A team from the UK has set a new Guinness World Record for the longest journey by an electric vehicle on a single charge, piloting a production Ford Mustang Mach-E for just over 569-miles without stopping.
The Herculean high-mileage effort is even more impressive when you consider the Ford Mustang Mach-E was equipped with a 91kWh battery pack that has an official WLTP range of just 373 miles.
To be precise, the Mach-E Premium Extended Range SUV RWD Auto, which rode on 18-inch wheels, averaged an impressive 6.25 miles per kilowatt hour (kWh) on a mix of urban and rural public roads throughout Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Cambridgeshire.
The record-breaking attempt was supported by The AA (presumably in case they broke down), as well as Bridgestone, which provided a set of its ultra-low rolling resistance tires for the attempt.
According to the record-breaking drivers, Kevin Booker and Sam Clarke (both hold previous records for high EV mileage), the attempt was verified with video footage, odometer readings, GPS, and battery level data from Webfleet, one of the attempt’s principal sponsors.
The previous production vehicle record was set in Hangzhou, China, where a Zeekr managed 563.97 miles in one stint without recharging.
However, Mercedes-Benz still holds the hyper-miling record after its EQXX concept travelled 747 miles on a single charge from Stuttgart to Silverstone in 2022.
Here’s how they did it
Both drivers, Kevin Booker and Sam Clarke, have both successfully set world records for EV efficiency runs in previous years, so they are well-versed in extracting the most from a battery pack.
During their most recent endeavor, the pair simply employed impeccable driving skills, avoiding harsh accelerating and braking, while reading the road ahead for optimum power delivery.
In addition to this, they took maximum advantage of regenerative braking, forcing as much energy back into the battery packs by easing off the throttle and allowing the system to feed the kinetic energy that is usually lost back into the car.
The team also recommended a low rolling resistance tyre during an interview with Sunday Times Driving, stating that the Bridgestone Turanza 6 (or the Turanza Eco) were top choices for maintaining “a long range per charge without sacrificing tread life”.
Perhaps more interestingly, the team revealed that the car travelled 21 miles even after its battery reached 0% capacity, meaning that most manufacturers build in very conservative range estimates in order to keep drivers from running out of juice at the side of the road.
So next time you hear someone complaining about poor EV range, tell them it’s their driving that’s to blame, not the vehicle.
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