Maximum Miles Driven on One Charge

[acensor]

iMiEVNZ7 just reminded me that there is an existing iMiEV record, which was pointed out back in January 2012 by FiddlerJohn in this post:
http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=705#p705
The informally documented record by a couple of Hungarians is 219.5km (136.4mi) and is shown on this YouTube video with English subtitles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqSLNX3WlHY

They drove the poor iMiEV to a standstill, but they were very obviously gentle about it.

Now, while acknowledging this record by a Euro-spec iMiEV, for the purposes of our myimev.com Forum and this Topic I'm still soliciting our members to beat acensor's current record of 112.1miles (180.4km). Photos or video of the event appreciated.

Since I stopped my run with still having 15 miles on the RR meter (as I wasn't really out there trying for a record) I claim a defacto record of 127.1 miles.
Is that fair play?

Based on my experience I believe if willing to run the car down below turtle state that 136.4 is very achievable . But I don't want to mal treat my Battery pack like that.

Should we set some ground rules?
Like, ok to run down to one bar and take full credit for any reading on range remaining?

 

[PV1]

Did a range test/health check on my i-MiEV today. Since I already had 60 miles rounded up in a trip to the city, I figured I'd take advantage of the opportunity to do an actual range test. Since I was at it, I hooked up Canion (118 on my Galaxy S3 works!! Yay!) to watch cell voltages. Including soaking up 2.17 kWh at work (about 11% per OVMS), I managed 85.2 miles on one charge, a new record in both one-charge range and daily miles for me! I took it down to 9%. Without the opportunity charge, I would've gotten around 78-80 miles before running out of power (I wouldn't have pushed it that far). So, my "comfortable" range is 70 miles, pretty close to my ballpark answer of 60-70 miles on a charge. This was done with standard driving practices on main/city/country roads.

Even when motoring at 55 mph, all cells held at just above 3.6 volts, with voltages being very close together (graph on CaniOn was give or take a pixel from being flat). As usual, sensor 64 is way above the rest on temperature. The coolant line has to be touching the battery box. The sensor's at 98-99 degrees, and the motor is at 104 degrees. The pack's at 93 degrees.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fojjfy7lpig0k0h/AAD7hHIcyVIBMa7QkjzpZiNLa

I haven't had the i-MiEV this low since my 3rd day of owning it (went 3 miles past '---', this time only 2 miles).

 

[Don]

Including soaking up 2.17 kWh at work (about 11% per OVMS), I managed 85.2 miles on one charge, a new record in both one-charge range and daily miles for me!

If you had 'soaked up' 12 or 14 Kw's at work, you could have claimed 140 or 150 miles on 'one charge' :lol:

Don

 

[PV1]

Well, sure. :mrgreen: If you notice, I corrected for it:

Without the opportunity charge, I would've gotten around 78-80 miles before running out of power (I wouldn't have pushed it that far). So, my "comfortable" range is 70 miles.

 

[acensor]

......So, my "comfortable" range is 70 miles, pretty close to my ballpark answer of 60-70 miles on a charge. This was done with standard driving practices on main/city/country roads.....
.

Interesting, as 70 miles on one full charge is just about what I happen to come out with for my comfortable range in mixed driving around southern Oregon. Some 60mph freeway, some 45mph country roads with rolling mild hills, etc.

 

[Don]

70 miles has always been our 'comfortable' range also. In a pinch, we can easily enough go 5 or 10 miles more by turning off the A/C, being careful with the throttle and/or taking alternate routes on slower roads

I get asked many times "How far can it go?" and I always reply "70 to 75 miles, less on the freeways and more on the back roads". In 2 years and 18,000 miles, we've had exactly one 'range anxiety moment' and even on that one, we made it home easily

IMO, the general public has no comprehension of what percentage of their normal daily driving could be done with a 65/75 mile range EV, or many more would be buying one. We never recharge anywhere other than our own garage and this car still makes nearly all of our daily trips with ease

Don

 

[acensor]

70 miles has always been our 'comfortable' range also. In a pinch, we can easily enough go 5 or 10 miles more by turning off the A/C, being careful with the throttle and/or taking alternate routes on slower........

....IMO, the general public has no comprehension of what percentage of their normal daily driving could be done with a 65/75 mile range EV, or many more would be buying one. We never recharge anywhere other than our own garage and this car still makes nearly all of our daily trips with ease

Don

Because of that (the large percentage of their normal daily driving that they do within 65/75 mile range) is both stunning and sad how many two car families have no clue how painlessly (and at great advantage to themselves) they could have and an EV as their second car.

I think that perception gap is slowly changing.

 

[kiev]

Today i went 73.4 miles on one charge and had 1 flashing bar and 6 miles RR showing. But i wasn't home yet and still needed to get there--so i charged a bit on 120 vac, then stopped at a mall for some level 2 while cooling off a bit with a cold beverage (temp gauge was showing 100F), left the mall showing 3 bars and 16 RR, but the map route was 17 to get home on the highway.

So i took surface routes instead of the highway, got home with 1 flashing bar and 4 miles RR, total mileage today = 94.3. Could i really have gone 4 more miles? how about 6 to hit 100...?

Oh yeah i was cycling the AC on/off during about half of that just to cut the heat a bit--i know i couldn't have gotten where i needed to go with constant AC.

[edit the next morning]
RR is showing 90 after overnight charge! i don't usually get down to 2 flashing bars, much less 1, and have not taken it down past 1 into the turtle zone.

33k miles and the rears are the original tires--although they look like slicks now. i have a set of yokos to replace them, maybe after some tire shredding burnouts...

 

[JoeS]

...RR is showing 90 after overnight charge!

That's the best indicator of how efficiently you had been driving! How many miles on your car?

kiev, hope you don't mind that I took the liberty of moving your post over to this thread, which hasn't had much activity lately, as the realization has sunk in that perhaps really running down the battery fully is not such a healthy idea. You wisely opportunity-charged and kept your battery happy without stressing it.

 

[PV1]

Apparently the secret to making the i-MiEV efficient is to have high temperatures, both ambient and pack temperatures). Been rather warm lately, and I have broken a bunch of personal records.

First, I matched my record of 90 miles RR with semi-normal driving (driving a tad more efficient than normal, compared to hypermiling to get 90 the first time). Then, I broke my top bar distance record by 50-100 feet (~8.9 miles before losing the top bar). Now, I may have set a one charge record of 72.7 miles with 5 miles RR and 16% charge remaining (no opportunity, destination, or waypoint charging. Includes some highway driving/AC usage).

I'm curious to see my RR tomorrow morning, but the pack needs to cool down first. Sitting in the parking lot heated the battery up more than 70 MPH driving.

 

[jray3]

I recently saw my personal best of 88 RR after a 'normal day', and we've not had a heat wave yet. That's a very good sign on a 57,000 mile battery, especially considering the plight of all my friends with wilted LEAFs. MR BEAN is charged to 100% EVery night, and the delay timer has never been used. Only special treatment is a few weeks per year of storage at 40% SOC.

 

[mdbuilder]

Nice!

My values are almost always either 68 or 75 miles. The commute home results in 68, if I go out locally to pickup takeout and approach home from the other direction I'm likely to get 75 on the meter the next day if I take it easy...

I'm up to about 1,400 added to the 11,400 on my 2012 I've had for 6 or 7 weeks. Evbatmon says 39.something Ah and 82.x %, these have been steady readings.

 

[PV1]

This will be another calibration charge, so I'm also curious to see total capacity after tonight's recharge. The last one bumped me from less than 44.4 Ah to 45.1 Ah.

My RR values are steadily in the mid 70's most every morning, dipping down to mid to high 60's in the winter.

 

[kiev]

i had another long day last week with fairly hot weather, did 68.7 miles with 5 RR and 1 bar blinking. Cycled the AC and took the back roads home--i was sweating this one, literally. Next morning another 90 RR!

 

[Vixoe]

This will be another calibration charge, so I'm also curious to see total capacity after tonight's recharge. The last one bumped me from less than 44.4 Ah to 45.1 Ah.

My RR values are steadily in the mid 70's most every morning, dipping down to mid to high 60's in the winter.

How do you perform a "Calibration Charge" ?

 

[mdbuilder]

Run it down to 2 bars or less, recharge to full.

 

[JoeS]

Run it down to 2 bars or less, recharge to full.

... and leave it plugged in and charging until it stops charging by itself.

BTW, this thread was intended for people attempting to set personal single-charge long distance records...

 

[ICEM4N]

Hello
138km in portugal from Oporto to Coimbra.

 

[kiev]

you just beat me iceman-- last week i did a 70.7 mile day with 3 bars and 13 RR showing...

 

[user 2304]

Are there any Electrical Engineers and Technical Specification information to actually calculate the Motor/VFD/Drive Train MPH sweet spot or at least range?>
Thanks,
JB Patry