Changing EV mileage

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brady

brady

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My car has only a couple hundred miles, however, I am noticing that the EV range (battery) after a full charge has dropped from 47-40??? Maybe this is a mental thing but this bothers me...Is this a normal occurrence? Is there a reset of MPGe setting? Should I completely forget about the meter stuff and just drive......In the Nissan Leaf the E meter really means very little. Its ok accurate when average temps at slow speeds but during extreme hot of cold or highway .........forgetaboutit!!!!
 
brady said:
My car has only a couple hundred miles, however, I am noticing that the EV range (battery) after a full charge has dropped from 47-40??? Maybe this is a mental thing but this bothers me...Is this a normal occurrence? Is there a reset of MPGe setting? Should I completely forget about the meter stuff and just drive......In the Nissan Leaf the E meter really means very little. Its ok accurate when average temps at slow speeds but during extreme hot of cold or highway .........forgetaboutit!!!!
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For most of us the fully charged EV range is directly related to ambient temperatures. A drop in temperatures will result in a reduction in the stated range of a fully charged battery. That range is actually fairly accurate.

I’d suspect your range will increase when your temps warm up a bit.
 
brady said:
My car has only a couple hundred miles, however, I am noticing that the EV range (battery) after a full charge has dropped from 47-40??? Maybe this is a mental thing but this bothers me...Is this a normal occurrence? Is there a reset of MPGe setting? Should I completely forget about the meter stuff and just drive......In the Nissan Leaf the E meter really means very little. Its ok accurate when average temps at slow speeds but during extreme hot of cold or highway .........forgetaboutit!!!!
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yes, in the NE, many of us were down to 30-31 EV miles (actual) in the very cold weather, completely normal for EV batteries combined with use of electric cabin heat. However, the reset question is interesting. It will be really interesting to see if we go above 47 EV miles in the summer, and if so, how far above!

Yesterday afternoon, I reset my system to factory settings. However, there was no change in the EV or HV miles. Too bad there is no way to back up our custom settings, but it took less time than expected to get things back the way I had them. I did not lose my #1 and 2 seat settings, so it was not a thorough system reset.

Another test might be to disconnect the 12V battery for a while, a computer reset method that has been used by Volt owners. Maybe an experiment for a nicer day.

OTOH, it could be that the data on which the estimates are made nearly as sacred as odometer miles (seems less likely); if that were the case, I guess the data might be written into non-volatile storage (so not reset by power off).
 
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Yes, it is a guess o meter. It estimates your current EV range based on past and current driving conditions. Mine has read down to the mid 20s (week of 0 to 10 F high temps, lows down to -20 F) to around 40. I imagine in the summer it will get up to 50 or 60 miles depending on climate usage and such.

Your gas car will get better or worse range depending on driving conditions as well, but we tend not to notice that since the range is much greater and we don't pay close attention to it.
 
Our weather is mild enough that temperature is a minor effect.

What causes the EV range to vary on or car is driving habits. I normally drive like the old man I am but sometimes play around doing some quick acceleration after which the EV range estimate is much lower at the next charge. The algorithm obviously pays attention to the previous run.
 
Tiralc said:
yes, in the NE, many of us were down to 30-31 EV miles (actual) in the very cold weather, completely normal for EV batteries combined with use of electric cabin heat. However, the reset question is interesting. It will be really interesting to see if we go above 47 EV miles in the summer, and if so, how far above!...
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Mine was at 49 after last night's charge...:D...and has been as high as 53 in a warmer 70+ degree week.

It's not just temperature but speed and driving habit. At 70+ mph it drains quickly and shows lower mileage after recharge; likewise when I'm in my little old grandpa with a Prius mode I get much better mileage from the battery and better recharge mileage (the 53). YMMV to the MAX!

PS - I think the paddles are a big mistake - just let the driver set how aggressive they want the regen to be and let the car do the rest - if it is slowing down to fast, hit the accelerator - want more regen, hit the brakes...
 
Mine is consistently 56 EV miles on a full charge. I live in Palm Springs with warm 80 degree temperatures right now. I'm an old man. I drive like an old man. I've been getting around 53-56 miles around town since I purchased it a month ago. I now have 1300 mi on it. I drive to LA frequently for work but switch to HV when I'm on the freeway. I can usually make it to LA and back without refueling. Best car I've ever owned. It's not perfect but there is no perfect car out there.....at least for me.
 
Valente said:
Mine is consistently 56 EV miles on a full charge. I live in Palm Springs with warm 80 degree temperatures right now. I'm an old man. I drive like an old man. I've been getting around 53-56 miles around town since I purchased it a month ago. I now have 1300 mi on it. I drive to LA frequently for work but switch to HV when I'm on the freeway. I can usually make it to LA and back without refueling. Best car I've ever owned. It's not perfect but there is no perfect car out there.....at least for me.
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Just curious - does your battery lose EV range while on those HV freeway jaunts?
 
dstrauss said:
Just curious - does your battery lose EV range while on those HV freeway jaunts?
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Yes it does. Not a lot. Today I drove to LA and started out with 56EV miles. When I got on the fwy which is only a mile from my house I hit the HV mode and drove all the way to LA and the charge went down to about 48EV miles. Around LA city streets I drove in EV mode then when I drove back to Palm Springs I hit the HV mode again. I used about 3/4 tank of gas which is not much considering the tank is only 7 GAL. When I got to PS I had 37EV miles left. I drove a total of 260 miles. However, I did drive at mostly 80MPH which uses a lot of gas. I figure I can drive about 350 miles on a full tank + full charge.
 
Valente said:
Yes it does. Not a lot. Today I drove to LA and started out with 56EV miles. When I got on the fwy which is only a mile from my house I hit the HV mode and drove all the way to LA and the charge went down to about 48EV miles. Around LA city streets I drove in EV mode then when I drove back to Palm Springs I hit the HV mode again. I used about 3/4 tank of gas which is not much considering the tank is only 7 GAL. When I got to PS I had 37EV miles left. I drove a total of 260 miles. However, I did drive at mostly 80MPH which uses a lot of gas. I figure I can drive about 350 miles on a full tank + full charge.
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Thanks for the useful information. I drove a similar loop twice (round trip, 100 miles each way) out here in PA and got 52 mpg in HV mode after subtracting out the EV miles (using actual fill ups and miles driven). I was driving a lot slower 50-65 mph because of speed limits and the heater was on only lightly (set at 60 degrees). Was your air conditioner running during your runs?
 
Wow! 52 mpg is great. I did use AC but only for about 15% of the entire trip. Sounds like we got similar numbers.
 
I once mentioned it before, and it's the reason I don't really play with the regenerative paddles anymore. The tenths of a mile gained doing regenerative braking with the paddles, are almost immediately lost as soon as you begin to accelerate. The loss is so quick, and the range lost so obviously not tied to the actual distance traveled (I'll lose the two tenths of a mile gained during braking, almost immediately after driving a few feet), that I just don't bother anymore.

This is just probably another offshoot of the inaccuracy of the range indicators. The actual gain during regenerative braking is probably overstated.
 
Ken7 said:
I once mentioned it before, and it's the reason I don't really play with the regenerative paddles anymore. The tenths of a mile gained doing regenerative braking with the paddles, are almost immediately lost as soon as you begin to accelerate. The loss is so quick, and the range lost so obviously not tied to the actual distance traveled (I'll lose the two tenths of a mile gained during braking, almost immediately after driving a few feet), that I just don't bother anymore.

This is just probably another offshoot of the inaccuracy of the range indicators. The actual gain during regenerative braking is probably overstated.
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It sounds like some people think that you don't get the regenerative braking if you don't use the paddles. I think that you get the same regenerative braking if you use the brake pedal without braking hard. I think the paddles just control how much regen you get from taking your foot off the go pedal. So I think that if you go down a steep hill and maintain constant speed with the gas pedal after selecting higher regen or if you use the brake pedal lightly to maintain speed, you will get the same amount of regen.

If the Clarity starts using the friction brakes to slow before it gets maximum regen, I think that would be seriously poor engineering. Please correct me if I am wrong.
 
Hmmm. you may be right. One thing I'm still not use to is the lane keep assist....the way the steering wheel behaves to maintain the lane control. It's a whole new way of driving. It does a good job of helping me stay centered but sometimes it's disconcerting when it shakes. I know it's supposed to do that but sometimes I feel like the car is out of control. Scares me when I'm doing 75mph. technology.
 
To the extent you can do so safely, just glance at the power meter when braking. The Clarity can be driven efficiently like any other car. Honda did a superb job with the blended braking (electromagnetic braking transitioning to friction brakes).

I've noticed a nice amount of regen as I brake, certainly as good or better than I can achieve with paddles. I still use the paddles often, because I find them to be entertaining, but regular use of the brakes will probably do just as well. All that said, there is no substitute for good regular driving technique as to efficiency, particularly with respect to braking.

For example, if you have to stop hard because you just called for too much acceleration a moment before, that's just plain wasted energy, and only a very small amount of the excess spent energy (to accelerate more than was needed) can be recovered by regen (either by brake or paddles).
 
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Tiralc said:
...All that said, there is no substitute for good driving technique as to efficiency.
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BINGO - as a reformed Prius driver, you will get far more mileage out of gradual starts and stops than regen braking will ever add to the equation. You don't need to be a snail, just accelerate smoothly and lay off the accelerator as you approach a red light.
 
dstrauss said:
BINGO - as a reformed Prius driver, you will get far more mileage out of gradual starts and stops than regen braking will ever add to the equation. You don't need to be a snail, just accelerate smoothly and lay off the accelerator as you approach a red light.
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This is how it's done in Europe. I'm shocked at the number of people in the States that rush to the stop light. "Hurry up and wait" mentality is crazy.
 
JyChevyVolt said:
This is how it's done in Europe. I'm shocked at the number of people in the States that rush to the stop light. "Hurry up and wait" mentality is crazy.
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This is one of my issues with Honda's low speed follow. It waits way too long to come to a stop behind a stopped car. Not only is it scary, but it is inefficient and uses the physical brakes .
 
JyChevyVolt said:
This is how it's done in Europe. I'm shocked at the number of people in the States that rush to the stop light. "Hurry up and wait" mentality is crazy.
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If the speed limit is 35 on a street, they will get up to that speed even if it is only one block between stop lights.
 
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