After six months and 5,000 km driving an Opel Mokka-e, I am able to answer only one of the many questions I had when I decided to lease a battery-electric vehicle (BEV) for three years.
That question was: Using a home charger, would an electric small SUV suffice for my short commutes of 50 km on average that mix suburban and urban driving? The answer was a strong, convincing: Yes. I really love the car for this.
The more difficult questions -- What is my actual highway driving range? How much time does it really take to fully recharge -- still lack definitive answers.
Living electric is like going back to school: The learning never ends.
During suburban/urban driving, the range from the Mokka-e’s battery, a 50-kilowatt-hour unit that is common to most BEVs made by parent Stellantis, is very close to the 316 to 322 km promised under WLTP guidelines.
But to get this range I have to do two things: 1) Put the Mokka-e in Eco mode, which cuts output by 40 percent to 60 kilowatts/ 82 hp from 100 kW/ 136 hp and 2) engage the so-called “B” strong regenerative braking mode.
Does this make the Mokka-e boring to drive in the city? Not at all. The lack of gearbox means I’m still a traffic-light champion -- even in Eco mode.
Cold reality
Another lesson came the first time I started my Mokka-e with temperatures just below zero Celsius. The computer said my consumption jumped to 50 kilowatt hours per 100 km from an average 13 to 17 kWh at mild temperatures.
The first time you see this it is terrifying to think the car’s range has collapsed to just 100 km from more than 300 km. Luckily, once the battery warmed up range stabilized, but you have to count on a reduction of 10 percent to 15 percent in cold weather.
Fortunately, automakers are addressing this issue. Stellantis recently updated the battery management software in its small BEVs to make them less susceptible to low temperatures.