Now at 82 Mile Range

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David Towle

Well-Known Member
My EV range keeps climbing, from around 50 in the depths of winter to 82 now as the daily high temperatures are now in the seventies. Are others seeing the same? I'm wondering if it will keep going up with the temperature or will more AC use negate it.

BTW the AC seems really nice on this car, no noticeable cycling, seems like its a fully variable speed compressor since its electric motor driven that runs as slow as possible to meet the chilling needs.

And BTW yes I know I should clean the screen more.
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Are you towing your car or extreme drafting? :O

Are you actually getting that many miles and its not set to kM or something? Whats your daily commute?
 
Robert_Alabama said:
You must drive 30-40 mph constant speed on a flat road. The best I have attained at about 60 MPH is low 60s. I'd probably have to put mine on blocks and let it run in the garage with the tires spinning in the air to get that kind of range :). Glad for you though.
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Yes on low speed, there's a fair number of roads where the speed limit is 25 and I usually don't exceed limits by more than 5.
No on flat, CT is hilly.
I don't have a daily commute, old and retired, its mainly doing errands within about a 10 mile radius.
Yes I'm getting around that many miles, last actual was 75.

I think at least 1 thing I'm doing different than others is driving as often as possible in Sport with max regen. Then I try to drive without using the brakes at all except that last 6 mph. If you use the brake pedal its easy to go beyond regen unless you watch the tiny bottom end of the power gauge every stop and that's not easy.
 
David Towle said:
Yes on low speed, there's a fair number of roads where the speed limit is 25 and I usually don't exceed limits by more than 5.
No on flat, CT is hilly.
I don't have a daily commute, old and retired, its mainly doing errands within about a 10 mile radius.
Yes I'm getting around that many miles, last actual was 75.

I think at least 1 thing I'm doing different than others is driving as often as possible in Sport with max regen. Then I try to drive without using the brakes at all except that last 6 mph. If you use the brake pedal its easy to go beyond regen unless you watch the tiny bottom end of the power gauge every stop and that's not easy.
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You are just showing us your life style in CT, :)
 
Just run the climate control for any length of time and watch the range plummet. I went three days without running climate control and got up to 55.6 in range. I don't think I've ever touched 60.
 
Is that round trip so it accounts for regen from downhills?
If so that’s impressive even for low speeds. The best I get in the spring is low 60s with about half in town 35 ish and half on beltway at 55 mph.

Edit: I can get 60 with the AC on and temps in the high 70s to low 80s F. It helps starting out with a garaged car that isn’t an oven from being out in the sun for one leg of the trip.
 
I'm averaging about 50-55 miles per charge for my daily commute which is only about 10 miles each way on local roads with a max speed limit of 45 mph. I run the AC almost 100% of the time now and set the temp around 65-70F. The AC in this car is one of the best units I've had in years.
 
82? Impressive!

Saw 65 miles taking it easy around town when it was cooler in the spring. I think I'll be able to see the 70's with no HVAC during our mild winters. Now that the heat has arrived, I've seen as low as 41 after doing a few 75+ mph highway trips. :eek:
 
David Towle said:
My EV range keeps climbing, from around 50 in the depths of winter to 82 now as the daily high temperatures are now in the seventies. Are others seeing the same? I'm wondering if it will keep going up with the temperature or will more AC use negate it.

BTW the AC seems really nice on this car, no noticeable cycling, seems like its a fully variable speed compressor since its electric motor driven that runs as slow as possible to meet the chilling needs.

And BTW yes I know I should clean the screen more.
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You must do a lot of downhill driving. ;)

I can't begin to imagine how you got to an EV range this high. The best I've ever seen was about 54. Congrats. I'd love to know your technique.
 
There was a fellow at the Volt group years back (Volt gen 1) who drove around a NJ sports stadium parking lot for hours to break the record. I vaguely remember also in the 80s, doing 24 or 25 mph. I think he got stopped once by a police car asking him what he was doing.

Here it is (memorial day 2014!): https://gm-volt.com/forum/showthrea...arge-No-Elevation-Change&highlight=ari+record

It is very cool to see that kind of mileage in real life, especially in sport mode!
 
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Last year, I had range estimates in the low 70's in the summer with a lot of around town driving.
This year, it's mostly highway driving and I get low 50's at best.
I found that the big numbers drop faster than actual miles elapsed and the opposite with low numbers.
My son had the same observation this year driving my car versus his Volt which he commutes locally with.
 
KentuckyKen said:
Is that round trip so it accounts for regen from downhills?
If so that’s impressive even for low speeds. The best I get in the spring is low 60s with about half in town 35 ish and half on beltway at 55 mph.

Edit: I can get 60 with the AC on and temps in the high 70s to low 80s F. It helps starting out with a garaged car that isn’t an oven from being out in the sun for one leg of the trip.
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Mine is of course with no AC no heat, I don't use heat in EV even in midwinter. The car is garaged. You are pretty close if you can get 60s with half on the highway.

It is round trips, but your asking this question made me realize I probably am cheating on about 4 miles worth of range. When I'm going to get on the highway I put it in HV about a half mile before the entrance ramp, so the engine warms up a bit before I'm accelerating up to speed in HV. But when I'm getting off I put it back in EV as I get on the exit ramp to decelerate. On this charge cycle I made two highway round trips, so 4 get off the highway events, and each one probably is worth 1 mile I estimate.
 
David Towle said:
Yes on low speed, there's a fair number of roads where the speed limit is 25 and I usually don't exceed limits by more than 5.
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I find my most efficient driving is 20-25 mph. Once you get to 30mph, it slowly decreases range until 40mph where it really drops. I can see where 25mph would get really high range especially in warm weather with no climate control usage. I can get a range of 65 in the nice weather but my daily drive consists of 45-50mph for about 10 miles a day so I can't get much higher.
 
Got 70s when i went down a mountain in traffic. It showed 70s for a week or so until the computer realized its a fluke


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
 
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