No, It’s Real: EV Range Down

There’s a chance it might be rebounding a little now, but not 100% certain yet. I’ll report back when I have more-definite info.

 

So, reporting back now, somewhere around two months after the range went way down: In short, it doesn’t appear to have gone up much, but a little bit. Up to 26.5-27miles, predicted, typically.

I went off to China (i.e., not driving it) for a couple weeks at the end of July and early August. Now, after driving it a few weeks, it has gone up to charging ~5.1KWh typically, rather than 5KWh or slightly less, from the HV-EV threshold to full.

Mostly what the China trip did was make me fall way behind with PriusChat, since half of the Internet is blocked there (exaggerating, of course, or maybe not!).

Although I can’t find it right now, I think I saw mention/suggestion of rebooting the computer by disconnecting the 12V battery for a minute or two. I’m thinking about trying that. Thoughts? Problem is I can’t rule out the possibility that it could make the situation worse as easily as better...

 

Reasonable question! Nah, pretty much the same — low triple-digits... Temperatures are expected to drop a little next week, though.

 

So, Bob, this looks like excellent info here, but I think I kinda missed the context. The picture seems to be about your i3, but not sure; did your P.Prime also lose range? Either way, did it happen seemingly out of the blue like mine, or...?

 

Interesting. I don’t recall the amount charged from the HV threshold to “full” having reduced last summer. I’m pretty sure I would have noticed and remembered, but I’m starting to wonder since you mention yours having gone down...

 

Gotcha. In any case, it’s interesting info, but a much lesser drop than I’ve seen — down to 4.8KWh, rebounding a little to 5 to 5.1ish now.

 

Maybe so (well, “not”). Yeah, temperature is probably at least part of it.

 

I find it odd that the range would drop this much — 6-8 miles or so — just from temperature alone. Nobody else seems to be seeing it change an entire KWh less, as far as I can recall. Also, in two distinct 2-mile-per-charge steps... I think there must be other factors involved.

After I shut it down every time, it asks me ... actually, I forget exactly how it phrases it, but essentially whether it can use the AC to regulate temperature during charging. I always say “yes.” Is that what you’re asking?

 

Well, I reported both, actually. Charging about 1KWh less on a full charge from the HV threshold to “full,” and from 32ish to 26ish (estimated) miles.

 

Update: Presumably from ambient (outdoor) temperature reduction, it’s up to charging around 5.3-5.4KWh. Still pretty far from its original 6.2ish KWh, but a big improvement over its low point at ~4.8KWh. The guesstimatron estimating typically in the 27.x mile range, rather than 25-26.