Range issues?

[jeffkay1967]

I have a 2015 Spark EV with 24.5k miles. I charge on 240. When i got the car about 500 miles ago, the full charge showed about 73 miles on the gom. I average around 4.6 mi/kwh. Today, without much change in temps, usage or charging and still last use showing about 4.5 mi/kwh, full charge is showing 66 miles! I can't believe this wide of gom estimation. Is there a way to reset the car's computers to start tracking the battery from current conditions? How far back does the "based on user driving habits" go when updating? One day last week I was really stomping on the throttle but that was days ago now. I guess my concern is what do you users feel is an average for a 25k mileage 2015 car for range? Since never saw the gom of a new 2015 car, was it 82 or in the 70s (again I know usage and conditions factor in)?

 

[SparkE]

It's a guess. Relax and forget about it.

 

[Planerench]

It’s December, have the driving conditions changed? Are tire pressure down from cold temperatures? Heater, heated seat use? Winter is a bugger on range. It will cycle out. Try resetting the trip meter. That will reset the average on the trip screen.

 

[jeffkay1967]

I am in Arizona. Low 50s is lowest temp. Tires at 39.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

I have a 2015 Spark EV with 24.5k miles. I charge on 240. When i got the car about 500 miles ago, the full charge showed about 73 miles on the gom. I average around 4.6 mi/kwh. Today, without much change in temps, usage or charging and still last use showing about 4.5 mi/kwh, full charge is showing 66 miles! I can't believe this wide of gom estimation. Is there a way to reset the car's computers to start tracking the battery from current conditions? How far back does the "based on user driving habits" go when updating? One day last week I was really stomping on the throttle but that was days ago now. I guess my concern is what do you users feel is an average for a 25k mileage 2015 car for range? Since never saw the gom of a new 2015 car, was it 82 or in the 70s (again I know usage and conditions factor in)?

My 2016 [ calendar year] full-charge GOM range data for my 2015 Spark EV varied between 92 to 100 from March to November and then dropped to about 75 from December through January and then started back up to between 90 to 95. This winter [2017] I am ranging between 80 and 85. All of this includes outside air temprature variations plus heater and AC usage as needed. I have seen my HV battery capacity drop from 17.5 kWh to the current 15.8 kWh. My ODO now reads about 25K miles.

 

[jeffkay1967]

I have a 2015 Spark EV with 24.5k miles. I charge on 240. When i got the car about 500 miles ago, the full charge showed about 73 miles on the gom. I average around 4.6 mi/kwh. Today, without much change in temps, usage or charging and still last use showing about 4.5 mi/kwh, full charge is showing 66 miles! I can't believe this wide of gom estimation. Is there a way to reset the car's computers to start tracking the battery from current conditions? How far back does the "based on user driving habits" go when updating? One day last week I was really stomping on the throttle but that was days ago now. I guess my concern is what do you users feel is an average for a 25k mileage 2015 car for range? Since never saw the gom of a new 2015 car, was it 82 or in the 70s (again I know usage and conditions factor in)?

My 2016 [ calendar year] full-charge GOM range data for my 2015 Spark EV varied between 92 to 100 from March to November and then dropped to about 75 from December through January and then started back up to between 90 to 95. This winter [2017] I am ranging between 80 and 85. All of this includes outside air temprature variations plus heater and AC usage as needed. I have seen my HV battery capacity drop from 17.5 kWh to the current 15.8 kWh. My ODO now reads about 25K miles.

Thanks for details. What gom range are you referring to? The blue ball or max or min? Please describe...

 

[MrDRMorgan]

I have a 2015 Spark EV with 24.5k miles. I charge on 240. When i got the car about 500 miles ago, the full charge showed about 73 miles on the gom. I average around 4.6 mi/kwh. Today, without much change in temps, usage or charging and still last use showing about 4.5 mi/kwh, full charge is showing 66 miles! I can't believe this wide of gom estimation. Is there a way to reset the car's computers to start tracking the battery from current conditions? How far back does the "based on user driving habits" go when updating? One day last week I was really stomping on the throttle but that was days ago now. I guess my concern is what do you users feel is an average for a 25k mileage 2015 car for range? Since never saw the gom of a new 2015 car, was it 82 or in the 70s (again I know usage and conditions factor in)?

My 2016 [ calendar year] full-charge GOM range data for my 2015 Spark EV varied between 92 to 100 from March to November and then dropped to about 75 from December through January and then started back up to between 90 to 95. This winter [2017] I am ranging between 80 and 85. All of this includes outside air temprature variations plus heater and AC usage as needed. I have seen my HV battery capacity drop from 17.5 kWh to the current 15.8 kWh. My ODO now reads about 25K miles.

Thanks for details. What gom range are you referring to? The blue ball or max or min? Please describe...

By GOM reading after a full charge, I mean what the blue ball reads - not the min or max values.

 

[jeffkay1967]

Thanks, Your data seems high to me. I have seen pictures of many cars close to new in mileage and never seen your high side miles. Wonder if you have the recal issue I read about where it read high? Maybe you were doing some short trips around 45mph or less or a really good hypermiler? Anyhow, I decided to look at pictures of as many cars as I could and see if I could deduct anything. It seems my range GOM is not unlike many others and so I won't worry about it. I mean there really isn't anything to do about it unless it got to 65% or less as warranty claims. I do want to make a test as I have seen in other threads where I let the car go to its zero charge and then charge it to see the KWh usages to make better estimation of what my pack is like today.
Jeff

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Thanks, Your data seems high to me. I have seen pictures of many cars close to new in mileage and never seen your high side miles. Wonder if you have the recal issue I read about where it read high? Maybe you were doing some short trips around 45mph or less or a really good hypermiler? Anyhow, I decided to look at pictures of as many cars as I could and see if I could deduct anything. It seems my range GOM is not unlike many others and so I won't worry about it. I mean there really isn't anything to do about it unless it got to 65% or less as warranty claims. I do want to make a test as I have seen in other threads where I let the car go to its zero charge and then charge it to see the KWh usages to make better estimation of what my pack is like today.
Jeff

Jeff - I have three Spark EVs - 2014, 2015, and 2016. After almost 3 years of driving a Spark EV, I found the GOM number to be affected by so many variables that it is hard to determine just what is going on. When I purchased my 2016 Spark EV, the car was used, had 6700 miles on the ODO and a full charge GOM number of only 59 miles. I am not a hypermiler but I do not abuse the car either. My October 2017 GOM numbers for this car have approached 100 miles. Winter weather, heater use and night driving have dropped my GOM number into the low 90s to high 80s. I would pay more attention to what your trip mi/kWh numbers show.

The kWh capacity of the HV battery is more of a concern as it will degrade over time. How much and how fast is a question many Spark EV drivers would like to know. I have piles of data taken for the last 2.5 years but I only recently devised a test to give me a better idea as to how I can calculate a more accurate HV battery capacity number. It is achieved by simply fully charging the car so the energy Information screen numbers for Drive, Climate and Battery are reset to zero. Then take the car out for a drive of at least 30 miles - preferably more. I use the freeway and have my cruise control set to 60 mph. For instance, yesterday my wife and I drove our 2016 Spark EV to our son's home and back. We drove 40 miles, averaged 4.8 mi/kWh and used 47% of the battery or 8.3 kWh. My calculated HV battery capacity for this car was 17.7 kWh which is very consitent with results I calculated for a few similar test runs earlier in December.

If you can get a good feel for the kWh capacity of your HV battery, then you can see just how your driving efficiency, as reflected on the mi/kWh value on your trip meter, affects your GOM. The car's computer must maintain some sort of database in which it keeps a running average battery capacity number and a running average mi/kWh number plus some calculated hi and low values. I believe what the blue ball shows is nothing more than the car's estimated battery capacity multiplied by the car's estimated average mi/kWh it keeps in memory. The high and low on the blue ball range show the variation in the car's database. The GOM number varies as the battery capacity and mi/kWh numbers vary. When I achieve GOM numbers around 100, my mi/kWh numbers are around 6.0 or higher and this seems to only occur when the air temperature is 60 deg. F or warmer.

I hope this explanation helps you. You can't control the degradation of the HV battery but you can control how efficiently you drive.

 

[jeffkay1967]

Ok, I drained the batt by driving and using heater, etc. This is the first time I ever saw 0 miles range. The energy used says 15.1kwh. The gentleman earlier in the thread said he gets 15.8 so not too far from that I guess. Now given a 2015 car, so about 3 years old and with 25k do you guys think this sounds correct? If so, it sure seems like a drop but if it stays like this for awhile not too bad. I doubt Chevy would do anything warrantywise at this kwh, yes? I will post what the gom says after it finishes charging. I did reset the enrgy isage page and trip odometer if that matters. I found it interesting that when I went to reset the trip odometer, it was saying 2.9miles/kwh but once zeroed it jumped to 4.4?

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Ok, I drained the batt by driving and using heater, etc. This is the first time I ever saw 0 miles range. The energy used says 15.1kwh. The gentleman earlier in the thread said he gets 15.8 so not too far from that I guess. Now given a 2015 car, so about 3 years old and with 25k do you guys think this sounds correct? If so, it sure seems like a drop but if it stays like this for awhile not too bad. I doubt Chevy would do anything warrantywise at this kwh, yes? I will post what the gom says after it finishes charging. I did reset the enrgy isage page and trip odometer if that matters. I found it interesting that when I went to reset the trip odometer, it was saying 2.9miles/kwh but once zeroed it jumped to 4.4?

You mentioned your kWh used at the end of your test was 15.1 kWh. What was the % used reading? When you reset the trip data with the SELECT button, the trip value defaults to 4.4 kWh as starting point.

Personally, I am a concerned that my calculated battery capacity has dropped from about 18.6 kWh during the first 2 months of operation in 2015 down to 15.8 kWh in December 2017 after 2.5 years and 24,500 miles of operation. This represents a 16% drop in HV battery capacity. If it drops the same amount over the next 3 years, it will be approaching the 35% limit 2 years before the 8-year HV battery warranty expires. At that point my full-charge GOM reading could be 60 miles or lower.

 

[jeffkay1967]

The charrge amount was 64 miles at about 45-50 degrees. When I got the car about 500 mi ago, the temps we in the 80s and i neber saw more than 74 miles range full charge. Answering the previous question, at the end of usage before charging, the total % used was equal to 100%.

 

[NORTON]

.... When I got the car about 500 mi ago, the temps we in the 80s and i neber saw more than 74 miles range full charge.

Try driving around in 80* weather putzing around at 35-40 mph and you'll probably get more than 100 mile range on that GOM.
Speed, ambient temp, and climate control usage, tire pressure, road conditions, elevation change all matter.
The GOM is only a Guess.

Plot your pack capacity over time and you'll get the only real data available to an owner.

 

[jeffkay1967]

Sure, that all makes sense. Did GM ever give the speeds/condition/temps, etc. for the 82 mi range quoted for when new? Or how much of the full pack is allowed for use? I apologize if this is reported in other threads...Jeff

 

[NORTON]

The EPA does the testing and posts the results for all cars.

The question of original pack capacity is still a mystery to me.
In the spread sheet for my '14 I use 19.5 kWh. Where that came from,,, I forgot...

 

[jeffkay1967]

Yes full pack is documented but not the "GM decided usable amount" as far as I heard? Due to lithium cells not being used below a certain level.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

The charrge amount was 64 miles at about 45-50 degrees. When I got the car about 500 mi ago, the temps we in the 80s and i neber saw more than 74 miles range full charge. Answering the previous question, at the end of usage before charging, the total % used was equal to 100%.

This morning, after a full charge overnight, my 2014 GOM read 88 and my 2016 GOM read 92. The 2015 is in the shop and I am on my way to pick it up. I expect my GOM numbers for all three cars to drop due to using the heater to keep warm. it has been in the low 30s in the morning with the highs in the low 60s.

 

[SparkE]

The EPA does the testing and posts the results for all cars.

The question of original pack capacity is still a mystery to me.
In the spread sheet for my '14 I use 19.5 kWh. Where that came from,,, I forgot...

No, no, NO !!

The EPA has established testing criteria for vehicles, and either the manufacturers themselves or an 'independent' test company test the vehicles and report the results to EPA. EPA reviews the results and confirms a small percentage of them (15% or so) through their own tests at the National Vehicles and Fuel Emissions Laboratory.