Is the EV range display just a guess based on temperature?

4091 Views 15 Replies 12 Participants Last post by hellsop, Jan 17, 2017

VoltFish

Discussion Starter · Jan 16, 2017

What determines the EV range that is displayed? Is it just a guess based on the temperature or is it somehow constantly adjusting based on driving habits, temperature, etc.?

When I got my car in October the EV range went as high as 57 miles while it was in the 60s and 70s outside. Yesterday I ran the car to 0 EV range and drove on the ICE so the battery got a full recharge last night. Today it's about 52 degrees outside and the car is only showing 40 miles EV range.

I'm wondering if this is just the car guessing based on the most recent conditions and after I drive it and recharge it today the range will actually increase... or is this the actual max range I will get right now? Is the car just assuming that I will use the heater, heated seats, drive a certain way, etc. and combining that with the air temperature to say 40 miles, so if I were to drive without the heater on I would get more?

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jbakerjonathan

· #13 · Jan 17, 2017

llninja said:
If you drive without the heater on, you might eek out a few more miles, but the car still needs the heater to warm the battery. <snip>

I've seen you and others say that the cabin heater heats the HV battery. AFAIK this is not so. There is a separate heating/cooling circuit for this battery and there is a separate element and module for heating this circuit. Here are two citations:

http://gm-volt.com/2010/12/09/the-chevrolet-volt-coolingheating-systems-explained/

http://gm-volt.com/2010/12/09/the-chevrolet-volt-coolingheating-systems-explained/

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jbakerjonathan

· #15 · Jan 17, 2017

llninja said:
My point was that even if you turn the heater off, the car will still heat itself to keep the battery warm. I didn't get into the specifics about the different heaters and loops. Personally, I'd rather be warm and blow my EV mileage than be one of those crazy people who don a snowmobile outfit and disable ERDTT to gain a few miles or avoid a fuel burn. Especially when I am known to take on any and all pony cars at stoplights. With all this abuse, I'm still achieving 70 mpg lifetime, way better than any Prius - except now maybe the Prius prime is getting close to achieving gen1 numbers.

I agree with your sentiments. I drove my 2012 in ways to maximize my numbers and still only achieved a lifetime mpg of 87.5. Maybe driving only 52% in CD mode (17186 miles out of 33063) contributed to that.

I'm doing even worst in my 2014 (currently 56.9 mpg); only 26% in CD mode (10538 miles out of 40881) but I've done two cross-country trips and a number of trips to Florida, always in CD mode while away from home. Funny, my ICE stat is nearly the same for both cars: 38.6 mpg lifetime average from 15,877 miles in CS mode in the 2012 and 37.9 mpg lifetime average from 30,382 miles in CS mode in the 2014. Locally, if I have passengers, I switch to Hold mode, punch the Auto button and generate comfortable cabin heat. If I'm alone, I'll drive without heat most days, relying on the heated seat to keep me semi-comfortable. Local trips are under 25 minutes, tops, so I'm not in the icebox for long.

The Volt is the car that has best suited my needs, being the most comfortable, the most economical, the quietest, the sportiest when I want it to be, surpassing the 1965 Porsche 356SC cabriolet I owned, and hands down the best road car of all the cars I have owned.

The 1965 Porsche 365SC cabriolet was a beauty. Mine was in a dark blue. I paid a little over $4,000 for it (probably half my annual salary, but I was single so what-the-hay). Look at what it can cost now: https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/porsche/356sc/1901283.html

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