Hello all, I am currently waiting for my ES to be built and was just wondering what the cars in america are actually seeing in the mileage per charge. As I look on-line I'm finding a very big difference. Any where from 60 to 100 miles per charge. This seems a rather extreme variance even while considering all driving styles. Any thoughts?......
Actual mileage per charge
- Thread starter bradley
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Hi bradley, congrats on being a future iMiEV owner.
Methinks you're about to experience a paradigm shift.
Ask anyone how many miles per tank they get with their internal-combustion-engine (ICE) vehicle and you will undoubtedly get a quizzical look and an "I dunno".
My answer for the iMiEV is also "I dunno", because I won't stress my battery pack to find out. I came close here:
http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=960#p960
For ourselves, the single-charge comfortable (i.e., doesn't stress us nor the battery) range for the iMiEV is anywhere between 50 and 80 miles, although on a bet I could probably go 100 if I could dictate the route! The good news is that the iMiEV is especially responsive to hypermiling techniques, and you can employ those techniques to significantly improve your Range Remaining (RR) well before any anxiety sets in so you can comfortably arrive at your destination. Range is primarily determined by vehicle speed and driving technique, with factors such as traffic, hills, and wind strength/direction playing a significant role.
You ask a non-commuter how many miles/day they drive, and most will not only be clueless but will hazard a guess that will be a wildly high number. The national average driver puts on 29 miles/day.
Ref: http://www.bts.gov/programs/national_household_travel_survey/daily_travel.html
Not only that, but most trips are shorter (i.e., national average is four trips per day), leaving plenty of time to recharge in-between. In our case, we've had a number of 100+mile days, recharging in-between trips and arriving at our destination with a comfortable margin each time. One local iMiEV owner's husband continuously puts on well over 60 miles/day ferrying kids all over the place, with opportunity-charging throughout the day providing range-stressfree driving.
Range is a parameter that you know before you buy the car. You simply deal with it according to your needs, because most of the time you KNOW how far you are going to go (a cheap GPS will tell you that number or look it up beforehand on Google Maps). The iMiEV is a medium-range vehicle not intended for single trips much longer than 50 miles at highway speeds. If you know you're going to take a longer trip, you simply revert back to an ICE vehicle or allow sufficient time to recharge along the way. You might browse through some of the posts on this Forum to get a better feel for the numbers.
Aside from the academic metric of kWHr/mile or miles/kWhr (equating to conventional miles per gallon), the miles/rechargehour is of special interest if you're someplace remote and charging and want to know how long that will take before you can start for your destination. Simple math, and easy to plan for and accommodate.
As I've said elsewhere, "range anxiety" it a phrase promulgated by General Motors and is not something we EV drivers experience, simply because we KNOW what our range is (unlike the ICE commuter late for work and running on empty).
For most of my trips I'm a leadfoot simply because the trips are short and I know I can recharge and, besides, I like to show off that the iMiEV is no slouch. When I have a longer trip distance ahead of me, I go into hypermiling mode and stay comfortable.
Once you get your iMiEV, you'll quickly learn to relate your trip distances to your Fuel Gauge and Range Remaining display to find your own comfort zone. Finally, just like with the cellphone, you'll usually have the option of opportunity charging whenever it's convenient.
Methinks you're about to experience a paradigm shift.
Ask anyone how many miles per tank they get with their internal-combustion-engine (ICE) vehicle and you will undoubtedly get a quizzical look and an "I dunno".
My answer for the iMiEV is also "I dunno", because I won't stress my battery pack to find out. I came close here:
http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=960#p960
For ourselves, the single-charge comfortable (i.e., doesn't stress us nor the battery) range for the iMiEV is anywhere between 50 and 80 miles, although on a bet I could probably go 100 if I could dictate the route! The good news is that the iMiEV is especially responsive to hypermiling techniques, and you can employ those techniques to significantly improve your Range Remaining (RR) well before any anxiety sets in so you can comfortably arrive at your destination. Range is primarily determined by vehicle speed and driving technique, with factors such as traffic, hills, and wind strength/direction playing a significant role.
You ask a non-commuter how many miles/day they drive, and most will not only be clueless but will hazard a guess that will be a wildly high number. The national average driver puts on 29 miles/day.
Ref: http://www.bts.gov/programs/national_household_travel_survey/daily_travel.html
Not only that, but most trips are shorter (i.e., national average is four trips per day), leaving plenty of time to recharge in-between. In our case, we've had a number of 100+mile days, recharging in-between trips and arriving at our destination with a comfortable margin each time. One local iMiEV owner's husband continuously puts on well over 60 miles/day ferrying kids all over the place, with opportunity-charging throughout the day providing range-stressfree driving.
Range is a parameter that you know before you buy the car. You simply deal with it according to your needs, because most of the time you KNOW how far you are going to go (a cheap GPS will tell you that number or look it up beforehand on Google Maps). The iMiEV is a medium-range vehicle not intended for single trips much longer than 50 miles at highway speeds. If you know you're going to take a longer trip, you simply revert back to an ICE vehicle or allow sufficient time to recharge along the way. You might browse through some of the posts on this Forum to get a better feel for the numbers.
Aside from the academic metric of kWHr/mile or miles/kWhr (equating to conventional miles per gallon), the miles/rechargehour is of special interest if you're someplace remote and charging and want to know how long that will take before you can start for your destination. Simple math, and easy to plan for and accommodate.
As I've said elsewhere, "range anxiety" it a phrase promulgated by General Motors and is not something we EV drivers experience, simply because we KNOW what our range is (unlike the ICE commuter late for work and running on empty).
For most of my trips I'm a leadfoot simply because the trips are short and I know I can recharge and, besides, I like to show off that the iMiEV is no slouch. When I have a longer trip distance ahead of me, I go into hypermiling mode and stay comfortable.
Once you get your iMiEV, you'll quickly learn to relate your trip distances to your Fuel Gauge and Range Remaining display to find your own comfort zone. Finally, just like with the cellphone, you'll usually have the option of opportunity charging whenever it's convenient.
Thoughts? It depends on so many different factors, you (the driver) can make it just about anything you want it to be, but the actual variance is probably more than 60 to 100 if you consider the extremes. If you drive it 70 MPH up and down the hills on an Interstate with the A/C going and the lights on, it could be more like 35 or 40 miles, I'd bet. If you live in a flat area and keep the speeds at 40 or 45 and don't run the A/C or the headlights, you might actually see more than 100bradley said:
Once you learn how to drive for best mileage, keep the speeds down, regenerative brake whenever possible and don't maximize the heating or A/C, you can probably count on something near 75 - So far, that seems to be the usual number for my car - I don't actually go that far often, but when I go 50 miles, the computer usually says I have about 25 left
Don
PV1
Well-known member
I found a range map where you can punch in the range of your car. For the I, you could punch in 62 miles for one-way driving, or 31 for roundtrip without opportunity charge. Depending on your location and driving habits, it wouldn't hurt to also check "avoid highways". I found that on this map (although I already had a feel for range), that the I's range covers 99% of my driving, both one-way and roundtrip. If you have an I and are curious, you can change the values to what you feel your car will do comfortably. I like this map because it will actually calculate road mileage and not linear mileage (don't believe it takes in elevation). The LEAF has a feature like this onboard, but does linear mileage. You could also compare this map to something like Plugshare or Chargepoint to find your public charging stations.
http://www.freemaptools.com/how-far-can-i-travel.htm
http://www.freemaptools.com/how-far-can-i-travel.htm
dumemama
Active member
I've put 200 miles on my i. I extrapolate miles per charge by figuring miles per bar on the charge level indicator, which has 16 bars. On average so far, I'm getting 4-5 miles per bar, which is 64-80 miles per charge assuming a linear indicator. I drive "in the green," make frequent use of eco/b for braking only, and don't regularly use highways. Although I have found highways aren't the range killer I expected them to be as long as you keep it below 65 and in the green.
Very well article from yours about "Actual mileage per charge". I like your article very much. I have no car. So, I have no idea about your question. I think also your post discussed about calculating distance and actual mileage per charge. Thanks for your well sharing,.
IMHO, there is a very large difference in mpg based on driving style, terrain, weather, use of climate controls, etc. with the imiev. This is also true with ICEs but since they have much longer range, we don't seem to be as sensitive to it. ICEs may get 18 mpg city and 26 highway, which represents almost 50% better mileage on the highway. With the imiev, you may get 50% better mileage in the city at slower speeds, so your range could be 50% better in this case.
The only issue I might have is that using the climate controls will decrease your mpg more in an EV than an ICE.
So, I don't think there is anything extraordinary about the variations in the reported imiev ranges. There are some concessions you make when choosing an EV.
The only issue I might have is that using the climate controls will decrease your mpg more in an EV than an ICE.
So, I don't think there is anything extraordinary about the variations in the reported imiev ranges. There are some concessions you make when choosing an EV.
jennrod12
Well-known member
Has anyone noticed a difference in range when using the headlights (constantly) vs. not using headlights?
Thanks,
Jenn
Thanks,
Jenn
I haven't checked, but I suspect it's pretty minimal
With the A/C all set up like we use it for a hot day, you can see the actual difference in range on the Range Remaining dial when you click the A/C off and back on and back off again. The RR dial computes all projected energy expenditures, and A/C shows up there very plainly - It's about a 10% hit. You could try that, clicking the headlights off and on and see if the RR dial shows anything . . . . it might flicker back and forth between two numbers if you do - 55 down to 54 and back up to 55 for example
Don
With the A/C all set up like we use it for a hot day, you can see the actual difference in range on the Range Remaining dial when you click the A/C off and back on and back off again. The RR dial computes all projected energy expenditures, and A/C shows up there very plainly - It's about a 10% hit. You could try that, clicking the headlights off and on and see if the RR dial shows anything . . . . it might flicker back and forth between two numbers if you do - 55 down to 54 and back up to 55 for example
Don
jennrod12
Well-known member
Hi Don,
I've tried turning the headlights on and off, and it doesn't make a difference in RR. However, since they ostensibly run off the 12v battery, they shouldn't. I was mostly wondering if there is any background implications of running them off the 12v battery, like the traction battery has to recharge the 12v, or something like that.
Thanks,
Jenn
I've tried turning the headlights on and off, and it doesn't make a difference in RR. However, since they ostensibly run off the 12v battery, they shouldn't. I was mostly wondering if there is any background implications of running them off the 12v battery, like the traction battery has to recharge the 12v, or something like that.
Thanks,
Jenn
Yes, anything running off 12 volts is actually running off the traction battery so they should show up on the RR displayjennrod12 said:
The DC to DC comverter has a maximum output of 80 amps at 12 volts, so anything it powers shows up against the traction battery
Don
The 12 volt does get recharged from the traction battery. So, the headlights and anything else that runs off the 12 volt will reduce range, but probably imperceptibly.
There are numerous threads on Priuschat talking of weakened/old 12 volt batteries being the cause of reduced mileage. If the 12 volt can't hold a charge, it is constantly seeking a charge from the traction battery and will lead to decreased range/mpg. Pretty much everyone agrees that when the 12 volt gets to be 5 years old, it should be replaced. Of course, if you wait too long, you may not only suffer reduced mileage, but eventually the car won't start.
There are numerous threads on Priuschat talking of weakened/old 12 volt batteries being the cause of reduced mileage. If the 12 volt can't hold a charge, it is constantly seeking a charge from the traction battery and will lead to decreased range/mpg. Pretty much everyone agrees that when the 12 volt gets to be 5 years old, it should be replaced. Of course, if you wait too long, you may not only suffer reduced mileage, but eventually the car won't start.
