A Cautionary Tale...

[MartyDow]

Departed on a 90 mile round trip with 111 miles on the GOM; ambient temp 40F, the coldest day to that point this season. Arrived at outbound destination with only 57 miles remaining on the GOM, so I had consumed 54 miles of estimated range after 45 miles of driving, which did not bode well for the return trip. I decided to divert to the DCFC at Royal Farms on the return, 5 miles short of home, to be safe. Shortly into return trip I realized I would not make it at current rate of depletion. Reduced speed to 55 mph, went into ECO+ mode. Below 3% SoC car went into "turtle mode," and had to hold full throttle to get 30 mph. This was during rush hour, and other drivers were not very tolerant of the situation. Finally coasted into Royal Farms with 1 mile range remaining on GOM. Fortunately, the charger was working. I was so cold I could barely plug the thing in. It took 1:15 to charge to 80%. Never again...

 

[Paul K]

Welcome to the world of cold temperature range loss. And 40F (around 4C) ain't even cold! Did you leave with a full charge? I got caught in a similar situation with my first 30kwh Leaf. It was able to do a 150km round trip easily in the summer but went for it one day with a similar temperature to yours. Realizing I couldn't make it home I stopped at the only existing charger (an L2) on the way back only to find it broken.

My son and his family live close by that charger so I stopped in at his place and plugged into the 110V outlet. With no one home I went for a walk in the wind and dropping temperatures for almost an hour before the GOM showed enough range. About 4K from home the displays went to zero, the lights were flashing and the car was talking to me but I made it home ...................... Never again indeed. This was one of the reasons I upgraded to a 40kwh Leaf in 2018.

I am not likely to get caught in this situation again knowing that my range drops from an average 270km to 180km in sub freezing temps. I won't even try to cut it close unless there is a reliable charger en route. The situation here in South Eastern Ontario is really improving with both Petro Canada and Flo expanding their charging networks. If I'm still doubtful I haul out my 20 year old Saturn which is a keep sake and needs a run now and then anyway.

 

[David T in Silicon Valley]

so I had consumed 54 miles of estimated range after 45 miles of driving, which did not bode well for the return trip.

Is there any chance you were driving more aggressively than normal? It is startling how quickly mi/kWh drops with speed once you get much over 45 mph. So if your range had been based on how you typically get 4.4 mi/kWh and you were taking it up to 70 mph that could do it too.

Thanks for the info on "turtle mode." It is good to know what to avoid! (I took mine down to 7% once (somewhat deliberately) but not to 3%.) I am guessing Kia have determined at 30 mph wind drag is trivial, which probably means at 40mph it is noteworthy, regardless of my personal unscientific observations. Starting to wonder if the extra $1000 for a battery warmer is important after all.

 

[ITown]

Departed on a 90 mile round trip with 111 miles on the GOM; ambient temp 40F, the coldest day to that point this season. Arrived at outbound destination with only 57 miles remaining on the GOM, so I had consumed 54 miles of estimated range after 45 miles of driving, which did not bode well for the return trip. I decided to divert to the DCFC at Royal Farms on the return, 5 miles short of home, to be safe. Shortly into return trip I realized I would not make it at current rate of depletion. Reduced speed to 55 mph, went into ECO+ mode. Below 3% SoC car went into "turtle mode," and had to hold full throttle to get 30 mph. This was during rush hour, and other drivers were not very tolerant of the situation. Finally coasted into Royal Farms with 1 mile range remaining on GOM. Fortunately, the charger was working. I was so cold I could barely plug the thing in. It took 1:15 to charge to 80%. Never again...

If you think you are cutting it at all close, check the battery state of charge (press the EV button). If you want to be ultra conservative, assume 3.0 miles / kWh and then add on an extra 10% battery (6.4 kWh) to be safe.

In other words, you would want to leave for your trip with ~36 kWh charge in your battery, or about 56%.

(Math: 90 miles / 3.0 miles/kWh + 6.4 kWh = 36.4 kWh)

Or, if you don't want to deal with the math, just charge to nearly full before going on any longer drives.

 

[Electra]

Departed on a 90 mile round trip with 111 miles on the GOM; ambient temp 40F, the coldest day to that point this season. Arrived at outbound destination with only 57 miles remaining on the GOM, so I had consumed 54 miles of estimated range after 45 miles of driving, which did not bode well for the return trip. I decided to divert to the DCFC at Royal Farms on the return, 5 miles short of home, to be safe. Shortly into return trip I realized I would not make it at current rate of depletion. Reduced speed to 55 mph, went into ECO+ mode. Below 3% SoC car went into "turtle mode," and had to hold full throttle to get 30 mph. This was during rush hour, and other drivers were not very tolerant of the situation. Finally coasted into Royal Farms with 1 mile range remaining on GOM. Fortunately, the charger was working. I was so cold I could barely plug the thing in. It took 1:15 to charge to 80%. Never again...

Just wondering why you DCFC for 1:15 when you were just 5 miles from home? Free charging?

 

[MartyDow]

Just wondering why you DCFC for 1:15 when you were just 5 miles from home? Free charging?

Didn't want deal with it again after getting home late, and needed the juice for the rest of the week. Had his not happened, I would have plugged in at home...