"Full" battery levels dropping daily

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LOLady

Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2017
Messages
5
For the last week or two, my "full" battery level has been dropping by an average of 5 miles each day. We have a level 2 charger in our garage. I used to get around 230 on the meter each morning. Now I am down to 175 as of today. I have not changed my driving style. And the temperature of the garage is not all that low--and not getting lower every day. Besides, it was way colder in our garage last winter and we never had this issue.

I am taking it to the dealer later this week, but I am concerned they won't know anything about how to solve this.

Has anyone else experienced this? Or solved it?
 
My car says 189 miles when fully charged. The most I've seen is 191 but I've only had the car 3 weeks and I've only given it a full charge 4 or 5 times. I don't have a Level 2 charger at home so I relying on the goodwill and free juice at Lowe's. How long have you had your car?

I really wish I knew how to get 230 miles out of mine. My travels have been 90% freeway @ 74 mph. Has your efficiency meter been declining?
 
I've had my car over 6 months. Love it, by the way!

I read in another post that your problem of only ever getting to 189 may be due to a setting called "hill saver" or something like that....
 
LOLady said:
I've had my car over 6 months. Love it, by the way!

I read in another post that your problem of only ever getting to 189 may be due to a setting called "hill saver" or something like that....

That's interesting. I'll look into that. I've seen that setting but I'm 75% sure it was OFF.

FOLLOW UP: It was off. Let me know what the dealer says. I'd love it if they had a way of testing or validating the battery capacity. I always drive in L so I really think something is out of whack.
 
SmokingRubber said:
My car says 189 miles when fully charged. The most I've seen is 191 but I've only had the car 3 weeks and I've only given it a full charge 4 or 5 times. I don't have a Level 2 charger at home so I relying on the goodwill and free juice at Lowe's. How long have you had your car?

I really wish I knew how to get 230 miles out of mine. My travels have been 90% freeway @ 74 mph. Has your efficiency meter been declining?
Nothing wrong. The range estimate is based on recent driving and not on battery capacity. 190 is spot on with what would be expected at 75 mph.
https://insideevs.com/instrumented-test-of-chevrolet-bolt-190-miles-of-range-at-steady-75-mph/

Air resistance is inverse squared - doubling your speed equals four times the energy needed (this is not unique to EV's, ICE vehicles suffer the same drop in range).

If you want to get 230 miles of range, slow down. The EPA rating incorporates a mix of freeway (max 65 mph) and city driving.
 
SmokingRubber said:
I really wish I knew how to get 230 miles out of mine. My travels have been 90% freeway @ 74 mph.
How often do you need to drive 230 miles between charging opportunities? That is what is key.

If you are making a long distance journey, and the next DCFC is 200+ miles away, do as the last member suggests and slow down.

If you are making a long distance journey, and the next DCFC is 160 miles away, then continue your driving habits as you best enjoy them and charge up at the next DCFC.

If your daily driving is less than these mileage amounts, then what difference does it make if your Mileage Gauge claims you could have driven 180 miles or 230 miles when all you need is 120 miles or less between daily recharges?

It is all about your driving habits and what your needs between charges are.

Why are you not "topping off" at 120v at home?
 
I think you guys are missing the point. It's not that I NEED 230 miles (most of the time), but that the thing is dropping off at a precipitous rate for no reason. Seems like either a battery problem or a software problem.

And, I will at times need to get close to 230 miles, so I want to know that I have it. 6 months young is way too short to have lost that much battery capacity--and to keep losing it on a daily basis.
 
You are reading the wrong measurement. When you fully charge the State of Charge (SoC) meter should read 100% (or about 90% if you are using the highly-recommended Hllltop Reserve Mode). This SoC after charging is complete should be identical year-round.

You are confusing that with the guess-o-meter, which is guessing your range based on many factors, including SoC, weather, your recent driving style and speed, HVAC use, etc.

Don't confuse SoC with the guess-o-meter.
 
LOLady said:
I think you guys are missing the point. It's not that I NEED 230 miles (most of the time), but that the thing is dropping off at a precipitous rate for no reason. Seems like either a battery problem or a software problem.
One time during my ownership of the Bolt EV since January, the Mileage Gauge started saying numbers in the 180s instead of 220-240s. I could not figure out a reason why.

The dealer suggested that I let the battery drop by at least 50% and then come use their free DCFC to bring it back up to about 80% and top it off on my L2 at home.

That solved the problem.

I will note that as I was driving east in my quest to drop the battery by 50%, my actual miles driven were far exceeding the number by which the Mileage Gauge was dropping, so indeed there was some glitch: I had the actual battery capacity to drive the 220 miles; it was just telling me I had less, until it was fixed.

If you have a day off go take a nice leisurely drive for about 150 miles round trip. Don't go too fast over the speed limit. Then charge it back up and see what happens!
 
Thanks for this tip. That may be a solution. I do believe it may not have been going down by many miles at all since I have been only driving around town, and then plugging in each night. But they tell you to plug it in each night to keep the battery conditioned, so I hope this isn't some weird setup with the battery...
 
You (and everyone) should use Hilltop Mode to limit the charge to about 90%. Your battery will last many more years if you do this.

Of course, take it off Hilltop Mode when you need all 100% battery, like for a road trip, but put it back on when the road trip is done.
 
Patronus said:
You (and everyone) should use Hilltop Mode to limit the charge to about 90%. Your battery will last many more years if you do this.
At this point IMHO "many more years" is unfounded. We really don't know that the difference will be. While I certainly certainly agree that it can't hurt to use Hilltop Reserve mode, the degree to which it will improve battery longevity could well be relatively minor. Nobody has even really figured out how much of a margin, if any, there is at the top end of the capacity range.
 
I have read many threads on this forum and others that discuss the topic of battery life and whether or not utilizing hilltop reserve will actively preserve a major portion of battery life after years of otherwise proper use.

I think the following can be universally agreed upon:

• GM makes no mention of using hilltop reserve for the purpose of battery longevity in the Bolt manual;

• Historical examples of poor battery life seems to be described by Nissan Leaf owners;

• Anecdotal examples of good battery life on this forum are posted by Spark EV owners (as well as Chevy Volt owners);

Everything else is under much debate and confusion until the Bolt has been utilized for 3 to 5 to 8 years!

Until then the unwashed advise seems to be "use less now or maybe use less later."

I personally use more now and worry about later, later.
 
• GM makes no mention of using hilltop reserve for the purpose of battery longevity in the Bolt manual;

This is most likely because when Nissan did something similar in 2013, and DID mention "Long Life Mode" the EPA responded by averaging the rated range between the 80% and 100% modes. Nissan promptly dropped the 80% charge limit for 2014 and will not reinstate it despite pleas from Leaf drivers.
 
LeftieBiker said:
• GM makes no mention of using hilltop reserve for the purpose of battery longevity in the Bolt manual;

This is most likely because when Nissan did something similar in 2013, and DID mention "Long Life Mode" the EPA responded by averaging the rated range between the 80% and 100% modes. Nissan promptly dropped the 80% charge limit for 2014 and will not reinstate it despite pleas from Leaf drivers.
If this is really true and so significant, what happened to the mileage claims by the EPA for the Leaf in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017?

Once again, Bolt drivers are being punished for the sins of the Leaf!

"Can't we just all get a long..." range driving experience from the Bolt without having to be dragged down by the early adoptive flaws of the Leaf?
 
If this is really true and so significant, what happened to the mileage claims by the EPA for the LEAF in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017?

Once again, Bolt drivers are being punished for the sins of the LEAF!

"Can't we just all get a long..." range driving experience from the Bolt without having to be dragged down by the early adoptive flaws of the LEAF?

I'm not sure what you mean by "adoptive flaws" but had Nissan just offered multiple charge settings like Tesla, or called the 80% setting "Hilltop Mode" like GM, the EPA would probably have left the range ratings alone. The range ratings went up again for 2014, of course, with no change in actual range. The 2018 Leaf will still have no setting to limit maximum charge. (Which will no longer matter to me, as it appears I now have to lease either a 2017 Leaf or 2017 Bolt before the new budget takes effect.)
 
CTBolt said:
Patronus, Thank you for the explanation of "guesometer." Makes a lot of sense.

Guess-o-meter" was a pejorative term given to the gauge in the Nissan Leaf. Its underlying algorithm is apparently so bad as to be very misleading.

On the other hand the computational math underlying the Bolt's Mileage Gauge is much more accurate. The use of that term to the Bolt is an insult to its Mileage Gauge, used, I suspect, by drivers of other vehicles.
 
EddrivesEV said:
CTBolt said:
Patronus, Thank you for the explanation of "guesometer." Makes a lot of sense.

Guess-o-meter" was a pejorative term given to the gauge in the Nissan Leaf. Its underlying algorithm is apparently so bad as to be very misleading.

On the other hand the computational math underlying the Bolt's Mileage Gauge is much more accurate. The use of that term to the Bolt is an insult to its Mileage Gauge, used, I suspect, by drivers of other vehicles.

A good guess is still a guess.

Guess-o-meter is far older then the Leaf. Yes, it applies to the Bolt and any other car's range estimation. Electric or anything else.

If nothing else, it should be a GOM to remind you that the range estimate doesn't apply if you are driving fast into a 40 mph headwind. Or through 4 inches of fresh snow. Or up a mountain pass. To keep safe the brain needs to be making a range estimation on it's own.
 
Another thing to consider about a GOM is that it can seem to be more forgiving if you have more range...
If it is off a bit and you have 100+ miles left, you might not notice it all that much.

But if/when you have less left (or like the Leaf, always less), you pay much more attention and variations are noticed much more quickly (and it seems like a bigger deal if it's off and you only have 30 miles or so...).

Just a thought..

desiv
 
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