Battery life and 93 miles to go??

[Don]

My typical RR in the morning says 85... kms, about 53 mi.

My daily conmute climbs about 1.000 mts (near 3.300 ft).

You must be more downhill during your trip to work and then more of a climb on the way home?? If it was the other way around, you would be getting terrific RR numbers after a recharge

Don

Well, about 40% rise to work, 60% to home. I have a couple of hills in middle.

If the last 25 Kms of your trip to the house each day is mostly uphill, you're never going to see great RR numbers after a recharge because the RR meter is using those last 25 Kms to predict how far you can go on a full charge . . . . and you won't always be driving uphill

Now, if you lived in the bottom of a big valley and the last 25 Kms of every trip home was mostly downhill, you would get GREAT RR numbers after every recharge

Neither scenario is representative of how far you could actually go on a full charge - You'll need to set the trip meter and keep track of how far you can actually go on a day to day basis to get an idea of what your real range is - It will probably be a larger number than your RR gauge is giving you

Don

 

[Barbagris]

Neither scenario is representative of how far you could actually go on a full charge - You'll need to set the trip meter and keep track of how far you can actually go on a day to day basis to get an idea of what your real range is - It will probably be a larger number than your RR gauge is giving you

Don

Sure.

My personal record is 102 km (63 mi.) with 2 bars blinking.

I am very uncomfortable watching the "tank" almost empty. If I anticipate longer trips I can recharge at noon (3 bars/hour), otherwise not, because very different kwh price night / day.

I've never found the turtle...

 

[Lithim]

At the start of a recent trip, the range meter indicated 81 miles.
I set the trip odometer to zero.
At the completion of the trip the odometer indicated 12 actual miles driven and the range meter was at 54. (27 miles of range used) Usually these numbers are the other way around. Now, I did use the rear window defogger for part of the trip but have never noticed any significant range degradation before.
Something seems odd. What am I overlooking?
2012, silver ES with QC

 

[aarond12]

There are a nearly infinite number of variables that will affect your power usage. Ambient temperature, battery condition, headwind, hills, traffic, humidity, etc. If you were using your rear defroster, were you also using your heater?

 

[Lithim]

There are a nearly infinite number of variables that will affect your power usage. Ambient temperature, battery condition, headwind, hills, traffic, humidity, etc. If you were using your rear defroster, were you also using your heater?

Only using the toggle switch that controls the rear window. No heater in use. Local driving, < 40mph, light traffic. Flat terrain (Houston!)
Battery charged: 13/16.

 

[Don]

If the RR meter indicated 81 miles when you were only charged to 13 bars, that was probably an overly optimistic number - A full charge would have yielded about 100 miles . . . . is that what you usually get for a full charge?

I find that after several partial charges, my RR meter does tend to give me more than it should and it goes down pretty rapidly to the 'correct' number after just a few miles

Don

 

[Lithim]

If the RR meter indicated 81 miles when you were only charged to 13 bars, that was probably an overly optimistic number - A full charge would have yielded about 100 miles . . . . is that what you usually get for a full charge?

I find that after several partial charges, my RR meter does tend to give me more than it should and it goes down pretty rapidly to the 'correct' number after just a few miles

Don

Car was not fully charged prior to this trip. The "best" RR reading I have ever seen with a fully charged vehicle was perhaps 93.
I have been unplugging the car prior to full charge for the last two or three charge cycles.
Your diagnosis makes sense. I'll have to do a full charge to stop next time and watch what happens with the RR.

 

[camiev]

If only our battery has thermal management. It will last must longer.
I don't know why Japanese cars don't have it. Japanese is taking short cut.



http://insideevs.com/expert-what-you-know-about-lithium-batteries-is-wrong-can-last-up-to-20-years/

 

[Don]

If only our battery has thermal management. It will last must longer.
I don't know why Japanese cars don't have it. Japanese is taking short cut.

Our battery has no thermal problems, especially not when charging with the relatively low power charger the car came with. The battery could safely be charged at 1C or more and the onboard charger can only do .2C

Don

 

[aarond12]

Only using the toggle switch that controls the rear window. No heater in use. Local driving, < 40mph, light traffic. Flat terrain (Houston!) Battery charged: 13/16.

Light traffic? In Houston? :lol: Seriously though, that's interesting.

I rarely even look at my RR, but I did today. I was doing a run-down to charge from 2 bars (like the manuals says to do occasionally), so I didn't charge for 3 days (my commute is very short). Then my wife, baby, and I went to dinner. The RR showed 13 miles left. About 3 miles later it showed 8 miles. By the time we got home (4 more miles), it showed 6 miles left and 1 bar.

This is why I don't even look at my RR. It's wildly inaccurate. Instead, I just watch the bars of power. It's far less granular so the sweeping variations aren't nearly as obvious.

 

[gmarcucio]

After reading this thread now I know why my RR was at this level after a full charge. Prior to charging to a full charge I was driving the car like I had an egg between my foot and the go-pedal.

 

[aarond12]

I rarely check my RR gauge. This morning, after intentionally running my i-MiEV down to 2 bars then doing a full charge overnight, it displayed 89 miles. I do not hypermile my car; I always drive in the city in "B" mode. Heck, yesterday I had to floor it at a light to change lanes for an unexpected construction zone. Maybe my battery is improving with age!

 

[JoeS]

Maybe my battery is improving with age !

Or warm weather ... or the car has taught you how to drive efficiently. :roll:

 

[Don]

... or the car has taught you how to drive efficiently. :roll:

Bingo!

If everyone's first car was a one year stint driving an EV, the gas mileage they would get driving ICE cars later on would probably be improved by 20% or more

Driving an EV with it's limited power source really teaches you how to make the most of what you have available

Don

 

[PV1]

I noticed that this year so far, my i-MiEV is more efficient than before. I wonder if the EVSE upgrade had anything to do with it. I'm charging with 120 volt, 12 amps.

89 miles is the best I've seen, and that was crawling at less than 20 mph on a main road 12 miles home with one flat on the floor acceleration (giving somebody a test ride) up to 40 mph.

 

[Malm]

To find if you drive more efficiently now you have to see what amount of energy you spent in the past and now in the same conditions (with Canion). Not the amount of bars or the mRR. My i-MIEV with 3 years and 2 months changed the energy of each bar twice. In the first year each bar of 5% was something like 0,85 kWh, in the third year 0,9 kWh, and now only 0,66 kWh. So I thought that I was driving more efficient in the third year, getting 109 miles regularly mRR, but that was just an illusion created by the car.

In the first year, L2, 17 min. and some seconds to charge a 5% bar. In the third year, L2, 18 min. and some seconds to charge a 5% bar. Now, fourth year, L2, 13 minutes and 40 seconds to charge a 5% bar. Now bars disappear more rapidly then ever, and I can go to 0,0% SoC.

But I have good news. When I fully charge it, from 0,0% SoC to 100%, it spends me from the wall something like 15.22 kWH. But cells only charge to 4,08 V. But sometime, if I try to make a second charge, it takes more 0,6 kWH and cells get to the expected 4,1 V. So can take 15,88 and that seems very good to me, because is the same that it taked last september from 0 to 100%.