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Understanding Total Power gauge in gas mode

2494 Views 12 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  Free2enjoy
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The gas engine generates maximum 53KW. When the battery is completely depleted (no electric range left) and the car demands access of 53KW then where does that additional power come from ? If it comes from the battery then why not power the car from the battery itself ? What am I missing ?

In the attached pictures you can see that the car is consuming 115KW and if the engine tops out at 53KW where does the extra 62KW come from ? If the battery is capable of providing that much power then why is the electric range 0, why doesn't it use the battery power until the battery can really no longer provide any power ?
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You can go up to half a mile on a "depleted" battery by keeping it below 19 KW. From a stoplight near my house it's 0.4 miles one way and 0.6 miles the other way. If I go the short way I can get into my driveway without the engine restarting. When I go the long way the engine restarts in front of the neighbor's house.
In a Gen 1, I get from the end of the off ramp (which is descending about 30 feet) all the way to my parking stall on the reserve buffer. 3/4 mile. There's a stop sign, a left turn, three stoplights (of which I get stopped by typically two of) and waits for lot gate and garage door as well. Engine's usually hot if I've been on the freeway so heating losses aren't a consideration. That's why I don't really miss not having Hold Mode: short of heavy snows, I'm gonna make it home with 0 miles on the clock and no wasted gas.
What I have read is the car never fully charges, and never fully discharges the batteries.
As Don mentioned- it is to make those batteries last 10 years.
They did quite a lot of help make the batteries last longer, like the extensive cooling/heating system on the batteries the monitors every cell pair.
The temperature sensors turn out to be something of an issue, though. I'm pretty sure more battery sections have been replaced by failure of the thermometer than any other part of the battery as a unit.
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