[supermachoman]

5 Miles per KWH is incredible. I did get to about that same number once, but it was with a huge tailwind. The scenario played out as follows:

Last week I drove my wife to the airport and back. It was a very windy day: 26mph sustained winds. It's 16 miles each way, and on the way to the airport against the wind, I got 3.4 miles per KWH. But by the time I got back, I was at 4.2 miles per KWH. Some quick algebra tells me that (3.4+x)/2=4.2 == x=5 miles per KWH. This is with 38psi pressure in all tires, driving in L and not going more than about 62mph on the highway.


Can you tell us more about your drive? I didn't see if parts were downhill, uphill, or with/against the wind?

 

[ronmerkord]

One other factor that can make a HUGE difference in range is changes in elevation. I have seen quite the effect from an imperceptible change from starting elevation to ending elevation. I like to keep my Garmin in the car, with its real time readout of elevation, so that I can get a true idea of how my electric range is doing.

 

[Brian Loves Cars]

Todays driving saw 34.2 miles on 6.3 kWh or about 5.4 or 5.3 assuming it was about to switch to 6.4 kWh. Tire pressures were 41 all around, routes and driving style about the same as before, temperature about 70 deg F. Radio was on, but climate was mostly off. Net elevation change was 0, as I began and ended each drive at home. I think I would have gotten about 52-55 miles on the full charge if I'd driven the full charge.

I think it would be fun to run an experiment to see how much the radio drains the battery, which I'll do once the car gets fully charged.

Anybody have insight into why the car seems to get its worst mileage in EV mode when it first starts out? Today I had 0.7 miles on 0.3 kWh reported used by the time I got out of my neighborhood. Then 33.5 miles on 6 kWh after. Theories? Knowledge?

 

[tboult]

Todays driving saw 34.2 miles on 6.3 kWh or about 5.4 or 5.3 assuming it was about to switch to 6.4 kWh. Tire pressures were 41 all around, routes and driving style about the same as before, temperature about 70 deg F. Radio was on, but climate was mostly off. Net elevation change was 0, as I began and ended each drive at home. I think I would have gotten about 52-55 miles on the full charge if I'd driven the full charge.

I think it would be fun to run an experiment to see how much the radio drains the battery, which I'll do once the car gets fully charged.

Anybody have insight into why the car seems to get its worst mileage in EV mode when it first starts out? Today I had 0.7 miles on 0.3 kWh reported used by the time I got out of my neighborhood. Then 33.5 miles on 6 kWh after. Theories? Knowledge?

In the very beginning there are likely some serious rounding errors going on, as the car is using some fixed-point math for the display/ It does not tick up at .01 miles or .01kWh, its about .3 miles at a time. (I don't have a 2012, but for gas its also .03 as the minimum step). You might have also had 1.5 miles on .3kWh a bit later.

Also the kWh is estimated using battery voltage and that can drop more quickly near a full charge, especially if the battery is a tad colder. As the battery provides current it naturally warms itself so it may reduce the impact after driving for a while. It would likely reoccur after a cold soak, e.g. in the lot at work.


Note your reports are on the car's reported data which is about 20% below the actual usage (from the wall) because of charger inefficiencies (13kWh to charge, 10.4 available). If others are measuring from the wall, then your 5m/kWh is the same as their 4m/kWh (about 250w/Mile, which is still very good. EPA estimates are 360w/mile).

 

[MTN Ranger]

For my 2012, the mile and kWh displays on the energy info screen increment at 0.1 at a time.

In the very beginning there are likely some serious rounding errors going on, as the car is using some fixed-point math for the display/ It does not tick up at .01 miles or .01kWh, its about .3 miles at a time. (I don't have a 2012, but for gas its also .03 as the minimum step). You might have also had 1.5 miles on .3kWh a bit later.

Also the kWh is estimated using battery voltage and that can drop more quickly near a full charge, especially if the battery is a tad colder. As the battery provides current it naturally warms itself so it may reduce the impact after driving for a while. It would likely reoccur after a cold soak, e.g. in the lot at work.


Note your reports are on the car's reported data which is about 20% below the actual usage (from the wall) because of charger inefficiencies (13kWh to charge, 10.4 available). If others are measuring from the wall, then your 5m/kWh is the same as their 4m/kWh (about 250w/Mile, which is still very good. EPA estimates are 360w/mile).

 

[RScott]

Anybody have insight into why the car seems to get its worst mileage in EV mode when it first starts out? Today I had 0.7 miles on 0.3 kWh reported used by the time I got out of my neighborhood. Then 33.5 miles on 6 kWh after. Theories? Knowledge?

Running the math, that's 14.0 vs 33.5, or more than double the electricity.

Does this occur on both/all legs of the trip? I find that for fairly short (several mile) trips, my electric usage going one way is almost double going the other way. It turns out it is because of the elevation (I wouldn't have guessed there is a significant difference in elevation where I am, but there is).

 

[saghost]

Anybody have insight into why the car seems to get its worst mileage in EV mode when it first starts out? Today I had 0.7 miles on 0.3 kWh reported used by the time I got out of my neighborhood. Then 33.5 miles on 6 kWh after. Theories? Knowledge?

You said the climate was "mostly off" in the earlier part of the message. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but the behavior you mention here is one I normally associate with the climate control - it works hardest when you first start the car, and therefore eats more battery at the very beginning of the trip. If it was off at the beginning, I don't have any suggestions right now.

 

[Brian Loves Cars]

Running the math, that's 14.0 vs 33.5, or more than double the electricity.

Does this occur on both/all legs of the trip? I find that for fairly short (several mile) trips, my electric usage going one way is almost double going the other way. It turns out it is because of the elevation (I wouldn't have guessed there is a significant difference in elevation where I am, but there is).

It happens every time I start the car after af ull charge, and it seems to use more power just after every time I turn it on. Theres basically no change in elevation that close to my house.

But here's the thing, taking the kids to school this morning I got the exact same thing: it hit 0.3kWh used at 0.7 miles. But it hit 1.5 miles used at 0.4 kWh used, and quickly reached 5 miles per kWh used. So I think it might just be a quirk in the computer's reporting and its not actually using that much power so quickly when its starting. I'll keep an eye on it and report back.

The only other thing I could think of that would use so much power so quickly is some kind of battery conditioning pumping fluid sort of activity, or something else needed when the car has sat for a long period.

 

[Brian Loves Cars]

You said the climate was "mostly off" in the earlier part of the message. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but the behavior you mention here is one I normally associate with the climate control - it works hardest when you first start the car, and therefore eats more battery at the very beginning of the trip. If it was off at the beginning, I don't have any suggestions right now.

Ok sag, noted. I will keep an eye on the climate settings when I first start out.

 

[Brian Loves Cars]

Well today I went 0.6 miles on my first 0.1 kWh of charge. So apparently this isn't consistent. I'll just ignore the data until I hit about 1 kWh or so and consider the first readings just noise.

 

[Irvine-Voltie]

Hi everyone; newer 17 Volt Owner here... been trying different Hypermile techniques... and was able to capture 9.2 Miles per Kwh used..!! My ALL time best... totally Not Real World & yes only 1 Kwh used, but all the same to be Proud Of it..! New item by Kevin Wu

 

[Steverino]

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