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As automakers start churning out electric vehicles, some features that help boost the car's range have become permanent necessities -- things like regenerative braking and lightweight materials. Now, it seems LED headlights will need to be added to that list.
According to bulb manufacturer Osram Sylvania, replacing halogen bulbs with LEDs in electric vehicles can add six miles to their range. Far more efficient LEDs draw less than 25 percent of the energy that halogen bulbs do, and in a car that depends solely on battery power for its range, that makes a nice difference. Six miles may not seem like much, but all EV owners would be grateful for six more miles to find a charging station on a long trip or six miles may make the difference between making the roundtrip to work or not for some people.
LED bulbs have other benefits too like extremely long life and high vibrating tolerance, meaning the bulbs could last as long as the car does. The carmaker may have a little extra cost upfront, but the driver will save some money with less charging and without the need for replacing the head lamps.
via Autoblog Green
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written by morgan mghee, January 25, 2011
6MxEV=? Where M=miles and EV=electric vehicle. As of 2/2010 there were 20,572 Honda Insights (allcarselectric) and Prius over a million as of 8/2010 (wired). And bare in mind these are only 2 models and thats per charge.
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written by Dave, February 01, 2011
Moving a car 10 miles an hour on flat ground requires approximately 1500W. In this case (assuming that LED headlights reduce power draw by 100W) this would extend your range by about 6%.
At 60 mph, it takes about 15 kW to move the car down the road - 100W is only 0.7% of total power requirements. In other words to pick up 6 miles of range, you'd have to have an EV capable of driving over 800 miles a charge for a 100 W power reduction to give you 6 miles more range.
Now that doesn't mean reducing power draw by 100W is pointless - start reducing power here and there and it starts adding up to significant numbers - it just means that LED lights on their own isn't a game changer.
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6 extra EV miles... compared to what? 306 mile range instead of 300? 106 mile range instead of 100?
Some quick back-of-the-napkin calculations: 6 EV miles probably requires ~2000 watt-hours of energy. LED headlights save roughly 100 watts over halogen. That would mean you'd have to have your headlights on for 20 hours between charges. For that, you'd have to have a REALLY long-range car that you drive REALLY slowly (and efficiently) and only at night for that ever to happen.