Use of the Level 1 EVSE and Charging to 16 Bars

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BillThompsonMIEV

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 19, 2012
Messages
137
Location
San Antonio, Texas
1. Hello out there. This is my fourth post from the new guy. In my first post I stated I was getting a Level 2 Charging system from Aero Vironment. After thinking about it, I cancelled the appointment, and will start out using the Level 1 provided system, even though charging times are longer. The question I have centers on how full a charge to do. It seems I have read in one or more of the posts on this forum that there may be a split of opinion on whether or not it is wise to routinely charge up to 16 bars. My thinking was to not charge up beyond 14 bars, unless I knew I had an extensive trip of more than 50 miles round trip planned. As I am retired and somewhat control what I do and when, my typical round trip distance here in San Antonio will normally be in the 35 to 40 mile range, if that.

2. I probably should mention I am a current owner of a 2006 Honda Civic, and while I don't consider myself a hypermiler, I have achieved a lifetime MPG of 51MPG over the 29,000 miles on the odometer. Hopefully, some of the techniques I have acquired will pass on to maximizing efficiency out of the MIEV. By the way, the hybrid is being traded in to purchase the MIEV.

3. Believe it or not I will get to the question; just need to mention that I am taking into account in my question below the use of A/C discussed in my second post.

4. OK. Here's the question. Assuming I have charged the vehicle to 14 bars, is it realistic to see 50 miles RR after the charge and is there a consensus of any kind on the forum regarding routinely charging up to 16 bars? Thank you. Bill.
 
If you drive conservatively, you should be able to get 70 miles range remaining on a full charge - 16 bars - without any problem. A number of folks here are getting in the 80's. 70 miles divided by 16 bars is 4.375 miles per bar. Multiply that by 14 bars and you'll have around 61 miles per charge. Another way to do this is 50 miles divided by 14, then multiply that by 16 and you get 57. So to get at least 50 miles on 14 bars, you'd be getting about 57 miles for 16 bars. No one here has been getting that low a range remaining except in unusual circumstances.

As for whether to fully charge or not, there is a split, and I'm among those who fully charges. Every battery will degrade over time and lose range. The question is whether fully charging speeds up that process and whether the i MiEV charging system already takes that into account and prevents a full charge. I don't know, so I'm sticking to the owner's manual and fully charging. Hopefully this forum will be around for a few years and we'll all be able to compare notes down the road - pun intended.

Welcome to the club. I've been where you are, plunk down that money and then wonder what the hell you've just done. Especially if the MiEV will be your only car. But the more you drive the car, the more confidence you'll have in the car and in your decision to buy it. Enjoy the ride.

Tony
 
Being retired means you won't be using this for a set commute everyday. From what I surmise from your previous vehicle, a six year old civic with only 29k miles on it - you don't drive too much. The average is 15k a year, you are way behind the curve on the average scale. All these worries you have won't mean much at all once you get the car. You'll be able to put this car in D and crank that A/C for all it's worth. You are going to have a blast with it. It's really a fun car to own and drive. I look forward to the weekends when I can put the car in D and just go for it. I can do this because like you, my drives are a lot shorter and I stop by the house often enough to do a little L1 trickle charging. But, during the week I have to go back to range extending techniques which has a different kind of fun, likee seeing how efficient I can be.

I think you made a wise choice to cancel the AeroVironment install. Wait and see how the L1 works for you. I find for my weekend errands, that the L1 is all I need. I only need the L2 for the weekday commute to ensure I have a full 'tank' before I leave in the morning.

As far as topping up to 16 bars, my thought is Mitsubishi engineers already know what is best for these batteries and have figured out the proper buffers needed in the bat pack otherwise why would they risk a lot of warranty claims from people charging up to 16 bars and then after five years having less than 80% available? The owners manual doesn't say anything about topping it off is bad for the system. Go with what you feel is best and we'll all see how it goes in five years.
 
I'm another one who thinks that fully charging it is probably a good idea - The last 10% or so of the charge cycle is a tapering charge which equalizes the charge in each cell and I *think* the engineers knew what they were designing so far as maximum battery life is concerned

Like you, I'm retired and my usage of the car varies from day to day. I do not charge every day . . . . I almost never put it on the charger unless it's down to 7 bars or less, so somethimes it's every other day, and other times every 3rd day

I had my OEM charger modified so it charges L1 at 13 amps and that's how I use it 90% of the time. It also does 240 volts Level 2 at 13 amps and I use that only when I have a time constraint. If you get your OE charger modified, it might be all the charger you'd ever need

Yes, your driving experience with the hybrid will serve you well with the i - You'll start off with good habits and have less to learn than most of us did when we got the car. It's certainly a different, more economical approach to driving than any ICE car I've ever owned. You'll conserve automatically, just so you can see the higher RR numbers on the gauge when you take it off the charger

Don
 
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