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Are road trips with EVs hassle-free? We drove the Smart #1 to Penang to find out

Mar 8, 2024 4:57 pm

If you’re looking to purchase your first EV, you may have heard about how EVs are a hassle to drive on road trips. To see if that’s true, we joined Smart Malaysia on a drive with the Smart #1 EV from Selangor to Penang. Here’s how it went.

How was the drive up to Penang with the Smart #1?

We started the journey from Selangor (Pinnacle Kart USJ) with a Smart #1 Brabus at noon with 80% of juice left in the “tank”, and an estimated remaining range of 329 km according to the car’s trip computer. Considering that the Smart #1 Brabus is rated for an all-electric range of 400 km (with a fully charged battery), we would have needed to stop at least once to charge the car, which we did.

After flagging off from Subang Jaya, this writer and his driving companions had a smooth and uninterrupted drive up north until we dropped by the Gentari EV charging station at XPark Sunway City Ipoh for a charging break less than three hours later. At that point, we utilised just under 50% of battery juice across a 212 km journey, leaving the Smart #1 Brabus with 31% state-of-charge (SoC). The car’s trip computer suggested a remaining range of 122 km.

Estimated range we had upon flag-off in Subang Jaya

The Gentari DC charger juiced up our Smart #1 Brabus at an average charging rate of 80 kW, which “fed” the car from 31% to 80% SoC in about 40 minutes. We then carried on our journey to Penang, which spanned another 184 km. By then, the Smart #1 Brabus was left with 24% SoC and an estimated remaining range of 97 km.

All in all, the entire journey from Selangor to Penang with the Smart #1 Brabus took us approximately 6 hours and 15 minutes. In total, we utilised “105%” of charge for the whole trip. So yes, this means we wouldn’t have been able to reach Penang even with a full charge from the get-go with the average Malaysian driving style.

How did the charging experience with the Smart #1 go?

The charging experience with the Smart #1 went relatively smoothly for us. The Smart Hello app was also immensely helpful as thanks to a recent update, we were able to pay and charge via debit or credit cards simply using the app. At the time of writing, the app also gives access to 70% of public chargers across Malaysia through its integrated EV charging map.

It needs to be stated that we were assisted by Smart representatives when it came to charging. This writer and his driving companions were also fortunate enough that we did not encounter any issues when charging.

During the media drive, there were members of the media who encountered a situation where the EV charging gun wouldn’t disengage even though charging had ended. However, it is to be noted that the issue was with the EV charger itself and not the Smart #1. Issues like this are also not uncommon with EV chargers worldwide at the moment, unfortunately.

Could we have done the trip faster with an ICE car?

We are not going to beat around the bush here, as the answer is yes. This is because charging an EV takes longer than filling up an internal combustion engine (ICE) car with petrol.

Depending on the situation, you could even take an additional 5 to 10 minutes just to activate or disconnect the charger from your EV. This is probably all the time you need at the petrol station with a regular ICE car.

As mentioned earlier, our charging experience was quick and smooth with the Smart #1, all thanks to the very helpful team at Smart. A real-life EV ownership experience could be different.

For comparison’s sake, an uninterrupted drive from Selangor to Penang would take around 5 hours, according to Google Maps. Therefore, if you are to drive a regular ICE car, you would most probably take less than 5 hours and a half to do the same journey we took, under normal traffic conditions. This is even with petrol station and toilet breaks factored in. Remember that we took 6 hours and 15 minutes to reach Penang with the Smart #1 Brabus.

ALSO WATCH: Volvo C40 EV – KL to Penang without charging, can reach?

Did we save money on “fuel” by driving an EV over an ICE car?

If we are to single out this trip alone, we’ve spent a total of RM48.51 on charging. Do note that this was done with DC charging alone, which cost us RM1.50/kWh. This was only the cost of recharging, and remember that we started the trip with 80% SoC.

Throughout our trip from Selangor to Penang, we utilised a total of 69.3 kWh or 105% (49% from Selangor to Ipoh, 56% from Ipoh to Penang) of battery juice with the Smart #1 Brabus. This is with us adhering to the national speed limit, with one or two exceptional moments where we tested the car’s performance a little bit. After all, it’s a Brabus, right?

If all the charging were to be done with the Gentari DC charger alone at the price of RM1.50/kWh, we would have practically spent around RM103.95 on electricity for the whole trip. But note that we charged the Smart #1 Brabus using DC chargers to save time. If you have more time or more patience, and have access to an AC charger, you could certainly be saving much more money with every kWh charged.

Or even better, you could charge your EV at home where you might only be spending RM0.57/kWh (your electricity tariff will vary depending on household usage). This would mean that charging the Smart #1 Brabus from flat to full will only cost you RM37.62, certainly much cheaper than buying petrol. 105% of battery juice with the Smart #1 Brabus would have only cost us RM39.57, as compared to RM103.95 with DC charging.

To summarise, we got an average power consumption figure of 17.5 kWh/100 km with the Smart #1 Brabus throughout the 396 km journey. Using an ICE car with an average fuel economy of 8.3L/100km, however, will cost us around RM65.60 on the same trip. So the answer is no, we did not save money by driving an EV over an ICE car on this road trip.

Verdict: EVs are great as long as you’re a great planner

So, should you buy an EV if you often travel long distances? Well, it is certainly doable, especially when you plan your trip well on when and where to charge your EV. Knowing the capabilities of your EV well, especially its range, will be highly beneficial too in making sure you don’t end up stranded at the side of the road with a flat battery.

But the pros you get out of this bear the same amount of weight as the cons, at least in this writer’s opinion. For one, you get a super quiet and relaxing experience with the absence of engine noise, which translates to a more relaxing driving experience. You get to enjoy your music even better too, as we did enjoy the Beats sound system in the Smart #1 Brabus. Overtaking or keeping up to speed is also immensely effortless with an EV, which makes taking long journeys an easier one.

At the end of the day, whether EVs are for you is up to you to decide. Like it or not, the Malaysian EV trend is here to stay. Anyhow, do share your thoughts in the comments!

The Smart #1 at a glance:

Variant	Smart #1 Pro	Smart #1 Premium	Smart #1 Brabus
Drivetrain	Single-motor RWD	Single-motor RWD	Dual-motor AWD
Battery	49 kWh LFP	66 kWh NCM	66 kWh NCM
Range (WLTP)	315 km	440 km	400 km
Combined power output	272 hp (metric)	272 hp (metric)	428 hp (metric)
Total torque	343 Nm	343 Nm	543 Nm
Price	RM189,000	RM219,000	RM249,000