Auto Mythbusters (Motor Trend TV) battery scenarios compared.

[SANZC02]

This show took a Mustang EV to Willow Springs in CA.

A hot day in the 90s and did a 5 lap test (7.75 miles) comparing range with AC, with heat, without regen, wireless charging a phone. It was interesting to watch, wireless phone charging usage was surprising.

Here are the results of battery used

Baseline used 2.75%
with AC used 2.75%
with heat used 3.1%
wireless phone charging used 3.1%
without regen used 3.5%

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[CommodoreAmiga]

I know wireless charging is less efficient than USB…. But that result still surprises me. Wireless charging is typically ~7.5W plus losses…. I wouldn’t have expected more than maybe 15W total, which is honestly not much — way less than running AC, I would have thought.

I wonder if these results are similar on other models?

 

[Riviot]

I wonder if there's something running in the background not under their control contributing to additional use/drain. Without access to the full suite of software and data, I don't think these numbers are entirely representative.

If they repeated these findings multiple times with multiple vehicles...

 

[kylealden]

I know wireless charging is less efficient than USB…. But that result still surprises me. Wireless charging is typically ~7.5W plus losses…. I wouldn’t have expected more than maybe 15W total, which is honestly not much — way less than running AC, I would have thought.

I wonder if these results are similar on other models?

Yeah there's just no universe in which the wireless phone charger is pulling more than tens of watts unless something is deeply wrong, in which case I'd be worried about side effects (like a fire). Even the fastest wireless charging phones are a rounding error on the order of LEDs, not in the same galaxy as heat/AC, regen, motors, etc, all of which are in the thousands of watts.

If they're just comparing the SoC after each lap, there are way too many confounding variables to attribute the small differences here to the draw of a given feature. It's much more likely to be changes in wind or pedal pressure than the phone charger.

 

[Taycanfrank]

That "testing" was goofy and worthless.

 

[SANZC02]

I know wireless charging is less efficient than USB…. But that result still surprises me. Wireless charging is typically ~7.5W plus losses…. I wouldn’t have expected more than maybe 15W total, which is honestly not much — way less than running AC, I would have thought.

I wonder if these results are similar on other models?

The wireless charging I can’t really wrap my head around. My takeaway from this testing was in the other 2 test comparisons.

The AC/Heat makes sense and I see that in my Tesla as well. It was a hot day, the AC supplements the BMS to keep the battery cool so it is running even if I am not using it in my car, when the AC went out on my Tesla they had me bring it straight to the service center they told me it should not be driven If the AC is broken.

The other one was with/without regen enabled. There are some people on the forum that say it does not really make any difference. I felt this rudimentary test was a good refute for that.

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