be recovered by the time it reached the valley?
Here is the result:
Make/Model |
Energy recovered in percent |
|---|---|
BMW i7 |
50 percent |
Tesla Model Y |
40 percent |
Dacia Spring |
35 percent |
The Dacia Spring recuperates the least - the BMW the most
According to the experts, the Dacia recuperates the least due to its low weight and low motor-generator performance.
He charged the battery downhill with a maximum of 15.9 kW, the Tesla with a maximum of 52.7 kW and the BMW even with 55.1 kW - the Spring doesn't even reach this value on the charging cable.
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Electric cars can recover energy when braking or driving downhill.
The ADAC tested three models – including a Tesla Model Y – for their recuperation capabilities.
© ADAC/Test and Technology
ADAC test: Which of the three electric cars is the most efficient on the ups and downs?
Another question, however, is which vehicle is ultimately the most efficient.
On the entire uphill and downhill journey, the BMW's consumption was 16.54 kWh/100 km, the Tesla was 15.57 kWh/100 km and the Dacia was 9.65 kWh/100 km.
In the end, Spring had the lead here.
Recuperation in lowlands: data comparison from 19 electric cars
The ADAC evaluated the recuperation of electric cars in lowlands based on measurements from Green NCAP.
The 19 vehicles included in the study showed an average recuperation of 22 percent for current electric cars.
When looking at the data, it becomes apparent that most of the energy is recovered in city traffic - as braking occurs frequently here.
On country roads and motorways, on the other hand, there are significantly fewer situations in which the car can recover energy.
As speed increases, air resistance and its braking effect become more important.
In the next few years, the electricity provided by electric cars when parking is expected to become increasingly important - in the form of so-called bidirectional charging, which is expected to gain momentum from 2028.
The technology is intended to open up a new business area for electricity network operators and electric car owners.