Loss in range question: seasonal? something else?

[bacostellospark]

Longtime lurker, first time poster.

Leased a 2015 Chevy Spark EV (no fast charge) here in Portland, OR in August and absolutely love it.

However, over the last four months, I've seen a gradual loss in range every time I charge it up. When I first got it, it was around 80 miles, then a week or two later, 74. Then in October: 64. And now at the end of November into December, it seems to have settled at 54 miles.

I know weather can have a big impact on the range of the charge but shouldn't a full charge still show as 74-80 miles regardless? Has anyone else had this issue or seen this phenomenon?

Many thanks!

 

[rensupreme]

It is due to the usage of your heater. My range with fully charged battery was about 60 miles. and it will increase/decrease based on your driving style and climate settings.

You'd be surprised on how much energy is used to power the heater...
Hit the leaf button to bring up the energy details menu and you will probably see something like this.

On the other hand, if the temperatures are mild. You can get the range up to 90+ miles.

 

[NORTON]

Dang, another reason to not love winter....

In the above image you can see: Energy Used - 39.7 kWh.
This is 'Since Last Full Charge'.
So this could be the result of lots of short runs with lots of 'Preconditioning' the cabin, (why suffer?) and obviously never letting the car complete a full charge. Nothing wrong with that!
If you precondition while not plugged in you'll run up that 'climate setting' number even more.

But it still beats burning gas and making stink while warming up the cabin!

 

[bacostellospark]

Dang, another reason to not love winter....

In the above image you can see: Energy Used - 39.7 kWh.
This is 'Since Last Full Charge'.
So this could be the result of lots of short runs with lots of 'Preconditioning' the cabin, (why suffer?) and obviously never letting the car complete a full charge. Nothing wrong with that!
If you precondition while not plugged in you'll run up that 'climate setting' number even more.

But it still beats burning gas and making stink while warming up the cabin!

Thanks for the replies and this all makes sense.

However, in August/September, I had the air-conditioning running from time to time and I didn't see this drop. Does the heater pull more energy and thus throw off the full charge range? As the weather improves (I'm in Portland, Ore. ) have people with this model seen a return to form?

 

[NORTON]

.... Does the heater pull more energy and thus throw off the full charge range? ...

Yes, AC is minimal usage. Heat uses a lot.

Don't take my word for it. This can be seen in the display when at rest. Run the heat at a high temp setting and see what is on the right side instantaneous power usage display.
Run both heated seats. (I'm not sure if this will show on the power display, it may be minimal)
Run the heated rear window.

Then, run AC at a very low temp to force it to come on and work.

And as always, that Guess-O-Meter only looks at the last few (?) drives/charge cycles. It does not know how you are going to drive the car today.
The GOM could show the rated 82 miles, but if you load up with camping supplies and 3 of your fattest friends and head up the mountain, on a cold day, with the heat high, at 70 MPH, you may not get half that 'guess'.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

.... Does the heater pull more energy and thus throw off the full charge range? ...

Yes, AC is minimal usage. Heat uses a lot.

Don't take my word for it. This can be seen in the display when at rest. Run the heat at a high temp setting and see what is on the right side instantaneous power usage display.
Run both heated seats. (I'm not sure if this will show on the power display, it may be minimal)
Run the heated rear window.

Then, run AC at a very low temp to force it to come on and work.

And as always, that Guess-O-Meter only looks at the last few (?) drives/charge cycles. It does not know how you are going to drive the car today.
The GOM could show the rated 82 miles, but if you load up with camping supplies and 3 of your fattest friends and head up the mountain, on a cold day, with the heat high, at 70 MPH, you may not get half that 'guess'.

Great explanation. A/C and large loads take a good bite too but the heater is the "Godzilla" of power eating options. In "nice" weather I easily get 5.5+ mi / kWh. In cold weather (~40 - 45 deg. F) with the heater on I have seen the mi/kWh drop below 3 at initial start up and gradually get back to 4.3 mi / kwh after about 15 - 20 miles of driving. I use the AUTO heating function with the cabin temp set to 74 deg. F. Preheating the cabin while connected to the EVSE is the best way to minimize this problem.

 

[sicki]

Only had mine a week...but I just wear a jacket in the morning with a hot cup of coffee to go! I also read that the butt warmers use less energy than heater system...

I live in Southern Cali...a jacket or sweatshirt works just fine!!!

 

[nikwax]

I still get 4.5 - 5.5 mi /kWh in cold weather with the climate control off. With it on it's more like 3.5.

I tend to leave it on, as it's 90% humidity here in the winter and the windows steam up. And I have short commutes.

 

[bacostellospark]

.... Does the heater pull more energy and thus throw off the full charge range? ...

Yes, AC is minimal usage. Heat uses a lot.

Don't take my word for it. This can be seen in the display when at rest. Run the heat at a high temp setting and see what is on the right side instantaneous power usage display.
Run both heated seats. (I'm not sure if this will show on the power display, it may be minimal)
Run the heated rear window.

Then, run AC at a very low temp to force it to come on and work.

And as always, that Guess-O-Meter only looks at the last few (?) drives/charge cycles. It does not know how you are going to drive the car today.
The GOM could show the rated 82 miles, but if you load up with camping supplies and 3 of your fattest friends and head up the mountain, on a cold day, with the heat high, at 70 MPH, you may not get half that 'guess'.

Great explanation. A/C and large loads take a good bite too but the heater is the "Godzilla" of power eating options. In "nice" weather I easily get 5.5+ mi / kWh. In cold weather (~40 - 45 deg. F) with the heater on I have seen the mi/kWh drop below 3 at initial start up and gradually get back to 4.3 mi / kwh after about 15 - 20 miles of driving. I use the AUTO heating function with the cabin temp set to 74 deg. F. Preheating the cabin while connected to the EVSE is the best way to minimize this problem.

Both of these responses are super helpful. I knew that the Guess-O-Meter was a bit of an educated estimation but I didn't realize it was based in part on the last few drive cycles. Given that, and the added heat running in the winter, I could see how the stated range upon a full charge might be displayed as less in December than, say, September.

Thanks for the responses!

 

[oregonsparky]

After experiencing the range hit of the resistive cabin heating system in the spark ev...

...that fancy and much more expensive chevy bolt better come with a heat pump!!!

Jeff

 

[Marktime]

I had my sparky on a blink L2 last night and noticed that if I tried to run the heater it used all of the juice from the L2. I had no such issue with the seat heaters on though. The wipers too will use a lot of juice. As I also live in Portland, this can also be a big drain on my range.

 

[NORTON]

Right, the cabin heat element can suck up more than 3.3kW.
But as the cabin warms up the draw will drop and the L2 can hopefully catch up on what was used from the battery.

Preconditioning the cabin from a phone app is SUCH a luxury this time of year !!

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Right, the cabin heat element can suck up more than 3.3kW.
But as the cabin warms up the draw will drop and the L2 can hopefully catch up on what was used from the battery.

Preconditioning the cabin from a phone app is SUCH a luxury this time of year !!

Ahhhh, the heater, the heater! This morning at 8:30am it was 32 deg. F and my 2014 Spark EV had been out all night while being connected to my L1 EVSE. I disconnected the EVSE, jumped into the car, turned on the heater in AUTO mode and drove 4 miles to church. When I reached my destination I had consumed 1.5 kWh for an astounding range average value of 2.7 mi / kWh!!! It started out at 2.5 mi / kWh! On the return trip 4 hours later with the temperature at a warm 45 deg. F., my range jumped to 3.1 mi / kWh. Yep! The heater is a range killer - especially for short distances at cold temperatures. But.....the cabin was getting warm and comfortable about 2 miles into each 4-mile trip. I have also confirmed that range does improve to about 4.3 mi / kWh as the cabin warms up with longer driving distances - above 15 miles.