STRANDED OUT OF CHARGE

[ANDY4004]

Twice now I;ve had reaming mileage on Zero, and Orange light on,This was a worrying,scenario!, but got back home. What happens when U ran out of charge completely. Dose the car just stop? .Can you restart it and be very gently feature the throttle, till U get home( obviously Depending on Distance) ? It would be interesting to the number of people this is happened to, and how got Home/ Did you have a tow, and if so was the car towed correctly Did you find somebody who'd ket you charge the vehicle nearby. Let me know! ANDY

 

[Don]

Yes, the car just stops . . . . and it's probably not the best thing for the battery - Even running the RR down to Zero isn't a good idea

Proper planning prevents this - If there's the slightest chance you may not make it, begin slowing down and turning off things 15 or 20 miles before things even get close and if there's still any doubt at all, stop and get some charge

Don

 

[Zelenec]

Right. Car stops running. If that happens, after waiting few minutes, you can make another let's say 100 meters. Than it stops again. Wait another 5 minutes... you can make another 50 meters... and so on. Do it only if necessary, not good for your battery.

This way maybe you can drive to first socket or at least remove your vehicle off the street to safe place.

 

[Malm]

Right. Car stops running. If that happens, after waiting few minutes, you can make another let's say 100 meters. Than it stops again. Wait another 5 minutes... you can make another 50 meters... and so on. Do it only if necessary, not good for your battery.

This way maybe you can drive to first socket or at least remove your vehicle off the street to safe place.

With Canion, now i know that my car stops when the cell 73 reaches 2.75 V. In some conditions, this could happen even without showing turtle before. When i have to use charge below 20% of SoC, i pay attention by Canion to the 73 voltage. With regeneration, the 73 voltage goes up and aproches the other. With regeneration, the cells are more balanced and i can reach 8% of SoC and the car still runs. Before i had Canion, my car stopped near my parking place, but after waiting some time i could drive a little more, and after it stopped again, a little more too (like Zelenec said).

 

[JoeS]

Right. Car stops running. If that happens, after waiting few minutes, you can make another let's say 100 meters.

Before i had Canion, my car stopped near my parking place, but after waiting some time i could drive a little more, and after it stopped again, a little more too (like Zelenec said).

OMG, Malm, you don't suppose that's why you have a sick cell? Our batteries are top-balanced and running the car at the other end is not a good idea. Our BMS attempts to give us as much warning and get-home juice as possible while protecting the battery, but it really is up to us to treat that battery properly.

To answer the topic question: if you value your battery pack and miscalculated the distance you needed to travel, then STOP soon after turtle shows up and -
1) Beg someone to allow you to plug in using your L1 Mitsu EVSE that you always carry (right?) and of course offer to pay.
2) Call someone with a portable genset and have them bring it to you
3) Get towed to a place you can charge

If you must continue a short distance with turtle on, then please crawl and barely touch the go-pedal. You don't want to pull any more current out of the battery pack than absolutely necessary.

With all the tools available to us, there's simply no excuse for depleting the battery prior to reaching a charging destination. Contingency planning is a game that pays dividends, but being caught in a traffic jam in a blizzard is perhaps a valid excuse. :roll:

I've never seen turtle and rarely go below two bars. Only time will tell if this proves to be a good strategy. Having murdered plenty of lead (and a few lithium) batteries in my other EVs, I've hopefully learned my lesson.</soapbox>

 

[Malm]

I usually don´t discharge it under 3 bars. This year I have discharge to turtle three or four times. I think having the batteries at 40º C, one cells at 45ºC and others at 35ºC, is the main reason why i have some cells better then others. If I want to drive my i-MiEV in the summer, I can't avoid it. My 73 cell is just the weakest of some that discharge faster, but very similar to 63, 19, 62, and then comes another and another, so, I wouldn't say I have a sick cell, but a heterogenous cell discharge that is evident below 20% SoC. I tried to run the car after it stoped just once, and I will try not do it again. But Zelenec is right, after it stops, if we wait some time, it will run again some meters, and JoeS is right, keep it above two bars.

 

[acensor]

Twice now I;ve had reaming mileage on Zero, and Orange light on,This was a worrying,scenario!, but got back home. What happens when U ran out of charge completely. .......Did you have a tow, and if so was the car towed correctly Did you find somebody who'd ket you charge the vehicle nearby. Let me know! ANDY

In the USA cars at least, if I remember right, for the first year Mitsubishi will provide and pay for a tow to the nearest charging station (I think there's a limit of 2 per year or something like that). If your home is the nearest charging station they'll tow you there. Keep the Mitsubish support/tow number in your car.
Many of our regular car insurance policies include towing coverage for a low extra fee (like maybe $12 extra per year) too.
Of course calling up for a tow means sitting in the car and waiting anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour or more for a truck to come out. But that may be better than killing your $13,000 battery pack by running it down that far too often.

Like all the others said, it's pretty hard on the battery to run it down that low.
Try like hell to avoid it. Plan ahead, slow down BEFORE you get in that situation. Make sure you're running high tire pressure, etc, etc.

 

[ANDY4004]

Many thanks got down to Turtle again today. This was because it was pouring with rain, and had to run demister fan although on low speed, and I drove it too fast on dual carriageway. I will now charge it more often, and not get into the worriying Range Scenario again. As soon as I got home I put it on charge immediately, but thanks for all your advice