The range meter in the car is basically balderdash unfortunately. The 186 mile figure is just fantasy for most of the year. The winter range is roughly 120 miles. So the 86 mile round trip should have been ok.

The energy meter buried in the infotainment says how many miles per kWh the car averages. Multiply that by 45 to get the actual full range. Work from that and see how you get on.

Unfortunately vauxhall seem to be massively thick and haven't managed to have a simple correct percentage display inside the car for while you're driving which would reduce all the issues with the range meter being hopeless.

 

Not great that is it. It will be the same old excuse people put on every time ‘it’s the winter, you have the heating on’ I’m starting to thinking this EV world is more hassle than it’s worth. With rising electric at home and public charging (if they work!) the whole appeal of electric cars is getting ridiculous. Forgot to say and the cost of the bloody things!!

 

I was talking about this last night, wondering at which point having an EV won't make sense to me.
My Leaf easily costs me £60-£80 a month more than a nice ICE would.
I was spending around £80-£100 a month in petrol, so the fact I was 'breaking even' with the Leaf was fine to enjoy the nicer drive of an EV.
If the Leaf starts to cost me more than an ICE, I'm off....
TBH although I'd rather stick with an EV, having a car that didn't top out at 90mph would be nice (yes I stay on a race track before any asks....)

 

To get best range, warm up the car (precondition) while it is still plugged in. Hopefully Vauxhall did include that essential EV feature

I do wonder when manufacturers enter the EV market why they don't look at existing, successful models (eg Zoe) and say "oh it displays percentage, that might be a good idea"!

 

Hi Folks,

I'm wondering if anyone else is having similar issues. I have a nav elite leased through my business. Initially it seemed like a great little car with plenty of equipment on and fun to drive. However, I have noticed the range is so bad that it's caused me to have some problems.

Recently I did what was a 43 mile trip each way, mainly on A roads that have a 60 mph limit. I drove it all the time in regen mode and on ECO. I drove it near to 60 mph on twisty country roads and used the regen as much as possible. It was a freezing cold day so I had the heater on, also the heated seat on its lowest setting and the heated steering wheel.

When I set off from home my range said I had 186 miles so I was thinking I would easily do to the 86 mile round trip even if the range was not accurate. To my surprise it took 120 miles of range to do the 43 mile journey! I was going to meet friends mountain biking so I pretty much spent the majority of that ride wondering where I was going to go to get a rapid charge. Not enjoyable.

To cut the story a bit short, after an utter faff driving around for 30 minutes I did manage to find a CCS charger and get back up to nearly full charge. It took 100 miles of range to do the trip back home of 43 miles.

I am seriously doing what I can to send this car back. It is totally unfit for purpose and seems to me is a complete an utter lie that it will do circa the displayed range, even with some contingency for inaccuracy. I have to take it to Vauxhall first to see if there is a fault. I may have to keep it till May next year when the lease expires and I for one can't wait to get rid of it. Anyone else had similar issues?

So, what causes you to think the range is rubbish more than the display is rubbish?

You are saying it was showing 66 miles remaining to do the 43 miles back .. why did you go looking for a charger?

 

So, what causes you to think the range is rubbish more than the display is rubbish?

Well it's a case of both isn't? My point is this is a product that is not fit for purpose. I should be able to at least have some level of trust in the display when the car is well & truly into its journey. Arriving at a destination only 43 miles way to see the display has circa 60 something miles of range left is just no good. The fact is this car is utter shite and only good as a short commuter really.

 

Here is what Peugeot predict for your range;-

 

Just checking was your MTB inside the car or on a rack i ask as the wind drag would make a good difference.

 

I'm not sure if a roof rack and bike can be fitted to the roof of the corsa, but a rack on the back of the corsa could be possible. Over to the OP to answer this.. I was reading about the Tesla police cars they are trialling. They said the light bar (that you see on the roof of most police cars!) was the equivalent of towing a parachute. It's just in a diesel car nobody would be monitoring or worrying about mpg.

 

Getting the Guess-o-Meter right is clearly not easy. Some are considerably better than others. For example the Kia/Hyundai GoM doesn't reset to the default range on a full charge and therefore avoids the terrifying plummet when you start driving. The Zoe isn't as good, but still is much better than the Stelantis cars, which all seem to be problematic in their approach.

It's easy to work out what your actual range is yourself based on knowing the usable battery capacity and the average miles/kWh you achieve.

There's a lot about how you drive. 60 on a B road with regen makes it sound like fairly spirited driving - like any car you'll chew through the available energy fairly quickly. Note that regen isn't magic. It's much better than friction brakes but losses are inevitable. For maximum range you want to drive efficiently which means preserving momentum as much as possible... which means not going too fast so you don't use any form of braking unless necessary.

If you need to cover 150+ miles with spirited driving, you need to plan to charge or get a different car... or chill out and drive a bit smarter. or wait for summer

 

Getting the Guess-o-Meter right is clearly not easy. Some are considerably better than others. For example the Kia/Hyundai GoM doesn't reset to the default range on a full charge and therefore avoids the terrifying plummet when you start driving. The Zoe isn't as good, but still is much better than the Stelantis cars, which all seem to be problematic in their approach.

It's easy to work out what your actual range is yourself based on knowing the usable battery capacity and the average miles/kWh you achieve.

There's a lot about how you drive. 60 on a B road with regen makes it sound like fairly spirited driving - like any car you'll chew through the available energy fairly quickly. Note that regen isn't magic. It's much better than friction brakes but losses are inevitable. For maximum range you want to drive efficiently which means preserving momentum as much as possible... which means not going too fast so you don't use any form of braking

If you need to cover 150+ miles with spirited driving, you need to plan to charge or get a different car... or chill out and drive a bit smarter. or wait for summer

deleted

 

EVs generally are well known for the huge range disparity in winter - and Stellantis group cars more than most. Seems to be an efficiency issue with the heat pump which has hopefully been corrected in the new version but we’ve yet to see an example.

They’ve also made the frankly daft decision not to give you a state of charge meter and leave you reliant on the range left display or guess-o-meter which in many EVs is not brilliant. Only the Mokka-e has a proper % readout on the PSA platform (which means the info is there they’ve actively chosen not to show it to you). I think if I remember the Corsa display is divided into 8 segments so in theory you’ve got 12.5% segments which might give you a bit better idea. I agree entirely that it’s not great - but even Vauxhalls own range estimator on their website suggests 135 miles at 0°c highway use.

EVDB suggests the Corsa real world winter range at motorway speed is 120 miles if you use the preheat function (in the app). I think your mileage sounds like it’s going to be roughly about right for that.

 

Only the Mokka-e has a proper % readout on the PSA platform

The e2008 has a % display too, but oddly not on the e208 (yet?)

 

Sounds about right based on this long term review:

Vauxhall Corsa-e long-term test: the six-month verdict

CAR magazine UK lives with an electric Vauxhall Corsa with pictures, specs and regular reports

www.carmagazine.co.uk

"Above 50mph two miles disappear off the Corsa's indicated range for every mile covered. At 70mph, it's four computer miles lost for every mile travelled, even in Eco mode. Covering the 55-mile north-bound leg into Surrey leaves me with just 40 miles of range."

If you slow down a bit and don't have a bike on the back / roof you might make it without a charge.

Check your tyre pressures too.

 

I think volts x amps would be better than simply adding them...

 

Ignore this

 

Does seem a little odd tbh. We have the same car and my normal commute is 69.2 miles. It's a fast A road and I'm doing the odd overtake of an HGV etc. I run "B" mode for extra regen, "normal" drive mode, heated seat on max and climate at 22. Car is always about 50% charge when I get home. I'd suggest going to a Vauxhall dealer and see if they can check it out.

 

These bevs aren’t for everyone. We should read the instructions and test drive before we buy.
One size doesn’t fit all.

 

These bevs aren’t for everyone.

Well they will be whether you like them or not.

 

Can't think why people with EV's put so much focus on the GOM. For years we looked at how much was in the fuel tank and worked it out. That gauge didn't have a percentage figure attached to it either.

How much charge did you use on your journey to cause you so much worry? Unless it was about or below half then I don't get the panic.

The GOM is pants on the Corsa but it's predictably pants. Just look at the "battery gauge" and do what you've probably done for years. The range predictor on standard fuel cars will change throughout a tanks worth depending on how you drive and what kind of journey you do.

 

IMO too many seem to think regen is a magic way of getting extra miles.
Better not to have to brake at all but when you (inevitably) do, the system should use regen to recover energy whatever the regen setting. On motorways for example better to have zero regen because why start slowing down needlessly if theres no one in front of you or they are a very long way away, when you take your foot off the accelerator, cruise to slow down, and if you need to brake you can do it with the brake, and regen will apply then anyway.
In cities with constant start stop its handy but on fast A roads, motorways, i dont see why a high regen setting would be better than using the brake less, because you will inevitably be slowing down unnecessarily at some points.

 

The car is a load of Tosh. I really don’t have anymore to say than that.

 

Without saying more, most will consider your post tosh.

 

Hi Folks,

I'm wondering if anyone else is having similar issues. I have a nav elite leased through my business. Initially it seemed like a great little car with plenty of equipment on and fun to drive. However, I have noticed the range is so bad that it's caused me to have some problems.

Recently I did what was a 43 mile trip each way, mainly on A roads that have a 60 mph limit. I drove it all the time in regen mode and on ECO. I drove it near to 60 mph on twisty country roads and used the regen as much as possible. It was a freezing cold day so I had the heater on, also the heated seat on its lowest setting and the heated steering wheel.

When I set off from home my range said I had 186 miles so I was thinking I would easily do to the 86 mile round trip even if the range was not accurate. To my surprise it took 120 miles of range to do the 43 mile journey! I was going to meet friends mountain biking so I pretty much spent the majority of that ride wondering where I was going to go to get a rapid charge. Not enjoyable.

To cut the story a bit short, after an utter faff driving around for 30 minutes I did manage to find a CCS charger and get back up to nearly full charge. It took 100 miles of range to do the trip back home of 43 miles.

I am seriously doing what I can to send this car back. It is totally unfit for purpose and seems to me is a complete an utter lie that it will do circa the displayed range, even with some contingency for inaccuracy. I have to take it to Vauxhall first to see if there is a fault. I may have to keep it till May next year when the lease expires and I for one can't wait to get rid of it. Anyone else had similar issues?

We have an e208 which is the same car, different body. First thing to say is ignore the predicted miles as they have no idea what you are about to do. You need to know what % charge you have ie how much fuel in the tank! So either look at the fuel gauge and guess roughly or use the app which will tell you the % charge. At those speeds on a very cold day you will just about get 120 miles from 100% to 0% maybe less if there is a head wind or wet road - regardless of what the car tells you. In summer you can easily get 170-180 miles. So embarking on an 86 mile trip at those speeds I would want a full or nearly full battery and a pre warmed-up car. This makes the absolute most of the range as cold batteries simply don't give as many miles as warm ones. Simple chemistry. Range will return near normal in the warmer months.

 

Is it possible for the user to preheat the traction battery on an e208, before a single mile is driven. How does one do it.

 

I suspect the OP just needs a bit of 'upskilling' on EV driving

Considering its a mountain bike trip, maybe the trip to get to the trail (which, a lot of the time, are up high in the hills, mountains) then you use a disproportionate amount of your journey going uphill, which is hard on the battery. But, on the return journey, you get the benefit of using less energy. That could be part of the reason it was so bad on the way there. It might take 60% to get there and 40% to get back for example, which is a 20% variance. Key point being, the GOM doesn't know you are going downhill on the way home, it assumes the return is all uphill too, which turns your 20% variance into a 40% variance on the GOM. 40% is a big number!

Plus using seat heating on lowest setting is counter intuitive. Better to have any conductive type of heating on full (seat, steering wheel) as both those use very little energy. But the OP has tried to save tiny bit of energy by seat heating on low which presumably, meant that to keep warm, he used more of the worst type of energy, the aircon/heater unit. Back to front way of using an EV.

You see this frequently for new EV drivers and its not their fault. Dealers don't talk about these inconvenient truths which is long term detrimental.

Its all about the science - gravity, friction, heat transfer etc and once you figure out the things that help with range, and the things that don't, then you start to understand how to get more range.

The OP used regen as much as possible. Thats not a good thing either. Regen is only good when your using it to replace braking, but regen by its very nature is lossy. Eg, in a hilly area, going up and down quite often for example, speeding up to go fast up hill and then thinking you'll get that energy back on the way back down is wrong. You are best just maintaining your speed, maybe let a few MPH off as you reach the brow of the hill, then let gravity accelerate the car a little on the way back down, rather than using regen (speed limit may require regen if its steep though!)

If that sounds like hard work, then just maintain a steady speed and don't 'try' to generate regen. Regen is great when you are recharging the battery instead of using the brakes, but if you don't need to slow the car down, the regen should be avoided as much as reasonably possible. Some people simply don't realise this.

 

I suspect the OP just needs a bit of 'upskilling' on EV driving

Considering its a mountain bike trip, maybe the trip to get to the trail (which, a lot of the time, are up high in the hills, mountains) then you use a disproportionate amount of your journey going uphill, which is hard on the battery. But, on the return journey, you get the benefit of using less energy. That could be part of the reason it was so bad on the way there. It might take 60% to get there and 40% to get back for example, which is a 20% variance. Key point being, the GOM doesn't know you are going downhill on the way home, it assumes the return is all uphill too, which turns your 20% variance into a 40% variance on the GOM. 40% is a big number!

Plus using seat heating on lowest setting is counter intuitive. Better to have any conductive type of heating on full (seat, steering wheel) as both those use very little energy. But the OP has tried to save tiny bit of energy by seat heating on low which presumably, meant that to keep warm, he used more of the worst type of energy, the aircon/heater unit. Back to front way of using an EV.

You see this frequently for new EV drivers and its not their fault. Dealers don't talk about these inconvenient truths which is long term detrimental.

Its all about the science - gravity, friction, heat transfer etc and once you figure out the things that help with range, and the things that don't, then you start to understand how to get more range.

The OP used regen as much as possible. Thats not a good thing either. Regen is only good when your using it to replace braking, but regen by its very nature is lossy. Eg, in a hilly area, going up and down quite often for example, speeding up to go fast up hill and then thinking you'll get that energy back on the way back down is wrong. You are best just maintaining your speed, maybe let a few MPH off as you reach the brow of the hill, then let gravity accelerate the car a little on the way back down, rather than using regen (speed limit may require regen if its steep though!)

If that sounds like hard work, then just maintain a steady speed and don't 'try' to generate regen. Regen is great when you are recharging the battery instead of using the brakes, but if you don't need to slow the car down, the regen should be avoided as much as reasonably possible. Some people simply don't realise this.

Sounds fair enough.

That being said, if he had 113 miles range as Peugeot said he would with that sort of use, did 43 miles, he'd have 113-43 = 70 miles remaining. He's reporting the car said 66 miles.

So, the thing the car didn't actually do was predict how he would drive the car, and at what temperature, before he actually drove it.

I would tend slightly towards the possibility that the car can't predict the future very well. Hey, it's just one of those crazy conclusions I come to, OK, sure, we don't buy cars NOT to predict the future for us, right? We just need cars that can.

 

Better navigation for EVs that factor in real-time range/driving conditions/miles per kWh/up to date charger locations and availability are needed.

I find the built in e208 satnav quite lame when it comes to planning journeys and find charge points it recommends can be hopelessly out of date. I tend to use Android Auto for navigation and traffic having planned the route on A Better Route Planner first to gauge real life range. To be honest neither of the above is perfect. Google isn't up to date on charger locations and doesn't really tell you what sort of charger if you ask it, for example, for "EV chargepoints near me" but it can get you out of a pickle if driving alone and your route plan has come undone. ABRP makes some really strange routing suggestions which can take you many miles off route. I often have a physical list of charger postcodes or what3words locations with me for longer journeys so that I can quickly change destination without searching.

 

I find the built in e208 satnav quite lame when it comes to planning journeys and find charge points it recommends can be hopelessly out of date. I tend to use Android Auto for navigation and traffic having planned the route on A Better Route Planner first to gauge real life range. To be honest neither of the above is perfect. Google isn't up to date on charger locations and doesn't really tell you what sort of charger if you ask it, for example, for "EV chargepoints near me" but it can get you out of a pickle if driving alone and your route plan has come undone. ABRP makes some really strange routing suggestions which can take you many miles off route. I often have a physical list of charger postcodes or what3words locations with me for longer journeys so that I can quickly change destination without searching.

I used this one when planning the trip to Manchester and the percentage battery left on arrival in Manchester wasnt a million miles out :-

EV Range and Smart Route Planner

Electric Vehicle precise range display and smart route planner using charging stations

evnavigation.com

 

I had a e2008 and it was absolutely crap most range I could do was 80 dealers are clueless they really don’t have a clue how to do anything on a ev, I did well to get to 13 months of owning a e2008 won’t be getting another Stelantis ev

 

I'm using our Corsa-E Elite Nav pretty much on a daily basis to so a 60 to 70 mile commute from Chesterfield to Derby and generally doing this on just over or just under half the battery depending on which way i go (one way is all motorway\dual carriageway, other way is A\B roads with some dual carriageway) but it is noticeable the difference in battery used when it gets cold to it being above 6\7c. One morning i did the M1 way when it was -2c and it was dropping pretty quickly. Other half did Chesterfield to Manchester and back in it which is 46 miles each way and whilst she did charge at the car park in Manchester as we wanted to test the charging cable due to issues charging at her work she said she would have made it there and back no issue without charging. Was about 5c and wet that day.

Furthest we've done is Leeds and back which was around 55 miles each way and did it with about 40% battery left by going via Sheffield initially which is shorter, slower speeds and regen opportunities and by sticking to 60mph on the M1. When you went up to 65/70mph the rate the battery dropped was noticeable. This was in October and whilst it wasnt really cold it wasnt that warm either.

I now know the main journeys i do in the car will be fine range wise even when its cold but longish new trips i'm doing i tend to reset one of the Trip computers and keep an eye on the kwh per mile and do a rough calculation of that multiplied by the useable 45kwh in the battery to get a fairly good idea of range. Normally its not far out whilst the range is all over the shop. I've seen that drop like a stone on faster motorway\dual carriageways then once you are on slower roads with regen happening it doesnt move or starts going back up.

 

The Peugeot phone app shows battery percentage, refreshing it updates the reading. If the Vauxhall app is the same you could use that instead of using the miles guestimate.

 

That is correct, but only if the app actually updated when refreshed which is one of the many issues with the app!

 

Even so the e208 GOM can be misleading. Here are some figures from today. 84% battery confirmed by the app and vehicle doing 3.7 miles per kWh. GOM states 150 miles range but that isn't accurate. Assuming no battery degradation on a 1 year old car we have 84% of 45kW available which is 37.8kWh x 3.7 = 139 miles. The car had about 10 miles to figure out driving style. Shows why miles per kWh is better for working out range.

 

Somehow I don't believe this story.
I do 70 miles daily commute. Never had a problem and always have around 30% battery from 80% charge in the morning.

 

Well of course what I did was make up the entire story just for fun as I really have time to come on here, fabricate a story about this car and sit and wait for the replies. Jeez.

Anyway, it's all about context. I've realised that it's entirely my fault that I didn't think about the bigger picture. I live in Snowdonia, where most of the roads are 60 mph and there are massive hills / mountains. This of course has a much bigger impact than someone with the same car tootling about in a city on mostly flat roads.

Where I live the infrastructure for EV's is pretty terrible, unless you have a Tesla. Now don't me wrong I really, really want an EV to work but it just isn't the right thing for me at the moment unless I get a Tesla which are too expensive on a business lease. So I'm sending it back and cutting the lease short as it's not far off being up anyway as it was only a short lease.

If anyone comes to this thread looking for info about getting a Corsa, it is a lovely little car and the Elite Nav spec has plenty of spec, but it is much more suited to a 'normal' suburban setting - not a rural Snowdonian one! And yes that's on me and a big lesson I have learned. I got this car as I was lured in by the very cheap business lease, running costs and very low company car tax.