[ScatterBrain]

Hi all. I searched the forum and couldn't find a similar issue. I recently purchased a used 2017 Soul EV. Frequently, when I start driving the energyconsumption numbers start out at like 30 kw/km (19 kw/m)- sometimes even as high as 50 kw/km. Then they eventually even out to a normal rate after a few blocks. Is this normal? Is this the electricity it takes to start the vehicle? Or, is there something wrong w/ my battery or software? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Sean Nugent]

I assume its:
1. Heating / Cooling the car
2. Heating / Cooling the battery

 

[IanL]

If you are starting with the value reset, it may be just a characteristic of the averaging filter function they use. Next time I reset mine, I'll try to remember to observe.

 

[ScatterBrain]

I was thinking the same thing too. I'm wondering if other people have experienced this too? I don't have any of the climate controls on so I am assuming that it is the battery. And if so - is there something wrong w/ my battery to need it to be cooled or heated this much?

 

[electricdriver]

I was thinking the same thing too. I'm wondering if other people have experienced this too? I don't have any of the climate controls on so I am assuming that it is the battery. And if so - is there something wrong w/ my battery to need it to be cooled or heated this much?

Honestly - you're overthinking it. All cars have high consumption from standstill. Even a slight uphill gradient will give you a very big power draw. If it settles quickly to a sensible number, there isn't a problem.

 

[metastable]

Acceleration requires much more power than constant speed.

 

[metastable]

And in particular, when accelerating quickly at low speed the electric to mechanical energy conversion efficiency % is extremely poor. Most of the energy you use accelerating from low speed turns to heat rather than converting to kinetic energy. As ground speed increases and acceleration decreases, the conversion efficiency jumps up drastically and can be as high as 95% to 97% or more…

 

[ScatterBrain]

I probably am overthinking it. Thanks for your expertise people - I am new to evs. It just seems weird to me that it would start so high instead of working out an average first - hence my thinking that it must have to do with the actual starting of the vehicle. If I'm just driving normally once I turn the vehicle on I would all assume it should average out pretty quickly. For example, on a one kilometer trip it would usually start my consumption at around 30 somethings and then finish at 19ish which is still really high compared to the standard 11sih kw/km that I drive. Maybe it just takes a while for it to work out a proper average.

 

[metastable]

If you weld your wheels to the ground and push the throttle (stalled motor), 100% of the electricity turns to heat. It’s a very similar situation in the first few moments when accelerating from 0 mph. Every doubling of thrust and torque quadruples the heat (losses quadruple but mechanical power doubles, dropping efficiency.) Close to 0 mph you can generate a lot of torque but mechanical power is torque times angular velocity, so when angular velocity is low, so is mechanical power, even though electrical power can be very high if you are generating lots of torque, which makes the low speed electrical to mechanical conversion efficiency low.

 

[DomJ]

As others have said, on a 1km journey probably 30% of the entire journey was accelerating up to speed netting over such a short journey a poor efficiency.
My car is able to show the power drawn from the battery in real time, accelerating from a standstill at quite a gentle pace draws about 30kW until I am up to speed, say 30mph (48kph) at which point to maintain that speed if on a flat piece of road only requires about 6-8kW

 

[IanL]

... Maybe it just takes a while for it to work out a proper average.

I think so. From observing it, I believe it is a form of Kalman filter. Characteristically, those do not give meaningful results until they have a decent back-history.

 

[freddym]

Hi all. I searched the forum and couldn't find a similar issue. I recently purchased a used 2017 Soul EV. Frequently, when I start driving the energyconsumption numbers start out at like 30 kw/km (19 kw/m)- sometimes even as high as 50 kw/km. Then they eventually even out to a normal rate after a few blocks. Is this normal? Is this the electricity it takes to start the vehicle? Or, is there something wrong w/ my battery or software? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Get an OBD2 Dongle and purchase SoulSpy. By the way you are on the wrong forum for Soul EV stuff.

 

[IanL]

Get an OBD2 Dongle and purchase SoulSpy. By the way you are on the wrong forum for Soul EV stuff.

This IS the SoulEV forum. Perhaps you could explain how SoulSpy could be used to penetrate the OP's issue? I am fairly conversant with it, but I cannot find how it addresses distance to energy consumed ratio.

 

[freddym]

This IS the SoulEV forum. Perhaps you could explain how SoulSpy could be used to penetrate the OP's issue? I am fairly conversant with it, but I cannot find how it addresses distance to energy consumed ratio.

Try MyKiaSoulEV Forum. There are loads of technically knowledgeable contributors there: also lots of North American context. You will find insightful posts about the same sort of issues including input from JeJuSoul who is the software developer of Soul Ev Spy app

 

[freddym]

[

This IS the SoulEV forum. Perhaps you could explain how SoulSpy could be used to penetrate the OP's issue? I am fairly conversant with it, but I cannot find how it addresses distance to energy consumed ratio.

Ian, the really important question from Scatterbrain OP is whether there is something wrong with his battery and /or powertrain. SoulEVSpy with approriate dongle and support from MyKiaSoulEV forum is the best resource to answer that question.