See how much range a bike rack, a roof box and towing a caravan costs you

10 February 2022

An EV's range is probably the most important aspect of the entire car. It's affected by a number of factors that manufacturers' product pages or standard test don't cover so we always appreciate a real-world test to shed some more light on it.

Carwow's latest video sees a Skoda Enyaq IV with a single RWD motor and the 77kWh battery pack, going round a test track at a set speed while carrying a bike rack, a roof box and even towing a caravan.

This particular Skoda Enyaq has a WLTP range of up to 537km, but obviously it can't go anywhere near that figure in these scenarios. The first is going at 60 mph (96 km/h) with no unnecessary electronics on - that means radio, A/C and heater, heated seats, lights are all off. The Skoda averaged 3 miles (4.8km) per kWh for an estimated final range of just 231 miles (372km).

Going just 10 miles faster (112 km/h), everything kept off, the Skoda lost around 30 miles (48km) from its estimated range. Here's the full video, after which we'll go over the the other tests.

Now, we're no fans of the third scenario, which runs the heater at maximum, as well as all lights. The test run of 10 miles (16km) isn't real-world-worthy - you're never going to have the heat at maximum for such a long drive, so the car is showing a higher consumption than it would over a longer period of time.

But the rest of the tests are sensible enough. Carrying four passengers took away just 4% from the estimated range (with systems off). Mounting a ski rack would cost you around 19% of your range. Towing a caravan is the worst possible case, where you'll get less than half the original range.

We're working on a few tools to help you get reliable range estimates for your EV and better understand what affects it, so stay tuned!