[Zeuner]

Hi,

Yesterday I experienced something new. I was going 140 km/h on the motorway, and the battery was low. Suddenly it reduced speed to 50 km/h - which is quite dangerous on the freeway. I was 3 km away from the charger I was going for, so no problem getting there with 6% on the battery.

I am pretty sure I had the battery that low before, but it did not act this way.

Is there any way to override this setting when it happens. As I said - I knew I could get to the charger, so no reason to slow me down!

 

[meetyg]

I suppose that it did that because it calculated the range according to your current consumption which was high at 140 km/h. Or could be that because of the high current being used, there was a voltage drop, which made the control unit think you have alot less battery left...

In any case I don't think it can be disabled. Its there to keep you from getting stranded. And to protect the battery.
Are you sure that you got to that level of battery with fairly high consumption?
I assume that you could take advantage of more battery capacity, at lower consumption rates (less current being used).

But its good to know this exists...

Did you get any warnings before it happened? If so, I'm not so sure it was wise to drive that fast, even if you were far from 0% battery.
Maybe the fact that the Corsa-e (like many other EVs unfortunately) doesn't show battery level percentage, just a bar (which is hard to predict how much per percentage you really have) may cause you to be optimistic.

 

[Zeuner]

"Are you sure that you got to that level of battery with fairly high consumption?"
Absolutely - I was going 140 - close to the max of 150 in normal mode and with heating on.

"In any case I don't think it can be disabled. Its there to keep you from getting stranded. And to protect the battery. "
In case the battery is harmed getting very low, this is acceptable. Otherwise I do not really like my car telling me what to do - other than warning me!

Thx for answering.

 

[Zeuner]

Funny thing BTW. After 1+ km/h at 50 I was able to go faster. I dont know how much faster as I was in city zone.

 

[TJEV]

All EVs will “turtle” at a low state of charge.

 

[cah197]

All EVs will “turtle” at a low state of charge.

Yes. Although one would probably find power is maintained in the summer, and this time power was limited due to low temperatures.

Certainly in the Zoe in warmer temps the power is still there at 6%.

 

[TJEV]

I don’t really remember turtle mode in Zoe either, even in the depths of winter with ~2 miles left.

 

[paulBzoe]

140kmh? is that not speeding ?

 

[Zeuner]

140kmh? is that not speeding ?

Limit is 130 in Denmark

 

[paulBzoe]

Ah ok. very good.

 

[Rooster-x]

Limit is 130 in Denmark

That would be a yes then or are you allowed 10% over?

On the Zoe the screen colour went Red when pushing it to its max of 87mph / 140kmh up a hill!

The Corsa will be will be pulling a lot of amps at that speed and that causes the voltage to sag on the pack at low states of charge so maybe the Corsa was trying to protect the pack by reducing the amps available which resulted in your slower speed?

 

[Zeuner]

I really dont mind speeding on an empty motorway.

It is vey dangerous to do 50 if there is traffic. I would have to use the emergency lane. If the car is trying to protect the battery it is fine. But a heads up would be nice. Why would you build a car that could be damaged at 140. Its maximum is 150.

 

[electricdriver]

That would be a yes then or are you allowed 10% over?

On the Zoe the screen colour went Red when pushing it to its max of 87mph / 140kmh up a hill!

The Corsa will be will be pulling a lot of amps at that speed and that causes the voltage to sag on the pack at low states of charge so maybe the Corsa was trying to protect the pack by reducing the amps available which resulted in your slower speed?

Sounds likely - and the fact that some more power became available after a short period at the 50km/h you describe will be due to the voltage recovering a little at lower current.

 

[londonguy]

Fairly certain the low battery warning comes up around 12% so I guess that’s the start of an indication that turtle mode might be on the way soon.

Arguably, the car warning you it needed a recharge and then slowing you down from high speeds is fairly sensible. But at least we all now know the thresholds of the turtle now!