Los Angeles named best city in the world for electric vehicles

Electric vehicles may become the primary mode of transportation in the future, but where are they feasible today? According to CarInsurance.ae, an electric vehicle can go farther in Los Angeles than nearly every other city in the world.

In a report recently released by CarInsurance.ae, an auto insurance website for the United Arab Emirates and Dubai, the company locates where motorists can get the most mileage out of their electric vehicle. Across the world, Los Angeles tied for first with Sydney, Australia, and Athens, Greece.

CarInsurance.ae looked at 76 cities around the globe for its report. The report uses the two most populated cities from each of the 38 member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

In addition to seeing how far an electric vehicle can travel, the report also looks at the average temperature in each city. Temperatures can impact the efficiency of batteries. A Tesla Model 3 was used to determine mileage ranges.

The top five best cities for electric vehicles are:

• Los Angeles: average range of 218 miles with average temperatures of 64 degrees.
• Sydney, Australia: average range of 218 miles with average temperatures of 64 degrees.
• Athens, Greece: average range of 218 miles with average temperatures of 64 degrees.
• Lisbon, Portugal: average range of 217 miles with average temperatures of 62 degrees.
• Mexico City: average range of 215 miles with average temperatures of 61 degrees.

According to the report, Los Angeles is the electric vehicle capital of the world.

According to EVadoption.com, California accounted for nearly half of electric vehicle sales in the United States in 2017. In a distant second is New York, which accounted for about 5% of sales.

According to the Department of Energy, California has about the same share in terms of overall number of electric vehicles.

Both cities representing Iceland, Norway, Finland and Estonia rounded off the list as the worst cities for electric vehicles:

• Reykjavík and Kópavogur, Iceland: average range of 184 miles with average temperatures of 32.5 degrees.
• Helsinki, Finland: average range of 191 miles with average temperatures of 43 degrees.
• Espoo, Finland: average range of 191 miles with average temperatures of 43 degrees.
• Oslo, Norway: average range of 191 miles with average temperatures of 43 degrees.
• Tartu, Estonia: average range of 191 miles with average temperatures of 43.5 degrees.
• Bergen, Norway: average range of 194 miles with average temperatures of 44 degrees.
• Tallinn, Estonia: average range of 194 miles with average temperatures of 44 degrees.

Poor performance of electric vehicles in Iceland is attributed to the low temperatures. Specifically, the report states that cold temperatures negatively impact battery efficiency. In fact, Tesla confirms this on its website.

“When temperature drops, range can decrease due to extra energy demands on the battery,” Tesla states. “Cold batteries use more energy to maintain optimal operating temperature. Cold weather also limits regenerative braking capability. Though some range effects aren’t completely avoidable in cold temperatures, there are some ways to mitigate them.”

Tesla recommends keeping electric vehicles plugged in whenever possible to retain heat. Additionally, drivers should limit use of the heating/air conditioning system, using seat heaters instead.

To read the full report, click here. LL