Speak EV - Electric Car Forums banner

Current Consumption Achievements

4K views 30 replies 13 participants last post by  Dave Mathers 
The range estimate is based on both of those things. Amount of battery power remaining and recent past driving style.

Battery power remaining seems to be a bit dependent on the weather. I seem to be using 10.8 or 10.9 kWh now the weather is warmer where as before I were using 10.6 or 10.7.

Also, I noticed that when I were on holiday we stayed at the top of a 500ft hill climb. So, whenever we got back to the caravan we had just climbed the hill and so the range always looked aweful when we stopped or the next day. It always sorted itself out the next day though until we did the climb again!
 
proddick said:
Is it not the first rule of Votec to return home with an empty battery and more fuel in the tank :)
That rule means always use battery rather than petrol. In other words... you don't have to use all the battery everytime but don't finish a journey using petrol if you still have battery power remaining.
 
I think it is always true that if you are on a journey that is further than your full battery range then you should always ensure that you have used all the battery by the end of the journey. How you split that between battery and petrol during the journey is down to your own preference. I prefer to save a bit of battery for my slow bit at the other end but I won't do that at the expense of not using all the battery even if that means going on to petrol for the last few miles. That is preferable to arriving having not used all the battery power that I could have.

Obviously, if your journey is shorter than the full battery range then none of this matters because you would do it all on battery power anyway.

Now, I understand that problem... we don't know how much battery to save for the other end. Well that comes with experience but just make sure you save too little rather than too much. Arriving with power still in the battery when you could have used that power instead of petrol is simply madness as it is just a waste.

If it were me Ray. with just 2 miles off motorway at the other end I wouldn't bother to save any battery power... just use all the battery on the motorway and accept you will go onto petrol at the other end. That way you are sure to use all the available battery power.
 
I have found that with a bit of experience I always end up using all the battery now.

Having said that, the savings are very small and probably not worth worrying about if you think you might not use all the battery... just use it up regardless. Better that then leaving some in the battery when you next fully charge.
 
Agreed. I think I will give up on this too unless there is a good reason to do it. The benefit is just too small to worry about it :)
 
Don't mistake the estimate and what you actually get. The estimate is just that, based on recent use.

So, did you actually get 33 miles from a full charge? That isn't much. I have never had anything that low. I average about 40 - 45 miles.
 
I wonder if some of these drops in estimate people are seeing are due to a change in driving style as a people get more used to driving the Ampera and as we become less focussed on range and so drive the car more normally?

I have found my range drop but I believe that is mainly due to me driving the car less like an EV and more normally.

I am not saying that the weather isn't having an effect but as people get used to the car so range could change.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top