4 Years & 100k miles/160k km Review & Range Test

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sandange

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 5, 2012
Messages
907
Location
Quebec, Canada
Today is Bluey's Birthday, 4 years with us, & over 100,000 miles/ 160,000 km.
Concerned about the battery health after all these miles I thought that a real conditions range test would be in order.

I got in contact with friend, who is also a member here, dondakin, and we got busy.
We came up with this 4 year review & range test video.

A Big Thanks to Don who did a super job, as he did bear the long and tedious chore of editing and filming .
As things turned out it was a lot more fun than work and we had a blast doing it.

The final result is here for those interested....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on8_fNSuaSU
 
Congrats on achieving 100 k miles. It seems that the battery in the 2014 is very robust.

Btw: I see from the map that you’re from the Montreal area. I just finished with a conference in the Point Claire area. Very close!
 
Thanks Kiev & ed5000

Yes Pointe-Claire on the west island of Montreal was very close to our starting point.
Amazing how small the world it is .
I see your located very near by Los Altos where my brother lives and joeS is nearby as well.

We had the pleasure of getting together with JoeS & Cathy last fall & Dondakin joined us on the west island for a nice Lunch..
If your ever out this way again look us up.
 
Sandy, It was mentioned in the video that canion, unfortunately wasn't able to be used during this voyage, but do you have an idea how much useable energy is currently available in your battery? Thanks
 
Bluey went to the Mitsubishi service for a final once over to check the battery health at 157,000 km just before the battery warranty expired at 160,000 km.
The only information they wrote about the battery was that....
All cell voltages were between 3.90 & 3.95 .

Sorry I don't have canion, that's all the information I have.
 
I'll glom on to Sandange's thread with my own 100,000 milepost. MR BEAN turned six digits on 3/29/2019, and I compiled all the battery data at that moment.

Basic vehicle history is that it was sold a full year after production, and probably spent most of that idle time sitting at 100% SOC, with no observable ill effect. Of course, I didn't have Canion or the MUT3 to measure capacity of new and new old stock cars.
Here's a link to the wayback machine when I purchased this car in May of 2013.
http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1580&p=10247&hilit=trade+an+i+for+an+i#p10247
In the nearly 6 years since, the car has only failed us once, when the onboard battery chargerr failed, and if you don't count that one time I quantified the miles remaining in turtle mode by dying a mile short of the charging station, as I knew I was pushing my luck hard. The car has been driven hard, with summer driving days of up to 340 miles of back-to-back DCFC. The famed pusher trailer usage has not been extensive, I'd estimate 1200 miles, but those trips involved hours of continuous operation, with the battery seesawing from full power to max regen and back much more dramatically than without a powered trailer. I'm on my third set of tires, not including the winter set that has at least one more season in them, and my third cracked windshield picked up a third crack last week, so it'll go soon.

Reported range didn't take a noticeable hit until this past year, and at 100k miles, the battery reported having 27.2 Ah capacity. I had driven it down to one bar/12.5% SOC, pack voltage 333.10V, with the highest cell #8 at 3.84V and the lowest cell being lucky #13 at 3.68V. Cell module 3 was the highest temperature 82.4 F, and module 21 was 71.6F. This was after a sedate drive of approx 45 miles ( I forgot to zero the trip odometer that morning). Reported range is around 45 miles most mornings, with winter days as low as 35, and a couple of 51 mile mornings recently as the weather warms up.

I captured all the MUT3 data, so let me know if there's any other points you'd like.

Lastly, MR BEAN has earned a refresh, so here's my plan.
#1 replace all the marker/running lamps, as two have burned out and the rest are sure to follow
#2 change the gearbox ATF for the first time. Got my quart of Dia-Queen ready for action...
#3 swap the traction battery with my salvaged spare. This success will determine next steps.
#4 replace the rear axles and CV joints that were damaged by lowering and have been gently rumbling for 60k miles or so...
#5 flush all brake fluid, inspect brakes and ball joints
#6 remove the 8-ball roof sticker, fill paint chips, buff out all the paint and lenses, and apply the new 8-ball sticker he got for Christmas..
#7 replace the windshield
#8 add a cargo area lamp and rigid rear seatbacks for a durable cargo floor.
#9 somewhere in there, take the time to input titles for all the unlabeled songs and albums on the infotainment hard drive, purge a few, and delete the obsolete destinations from my navigation menu

I typed this up without consulting the service schedule. Anything else come to mind? Tires are good and 12V battery is young.
 
Glad to hear of other i Miev owners getting upwards of 100K Miles (160K km).
All i Miev owners having reached the 100K mile (160k km) are encouraged to share their experience here.

Congratulations jray3 on passing 100,000 miles with Mr Bean. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Great plan on your Mr Bean refresh approach. From our experience,
I might suggest that you check out, clean & lubricate the floor gear shifter & linkage, as several other members have experienced trouble in this area.

At the writing of this posting Bluey is now at over 120,xxx miles (193,xxx km)
and running well.
In anticipation of our Tesla Model 3 delivery, we did some preparation to sell Bluey.
I got lucky with locating a salvaged 2016 Miev with 3,700 miles (6K km)
So I bought & replaced all 4 shocks on Bluey.
I also bought 4 new tires & did a wheel alignment
She’s running fine.
We’re already sad to have to part with Bluey, she’s served us well.
 
Bluey is still on the original 12v & traction batteries. Both are still working well.
I would guestimate that the I am getting close to a 10% range drop judging by the regular driving routes I've taken over the years.

Up here in Quebec Canada, we run the heater on our cars for a good 5-6 months a year.
I'm wondering how many charge cycles on the main pack have been saved by running the
diesel heater over all these years. I'm sure it has helped to preserve the pack to some extent.

Since we're moving on to the Model 3 & selling the i Miev I'm not considering investing into upgrading Bluey with a newer traction battery..
 
I got an alignment this week, and as expected, I had 0.8 degrees of negative camber on both sides, explaining the tire wear I’ve observed. They also reported -0.24 toe on the left rear and +0.24 toe on the right rear. I hadn’t noticed the car crabbing sideways and that can’t be adjusted out, plus no visible damage to repair, so ce la vie! The brake pads were all at 7 mm. Assuming they started at 12mm and will be replaced at 3mm, that’s only 55% worn at 103k miles, with an expected total service life of 187k miles on the original brake pads! :D
 
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