MINI app battery use estimates

[CuriousGeorge]

(Apologies if this has been discussed here before, and I have simply forgotten about it.)

I have had my SE for a couple of months now, enough to put about 1000 miles on it, almost all commuting. I'm averaging 4.4 mi/kWh, which translates into routinely using 23% of full charge round-trip (i.e., 11% on the way to work and 12% on the way home, presumably due to a slight difference in elevation). Checking just now, though, the app says that it should only require 8% of full charge to drive the 15 mi to work (=188 mi of range!).

This is the 2nd time I have found the app's estimate to be markedly optimistic. Has anybody else noticed the same?

(Hmm...8% to cover 15 km seems quite realistic. Could there be a simple conversion error in the app?)

 

[AndysComputer]

Can’t say without seeing your commute.
But my wife commuted an 11 mile round trip and gets 5 Mi/kWh or around 150 to a charge. And that’s 2 short trips which is wasteful due to cabin heating/cooling after you stop. On that note you may be using the extra 1% to get home for that reason…
188 miles of range based on their trip estimate seems very high unless you’re commuting in like 30-40mph traffic at which point I believe it’s just about do-able in perfect conditions with perfect driving but I’ve never found the mini app to be that optimistic!
Mind you can’t be worse than the GOM which still thinks we can only go 108 miles to a charge despite nearly 5,000 miles of getting over 150 every time…

 

[CuriousGeorge]

Can’t say without seeing your commute.
But my wife commuted an 11 mile round trip and gets 5 Mi/kWh or around 150 to a charge. And that’s 2 short trips which is wasteful due to cabin heating/cooling after you stop. On that note you may be using the extra 1% to get home for that reason…
188 miles of range based on their trip estimate seems very high unless you’re commuting in like 30-40mph traffic at which point I believe it’s just about do-able in perfect conditions with perfect driving but I’ve never found the mini app to be that optimistic!
Mind you can’t be worse than the GOM which still thinks we can only go 108 miles to a charge despite nearly 5,000 miles of getting over 150 every time…

Timewise, my commute is about half 65 mph interstate and half 35 mph surface street with stop lights. But, that's not really my point/question - what I am wondering is how accurate others have found the app's estimate for ANY trip. As I said, I have found it to be extremely optimistic.

Another example: a 32 mile almost entirely interstate trip to another suburb. The MINI app estimates it would utilize 22% of the battery, equivalent to 5.03 mi/kWh or a range of 145 miles. ABRP, OTOH, estimates that it would require 29% of battery capacity, equivalent to 3.81 mi/kWh or a range of 110 miles. The latter might (or might not) be a tad pessimistic, but the former is completely unrealistic.

 

[AndysComputer]

According to the app it will take 122% of our battery to get to Waco from where we are (115 miles). That’s an average 70mph speed limit, essentially 70 for the first 25%, then 65mph for another 25%, then 75% for the rest but I do 70.
I have done it and it took me 85% of the battery so I don’t believe it’s optimistic, far from it…

 

[CuriousGeorge]

According to the app it will take 122% of our battery to get to Waco from where we are (115 miles). That’s an average 70mph speed limit, essentially 70 for the first 25%, then 65mph for another 25%, then 75% for the rest but I do 70.
I have done it and it took me 85% of the battery so I don’t believe it’s optimistic, far from it…

That's just nuts. How can the same app provide such widely varying estimates?

 

[CuriousGeorge]

That's just nuts. How can the same app provide such widely varying estimates?

Is there a way in the app to change the departure location to something other than where your car or phone are located? That would allow us to more directly compare experiences. If there is, however, I have been unable to find it.

 

[YellowDog]

The estimate to me is just a number. After a full charge the number most of the time is between 160km and 175km. But yesterday after clawing on the highway for an hour at an average speed of 10-15 km/h, my overnight full charge mileage estimate is a never seen before whopping 190 km! Believe it or not!

 

[CuriousGeorge]

The estimate to me is just a number. After a full charge the number most of the time is between 160km and 175km. But yesterday after clawing on the highway for an hour at an average speed of 10-15 km/h, my overnight full charge mileage estimate is a never seen before whopping 190 km! Believe it or not!

I've been talking about the app, not the GOM of the car itself.

 

[Puppethead]

I've found the app range seems higher than the car seemingly because the car GOM takes into account weather conditions and I don't think the app does. But neither are very good, I think @GvilleGuy's Range Calculator is the most realistic. The calculated range is really close to what I'm seeing for real-world mileage.

 

[CuriousGeorge]

I've found the app range seems higher than the car seemingly because the car GOM takes into account weather conditions and I don't think the app does. But neither are very good, I think @GvilleGuy's Range Calculator is the most realistic. The calculated range is really close to what I'm seeing for real-world mileage.

I was pondering the "weather effect" just today. One of the few nicely warm spring days we've had (where I had to drive somewhere), and my range was (not unexpectedly) WAY up.

So, maybe the app is "calibrated" to middling weather, thus proving optimistic for me (mostly driving at <60 deg), yet pessimistic for AndysComputer (mostly driving at >60 deg?)?

Tomorrow I get to test the app's estimate for the inter-suburb trip I mentioned earlier. It will be interesting to see how accurate it proves to be.

(BTW, when calculating range based on distance traveled vs. % of total battery capacity used, I'm seeing a weak positive relationship with the initial state of charge. IOW, I appear to travel farther per % when starting from a higher vs. a lower initial state. In theory that shouldn't be true, but determining the actual state of charge of a battery is apparently difficult, which might account for such a non-linearity. One more source of variability between different individuals' experiences...)

 

[Puppethead]

I'm seeing a weak positive relationship with the initial state of charge. IOW, I appear to travel farther per % when starting from a higher vs. a lower initial state.

That's interesting because I tend to see the opposite. My SE seems to "loosen up" after I put a couple dozen miles on it.

 

[CuriousGeorge]

That's interesting because I tend to see the opposite. My SE seems to "loosen up" after I put a couple dozen miles on it.

To be clear, almost all of the data I have analyzed are from my commute, just starting it from higher or lower state of charge. From your comment, though, it sounds like you are looking at miles/kWh during a trip?

If so, it would make sense for there to be some non-linearity, even under perfectly constant conditions (e.g., in a wind tunnel with a moving floor plane), simply due to the battery etc. warming up.

Anyway, just an entertaining oddity really, but like knowing how accurate the app (or ABRP, etc ) might be, something that might prove useful some day.

 

[Puppethead]

To be clear, almost all of the data I have analyzed are from my commute, just starting it from higher or lower state of charge. From your comment, though, it sounds like you are looking at miles/kWh during a trip?

I log my trip data with MINI Range after every drive, but my observation about efficiency is just my intuition during driving. It's based on how the car is feeling and how the regenerative braking is reacting. After I've been on the road for a while it feels like there's less friction from the wheels, maybe my tire rubber warms up to optimal temperature?

 

[CuriousGeorge]

(Trivia mostly for the benefit of potential owners perusing this forum.)

So a bit of an update: I just drove 37 miles to that other suburb, using 31% of the battery for a trip that the app said should only take 25%. However, it occurs to me that although I was driving more slowly than most (cruise control set at 67 much of the way, although a short stint at 70-80), I was way over the speed limit of 55. It would be hazardous to drive this route at that speed, but could partially explain why the app is regularly optimistic for me.

The other aspect, of course, is temperature. Thanks to warmer weather (55-70 degrees), the last two charges have yielded range estimates of 178 and 154 miles, respectively. Almost all of my previous driving has been at temperatures of 40-55 degrees.