When it comes to planning EV road trips, elevation is a weird factor. On the one hand, if you go up 3,000 feet and then down 3,000 feet again, technically your net change in elevation is zero. You may expect no range loss, but anyone who’s ever hiked up and down a mountain can tell you that it certainly takes more effort than a flat-ground trek.
EVs have to work harder moving up hills, generating excess waste heat, and their energy-capturing regenerative brakes are not 100% efficient, so they too face this issue. That’s why it’s so good to see a Chevy Blazer EV SS crush the test in the latest test from TFLEV.
In it, Jen takes the SS from around 5,000 feet of elevation up to 12,000 feet, a 7,000-foot climb. This wreaks havoc on efficiency: The Blazer delivers just 1.8 miles per kWh, worse than you’d get from a big electric truck on level ground. Despite its 303-mile EPA range, it uses 36% of its battery after just 73.3 miles of climbing.
Yet here’s where the more efficient design of an EV comes in. In a gas car, you’d lose a similar amount of range while climbing. Going up a hill consumes far more energy, regardless of the energy source itself. In a gas car, that’d be lost forever. You’d use far less fuel on the way down, but the engine would still be consuming fuel, and it wouldn’t be able to recapture that energy.
An EV can. So when Jen arrives back at her starting point, she still had 56% of the battery remaining. After 147 miles of driving, the Blazer—rated for 303 miles—has covered 48% of its claimed range, but used only 44% of its battery. In other words, despite an unbelievable 7,000-foot climb, the Blazer EV SS still overperforms its range estimate. It also had more charge left at the end than the car’s own GPS said it would have, confirming my personal experience that the Chevy system is pessimistic, erring on the side of caution during my recent mountain road trip.
That’s a great showing, and a vindication of what I said in my review: The Blazer EV SS may not be the most exciting performance EV, but its focus on range and value will serve customers well.
Contact the author: Mack.Hogan@insideevs.com.
