Drove 9 miles & it drained 1/2 my charge

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EmilyF13

New member
Joined
Jan 16, 2022
Messages
3
Pretty self explanatory. I took my 2012 i-miev out for its first real drive. I got it on Saturday and it was delivered with no charge. The winter weather hit on Sunday and my roads weren't cleared until this morning. It was fully charged. I only let it warm up for a couple of minutes. I didn't do any crazy driving (and even if I did it doesn't seem right that it would drain that fast). I live on a hill, but it's a hill in Columbus, OH. It's not like it's a mountain.

I bought the car from Carvana and have until Saturday to return it. Do I just cut my losses and do that? I was so excited about this car and now, I'm just disappointed. It's everything I wanted and needed in a car. Low miles (left my driveway at 42,808) small enough to park easily. Or is there something I should check, is there an easy solution? I WANT this car, but at this rate, I can't even drive my daughter to school.

I appreciate any advice.
 
Most of us pre-heat the car (using the Remote) while it is plugged in, thus not using the battery to warm up the car from cold, and then use the driver's seat heater which uses very little energy.

What is your anticipated daily driving need in terms of distance and type of driving and what is the year of your i-MiEV?

The combination of very cold weather, running the heater probably wide-open, wet/slushy road surface (thus increasing your rolling resistance), and having to climb a hill (300'?), adversely affected you - but perhaps you were spared the additional negative effects of aerodynamic drag by not driving 70 mph on the Interstate? I'm afraid that I would expect a total range of ~25 miles in those worst-case conditions for a 2012 i-MiEV, without employing some tricks to improve the mileage.

Driving nine miles and losing half the charge sounds as though the car is unsuitable for your needs.

With what is probably a 10-year-old car, without a battery capacity report you have no idea what you're getting.

Sadly, I would suggest returning this otherwise wonderful car to Carvana.

Just my opinion. Anyone else, especially from colder climes?
 
Welcome! Glad you're here

I would drive it several more times before I gave up on it - Winter in Ohio is the worst combination of negative factors to be testing a new EV. Things may not be as bad as they seem

The battery has less energy when it's cold, especially when it's near freezing. You were probably using the heater? That sucks up lots of power. If the roads weren't clean and smooth, that makes it use more power too. New EV owners use more power until they learn how to minimize power usage

Charge it and drive it as much as possible for the next few days - You have until Saturday to return it, so give it a fair chance before you give up on it
 
The roads were clear, dry and smooth, I wouldn't have driven a car so unfamiliar to me in any other condition.

I will try warming it up while charging (God, I hoe that I don't forget and drive away with it plugged in). I don't like a warm car, so I don't warm it up much and drive with the heat on the lowest possible setting. I drive a conversion van for work and my clients think I'm crazy because I wear a tank top under everything and am usually driving around even in the cold in that.

Can you point me to tips on optimizing range, please? I get the impression that I basically have to relearn the mechanics of driving and I'm prepared to do that. I drive about 25 miles once a week, 15 once a week and the rest of the days, I drive under 10 (many of them only 3). I rarely drive on the freeway and I actually thing the 25 mi day can be taken down closer to 20 by avoiding the freeway. The one I would drive is only for about 5 miles and I can get away with going 55. It's not hilly (we're a VERY flat city. Runners do our marathon to qualify for Boston and NY for a reason).

I took the car out today to test what it could do. The fastest road I went on was 45. It WAS around freezing, but there's no way to tell what central Ohio weather will be like. It was in the 50s just over a week ago.
 
First off, don't worry about driving it away while plugged in--it won't let you!

As others have said, driving in the cold reduces battery life drastically, especially if you run the heater or defrost. I pre-heat the car (while plugged in), and then don't use the heater at all. Instead, I throw a blanket over my lap and wear gloves. If it's really cold, I use the heated seat.

I never drive in the interstate (75 mph in Colorado) because it absolutely kills the battery. Most of my 34-mile round-trip commute is on 45-mph back roads.

I run the OEM tires at the recommended pressure. Low pressure kills range, as can cheaper tires.

The worst range that I've had in the winter is about 45 miles, with negative 15F temps, powerful headwinds both ways, snow on the road, and some necessary use of the defroster.

As for driving skills to add range, always maximize the use of regenerative braking. Watch the little needle when you stop, and try not to let it go all the way left. Start gently, with the speed of other cars (it's tempting to blast away because the little critter has amazing get-up-and-go!)

All of that said, if the car doesn't do what you want, absolutely return it! The battery may have been treated poorly by the previous owner(s), leaving very little capacity--making it unusable for you, despite trying every trick in the book.
 
You don't know how long the car sat unused before you got it, so the pack may need "recalibration" which simply means run it down to 2 bars or less, then plug it in and let it charge till it stops.

You will need to use the remote to turn on heating while it is plugged in for charging.

Check and add air to your tires, Joe likes 36, i use 40 psi or higher if the sidewall indicates the max.

Try using the "E " gear position for driving, it will make for a softer feeling of the throttle.

When you accelerate watch the power needle and try to stay in the green zone. i try to stay below the "o" in "Eco" on the power meter. Anticipate traffic and never use the brakes or accelerate toward a red light. Coast to slow down--the motor converts the coasting energy back into electricity and charges back into the pack, which is much better than the brake pedal.

Check the heating and air conditioning control knobs--it is quite confusing with all the settings. Make sure everything is off and that the temperature is set at the midpoint between the blue and red zone.

Drive the car around the block and close to home with no heat or air to see how the mileage and range does. If you turn on the heat + Max, this uses lots of power. you can see the power needle move off of zero even while stopped. The heater is electric using the same power from the pack as the motor, so

Many first time EV drivers run out of "fuel" on their first drive, so if you made it home then you did great... :lol:

But if it doesn't improve or meet your needs then return it.
 
When it came to me, I didn't know how to read the battery charge meter and I ran it down to one bar. I've charged it fully, but haven't let it run down to two bars again. I drove around my neighborhood only turning the heat on when I got cold for like the last 2 or so miles. I made it 12 miles with one bar above 1/2 charge. Sadly, it's going back. It clearly doesn't suit my needs and I'm just going to be anxious driving it worrying that I'm going to run out of juice.

Time to research the Leaf. My budget is pretty low and from my searches, my choices seem to be EVs that have less than 55K miles on them (including one with less than 20K) or high mileage cars that don't get great mileage. Thanks for the help and the advice.
 
Based on your test drive, it sounds to me like the battery capacity is heavily diminished. I’m guessing it was stored badly by the previous owner. Might also be a bad cell. Regardless, you did the right thing by returning it. If you can find a newer 2016 that wasn’t abused, it would be worth trying again.
 
Greetings new IMIEV owner,

I would be somewhat concerned about a car that was delivered with no charge. Sitting at the dealer with little or no charge cannot be good for the battery. When you charged it at home did it fully charge (all 16 bars illuminated) and what was the estimated range on the digital range meter when it fully charged and the EVSE turned off?
Best wishes .
 
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