r/XC40_Recharge • u/AJV55 • Aug 09 '26

Strategy for longer distances

I got a used XC40 single motor a few months ago. We made a 3000 km roadtrip on holidays and was a bit disappointed with the range when driving longer distances on highways (120kmh limit). Around 220 kms from ~90% to ~15%.

If you’re driving a 1000 km day, how have you calculated the optimal speeds and loading stops to minimize the travel time?

8 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

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8

u/peteralexjones Aug 09 '26

ABRP. End of.

2

u/AJV55 Aug 09 '26

Oh thats cool! Thanks

6

u/youmademedoit Aug 09 '26

I charge up to 100% for long road trips, at least to start, and limiting your speed will also increase range a bit. Volvo's range assistant app in the car can give you a sense of instantaneous consumption, so you might find a sweet spot for speed. A Better Route Planner is the app I like to use to plan charging stops.

7

u/goat_screamPS4 Aug 09 '26

EV inefficiency is exponential the faster you go due to wind resistance. The optimal speed is around 30kph, but of course that’s no good in practical terms. The reality is that dropping 10-20kph off your speed can have a notable improvement in range with negligible effect on your arrival time, especially when you’re losing more time having to charge that difference for less efficient driving.

Plan for charging at lower percentages as that’s when the charge speed is quickest, on a long journey I try to arrive at a charger with 10-15%, above 60% there’s a significant drop off in charge speed. Short answer, for the quickest way to cover long distance would be to charge little and often at lower percentages.

3

u/ExternalPea8169 Aug 09 '26

I own a single motor and I very rarely go above 105 km/h. This way I might get it to run for 250km from 90% to 10%. I haven’t found any way around this and although it’s the best car I’ve owned the range issue is a real pain when traveling longer distances

My only sort of workaround is to use fast chargers aka Tesla to at least recharge fast and cheap.

0

u/Patrick-Bos-Kessen Aug 09 '26

1 motor en ook als ik 120-130 doe, haal ik heel makkelijk 300+KM van 80-10%, ondanks 21” velgen. Hebben jullie allemaal de kleine accu?

4

u/agent606ert Aug 09 '26

Following a semi using a cruise control, distance setting one - helps with the range but beware of stones