Taking a trip through the allegheny mountains this weekend around 250 miles , anything I need to watch? I know when I run out of juice ill crawl along ,but otherwise what should I monitor? Have fun ! Eric
In my experience from mountainous driving, fromm the get go, lower your speeds, and keep the car in the mode where the RPM's are high enough to charge the battery instead of discharge it. Some will say use B mode on downhills to avoid heat pumping the battery.
Going up hills, follow trucks in the climbing lane. Alternatively, use 55-60 mph on a long climb. In an ideal mode, you don't draw traction battery power on the climb. On the descent, use "B". When you stop, if the battery fan is running, try to park in the shade and let the car sit for a while to pass air through the battery. It makes a lot of sense to use a Scangauge to monitor battery temperature. Bob Wilson
I exhausted the HV battery (zero bars) on my Gen2 on a long uphill climb at 7000 feet in Idaho. First time I'd ever done that in 6 years of driving the car. I've slowed down on a shorter climb towing a 700 pound trailer up the grapevine (I5 north of Los Angeles). My advise is to watch the SOC display, and back off if you get down to one bar. I also second Bob's advise to leave the car in Ready for a while when you stop to keep the battery cooling fan running.
