EV up & down, seasonal effect

I didn't say the calculation is based on current temperature. (And I have to be careful here or SageBrush will have my hide.) I attribute actual longer EV driving distances due to warmer temperatures, not the calculation. The calculation is based on the previous driving distance so of course it will go up.

Temperature does have an effect on the guessometer on other vehicles. Remember the idiot NYTimes reporter and Tesla? One of the suggestions offered by Tesla was that when the battery reaches optimum temperature, the range displayed will increase.

I have noticed this when I borrowed my sister's Leaf. Although how much of it was my sister's lead foot and my light foot, I don't know. I drove off with 88 miles range. I returned it to her after a ~5 mile trip and available range displayed was 93 miles.

 

Typically these range estimates are based in part on recent driving.
So the temperature is taken into account because the driver got less range on the previous day, not because the temperature is currently cold.

Previously I suspect the Model S actually did have too large of a component based on current battery temperature. This has been corrected to give more accurate range estimates (which still won't help if you only fill the 'tank' halfway;-))

 

I don't know either but here's an oddity :
My actual has always been good even in cold temps in March my est EV would read low 12's. When we had a heat wave the read improved to mid 13's and peaked at 14.0. Last Friday I had to make 2 longer drives dipping into gas coming and going, charging inbetween. Last 25 miles all hybrid mode and the car sat all weekend as my wife and I went away using our RAV4.
When I returned I checked and my EV estimate jumped all the way to 14.4 !
It doesn't really matter all that much but I'd love to know how that happened. If some kind of average you wouldn't expect such a jump - maybe 1/10 at best. It was warm over the weekend but not excessive and not as warm as it had been...

 

There is speculation that the last few miles get higher weighting in the average or the trailing average only goes back a few miles. We may never know.

Today, it became official for me. The warmer temperatures give me more EV range. I usually run out of EV at an expressway overpass at ~11 miles. Sometimes I run out before. It's rare that I go beyond and if I do, it's because of a slow moving semi I draft on the right lane. Well, today I drove a full mile past the overpass and I can't remember how long ago it was that I ran out of EV before the overpass. This morning at 5:30 AM temps were 67 degrees.

Yesterday, before the heat wave, I drove my daughter to go hiking at Mission Peak in the early dawn. It was 7.9 miles to the trailhead. I drove the same distance home with 0.3 EV miles remaining. That's 16 miles EV and there was some incline miles going that was regenerated coming back. I did hypermile and never went above 35 mph. No cars in the morning but I wouldn't have been able to do it if it was the afternoon. Say 15 miles driving normally.

I am thoroughly impressed. This is the height of summer though so it's downhill from here, I think.

 

+1
I drive the same 1,400+ every month...
Closed out April at 95mpg.
Closed out May at 96mpg.
Closed out June at 101mpg last night.

If someone had suggested that I'd double the mpg's I was getting from my 2012 Prius Five (50.4 lifetime mpg) by going to the PIP- I'd call BS on that! But it's actually happening... the PIP is amazing!

 

Yes, but I'm getting almost 200 mpg. Some weeks I'm well over 300 mpg. It all depends on your EV ratio. So, yes it is great, but you need to add in your kwh as well.

Mike

 

Mike, when you say he "needs to add in his kwh" as well - why ?
is this from a financial standpoint ? and if so I guess we need to keep track of free charges - I use those frequently
or ?

I know some use the solar panels too but that's probably a lot rarer than free charges

 

Results for June:
Total miles 406
Fuel consumption 823 mpg
EV/HV ratio 96%\4% 390/16
102 kWh consumed 0 gas
Lots of short trips (10 to 12 miles R/T
I can charge at work.

 

Nice!

 

Sorry, iPad attempt at spellcheck correction... Heat of the day.

 

Outstanding!
You found the perfect car for your needs...

 

thanks! makes much more sense.

 

With the heat wave, I have been using the A/C. When I turn it on, the estimated EV range decreases by about a mile. The actual mile I got is around 12 miles. The A/C is more efficient than I thought. My range is better than winter with heated seats.

 

I've also noticed the A/C hardly impacts EV range at all. It's a very efficient system...

 

that's good to know
I didn't want to wreck my averages so no AC in the summer, used no heat in March. Wife is complaining

 

AC takes less energy than heating.
But in addition to that, cold air is denser than warm air.
So in cold weather you are fighting both denser air and high energy use from the heat.
In hot weather you gain an advantage with warm air and have a much smaller fight with the energy use of the AC.

 

It's when the battery is being used.

From January to this month, I measured SOC when discharged, kWh to charge, and indicated EV when charged. To eliminate variation in state of discharge, the kWh taken was normalized to a SOC increase from 22 to 85.

Temperatures at 6 am (I charge to completion at 7 am) varied from low 40s to high 60s. There was no discernible change in the normalized kWh to charge (avg = 2.93, std dev 0.05). EV went from 9.8 in January to 9.5 in February and hit 11 today.

If someone tells me how to post a table, I'll provide the data.

 

I have watched my MPG go up nicely with the warmer temps...This month i have been able to do alot more EV trips so july is going very well so far at 175mpg! My daily routine changes all the time and I do live about 8 miles outside of urban area, so i must drive a 55mph country rd most days for approx 8 miles before getting to slower urban areas.

My June was lower due to a 500 mile roadtrip where i saw 63mpg on that trip.

Dan

 

Been thinking about this some more, and now I'm not sure.

I assumed that since the same kWh is drawn from the charger summer or winter, the same amount of energy must make it into the battery.

But it's also possible that the charging is less efficient when the battery is cold.

Anyone have any insight into this?

 

As the temperature drops battery resistance increases resulting in a drop in efficiency of charging.