Cold Weather Range

I'm also on top of a hill with a 600 ft climb. I usually use about 4 EV to climb the hill but make up for it when I go down hill.

 

Displayed EV Range is just an estimate, which is based on previous trips. Temperature is only one factor that impacts actual EV range. Speed, terrain, wind, climate settings, are a few others.

It will be interesting to see the results of your experiment. I don’t believe there will be a measurable difference between charging overnight at 45F or charging mid-day at 75F. Since it is virtually impossible to replicate driving conditions, it will be a challenge to determine if any observed change in displayed EV range is a result of different charging conditions, different driving conditions or a combination of the two.

 

It's the hill that really takes its toll. I live in the foothills and depending on how much driving I do in town on the hilly streets versus getting down into the flatlands makes a big difference in what kind of range I get and what the GOM estimates. And, believe me, going down a hill never returns as much to the battery as going up takes out.

 

Newly released video about EV mileage on You tube.

 

I spent a bunch of time on these forums when I was a new member talking about my range sucking. I don't recall anyone mentioning my hill (and likely that was my fault not mentioning it to begin with!) -- but anyway, folks had me use econ. I dressed like an eskimo and tried no cabin heat in winter maybe save heated seat, drove like a grandpa, drove only in econ mode etc. etc. Nothing caused my GOM numbers to fluctuate significantly (negative or positive). I even bought a level 2, and pre-heated my car using climate function (which is great anyway) to try and at least start with a warm car. Lots of effort trying to drive my GOM numbers up to "normal" and in my case, it never happened.

I mean yes, driving with a heavy foot with cabin heat and defrost on is measurable (maybe a few like 3 mile change in my case), but those simply were not my range killers. Bottom, line, multiple trips per-day up and down say 1200ft in elevation gain, yep, that does it in a major way!

So step 1 if someone has poor GOM and perhaps actual range, is notice if you live on a hill. If so, it might be totally normal to have lower than normal range (both guesstimated and actual).

In my case, every trip down/up my hill costs a few miles of range. It then becomes a simple function of how many times do you run errands or do stuff away from home. If average is 1 trip to/from work, and 1 trip to/from a restaurant or other activity, say 2 times down and up the hill cost me 7 miles of range. If I did more coming and going, the range was predictably worse. And yep, that's why in winter I really often see 28 miles of estimated range. That's close to correct in my case. I have measured actual, and since my driving patterns are often the same, the GOM is actually close to accurate.

And why I care so much: I used to think it was likely my car was in some way defective due to the low range numbers (both estimated and actual). And I'll add that the hill in my case contributes to range loss (both estimated and actual) much more so than any other factor, and even all other factors combined.

One other thing a hill 'person' can do to skew numbers (if they just want to see better GOM) tap HV before each up-hill, then turn it off. This will cause the GOM to artificially go up, but there is no real reason to do this-- other than maybe save to convince self that the hill is the problem.