Getting the most from your battery range is an important consideration for EV drivers. It can be affected by things like type of journey, weather and terrain and now a new study has found another factor, in-car choice of music. 

Car maker KIA commissioned Dr. Duncan Williams, a lecturer at the University of Salford’s School of Science, Engineering and Environment who also help found WaveTrace, a psychoacoustic consultancy, to conduct a unique experiment. The objective was to see how music choice could impact EV driving range in its latest EV6 model. 

New EV drivers were asked to drive on a set 18 mile route with a set music playlist. They were also fitted with a device that recorded their biometric measurements, including skin temperature, sweat, pulse, and heart rate variability. 

Dr. Williams immediately noted that different kinds of music had drastically different impacts on range. Classical music encouraged EV drivers to drive in a more relaxed manner that encouraged range retention, while unsurprisingly up-tempo music made driving more aggressive, draining range. However, what was interesting was the extent of the difference.   

For example, Beethoven’s, ‘Symphony No. 9 accounted for 32.5% of the playlist yet only 7.7% of the journey range expenditure, while the up-tempo song by the The Weeknd, ‘Blinding Lights was only 10.4% of the playlist, but 23.6% of the range expenditure.  

“What we found from only two days of testing was that music really can have a dramatic influence on the real-world driving range of an electric vehicle,” said Dr Williams. He added, “Different songs resulted in varying electrodermal activity and blood volume increase for each of the participants. This had a knock-on effect on driving style, and ultimately influenced the real-world driving range of the EV6.”

Dr Williams concluded, “In short: if you want to go further, listen to the likes of Beethoven and other relaxing classical music. If you’re not worried about range dropping a little more quickly, by all means put on some more high tempo tracks.”