Original subtitles

[upbeat music playing]

-[car whizzing] -[Faye] Oh, yeah. Windows up?

[Bisi] We're gonna look at state of charge.

[Tory] 96 degrees.

We're gonna turn the heater on.

[raven cawing]

Only a mad person would do this.

But it's for science.

That's not what I was expecting at all.

[Tory] Will charging your phone decrease your distance?

I drive like a grandmother on the street.

[all laughing]

[Bis] It's looking good for the myth itself.

It looks like the engineers knew what they were doing.

[engine accelerating]

[explosion]

[narrator] Meet the team...

[screaming]

[Tory] This might be the miracle coolant

that everybody's been searching for.

[Faye] Oh, no!

[narrator] ...with the mechanical expertise...

[Faye] My main concern is structural integrity.

[narrator] ...to test all things automotive.

-Oh! -The engine died!

[Bisi] The more air we push through,

the more fuel siphon out and boom!

[narrator] This is Motor MythBusters.

-[Tory] Hit it! -[engine accelerating]

[narrator] Where science...

-[Tory] Whoa! -[Bisi] Ha-ha.

...meets the streets.

[spaghetti western music playing]

[upbeat music playing]

[Tory] All right. So, we have three electric car myths that we're looking at.

Number one,

using your AC over your heater will decrease your mileage significantly.

[Bisi] And, can you improve your range using regenerative braking

versus mechanical braking?

[Faye] Ooh! That's a good one.

But I think the most practical one is

charging your phone while driving an electric vehicle

decreases your range noticeably.

To help us with the myth, I have a slew of their logging capabilities.

We're gonna look at state of charge at all times,

and also...

distance traveled and I'll be logging it

every second of the way.

-Ooh. -Okay. Why don't we do a control test first?

-Sounds good. -We'll run the track.

We do five laps. That equals eight miles.

-Ooh. -See how much range we get with that,

and then we'll start our tests.

-Sounds good to me. -Awesome.

-Do you wanna drive? -[scoffs] Heck yeah, I do.

That thing? Sure.

-Okay, let's go. -[Tory laughs]

[Bisi] Not all EVs will perform in the same way.

So to get a baseline of comparison for this one...

Okay, guys. So setting our baseline.

I'm gonna try my best to be super consistent

around the track the entire time.

...we need to complete five laps with the heat,

AC and ventilation systems off

at a repeatable and reliable speed.

Hey, Tory. How does the iDash look?

Looks great.

We have 94.9% charge.

Right. Oh, yeah, windows up.

-[Tory] Yes. -We're gonna keep this way for every single test.

All right, here we go.

Three. Two. One.

Go!

-Okay. -[Bisi] Very nice.

I'm not a particularly crazy fast driver.

I like fast cars although I don't really drive them fast.

This race track is the perfect control environment.

I love driving fast cars fast, but only on the track.

I drive like a grandmother on the street.

[Faye] I have to vary my speed for the different corners.

But since it's not a race, I can just enjoy the drive.

[upbeat music playing]

-[Tory] I like to drive any car as fast as I can. -[Faye chuckles]

-Anywhere, anytime. -[Bisi] Anywhere. Anywhere.

[narrator] Okay...

suffice to say for the sake of the myths,

the team has the right person behind the wheel.

This is actually really fun.

[Bisi] Well, this is our last lap.

-[Faye] Yeah. -[Tory] That was it.

-[Tory] That is the end of our run. -[Faye] Oh, right.

[Tory] And we have gone almost eight miles.

[narrator] Time to check how dependable Faye's lap times are.

And how much battery power was used for the control run.

So, right here is the...

speed that you had around the entire track.

-For each lap. -That's pretty consistent.

-You aren't bad at all. -Hmm.

And then, in yellow, is our battery pack charge.

We start off at 94.902% there of charge.

-[Faye] Mmm-hmm. -[Bisi] And when we're done with our entire run,

we're at 92.157.

[Tory] So, about 2.75%.

-All right, sounds like a killer baseline. -[Tory] I agree.

That does seem like we didn't burn through

-that much battery life. -[Faye] Right.

I was expecting us to burn through

-a lot more battery life. -We may be able to.

So, what about heater?

All right, so this time, we're gonna run with the heater on?

-You really think that's a-- -In 96 degrees?

-I know, but it's for science. -It's a horrible idea.

-We have to do this. -All right.

-[Tory] Five laps again. -Five laps.

-Sounds good. -All right.

-Let's do it. -96 degrees and we're gonna turn the heater on.

[narrator] With the baseline set,

it's up to Faye to maintain an average speed of 38 miles per hour

to achieve an average lap time of around two minutes and 25 seconds

and ensure the data for each test is congruent.

Oh, yeah, I'm feeling the heat.

Let's go ahead and begin.

How are we doing with a zero miles, Tory?

-[Tory] We are zeroed out. -Good.

[hip-hop music playing]

[Tory] The on-board heat in an EV comes from a electric heater.

So, it is possible to pre-heat the cabin using juice

from the grid while the car's plugged in to the charger.

But we're testing the myth

that the AC drains the battery life more than the heater while driving.

[Bisi] Tory, only a mad person would do this.

-[Faye chuckles] -[Bisi] We're in closed environment.

Full blast heat.

-In an EV. -And... desert.

It almost feels like seats--

Did you turn the seats on there?

-No, seats are not on. -Feels like seat warmer.

-[Bisi] Oh, my God. -It does feel like the seat heaters are on.

Oh, I'm sweating. How are you guys doing?

-[Bisi laughing] I'm sweating too. -[Faye] Okay.

Wait a sec, I'm sorry.

Girls don't sweat, we sparkle.

-I'm... -[Bisi laughing]

-...very sparky. -[Tory] That's good.

I'm sparking my butt off of here.

I'm serious... Sparking your butt off. [laughs]

[raven cawing]

I shouldn't have worn these warm trousers today.

It's all right, Bisi.

We only have two more laps to go.

-[Faye] Yeah. -Oh!

[Bisi] Three laps in

and Faye's lap times are perfectly consistent

with an average speed of 38 miles per hour.

[Faye] Fricking dying in here.

[Bisi] The cabin temperature

tells us how hard the resistive heating system's working.

That must be taking a toll on the battery life.

[car whizzing]

[Faye] Let's come up with a bunch of different creative words for hot.

-Okay, sizzling. -[Tory] Uh!

Steaming.

Sweaty.

Scorching.

Seared. [chuckles]

Hot as [bleep]!

-Oh, my God. [laughs] -[Faye laughs] What?

-[Faye] Here goes nothing. The last lap. -[Tory] All right.

I am dying back here.

-[Tory] Yeah. -[Faye] Yeah. I'm feeling pretty toasty.

-[Bisi] Can I roll the windows down now? Ugh! -[Faye] Yeah.

-[Bisi] Oh, my goodness. -[Faye] How do you guys feel?

-[Bisi] Oh, I feel-- -Feel like I've just been tortured for last five laps.

[narrator] With the data from the heater test stored,

the team can run straight into the AC test

and compare the results at the end.

[Faye] At least, now, we can do...

the air conditioning test.

-The myth is... -[softly] I'm dying.

Air conditioning robs more power, more range,

from an electric vehicle than heat.

-I've been looking forward to this one. Okay. -[Faye pants]

-[Tory] We're going max AC. -[Faye pants] All right.

-[Tory] Max-- -[Faye] Excellent. Oh, awesome.

-Oh, yes! -[Tory] Here we go!

[classical music playing]

[Bisi] Five laps, here we come.

-Five enjoyable laps. -[Faye] Oh, wonderful, beautiful laps.

[Bisi] Oh, this is so nice.

[narrator] Okay. Five laps at the same consistent speed

will provide them with enough data

on the efficiency of this particular EV's cooling system

to call the myth.

[car whizzing]

[Bisi] Faye, I can tell you're getting much more comfortable

-with this electric vehicle. -[Tory] Yeah.

[Faye] I will say that I'm gonna always have range anxiety.

Well, that's what's changing.

If a structure is starting to prop up everywhere,

your electrons... As ubiquitously as you fill up gasoline cars.

I just love the performance...

And clean anno... That is our king.

It's the be-all, end-all.

[Tory yawns] Longer range.

Yeah. Sometimes gathering data can be tiring.

[Bisi] Well, data doesn't lie.

I'm gonna pull it and see what happened.

-[Faye] Sounds good. -[Bisi] All right.

So, just to recap,

our baseline was 2.75% of usage.

-Mmm-hmm. -Yes, that's correct.

-Now. The first one we did was the... Sweltering heat. -Okay.

[Bisi] Look at that number.

[Tory] 3.138.

-[Faye] Oh! -[Bisi] That's crazy.

[Tory] That's way more than the baseline.

-Yeah. -Oh, yeah.

"The myth says that if you're using your heater versus your AC,

-you're gonna be conserving more energy. -[Bisi] Yes.

Yeah, we have the heater first.

-But we don't know what the AC does yet. -All right.

-And... Kudos to you. -Right.

That's excellent driving. Look at how repeatable that is.

Oh, my God.

-That's amazing. You-- -I--

-It's almost like you were following your-- -It's like you're a robot.

You're amazing.

[Bisi] Faye's machine-like performance behind the wheel,

has abated the margin error for lap times and speed.

So, we'll be able to call the myth from the results.

So here's where we ended with a ace...

Look at that.

-[Faye] Wait, what? -[Tory] It's the exact same as the baseline.

[Bisi] That's amazing.

-[Faye] Wait-- -[Tory] 2.75. It means literally the exact...

same amount

-of energy that we spent. -[Faye] Oh!

-That's what I wasn't expecting... -That's a--

-...at all. -That's a very efficient AC system.

-Whoa. -[Tory] That's crazy.

-But the heater was really bad. -[Tory and Faye] Yeah.

[Bisi] We use a resistive element which consumes a lot of power.

[Faye] They're way different than an internal combustion engine car.

This myth is completely busted.

-[Bisi] Absolutely busted. -[Faye] Oh, yeah. Busted.

Okay, guys, the next myth is as follows.

Can you improve range with regenerative braking

versus mechanical braking?

-Hmm. -So, I think it's time to set the car up for that.

And have some fun.

-All right. -Heck, yeah. Let's get to it.

[upbeat music playing]

[Bisi] Regenerative braking is designed to convert

much of the kinetic energy lost when decelerating

back into the EV's battery.

It's a standard system setting on this vehicle,

and we know that 2.75% of the battery charge

is used over our five-lap course when it's engaged.

So, that'll remain as our baseline for comparison.

[Bisi] So, we're gonna disable that.

So, I need you to disable that one-pedal drive function.

And that will put us in a position where

you will have to use your physical brakes

to now stop the car,

and we'll see how much energy is consumed.

If the myth is correct, we'll find out that we will consume

a lot more energy

using our physical brakes.

Right. Absolutely.

-So, one-pedal drive is off. -Yep. Off.

I'm excited to see the difference.

-All right. Three, two, one. -And? Are we reset?

-Go! -Reset!

[Faye squealing]

[Faye] Regenerative braking is also known as one-pedal drive.

Because it's designed to allow the driver to bring the vehicle to a stop

without engaging the brake pedal.

With this system turned off,

the EV drives just like

-a normal car actually. -Oh.

Like, before I was definitely feeling like you let off the accelerator pedal

-and there is drag, like the vehicle is pulling you back. -Mmm-hmm.

You can feel the regenerative brake working,

it was really weird to get used to at first.

Now I feel much more comfortable.

-[Faye] It just feels like a normal car. -[Tory] Hmm.

[narrator] Each lap consists of 13 turns with a mix of fast and slow,

left and right, incline and decline combinations.

Requiring Faye to use both hard and gentle braking to maintain her average speed.

-So you can coast easier in this-- -Yeah, I'm coasting right now.

-[Bisi] Wow. -[Tory] Gotcha.

[Faye] And it's fine.

[Tory] What do you guys think?

Do you think this one's gonna be more efficient or less efficient?

I think it would be less efficient of what she's doing now.

But I think the difference would be quite subtle.

[Tory] But I wonder if it's just gonna balance itself out.

Because you're not really braking so much on this course.

-[Bisi] Right. -[Tory] You're coasting mostly.

[Bisi] Okay, well this is the end of our lap.

I'll pull the data and we'll compare and see how this fared to our base line.

-With the regenerative brake on... -Yes.

...on our base line we were using up 2.75% energy.

-[Bisi] That's correct. -[Faye] Yep.

So now with it off...

Let's see what happens. So, you see what's really interesting here, Faye?

Look at that, you don't put any energy at back into the battery pack.

-[Faye] Yeah. -[Bisi] You just consume,

-Yep. -...and consume and consume.

That's looking good for the myth itself.

And, Tory, what is that delta?

-[Tory] So we have 3.53%. -Oh, my goodness.

-That's way more than the heater. -Yeah. That's crazy!

-[Faye] Oh, my gosh. -[Bisi] That's amazing.

[Faye] And that's awesome,

because it really shows what regenerative braking does.

It's like the engineers knew what they were doing.

-It's like the engineers knew what they were doing. -All right, so--

So, you should leave it on. So that being said,

the myth that you can get a lot more range using regenerative braking,

compared to mechanical braking,

it looks like this particular myth, in this case,

is confirmed.

-Absolutely confirmed. -Absolutely confirmed.

-All right, next one. Charging your phone. -Yep.

Thank goodness, 'cause I need to.

Will charging your phone decrease your distance?

By a noticeable amount.

Is it noticeable over the span of our eight-mile distance?

And so Bisi's got a charger there, he's gonna put his cell phone on,

and we're gonna compare this test to our baseline.

I have the perfect scenario for you.

-[Faye] Oh. -[Bisi] My phone is wireless-charging capable.

This is the way that I think most people are gonna charge their phones.

So this is, I think, more relevant to the test.

-[Bisi] Oh, there it is. It's charging. -Yep. It's charging.

All right. We are set five laps.

-Ready when you are. -I'm ready. Let's go.

[Faye] Back to one-pedal driving. It's so weird.

[narrator] With the vehicle's factory setting restored,

the original baseline of 2.75% of power usage

is once again in play.

So, Tory, what do you think is gonna happen with this one?

I feel like the amount of energy it takes to charge your phone,

-it's not gonna be noticeable. -[Bisi] You're probably correct.

[Tory] I don't think we're gonna see much of a drop.

[Faye] I totally agree with you.

I don't think that there's gonna be a noticeable change over eight miles.

Well, time will tell. We'll find out.

[narrator] Yep, and while the test distance might not provide enough time

to fully charge Bisi's phone,

a long road trip would.

-[Tory] Lap two. -[Faye] Lap two.

[narrator] So any dip in battery life

will continue to be relative to total mileage.

But even a short trip like this is enough time to reminisce.

The first car that I ever owned that really got me into wrenching,

uh, was 1980 Volkswagen Rabbit.

I still have it. When I first bought it, it was diesel.

I wanted to reduce my carbon footprint in the world.

So, I converted my Volkswagen Rabbit

to run on waste vegetable oil.

I would filter my waste vegetable oil with, uh, pantyhose.

-Um, and I would, sometimes new, I would just like... -Oh. Oh...

-...you know, buy them-- -Sometimes new.

Oh, yeah, you'd buy them in packs and then, you know,

I would just like, use them as a filtration media.

Just to get out the big chunks and then add a series of filtration units,

-and heated coils and everything... -Oh, that's cool.

like jacketed fuel lines, 'cause I had the tank in the back

and brought the fuel to the front, so...

I used to love going to the gas stations

and watching people pay, you know, for a gallon of gas

and I would just, you know, get out with my funnel and just pour in

this disgusting waste vegetable oil

in front of all these people and just keep on going,

you know, not ever spend a dollar at the pumps.

[narrator] Faye's vegan Rabbit might have been efficient,

but it probably couldn't power her cell wirelessly.

So after five laps in today's green vehicle,

the guys are about to find out if charging up the cell comes at a hefty cost.

Okay, Tory. Here's where we are.

Faye did an excellent job as always in keeping a repeatable driving pattern.

So, that's how we started.

And this is where you stopped.

Look at that, Tory.

[Tory] 3.135, that's noticeable.

-It is noticeable. -Way, way noticeable.

It's way more than I expected.

And think about it. I did choose a charging method, that is wireless.

The wireless charging services, they always generate a lot of heat.

-[Bisi] Absolutely. -Still, it's a lot.

-So, it's crazy. -Yeah, this one's 100% confirmed.

I agree, confirmed indeed.

-But I'm shocked how much it's confirmed. -[Faye] Yeah.

-Not as bad as a heater. -[Tory] Not as bad as a heater.

-But it was significant compared to our baseline. -But it--

-It definitely is noticeable. -[Faye] Yeah.

I'll have to say, looking at the data,

it's told us a lot about EVs.

[Bisi] It was a really productive day. I really liked today a lot.

[Faye] Me too. I learned a ton.

[Tory] Charge your phone before you leave the house.

[Bisi] Before you leave the house. Sounds good.

-All right, guys, let's get out of here. -I'm done.

So, Tory, are you, um, on the EV bandwagon yet?

[Tory] Not yet.