2016 Spark: What went wrong? Predicted and actual ranges used to agree.

[Stevelah]

I consistently get about 70 miles to a charge per the odometer, but after a full charge my predicted range is shows as about 52 miles. This discrepancy has existed for months now but previously, there was never a problem. Chevy won't tell me what the probable cause of this problem is without my spending well over $100 for them to just confirm what I already know. Any advice?

 

[Infinion]

• What range prediction mode are you using? See the pair of images below. The default guess-o-meter with a single estimate guesses range based on your recent driving behavior. The enhanced range gauge makes 3 guesses with an upper and lower limit. Drive more efficiently and dots will visualize which of the extremes you're trending towards, and by how much. The baseline moves around and is generally more pessimistic if you do a lot of shorter trips with aggressive climate settings. The GOM will never perfectly guess your range, but using the enhanced range gauge gives a much closer approximation.

• What has been the average temperature in your area since you noticed a low range prediction? Lower temps -> lower range.
  
  
  
• View attachment IMG_20201102_175833.jpg
  What's your driving efficiency? This should be shown in the energy screen of the infotainment system as a table showing "mi / kWh" vs miles. Different commutes will have different size hills, road speeds, and # of stops. How aggressive you stop/start and drive over 50mph impacts range.

• Test your battery capacity and battery-to-wheels efficiency.
  • Fully charge the Spark EV. You can confirm the car has been fully charged by the popup on your dash when you get in the car after a charge, as well as the pie chart found in electric info -> energy info ∆ -> energy details. The pie chart should show 0.0 kWh energy used.
  • reset the table in the energy info ∆ -> energy history sub-menu, as well as the trip meter that counts range and efficiency in your dash. The knob is left of the steering wheel on the dash.
  • Drive the car like you normally would, but don't charge until you get to the last 1-2 bars. Look at the pie chart again and take note of the kWh used, as well as the trip distance and efficiency on your dash.

If there is a mechanical issue, or an electrical drain from a worn part like an old 12V battery, it should show up as a penalty on your efficiency, and you can compare it with Spark EV owners here on the forums who've shared their efficiency. Mine is currently 17-21 kWh / 100km or 3-3.5 mi/kWh this Winter with short trips and lots of heat. But I'm in a mountainous northern coastal region. It won't translate well in any other location.

 

[Stevelah]

Thanks so much for your detailed response, and I will pursue those things which you have pointed out. My gut feeling is, however, that something is amiss with how the predicted range is computed. Nothing has changed in my driving habits, or the climate here in southern California, that would account for consistent earlier predictions of a 7x mile range after recharge, compared to 5x now, while the actual odometer registers 7x miles traveled. I know my 12 volt battery went dead, and I had to have it changed, but I don't remember if that is when this discrepancy showed up.

 

[LoveMy2014SparkEV]

I consistently get about 70 miles to a charge per the odometer, but after a full charge my predicted range is shows as about 52 miles. This discrepancy has existed for months now but previously, there was never a problem. Chevy won't tell me what the probable cause of this problem is without my spending well over $100 for them to just confirm what I already know. Any advice?

If your Spark EV is a 2014 then you have an LFP lithium iron phosphate battery pack or more accurately it has a lithium iron nanophosphate battery pack. The 2014 Spark EV must be charged to 100% once a week or the computer will have a hard time predicting how far the car can go.

The good news about having an LFP battery pack is they can last twice as long than NMC batteries which the 2015 and 2016 have. LFP can be charged to 100% daily without damaging the battery and can take multiple DC Fast Charging sessions without suffering damage. One downside is they are more affected by colder temperatures than NMC batteries. I have seen a drop in range with temperatures starting in the low 60s. LFP also don't hold as much energy per pound and volume as NMC batteries. To keep the range the same in the 2015 and 2016 Spark EVs Chevy just made the battery packs a little smaller.

My 2014 Spark EV has lost about 3 miles of rage from the original 82 mile range. Of course only driving about twice a week helps and I only charge my EV to 70% because it is bad for the battery to leave any EV sitting fully charged for days.

Oh, almost forgot. Check your tire pressure. You be surprised how much range you lose even with just a few pounds under pressure. Also if you just got new tires and didn't get the same kind of tires that were on the car originally that can make a huge difference. Tires made for EVs have lower rolling resistance to increase range. Putting on tires not made for EVs have more rolling resistance and thus you will lose range.

 

[Jedi2155]

I won't say the LFP Sparks don't lose energy, my 2014 spark capacity dropped to 15.5 kWh usable before I sold it in 2018, while it was 18 kWh+ when I first got it in 2015. There is capacity loss in LFP packs too.

 

[WilleE995]

Hi guys, got an email from the admin for me to add my thoughts. I have had my 2016 Spark going on 4 yrs. I typically go with the default screen that gives the single range estimate and have found no matter how I drive it ends up being pretty close on the estimated range. I too typically recharge around 70 miles which is also shows around 12 to 25 miles remaining on the GOM. This year I've noticed both in cold or hot weather the range will drop 4-6 miles at first drive and eventually settles down and gets back to the estimate. Keep in mind my car only has 22K miles and although it's used several times a week I typically charge once a week. I know this doesn't add much if anything to the excellent responses you've gotten already. My take is I keep an eye on my miles per kWh. I have seen it report lows around 3.9 on occasion but typically returns 6.2 or more in warm weather but in the high 4s in really cold weather. Using the heater I'll see a pretty quick drop of up to 6 miles but once warmed up and setting the fan speed to 2 range improves noticeably. Pretty much the same when running the AC. Anyway, if your miles per kWh remains pretty consistent it may not be a very serious condition.

 

[didget69]

If your Spark EV is a 2014 then you have an LFP lithium iron phosphate battery pack or more accurately it has a lithium iron nanophosphate battery pack. The 2014 Spark EV must be charged to 100% once a week or the computer will have a hard time predicting how far the car can go.

The good news about having an LFP battery pack is they can last twice as long than NMC batteries which the 2015 and 2016 have. LFP can be charged to 100% daily without damaging the battery and can take multiple DC Fast Charging sessions without suffering damage. One downside is they are more affected by colder temperatures than NMC batteries. I have seen a drop in range with temperatures starting in the low 60s. LFP also don't hold as much energy per pound and volume as NMC batteries. To keep the range the same in the 2015 and 2016 Spark EVs Chevy just made the battery packs a little smaller.

My 2014 Spark EV has lost about 3 miles of rage from the original 82 mile range. Of course only driving about twice a week helps and I only charge my EV to 70% because it is bad for the battery to leave any EV sitting fully charged for days.

Oh, almost forgot. Check your tire pressure. You be surprised how much range you lose even with just a few pounds under pressure. Also if you just got new tires and didn't get the same kind of tires that were on the car originally that can make a huge difference. Tires made for EVs have lower rolling resistance to increase range. Putting on tires not made for EVs have more rolling resistance and thus you will lose range.

We always kept our 2015 Spark EV on the Level 1 charger, even charged at 100% - Used DCFC at least 6-8 times a month.

Drove it for 6.5 years, still showed avg 85 miles range on GOM with full charge when we sold it in '22 with 33K miles.

bnc

 

[Infinion]

https://abetterrouteplanner.com/?plan_uuid=48c11902-d2e3-4a75-a72b-a68825389423
topographical map https://en-us.topographic-map.com/map-cvkzs/Burnaby/?zoom=11&center=49.17093,-122.96997
Here's a 100km trip I made with my Spark EV at the end of August. I will share snapshots along this route to see whether the predicted range was accurate at that moment and overall.


From the data it looks like range estimates are incredibly accurate. After waypoint 3, however, I have a lot of uphill to return to my starting point, which forces higher discharges and lost potential electrochemical energy. Overall, the GOM estimate was only off by 10%, which is pretty good considering climate use accounted for 18% of the total battery energy used.

It was interesting how the projected battery capacity became more pessimistic with increasing distance traveled. However, in the case of the 30-minute wait at the Peach Arch US/Canada border, using only 800W of power (0.05C discharge rate of a 42Ah pack) for A/C significantly increased projected battery capacity, which makes sense because Li-ion gives the most energy when discharged slowly. Had all of my driving been at 40 mph, the maximum projected range might have been closer to 137km / 85 miles

Currently have touring tires maintained at 40 psi

So in summary:
Discharging your batteries gently will maximize the energy you can transform out of your batteries. Faster travel and higher discharge rates reduces it.
Leaving the car in the heat benefits range
using A/C at a standstill is less efficient because of 12V radiator fan use, passive cooling while driving is best.

If anyone else sees something I've missed, LMK.

	State of Charge (%)	Energy Used	Driving and 12V	Climate Setting	Projected Battery Capacity	Distance Traveled	Range Remaining	Projected Range	Efficiency	Average Cell Temp
Start	97.38%​	0.00 kWh​				0.00 km​	110.00 km​	110.00 km​		23.00 ºC​
Waypoint 1	74.51%​	3.40 kWh​	2.81 kWh​	0.59 kWh​	14.78 kWh​	30.50 km​	89.00 km​	119.50 km​	10.80 kWh/100km​	25.00 ºC​
Peace Arch	63.68%​	5.00 kWh​	4.15 kWh​	0.86 kWh​	14.30 kWh​	43.30 km​	77.00 km​	120.30 km​	11.30 kWh/100km​	26.00 ºC​
Waypoint 2	59.00%​	5.70 kWh​	3.95 kWh​	1.75 kWh​	14.62 kWh​	45.30 km​	70.00 km​	115.30 km​		26.00 ºC​
Waypoint 2 leave	61.51%​	5.80 kWh​	3.92 kWh​	1.74 kWh​	14.50 kWh​	45.30 km​	73.00 km​	118.30 km​		27.00 ºC​
Waypoint 3	39.02%​	9.10 kWh​	7.08 kWh​	2.02 kWh​	14.44 kWh​	70.20 km​	44.00 km​	114.20 km​	12.80 kWh/100km​	28.00 ºC​
Destination	6.36%​	13.90 kWh​	11.37 kWh​	2.53 kWh​	14.04 kWh​	98.60 km​	4.00 km​	102.60 km​	14.10 kWh/100km​	33.00 ºC​