[2002corvette]

I get monthly reports from Chev on the cars mileage. They claim 240 KW/100miles. But the car claims 200KW/100 miles...that is a 20% error. I do not take short trips. Does anybody know which is correct.?

 

[Norton]

If you are charging using your L1 cord at home get a Kill a Watt power meter and keep track of your kWh usage and your EV miles.
That will give you true Wall to Wheels costs.

 

[freshcut]

The discrepancy of 20% is within the possibility of charging losses as well as temperature control on the battery pack during charging procedures. I don't believe the car takes into account those factors and only what is used to propel the car which could account for the difference. On a side note, 240KW/100 miles seems VERY excessive. Are you sure its not watts/mile or 24.0KW/100 miles?

 

[Norton]

24.0 kWh/100 miles.

 

[jsmay311]

The discrepancy of 20% is within the possibility of charging losses as well as temperature control on the battery pack during charging procedures. I don't believe the car takes into account those factors and only what is used to propel the car which could account for the difference. On a side note, 240KW/100 miles seems VERY excessive. Are you sure its not watts/mile or 24.0KW/100 miles?

This. What's displayed on the screen inside the car does not account for charging losses. The monthly OnStar report numbers do include estimated charging losses.

Even still, 24 kWh/100 miles is an impressively efficient number for a Gen 1 Volt.

 

[Monzsta]

If you are charging using your L1 cord at home get a Kill a Watt power meter and keep track of your kWh usage and your EV miles.
That will give you true Wall to Wheels costs.

Just don't use it all the time. Get a baseline measurement then get the kill-a-watt out of the circuit. Seems the continuous load has caused some to melt down and burn out.

 

[viking79]

The Volt has about 80% charging efficiency if the power used display is accurate. It takes about 12 kwh to charge my 9.4 kwh used Volt based on the power meter I have installed on my EVSE input. It varies some, but that is ballpark.

So if I drive 50 miles on 10 kwh that is 20 kwh for 100 miles based on the car, or more like 24 kwh for 100 miles from the wall.

Gen 2 displays MPGe, which can be converted to kwh/100 miles. This number is the more interesting number for efficiency as you can't really ignore charging losses, but cars reading ignoring losses is more interesting for range.

 

[Sean-a-Tron]

Even still, 24 kWh/100 miles is an impressively efficient number for a Gen 1 Volt.

That's actually pretty common efficiency for a Volt. Careful driving in good weather actually gets it close to 5 miles per kWh (from battery, not wall).

 

[2VoltFamily]

That's actually pretty common efficiency for a Volt. Careful driving in good weather actually gets it close to 5 miles per kWh (from battery, not wall).

I would not say common, I would say rare but achievable. I would say most common efficiency for Gen 1 is averaging 3.5-4 miles/kWh.

 

[2002corvette]

I agree with all the replies. The reports(monthly) definitions claim the car is correct...but I do not think so. Althought all the data is from the car computer there is that discreption. I was hoping that the programer would shine some light on the issue.
As an additional issue the Kill a watt meter was introduced. Yes i have one but I do not know the acturacy of it. It claims 13.5 kw for 10.5 kw the car claims. Now a good converter would have a 5% LOSS but that leaves alot left....any thoughts?

 

[lexcyn]

I've got a device that plugs into my ODB2 port and monitors my charging levels. I get a nice dashboard like this that records my usage, including "charger loss" which could be why it shows a lot more usage. L2 has less overall loss than L1 (this data is from Oct 1st to today):

As you can see for the 53kWh I've "consumed" 7kWh is from charger loss. I am exclusively using a L2 charger.

 

[2002corvette]

if I take the 53 number as the car computer number I would expect an average of 40 miles per charge (based on a 10.5 kw charge). Is this correct......great info!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[solar_dave]

I regularly get 4+ miles per kWh when no heat or AC are in play. Easy pedal and setting cruise helps.

 

[2002corvette]

Hi solar Dave
Do you have solar panels connected to your car?. I have four panels on the roof that charge the volt. They have been on operation over a year. On a sunny day I get 25 miles out of them, but my NJ average is 12 miles