First Long distance Road Trip with the i-MiEV

[mixmike6]

So it finally happened - I took my i-MiEV on its first road trip thanks to the CHAdeMO charging stations installed along the highway. Not only was the 536 km round trip from Montreal to Quebec City possible, it was actually fun.
I made sure to drive under 90 km/hr and didn't use the A/C at all.
I had to stop twice to charge up my car to 80%. Twice on my way, twice on my way back. I felt terrible doing it so often in such little time and not letting the packs rest a single minute but told myself it was only once in a blue moon.

Anyways I noticed that every time I quick charged the car, I'd have 14 or 15 bars out of 16.
I never had 12 bars as I anticipated and as the charging station indicated.
Is it normal for it to be so inaccurate? Even now if I fully charge the car I notice it takes a while to lose the first and second bars but the others go by much faster.

I really didn't mind stopping for 20 minutes. What would take an ICE car 3 hours took me about 4 hours and cost me 12$ of electricity as opposed to 40$ of gas.

 

[ed5000]

Looks like fun. It looks like a very senic route you took!

 

[sandange]

Nice to see others venturing further and further.
The first long trip using fast chargers opens our eyes as to what our little car is capable of.
Also opens the door to future long trips as more and more fast chargers are available.

 

[tigger19687]

I am jealous of all the QC chargers on that road.
Wish they were here, I could take longer trips and not sweat

 

[PV1]

Anyways I noticed that every time I quick charged the car, I'd have 14 or 15 bars out of 16.
I never had 12 bars as I anticipated and as the charging station indicated.
Is it normal for it to be so inaccurate? Even now if I fully charge the car I notice it takes a while to lose the first and second bars but the others go by much faster.

The CHAdeMO protocol usually stops charge at 80%, though a few units will go straight to full (I think Fuji is one). 80% on an i-MiEV falls in between 13-14 bars. Charge above 85% will show 15 bars on startup. Charge above 92% will show 16 bars on startup. While charging, you should gain the 14th bar around 85%, 15th bar around 90%, and the 16th bar at 96%. So right before charging stops, you may have 14 bars, but after starting the car, you will now have 15 bars, depending on the percent SoC that the car stops charging. Some car/charger combos stop at higher charge levels than others. My White i-MiEV on an Eaton quick charger stops at 80.5%, per CaniOn.

The charge gauge on the dash is skewed slightly from actual SoC. The gauge operates from the 12%-100% range, but the car can be driven all the way to 0% SoC as long as each cell stays above 2.75 volts and the pack voltage stays above 275 volts.

Congrats on the trip. I'm still jealous of that blue paint.

 

[rkarl89203]

Way cool!
I thought my 268 mile trip was good but yours is much better!
Really neat how they have the Quick chargers neatly spaced for use near where you are.
They are very unevenly spaced here in the upper Midwest USA.
These are neat cars to travel in, if one takes time to plan.

 

[mixmike6]

The CHAdeMO protocol usually stops charge at 80%, though a few units will go straight to full (I think Fuji is one). 80% on an i-MiEV falls in between 13-14 bars. Charge above 85% will show 15 bars on startup. Charge above 92% will show 16 bars on startup. While charging, you should gain the 14th bar around 85%, 15th bar around 90%, and the 16th bar at 96%

Thanks PVI - glad it's not an isolated case on my end.


Yea I think Hydro-Québec is doing a great job at planning them out and are seriously investing to adding more. Crazy to think there were only 2 quick charge stations in my province when I bought the car over a year ago. Now there are 19 and by the end of next year they'll be close to 100 !!!
We are living in electric exponential times my friends

 

[jray3]

Thanks for the good reporting, Mike D. Those CHAdeMO stations have nice long cords. Many of the West Coast Electric Highway Aerovironment and BLink DCFC stations are "LEAF Specials", where an i-MiEV has to back in and even straddle the paint in order for those short cables to reach!

 

[danpatgal]

Awesome ... thanks for sharing. Like last year, we just finished a trip last week of about 150 miles one way with some not so well spaced out QCs (one at about 40 miles and another at 120 miles) ... so we had to stop at a campground at just L2 speed for a few hours each way. But, it was fun and an adventure, despite the bit of hassle.

https://goo.gl/maps/25hfc

The QCs are in Harrisburg and State College (the Campground about halfway between).

 

[PV1]

I was just out at Harrisburg/Hershey. Didn't take the i-MiEV, though. We went to check out the Back to the Future DeLorean and the Tucker collection at the AACA Museum. Hershey Corp. and PSU are getting quite a collection of LEAFs, solar, and L2 EVSE.

Someday, I'll do the trek to State College in the i-MiEV. One possible L2 stop for about an hour, 3 quick chargers, and 160 miles of 55-65 MPH highway, one direction.

 

[ICEM4N]

Same car, same colour congrats....
When I see a route with those charges I get jealous.....

How many miles on you car?

 

[RobbW]

So jealous. Two+ years owning my Meepster and still have yet to use a quick charge EVSE. There just aren't any functioning ones anywhere near me.

 

[rkarl89203]

None near me either.
However I used 2 just last week.
Go figure.