Turtle riding (How far has the turtle brought you ?)

[DonDakin]

Not that this would be something that you would want to go out and do on purpose but if you can remember how far and how fast did you go on the turtle ?

My experience was a controlled experiment. I drove the car down to --- on the display got the turtle and then continued but only for about 0.5 KM. One thing I noticed is that was unexpected was the car response was normal no slowdown or powerloss. Perhaps it would start slowing down after more turtle KM's but didn't run it to death. I saw a you tube video that said about 5 miles.

Any Turtle rider stories out there ?

Don.....

 

[Don]

Never seen the turtle - Hope I never do. The most we've ever discharged the battery in our first 4,750 miles was down to 3 or 4 miles remaing on the RR display and that was a deeper discharge than I'd like to repeat. If we ever see the turtle, it will mean we made a serious range miscalculation . . . . so far, so good

I'm sure before we reach 8 years or 100K we'll be hearing about owners with battery issues - I'm trying my best not to be one of them. By the time I need help with a battery problem, I hope several other owners will have set a precedent so we'll know what Mitsu's policy is and what they will and won't do with regard to the battery not living up to our expectations

What actually happens after RR Zero is shown in the video in this link - http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=559
Glad that wasn't my car . . . .

Don

 

[iMiEVNZ7]

Hi both Dons,
In testing the imiev for rental use, we had to know what to expect with customers, so we did a number of range tests with a fixed distance to cover, being 49. 5 Kms each way, each time for a combined 100 odd kms, roundtrip. Plus an odd extra drive to drop someone home.

Essentially, the trips finished with returning to a road with a 70, then 50 km speed limit, but at about 90 km hour, on a posted 100 Km hour road, after having zero range left on the RR gauge, the turtle light came on with about 7 kms to go to home. Three people on board, the power delivery in pedal response was exactly the same as on a full charge, and while still on the highway, we were able to maintain 87 km hour or more easily, with the 87 km hour being our aimed for speed.

Once back in town, we had to slow down for the posted limits,but power available felt the same. made it home with zero bars, zero RR and a happy turtle light and three range conscious people on board. The extra distance driven on turtle mode was 7 kms, but there seemed to be more left.

I think even with the turtle, Mitsubishi put in spare buffer capacity and so the batteries won't brick.


That said, knowing a cars redline in a petrol car and say the limit of traction in the et, one still doesn't drive on the limits on purpose often, so best to stick to no usage of the turtle, but know it is there if needed.

We are helping out in NZ by putting in recharging stations so if someone is short of charge, they can top up for free.

We aim to do this with solar. With the very few imievs in nz at present, about 14, with most of those in testing use,and only three in the area we are in, we think a simple small solar and a capacity of one recharge from the station battery per 2 days should be enough. Or perhaps a simple 240 volt 15 plug socket only..on mains power, as most of the power in NZ is from hydro or thermal. some from coal but not a lot. The coal one is usually only as a back up.

Mike.

 

[marlon]

Sorry to ask, i'm new. What is the turtle?

Marlon

 

[Don]

It's the 'Power Down Warning Light' and is explained on page 3-75 of the owners manual

Don

 

[Logandzwon]

I've driven in turtle a few times. I've driven till it stopped at one point also.

~5 miles is about right.


BTW.... do not run it till it stops. you will shorten your battery life.

 

[BlueLightning]

I drove 4 km or 2.5 miles with the tortoise, on flat roads at low speed, the car didn't stop.

For the Peugeot iOn, when the car stop by itself, there is still 5% of unusable spare capacity in the battery, 8% for i_Miev, so the battery life should not be at risk.

Reading below, I expect 0.74 kWatt-h of electricity available for Tortoise riding. (16 x 92%) x 5% = 0.74 kWatt-h
In the 0.74 kWatt-h, a "Limp mode" of 0.44 kWatt-h is included (16 x 92%) x 3% = 0.44 kWatt-h), with a speed reduced may be at 30 km/h, 18 mile/h.
Driving at 30 km/h with 0.74 kWatt-h, could let us drive around 8km or 5 miles on a flat road with no stop and go, http://www.jurassictest.ch/GR/

So the next question is, did anybody experienced the "Limp mode" and for how long?

http://autos.aol.com/cars-Mitsubishi-I_MiEV-2012/expert-review/
"Since the i only uses around 92 percent of its 300-volt, 16-kWh, 500-lb. battery to preserve the pack's life,
when the gauge gets down to two bars, the low battery lights comes on.
When there's five percent usable energy left, a turtle light comes on.
At three percent, the car goes into limp mode, which gives the driver just a few miles of range left at low speeds to get to an outlet.
when the car tells you it's at "zero," it's really at about eight percent from empty."

 

[BlueLightning]

By the way, a Tortoise alarm rider knows there is still life with a state of charge gauge at zero bar. So here come the hidden Bar, the "17th" or “zero" Bar, so let us calculate the energy content of a bar

For a iOn

16 kWatt-h x 95% = 15.2 kWatt-h of usable energy per battery. http://automobile.challenges.fr/essais/20100908.LQA3388/peugeot-ion-mondial-2010-tout-savoir-sur-la-peugeot-electrique.html
Then we divide by 16 + the “zero" hidden bar
15.2 / 17 = 0.894 kWatt-h per bar for a iOn

So for a Peugeot iOn, with a full battery the 16 Bars are showing us only 14.3 kWatt-h of the 15.2 kWatt-h usable energy.

For a i-miev

16 kWatt-h x 92% = 14.72 kWatt-h of usable energy per battery http://autos.aol.com/cars-Mitsubishi-I_MiEV-2012/expert-review/
then we divide by 16 + the “zero bar”
14.72 / 17 = 0.866 kWatt-h per bar for a i-miev

 

[honk]

5.8 miles: Until 5+ miles, ride felt normal and I thought there would be more; circa 5.5 actual turtle slowdown occurred; circa 5.7 power sputtered & barely gave enough time to pull to shoulder. "Fear the turtle" is a good motto.

 

[Phuc]

5.5 km (3.5 miles) in about zero degrees and with some degrees of ascension. Source: http://elbilforum.no/forum/index.php/topic,6514.0.html

 

[MLucas]

It can be done!

Saturday, after working six hours to support the Hurricane Sandy effort at my office, I ran the car a bit short on range. I hadn't expected my spouse and son to show up and want to go for lunch and some shopping. On the way home I was getting dangerously low. The first thing I do when this happens is I turn my display to the RR meter to see how much the car is saying I got and then I turn on my GPS to figure out how far away from home I am or a charging station. By the time my GPS got itself going and displaying the correct distance I was 15km from home and only had 5km left of range on the RR meter. I had turned off all accessories, moved the climate control to the green dot and the fan to OFF and turned off the radio. This was the most I had ever stretched it and I don't do this often but it does happen once in awhile. I didn't even think I would make it but I wanted to get as close to my house as possible.

I was on the US side and didn't want to be stuck on this side of the border, I could only imagine the hassle it would be to get a tow across the border. I made it to the Rainbow Bridge but it was hopelessly backed up, had to add a bit of distance by rerouting to the Whirlpool Bridge where I could use my expedited commuter pass (NEXUS) to cross. At this point, I was at --- on the RR meter with 13 kilometers to go. I kept going over routes in my head that would give me the best distance and finally settled on one that would let me drive as slow as possible with a downslope. I knew the RR was based on past performance and a lot of that was highway, I knew the car had more to give that what I was being shown.

With the turtle light on, I drove as slow as possible without being too slow and I pulled to the side to let cars pass me. I kept my eye on the GPS and the remaining distance indicator to my house. I finally made it to the downslope where I could coast a good kilometer. With great relief, I made it and pulled into the my garage for desperate recharge. Lesson learned, its possible to make it on turtle with careful planning and driving. Just don't try this often as its not healthy for the batteries.

 

[JoeS]

MLucas, you did all the right things (once you realized you were in trouble), and you iMiEV rewarded you! Having this experience I think will ensure you'll never let it happen again. :roll:

... Just don't try this often as its not healthy for the batteries.

We really need to emphasize this, as I bet Mitsubishi cringes every time they see turtle mode mentioned. Another thing, when running low, do barely touch the go-pedal and thus keep the power needle way down at the bottom of the green zone.

 

[tonymil]

At this point, I was at --- on the RR meter with 13 kilometers to go... I knew the RR was based on past performance and a lot of that was highway, I knew the car had more to give that what I was being shown.

MLucas, I'm not sure if this is right. I would expect Mitsu to program the car to show zero miles/km remaining at a specific level of charge remaining. I don't think it would depend on what the RR was at full charge. My guess is that a car showing 55 miles RR at full charge will just get to that point more slowly than a car showing 75 miles RR at full charge (assuming all other factors to be equal).

Great job keeping the car moving in turtle mode. Any idea how much ground you covered with zero range showing?

 

[MLucas]

Great job keeping the car moving in turtle mode. Any idea how much ground you covered with zero range showing?

About 13 kilometers.

Not sure how the RR works exactly, it could be zero when the --- comes onto the display or very low but not sure. I just somehow new that I could make it somehow if I kept a level head and drove very slowly.

This link shows my route from the US/Canadian border. http://goo.gl/maps/vrH65 I know I was definitely at --- on the RR meter when I passed the inspection booth at the Whirlpool Bridge marked with the letter A on the map. Nearby marker B, there is Taylor Road, that was my downhill glide to my house.

 

[marlon]

A question for Blue Lighting concerning that very interesting analysis. To clarify, you are saying that the 16 bars represent only 92% of the battery energy and the turtle comes on when you have 5% of the 92 % left. That would be a little less than 1 bar (about .9). Limp mode would kick in at slightly more than half a bar. Then, at zero bars you still have 8% of the battery energy left. Now, does the car go dead to protect the battery or could you actually drive down the last 8% and damage the battery. Please clarify and correct anything I said wrong.

 

[peterdambier]

I am told the turtle is there to protect both us and the batteries and she is hiding bars at both ends and she is going to pull the plug before harm can be done to the batteries.

Best you can do for the batteries, drive her every day and charge her every now and then so the charge does not rest at either full or empty for long. Keep her swinging.

 

[emissionimpossible]

I've driven 8 kms past zero bars at 70 kph. It seemed OK but I don't want to do that again.

 

[MLucas]

I've driven 8 kms past zero bars at 70 kph. It seemed OK but I don't want to do that again.

Nice moniker, there. Very clever.

 

[BlueLightning]

Subject: Turtle riding (How far has the turtle brought you ?)

A question for Blue Lighting concerning that very interesting analysis. To clarify, you are saying that the 16 bars represent only 92% of the battery energy and the turtle comes on when you have 5% of the 92 % left. That would be a little less than 1 bar (about .9). Limp mode would kick in at slightly more than half a bar. Then, at zero bars you still have 8% of the battery energy left. Now, does the car go dead to protect the battery or could you actually drive down the last 8% and damage the battery. Please clarify and correct anything I said wrong.

Sorry for late answer, yes the car go dead to protect the battery. Software make the battery "idiot proof" for low discharge and high charge.


Source : http://www.vehiculeselectriques.fr/topic9775.html

http://www.deficonso.com/V1965

 

[FiddlerJohn]

...
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8060/8259118332_eb57f89363_z.jpg ...

Wow! Thank you for sharing. I also like your:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90017706@N08/8176438658/in/photostream/lightbox/
I'm hoping you will share additional insight into the working of the i-MiEV.