Consumer Reports, a nonprofit product testing organization, is adapting to the rise of electric vehicles. There is one change. A range test shows how far you can travel with a fully charged battery.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Consumer Reports has been rating new cars since 1936, and millions of people subscribe to our reviews. Now, as the automotive industry grapples with the transition to electric vehicles, product testers are also having to shift gears. However, BJ Leiderman still writes our theme music. NPR’s Camila Domonoske joins us.
Camila Domonoske, Signed: Consumer Reports Garages are clean. The floor will shine brightly. Actually, this…
(vehicle squeak)
DOMONOSKE: …The sound of an electric BMW screeching across its primitive floors, passing Mercedes, Ford, Volvo and Toyota Prius? Consumer Reports spends millions of dollars every year buying these cars.
Alex Knizek: I buy it. Joe over there, he was passing by…
Domonosuke: Hello, Joe.
Knicek: …He’s buying it, too. That means we all share that responsibility.
DOMONOSKE: Alex Knizek is the manager of automotive testing and insights. Staff members go undercover to purchase cars so that the cars are not given special treatment. And they test them…
(seat belt clicking sound)
DOMONOSKE: …at this testing facility on an ordinary city street and on the grounds of an old racetrack in rural Connecticut.
(SOUNDBITE OF VEHICLE RACE)
Domonosuke: I got a little interested in Kniecek…
Knicek: Let’s see if we can run faster than 103.
DOMONOSKE: …How about driving a Nissan Z sports car? You only live once. My headphones flew off (lol).
Knicek: I’ll take it down a notch.
(laughs)
DOMONOSKE: We speed through a section of the track that tests braking, acceleration, and handling.
Knicek: So brace yourself.
DOMONOSKE: Now, this dynamic Nissan Z is very gas-powered. But Consumer Reports is increasingly testing cars that sound like this…
(Brake squeal)
Domonosuke: …I mean, they’re mostly silent. That’s a Rivian electric pickup going through the same turns just as fast. Consumer Reports testers dig straight into all the questions you might have before purchasing an EV. Back at the garage, Knicek passed a row of chargers.
Knicek: So you can charge two cars from each of the pedestals here.
DOMONOSKE: So we have enough chargers here for about a dozen cars.
Knicek: Oh, yeah. And I’m full (lol). It’s full. So we’re adding more.
DOMONOSKE: The addition of a charger isn’t the only change. Consumer Reports has revamped the way it tests and evaluates electric vehicles.
Knicek: We were actually testing EVs in a very similar way to regular cars, and that’s fine. But at the end of the day, we’re leaving a lot on the table, right? There are a lot of unique aspects to EVs that weren’t necessarily captured that way.
DOMONOSKE: For example, how close can a car be to a charger? Is it easy to set up a charging schedule? And of course, there’s range. How far will it actually go? To test it, Kneizek took the EV out on the highway.
Knicek: Yes. Then I increase the speed of the car and set the cruise control to 110 mph. So I drive for a really long time (lol). I mean, I was driving hours and hours and hours in Lucid Air.
DOMONOSKE: Because there’s really only one way to test range.
Knicek: Basically, we drive that car from full to empty. This means towing your car empty to a truck.
DOMONOSKE: Some cars have exceeded EPA range estimates. Others were not as good. Of course, the exact same thing is true for electric cars and gasoline cars. Similarly, people value authenticity as well. In that respect, EV…
Jake Fischer: They’re not very reliable compared to regular internal combustion engine cars.
DOMONOSKE: Jake Fisher runs Consumer Reports’ automated testing program. He said a large annual survey of owners found that electric cars had 79% more problems. Fisher describes these reliability issues as growing pains. He says imagine if the auto industry had been making electric cars for a century and then suddenly started making gasoline-powered cars.
Fisher: I guarantee you, the technology is all new, so there will be a lot of problems. The same thing is happening with electric cars. It will work.
DOMONOSKE: Fischer expects EVs to be more reliable in the long run because they have fewer moving parts. And he thinks there’s a lot to like about the EVs on the market today.
Fisher: They’re incredibly fast. They are incredibly quiet. In terms of how they drive, they are effortless.
DOMONOSKE: It’s easy to handle, but it’s also about manufacturing reliably and all the other things that are needed to achieve a rapid pivot to electric vehicles…
(Brake squeal)
DOMONOSKE: …It takes a lot of effort.
Camila Domonoske, NPR News.
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