Expected range, 2013 i-MiEV, less than 200 km on it

[KrisK]

Hi All,

Brand new Canadian i-MiEV owner here - picked it up on Friday. It's a 2013 that was the showroom car so the car has been sitting in the showroom for a year. No idea if/how often the car was charged. Total km when I picked it up was less than 100 km. We drove casually on Friday and Saturday. Sunday we planned a longer trip (110 km = 68 miles) that we expected to do comfortably on the full charge. We were somewhat surprised (and a little terrified!) when we arrived at our halfway destination and had used up 8 bars plus a bit (8 remaining bars). We didn't have an opportunity to charge the car while we were there and an hour later we found ourselves heading home on half a tank with almost 60km to go. Long story short, we made it home after travelling 108.2km (67.2 miles) with the empty indicator flashing and the last bar flashing.

- Is there any way to check the real max range on a full charge? (ie. is my battery capacity lower than I expect)
--- Remaining Range (RR) gauge is really cool but not useful for this since it is based on current driving habits
--- I will post an update tomorrow with RR on a full charge
- Could the year in the showroom (possibly with a drained battery) hurt the max range? Should it have hurt it 30% in 1 year?

Information about our driving
- 27 Celius (80.6f) outside yesterday
- Rural driving in southern ontario
- Did not use AC, did not pre-cool the car
- ECO mode for the entire drive (E instead of D or B)
- The ECO meter was kept at half or lower.
- level ground speed was around 85km/h (53 mph)
- Windows down on the way there, up on the way back
- Radio off

Thanks,

--Kris

 

[HParkEV]

Hi Kris,
As a fellow Ontarian, I drive my i-MiEV in very similar conditions as you do. At speeds of around 85km/h you should have done the 110km trip comfortably, with probably 2 bars remaining (flashing).
I can think of two issues here:
First of all, the 'fuel' gauge calibrates itself when you run the battery down to 1 or 2 bars and then fully recharge. This is something that Mitsubishi recommends should happen about once a month. Since your car has sat around for a long time, the gauge is probably out of calibration, and it is possible that if you try this trip again now, you will get a lot more out of the battery. I imagine, when the gauge is out of calibration it will err on the conservative side and show you less battery remaining than there actually was.
Secondly, lithium ion batteries that sit around for a long time should be stored at low state of charge - I think 3 to 5 bars is the recommended range for long term storage. Cars that are in dealer's showrooms are usually fully charged (as charging the battery is usually what they do when they PDI the car) - this means that the battery is under some 'stress' during that sitting around time, and it will loose a little capacity, especially if it was sitting at higher ambient temperatures. Since it sat mostly over the winter months, I would not loose too much sleep about it, as it spent most of its time at low(ish) temperatures, even if it was in the showroom.
Another factor you may not have thought about is wind - if your initial half of the trip was against wind, it is possible that the car used more battery than you would expect for the distance you traveled. At 85km/h going against even a modest 15km/h wind will mean significantly more power consumption, which you will hopefully re-coup on your way back.
And finally, have you checked the tire pressures? About 10% over the recommended 36psi is what I would recommend for great range, and reasonable comfort and tire wear.
Martin

 

[KrisK]

Hi Martin,

Thanks for your reply! Temperature / Wind yesterday was pretty good - I'd claim yesterday was fairly ideal for driving conditions. Tire pressure is a good thought - I didn't check tire pressure myself after picking up the car. A couple of side questions if that popped into my head reading your reply: Any idea if the battery may improve after a couple of charge cycles? (assuming it was sitting around for a while before I picked it up). Also, empirically, how much of a difference does ECO mode make in max range? I can definitely feel the difference in accelerator behaviour between E and D/B, however I'm curious to know if I can achieve ECO results with a lighter foot in D/B.

I'll try not to loose much sleep over it

--Kris

 

[HParkEV]

I'm not sure the battery 'improves' from cycling it after a long period of not being used, that is a question for li-ion experts. However, the accuracy of the gauge will improve for sure when you cycle the battery from almost empty to full.
The way the battery capacity is checked, and the state of charge meter calibrated, is by measuring how much power the battery accepts when fully charged from a low state of charge.

The ECO mode does not make any difference in max range of the car - what it does is makes it easier for you to drive the car more efficiently in order to achieve better range. It does have its pitfalls though - the biggest one being that with the increased regeneration when you let off the accelerator, you tend to slow down sometimes a lot more than you intended to. Although the battery does recapture some of the energy back, it is not an efficient way to drive. In order to achieve max range you should take advantage of coasting as much as possible, which means NOT using regen, just finding that spot when the needle is in between the blue and green zones. Only go into the blue 'Charge' zone when you do need to slow down or stop because of traffic, red light, etc. Finding that coasting spot is a little easier when you are in Eco mode since the pedal is easier to modulate (slower response), but if you have a tendency to sometimes let off the accelerator fully, you will scrub off your speed a lot faster in Eco than in D.
The disadvantage of D mode on the other hand, is that you tend to overshoot your intended speed when accelerating - if you intended to drive at 85km/h you end up driving at 95 or more after climbing a hill or accelerating from a red light, just because the controller adds more power as your speed climbs even though you are not pressing the accelerator any deeper - it is trying to emulate the behaviour of an ICE.
You can find a lot of tips on maximizing range if you just google 'hypermiling', much of the advice for ICE hypermiling applies equally to EV drivers.

Also wanted to add that the beauty of the i-MiEV, and all other EV's is that you can always increase range by slowing down - if you are driving around an you find that you will be tight on range, just slow down 10 or 20 km/h and you will find it adds to your range very significantly (of course the RR gauge will only show the increased range much later). There have been cases of people getting over 200km on a charge, just by driving slow - in that case it was about 50km/h reasonably steady. Radio usage makes no detectable difference in range, your speed and heater/ac usage is what affects it the most.

 

[KrisK]

Thanks for the info! So, what would be the best way for me to benchmark my i-MiEVs performance compared to expected performance (from say, the FAQ on the official site)? My concern is that I'm getting X% lower than expected, and that it will only be exacerbated in the winter. That being said, my two-way commute is 50km and worst case I can change at work in the winter, so even if I'm getting 48km max range in the winter I'd be ok. Mostly I want to make sure my vehicle (which sat around for a year) is performing as expected.

--Kris

 

[Malm]

I have made a 200 km trip with one charge and three bars left. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baAiN2jFEcc
I believe doing this trip with only 77,5% (maybe less) of SoC is unbeatable.
Not more then 40 km/h and going down something like 500 m.

Driving at 85 km/h, I think 110 km are very good. The difference between ending a trip with one or two bars can be only 0,5% of SoC. I shouldn't expect more then that, specially if we can't keep constant speed.

 

[MLucas]

Thanks for the info! So, what would be the best way for me to benchmark my i-MiEVs performance compared to expected performance (from say, the FAQ on the official site)? My concern is that I'm getting X% lower than expected, and that it will only be exacerbated in the winter. That being said, my two-way commute is 50km and worst case I can change at work in the winter, so even if I'm getting 48km max range in the winter I'd be ok. Mostly I want to make sure my vehicle (which sat around for a year) is performing as expected.

--Kris

There isn't much of a benchmark because there are too many variables to baseline. Driving style, temperature, terrain, tire pressure, battery condition, etc. You'll be able to baseline it yourself as you drive it everyday. For example, I know on my daily commute where I lose the first bar - in the winter its at one point and in summer its a little farther down the road. Gauge a consistent pattern and you'll know how well your car is doing. You can always invest in the CanIon and a tablet with BlueTooth to get a good picture of how your car is really doing.

What part of Southern Ontario - that's a big place.

 

[HParkEV]

Thanks for the info! So, what would be the best way for me to benchmark my i-MiEVs performance compared to expected performance (from say, the FAQ on the official site)? My concern is that I'm getting X% lower than expected, and that it will only be exacerbated in the winter. ...

I think you are getting fairly close to what is expected. If you read the Mitsu FAQ site carefully, their 'ideal' conditions indicate a speed of 60km/h at 25 degrees Celsius. They indicate a range of about 160km under these conditions.
http://www.mitsubishi-motors.ca/en/i-miev/faq/

Since you were driving about 85km/h, you could expect 30% less range (160km * 0.7 = 112km) for 40% greater speed.

In my experience, having survived the last winter with my i-MiEV, I got 50km range even on the nastiest, coldest days by keeping the heat just high enough to keep the windows clear. When I wanted more comfort and a pre-heated car, I plugged in at work. With 120V charging the pre-heating is not super cosy warm, but it does make a significant dent in how much you need to use battery power to get the windows clear and interior reasonably comfortable.

 

[aarond12]

I've found that my experience driving the car has been the biggest increase in range. There is a certain amount of time required to "unlearn" some of the driving techniques you use with a gas-powered car. For example, slowing down going up hills and speeding up going down them. With gas cars, we typically learn to keep your speed steady. Heck, that's what cruise control is! However, that's kinda inefficient.

With practice, you will gain more range and confidence.

 

[jray3]

Welcome Kris, I don't have studies ready to cite, but do believe that like other battery types, our lithiums will gradually improve with use after a long dormancy.

Your driving skills certainly will. I've considered myself a hypermiler for years, but only hypermiled when I wanted to. (Yeah yeah, I may be a speed demon, but I can stop driving like a jackrabbit any time I want to...).

The i has a way of curing this when you realize that by avoiding a single charging stop on any significant trip, you save more time by driving slower. I do a 55 mile/89 km round trip on most Saturdays that can't be accomplished aggressively without a charging stop, but is easily done with 2-3 bars remaining if one navigates sedately. (Disclaimer- on the West Coast I-5 Electric Highway from Tacoma-Portland, the DCFC spacing of 21-36 miles means that an i-MiEV can't skip a station with 80% SOC, but you can go fast between 'em!) Watching CanION a few times makes you a better driver for any vehicle even after the display goes dark. As proof, this past weekend on a 360 mile round trip to Grandma's in our 14 year-old, 175 kilomile minivan, I got over 24 mpg on a journey that for years has averaged 21-22 mpg. Simply staying out of the 'wolf packs' of aggressive drivers and getting off the gas as soon as one sees brake lights far ahead makes for a smoother drive and didn't cost any noticeable time. Timing the traffic lights and making strategic highway lane changes rather than reflexively jumping into every opening that appears let this tortoise beat several impatient hares down the road.

I still don't have the patience to stay behind a professional truck or bus driver for as long as I could, preferring to have a change of view. I'm not advocating danger-close drafting, but CanION helps one to measure the benefits of drafting even at reasonable following distances..

 

[Don]

I would say that 70 miles (115Kms) at 85 Kmh (53 Mph) is about as 'normal' as you can get - You might improve a few percentage points as your hypermiling technique improves, but nothing short of slowing down is going to get you very much farther

I think your car is preforming exactly as designed - No problem with your battery

I've done 80 to 85 miles a couple of times, but that's mostly at 35 to 40 mph and never exceeding 45. There are folks here who have done 100 miles on level ground, but that was in 25 to 30 mph city driving

Don

 

[KrisK]

Hey All,

Wow, thanks for all the input! So, I'm hearing that 115km @ 85km/h is perfectly reasonable. For your information, I live in Wellesley Ontario and commute in to Waterloo. This morning I checked the RR and it said 115 km. I had turned on the AC to pre-cool the vehicle while it was plugged in before checking which was probably a mistake, however it should have charged fully overnight. One thing I noticed is that the rural drive into town is rough on the vehicle. Getting to St. Agatha (about 14km) took the RR from 115 to 93 (difference of 22). When I arrived at work the RR was at 94 (yes, it went up 1). Apparently with St. Agatha what they say is true - it's all downhill from here

I definitely didn't hypermile on my drive today - I maintained traffic flow which meant using more juice on some of the hills outside of town. It will be interesting to see what the RR lists as my maximum range after I fall back into a more typical driving routine.

--Kris

 

[Don]

Just a heads-up for you as a new owner - The RR meter can lie to you. So long as you understand how it computes what it's telling you, you won't be surprised

For example, if your 14 km drive from St Agatha to home is slightly downhill, then when you turn around the next day after an overnight recharge, the RR is going to 'consume' more than the 14 Km to get back there . . . . because the computer is basing it's computations on the energy you used on the downhill trip home the previous day and now it's correctly observing that the uphill return trip is using more energy, so it will click off the Km's more quickly trying to get you back to an accurate number. 50 Km's showing on the gauge does not mean you actually have 50 Km's of range left - It could be much less, especially if you're going faster or uphill or it could be much more, especially if you're going slower or downhill

If you drive somewhat downhill for the first 8 bars of your fuel gauge, you're not going to make it back home, even though the RR gauge says you should easily be able to

There's a thread here somewhere all about the highest RR numbers after a recharge, and if you live on top of a mountain and drive downhill for 100 KM's or so and then recharge, your new RR number will be sky high - Maybe even in the area of 200 Km's. Conversely, if you recharged in the valley and then drove home to the top of the mountain, your RR numbers after that recharge might only be 75 or even less. The same applies to speed - If you go fast in one direction and then slowly the other direction, you'd better not put too much trust in the RR gauge

Don

 

[KrisK]

Hi Don,

Yep, I read up in another thread on how the RR works. On a related note, it's a bit of a shame that the i-MiEV doesn't come with trip meter + RR on a single display but I love the fact that a rough estimate of range is there. The Canion app + tablet seems pretty awesome. Regarding my original post - this morning's RR reading was 117 (up from 115). I'm feeling a lot more comfortable with the ranges I'm getting in town and out where I live. Rural Waterloo is more of a strain than in town however I'm only using about 30-40% of total charge with my daily commute.

So far it's been a really fun week with the i-MiEV.

--Kris

 

[JoeS]

...Regarding my original post - this morning's RR reading was 117 (up from 115).

Had me going for a second, until I remembered you're in Canada which wisely adopted the metric system.
The current maximum Range Remaining record is 109miles (175.4km) :mrgreen: Ref: http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=13223#p13223

I'm feeling a lot more comfortable with the ranges I'm getting in town and out where I live. Rural Waterloo is more of a strain than in town however I'm only using about 30-40% of total charge with my daily commute.

Sounds like an excellent match!