[Sheldon]

Just curious, how far would a gen2 go on a full battery charge at fast highway speeds? The highest highway speed limit I've seen in the US is 85mph, though 75mph is common. The EPA gen2 Volt highway EPA range is 49-50 miles, which is presumably attainable at a steady state 60-65mph. So how far at 80mph? 38 miles (or 25% drop from EPA)? I think we got about 50 miles EV averaging 60-70mph, before the ICE kicked in.

This question is inspired by the following Bolt insideeevs post

insideevs.com/2017-chevy-bolt-full-review-finds-170-miles-of-range-at-constant-full-throttle-video/

 

[16513]

I always switch to hold for really high speeds, but I'd guess you would be lucky to get 30 miles at 80 mph.

 

[NevynPA]

Anybody want to run on battery at 80 MPH and let us know the current draw at that speed? I'll do all the math...

If we know the current draw or power use cruising at that speed, we can find Wh/mi, and knowing the usable size of the pack, can extrapolate range.

 

[2015 volt]

actually any speed above 50 mph you lose battery range very fast
I regularly get between 53/56 ev miles on my 2015 volt,and I bought it new 2 years ago
for the first 3 month's I got 37 ev miles,but after time I started getting more ev miles

 

[BAZINGA]

Need more info, like OAT, HVAC use, terrain (mountainous, hilly, Kansas flat), winds (head it tail winds, no winds) perfect conditions, horrible conditions, rain, sleet, snow. Headlights and wiper use? On board weight?

Just too many variables. So I could guess a low of 30 miles and a high of 50 miles.

 

[skiflyer]

My commute has long stretches of 75-80mph, and from what I can extrapolate... it's wildly variable, but 30ish miles. The big variation for me is how well you can hold steady. Accelerating while already at those speeds is a big bite of battery, but maintaining at those speeds on level ground is only somewhat awful (I want to say 35-42kw on the dash).

I've since changed my style to switch to Hold if I'm staying over 65mph for a period of time and I believe I'm getting better range that way (but I've only had the car since thanksgiving, and temps have varied from -20 to 60degrees Fahrenheit here during that time, so there are a lot of factors).

 

[JoeReal]

35 miles for me, along I-5 with the posted speed limit is 70 mph, the actual minimum speed that everyone is driving would be 80 mph. Everyone else either does 85 mph (other cars, mostly Prius drivers to compensate for their lack of acceleration) or 60 mph (trucks).

 

[accelerus]

I commute 75 miles a day (round trip) 90% highway mostly Texas highway where speed limits are 70 and everyone does 85.

Range goes fast at anything above 55mph... before I got used to "chill" driving, I would usually see 42-44 miles of electric range. So I'd estimate a 20% hit to EV range by high speed driving.

The volt did teach me to be an efficient driver, I no longer blast along at 75mph, and I don't mind drafting behind a semi when I can doing 60mph

I use hold mode on most of the highway trip TO work, and then use all my electric juice for the trip home in all EV mode. I generally burn about 1/2 a gallon a day with my commute + EV range.

 

[Bubblebass]

My all FWY commute at 70ish gets me about 40 miles on a full charge.

 

[NevynPA]

My commute has long stretches of 75-80mph, and from what I can extrapolate... it's wildly variable, but 30ish miles. The big variation for me is how well you can hold steady. Accelerating while already at those speeds is a big bite of battery, but maintaining at those speeds on level ground is only somewhat awful (I want to say 35-42kw on the dash).

I've since changed my style to switch to Hold if I'm staying over 65mph for a period of time and I believe I'm getting better range that way (but I've only had the car since thanksgiving, and temps have varied from -20 to 60degrees Fahrenheit here during that time, so there are a lot of factors).

So if we call it 40kW to travel at 80 mph, that's 40kWh for 80 miles (1 hour of travel). 40/80 is .5, so 500Wh/mile - a 40-50% loss in efficiency!

 

[samotlietuvis]

30-35 miles, ~30min of driving.