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tstrobel

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2017
Messages
9
When I got home from work today I noticed that my "energy used" was at 25.0, and my distance traveled was 119.9. The my chevy app said the battery is at 60%

I thought I remembered from the forum that this is a 60kwh battery so i busted out the calculator and if i did the maths right, with the mixed driving I've done, and the amount I've used AC, and technique and terrain I'm on track for 300miles.

I know it'll end up less with battery conditioning, but I still think it's pretty incredible for an epa rated 238 to be headed that far north.

fwiw, that number is right at epa estimate for 80% of the battery(with my driving style and AC use etc). wonder if that was on purpose to allow for the battery degrade?
 
tstrobel said:
When I got home from work today I noticed that my "energy used" was at 25.0, and my distance traveled was 119.9. The my chevy app said the battery is at 60%

I thought I remembered from the forum that this is a 60kwh battery so i busted out the calculator and if i did the maths right, with the mixed driving I've done, and the amount I've used AC, and technique and terrain I'm on track for 300miles.

I know it'll end up less with battery conditioning, but I still think it's pretty incredible for an epa rated 238 to be headed that far north.

fwiw, that number is right at epa estimate for 80% of the battery(with my driving style and AC use etc). wonder if that was on purpose to allow for the battery degrade?
The manufacturer does (or hires out) the testing following the EPA test cycles. The Bolt uses the 2 cycle test and the published EPA figure is 70% of the actual results.
Test Data
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Keep in mind the MPGe and kWh/100 mile figures includes charging losses. It is measured "from the wall" and doesn't measure actual battery efficiency.

More detail for those so inclined:
In 2012 the EPA adopted a new strategy for testing the range of battery electric vehicles known as the Multi-Cycle Test (MCT) procedure. This MCT method, from the SAE J1634 standard, uses a single full depletion test to determine range and AC energy consumption for multiple drive cycle types.
As the vehicle is driven over several iterations of the standardized drive cycles on a chassis dynamometer, the EPA measures the energy drawn from the battery pack over each cycle. The vehicle’s total usable battery energy (which is obtained by charging the fully depleted battery following the MCT test to its fully charged state, and is not the total energy content of the battery) is then used to determine the electric range for each drive cycle type.
Overall efficiency is calculated from the cycle data by accounting for the charging efficiency of converting AC electricity to DC electricity to be stored in the battery.
Why not all of the cycles are used to calculate EV range
The standard MCT test procedure consists of four UDDS cycles and two HWFET cycles in a specified sequence including mid-test and end-of-test constant speed “depletion phases” which vary in duration depending on the vehicle and the size of its battery pack.
At present, only the UDDS and HWFET are required for EPA certification of a battery electric vehicle – if no other cycles are run, as is typically the case, the range and efficiency values are estimated by applying a correction factor of 0.7 to the UDDS and HWFET results to estimate the effect of the three supplementary cycles mentioned above.
Additional minor corrections are then applied to the test-obtained values before the final range and efficiency numbers go on the label.
But wait, electric vehicles are known to be significantly affected by both warm and cold temperatures - shouldn’t their impact be tested using the specially designed supplementary cycles rather than approximated with an equation? In theory, EPA official Rob French of the National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory told Torque News. How to apply the supplementary cycles to directly evaluate these impacts, however, is not yet clearly defined.
As Mr. French pointed out, it would be difficult and time-consuming to accurately evaluate the effect of, for example, air conditioning use. In his words: “The AC [SC03 air conditioning] test is meant to capture the initial impact of AC as it works to bring the cabin temperature down after being soaked in the hot sun at 95 degrees,” he wrote in an email. “Once the cabin temperature is stabilized, the AC has to work a lot less hard, and the impact on fuel consumption diminishes. So simply running a [battery depletion] test with the AC on will dilute the impact that the 5-cycle value is intended to represent.”
The time-consuming issue comes into play because each proper AC and cold test requires that the vehicle “soak” in the prescribed temperature before the test for up to 12-36 hours in order to obtain consistently accurate results. And as French also mentioned, not much is known about the impacts of AC and cold temperatures at varying battery state-of-charge.
Finally, the 5-cycle test procedure was developed specifically for gasoline and diesel vehicles and its applicability to electric vehicles may be questionable. But at the moment it is the best we have, as we remain in the early days of electric vehicles.

https://www.torquenews.com/2250/how-epa-determines-electric-vehicle-s-range-not-simple-it-sounds

BMW, BYD, and Nissan are currently the only manufacturers using the 5 cycle test on their EV's.
 
FWIW, for the past 2 weeks, I have ONLY been driving my Bolt around town -- not on the freeway -- w/my AC off (despite 90-100 degree weather) and I currently have an estimated total range of 258 miles (96 miles driven and 162 estimated remaining) based on a rate of use of 4.6 kwh/m with about 62% of charge remaining.

I am only driving my other ICE vehicles on the hwy, which is only once or twice a week at most.

Just don't like how all of the power gets sucked out of the Bolt when I drive it on the freeway, necessitating more recharging and additional electrical cost and worrying about where I'm going to get a charge en route if need be.

I only drive about 10 miles around town each day (about 5 days a week) and. at this rate, I can drive around another 2 weeks, which should take me down to 62 remaining miles or about 25% SOC, when I'll probably recharge again.

The last time I recharged was on Aug 13 and the next recharge would probably be around Sep 15th, which means I'd only have to recharge once a month, if I keep this up.

Expensive to pay $300/month (plus insurance & reg) for the car to just drive it only around 400-500 miles a month but it's still cheaper and more convenient than Uber and I won't have to worry about the 10k/yr mileage limit on my lease.

Frankly, I like it better this way. Will report my end of month mileage numbers later.
 
sgt1372 said:
Just don't like how all of the power gets sucked out of the Bolt when I drive it on the freeway, necessitating more recharging and additional electrical cost and worrying about where I'm going to get a charge en route if need be.
Of course driving your ICE vehicles on the freeway instead just necessitates more refueling of them and additional cost for gas. There's nothing unique about an ICE vehicle that makes it particularly more efficient at freeway speeds than an EV, and indeed since range anxiety isn't a "thing" for them and they usually don't announce their efficiency on the dash gauges their designs often incur a fair bit more aerodynamic drag.

So it's six of one or half a dozen of the other...
 
sgt1372 said:
FWIW, for the past 2 weeks, I have ONLY been driving my Bolt around town -- not on the freeway -- w/my AC off (despite 90-100 degree weather) and I currently have an estimated total range of 258 miles (96 miles driven and 162 estimated remaining) based on a rate of use of 4.6 kwh/m with about 62% of charge remaining.

I am only driving my other ICE vehicles on the hwy, which is only once or twice a week at most.

Just don't like how all of the power gets sucked out of the Bolt when I drive it on the freeway, necessitating more recharging and additional electrical cost and worrying about where I'm going to get a charge en route if need be.

I only drive about 10 miles around town each day (about 5 days a week) and. at this rate, I can drive around another 2 weeks, which should take me down to 62 remaining miles or about 25% SOC, when I'll probably recharge again.

The last time I recharged was on Aug 13 and the next recharge would probably be around Sep 15th, which means I'd only have to recharge once a month, if I keep this up.

Expensive to pay $300/month (plus insurance & reg) for the car to just drive it only around 400-500 miles a month but it's still cheaper and more convenient than Uber and I won't have to worry about the 10k/yr mileage limit on my lease.

Frankly, I like it better this way. Will report my end of month mileage numbers later.

It kinda sounds like you are suffering from range anxiety. Or rather, charging anxiety. Also kinda sounds like you bought the wrong car if you are so risk averse to running the A/C despite 90 degree weather. Or driving on the freeway.

The amount of power that the A/C pulls once the car is cooled down is relatively minor. The car even tells you how much battery power has gone to keeping you cool. The most I've seen the car use for climate control was 6% on a 665 mile trip that used 179 kWh. Outside temps that whole trip were between 80 and 110 the whole time. We used just over 10 kWh to keep ourselves comfortable. Even if electricity was 50 cents a kWh, that's only $5 to be cool and calm and enjoy the trip. Well worth the money.

You've shifted your cost to drive from a fixed stable source (electricity) to a more volatile one (gas, and in more ways than one), and it is going to rise a fair amount in the next couple of weeks, even out here in California.
 
I prefer driving the ICE cars on the freeway - - mainly my BMW and MB - because they need to be driven and because I don't have to worry about range but also because they are more FUN to drive on the freeway.

Besides, I don't have to drive on the freeway more than once a week at most and they are both good for at least three to four 150 mi RTs b4 they require a fill-up. I have to recharge the Bolt after only 1 such trip.

My current usage of the Bolt is an experiment. I want to see how much mileage I can get driving the car w/o driving on the freeway and w/o using any other battery draining accessories like the AC.

Driving w/the windows down around town at below 50 mph is not a problem. I drive my MR2 everywhere in hot weather w/the top down. It has AC but the AC useless w/ the top down. So, driving the Bolt around w/o AC is no big deal to me.

I have NO complaints about the Bolt and do not feel that I bought the "wrong" car. I'm just trying to determine the best use of it for me. So far, just driving it around town and limiting recharges to just once a month seems ideal to me.

I just drove it 10 miles again today and my overall estimated mileage range increased to about 264 - - 10 miles driven but only 4 miles of range used w/162 remaining. At this rate, the effective range of the car will far exceed 300 miles bet charges, which seems like an ideal usage for me.

We'll see . . .
 
I have been recording around 275 to 293 after charging. Over the past weekend I got my personal best at 296! (I have graphic but could not figure out how to post) I utilize the one pedal option with added use of the left side paddle for extra stopping power when necessary and only rarely the brake pedal. When I charge I exclusively use the option to charge the Bolt to a daily 5 am departure time on weekdays and 7 am on the weekends. I do not charge daily but do when the GOM is less than 80%. I drive the normal speed limits, use air conditioning as needed and live in the Ozark foothills which means the terrain is rarely flat.

I find the Bolt to be very comfortable and a surprisingly fun car to drive. I hope this car sells well and just gets better over the years. Thanks General Motors for having the foresight to give us a long range EV that also has great performance.
 
grifdoug said:
I have been recording around 275 to 293 after charging. Over the past weekend I got my personal best at 296!

Is this your estimated max, mid or min range figure you see after you recharge OR is this the estimated total range based on actual miles driven plus the remaining estimated range b4 charging OR based on something else?

If you are getting an estimated 275-296 mid range figure after charging, that's pretty incredible!

So far, I am up to a total estmated range of 285 miles based on 165 miles actually driven plus 120 estimated mid range miles and 45% SOC remaining.

I'm hoping to get up to a total of 317 miles of estimated range based on 245 miles actually driven and 72 estimated mid range with 25% SOC remaining b4 recharging, based on my use since my last recharge.

What the new mid range estimate after the next recharge will be is anyone's guess.

We'll see . . .
 
Extrapolating a result from the guess-o-meter leaves a lot to be desired. The only way to really know your maximum range / personal best is to drive it. For all the hypermiling rookies hoping to impress others with their skills, here's a number to shoot for: 387 miles on a single charge:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EaEvIqaj4k

A gold star goes to the first guy on this board that breaks 400. Have fun...I suppose.
 
Zoomit said:
400 miles should be achievable at about 35 mph for 12 hours.

I suspect you will run out of battery first.

The above attempt was at 42 km/h, or 26 mph. Slower = better miles per kWh, at least down to sub 20 MPH.

Notice that mileage was 387miles/57kWh= about 6.8 miles per kWh.
 
oilerlord said:
The only way to really know your maximum range / personal best is to drive it.

That's precisely what I'm doing.

I have been driving the car normally on local roads in normal traffic w/in 10-15 mph of the speed limit and at no more than 50 mph.

The only thing "different" I'm doing is NOT driving on the freeway (where I can't keep myself from driving at 80 mph in the fast lane) and keeping my AC off.

The main reason that I'm keeping the AC off now is to compare the same use with the AC "on" later to see how much of a difference it makes. It's not scientific but it should be a worthwhile comparison nonetheless.

Anyway, I'm almost near the end of my current test.

I'm up to 295 miles of estimated range (200 driven with 95 miles & 35% SOC remaining. Still hoping to get to 300 combined at 20% SOC b4 the next recharge.

When I've driven on the freeway, the best I have gotten has been around 130 miles driven w/70 miles and only 20% SOC remaining.

So, if I can get to 300 at 20% that would be a 50% improvement in range and performance.
 
sgt1372 said:
So, if I can get to 300 at 20% that would be a 50% improvement in range and performance.

My previous personal best on 25 kWh's was 114 miles - about 4.6 miles/kWh. The biggest "aha" moment I've had with my EV is understanding how little energy is recovered from regenerative braking, and why it should be just referred to as "braking". I used to think I could keep the needle between consumption and regen as a "coast", but it really isn't possible to do it on a consistent basis.

Now I coast in N when possible. My EV glides for an unbelievably long distance - much farther than any of my other cars in N. 5+ miles per kWh is now pretty easy to achieve while tooling around the city (without pissing off others behind me). Stay off the brakes, and coast in N, and you'll easily hit 300 miles.
 
It only matters what you have actually driven on your charge and not what is remaining on the "estimated charge." Adding the two is a false test of how far you can actually drive.
 
WetEV said:
Zoomit said:
400 miles should be achievable at about 35 mph for 12 hours.

I suspect you will run out of battery first.

The above attempt was at 42 km/h, or 26 mph. Slower = better miles per kWh, at least down to sub 20 MPH.

Notice that mileage was 387miles/57kWh= about 6.8 miles per kWh.
https://electrek.co/2017/09/13/chevy-bolt-ev-travels-750-km-466-miles-single-charge/

If I did the math conversion correctly, 7.8 kWh/100km = 8.0 mi/kWh. So 400 mi would be possible around 35 mph.
 
I think your math is a little off. The guy in the video drove 387 miles on 57 kWh...at 26 mph. That yielded about 6.8 miles / kWh. Driving at 35 mph introduces some drag into the equation, so your suggested speed will be less efficient, not more. I'm guessing that extra 9 mph would reduce efficiency down to ~6 miles / kWh, so total range would end up being 360 miles or less.
 
So, I just finished my driving range experiment.

I didn't top 300 miles but I got it up to 295 (200 miles driven/95 estimated remaining) for awhile b4 I took the car on a 20 mile back road drive at speeds 55-60 mph which immediately dropped the range by 5 to 290 (220/70).

Some more slower speed in town driving got it back up to 292 (242/50 w/20% SOC remaining). Just finished the recharge and the new estimate is 267. The last recharge was exactly 30 days (1 month) ago and the estimated range then was only 190.

So, I increased my previously typical combined in-town/freeway range of 200 (130/70) by about 50% by just driving on local town roads, keeping my speed below 50 mph for the most part and leaving the AC off. This is also 23% more than the total advertised range of 238 estimated miles.

No question that the "best use" of the Bolt for me is to restrict it to in-town driving at or below 50 mph (which is the highest posted speed limit on the various streets/roads that I drive locally). So, that's what I'm going to do from now on.

All freeway and high speed driving will be done in one of my other vehicles.
 
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