Video: Summer maintenance (hah) and racing a train across the country.

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KiwiEV

Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2016
Messages
20
Location
Bratislava, Slovakia
Hello, fellow iMiEV (and fauxMiEV) drivers! It's that time again: I've churned out another "Kiwi EV" video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l4WzUqThd4

In this new video I carry out summer maintenance (hah), ride my electric bike and then race a train across the country. :)

I had a lot of fun making it, especially the race! I really hope you enjoy it! :D
 
Great video ! I really enjoyed the light hearted flavor.
Very well done, showing the realistic capability and limitations of the i Miev undergoing a longer road trip.
The video points out several important items for some one wanting to go for a longer road trip with the Miev.

Availability of fast charge stations is still somewhat limited. making for deviating from our route.

Driving fast speeds for long periods of time will heat up the battery to the point where the speed of charging is affected.
On a very hot day I once drove fast and heated up the battery to the point where the fast charging would not engage, so I had to divert to a level 2 .

We should always have a range/time buffer to handle the unexpected, Traffic, detours, construction, etc.

Thanks for sharing.
 
Thank you both for the kind words. I don't know how my wife puts up with me. :D

True, the iMiEV isn't really suited to long distance driving but I love a challenge and the car performed perfectly. That traffic though... Sheesh!
 
I try to avoid going above 100km/h precisely because of heating up the battery too much. With the A/C blowing to the battery while cruising at 100km/h I manage to avoid getting it too hot (haven't tried 4-5 QC in the peak of summer yet), and the consumption of AC is around 4-5Wh/km. So in order to optimize travel time I charge only to 60% instead of 80 when the distance to the next QC is only 40-50km away.
In a couple of weeks I'm going to make a 370km drive using 6 QC (or 5 if one charger does not get fixed by then) under what I expect to be hot conditions. I'll see how temperature and charging speeds are affected. How hot did your battery get this time?
 
I thought I saw 41degC in the video, but perhaps I'm mistaken. For these types of trips I would definitely make the mod to divert air into the battery. I'm surprised that the fan inside the battery pack doesn't have a lower turn-on threshold as mine seems to never turn on except for the first half of a DC charge.

Sweltering here today... but at least we didn't get the foot of rain that Don experienced in Biloxi... :roll:
 
JoeS said:
I thought I saw 41degC in the video, but perhaps I'm mistaken. For these types of trips I would definitely make the mod to divert air into the battery. I'm surprised that the fan inside the battery pack doesn't have a lower turn-on threshold as mine seems to never turn on except for the first half of a DC charge.

Yes, I also say that temp, but there were still many km to do so I wondered how hot did it get without the AC trick. But since he had to make some charging up to 90%, I suspect that cooled down the battery a bit. When charging above 80% in a QC, the lower charing speed and the continuous AC into the pack (at least in some cars like mine) results in a decrease in temperature. And since he had to drive slower in the last steps that must have helped, too.

Sucessive quick charging to 80% and then 100km/h cruising are what really work up a sweat in the pack :D
 
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