Shifting from D to L while moving

[Foxwerks]

Hello all, first time EV owner here. I've been waiting for a long time to find a Spark with DCFC and it finally happened! 2016 2LT trim in Electric Blue with 8,300 miles. The 327 lb/ft of instant torque is so addicting. I'm getting use to driving more conservatively now and pulling some nice numbers so far 65 miles and it sits half full with a max 50 miles. I read on some posts that shift to L from D before approaching a red light you can capture more return energy. Now coming from traditional manual/automatic cars, it was definitely a no-go to shift from high gear to low at speed, I was wondering if it was safe to shift from D to L and if so frequently. Would this wear out the gear leaver? or do any damage?

 

[NORTON]

There is no 'Gear Shifting' going on. It's all SW. All the little gears in the drive unit are always the same, not engage/disengage etc.
You can shift to R while rolling and R to D at any speed. It's all SW.
Theoretically you could go 90 MPH in R if SW didn't limit that craziness! :shock:

L just gives the car a more aggressive regen rate when you take your foot off the Go Pedal. The whole '1 Pedal Driving' thing....

Don't obsess about driving in D and using the Brake Pedal, just like normal person....
It's all regen braking up to the max then the friction brakes blend in.
The brake pads are going to last forever on these cars.
I sometimes 'shift' to N, (it's just SW), forcing the Friction Brakes to do all the braking, just to clean them off and heat them up good, once in a while.

 

[Foxwerks]

Thanks for the quick reply/answer Norton. Coming from geared cars its hard to shake some habits. When you say SW you mean software right? I think the max amount of green marks i got for regenerative braking in D while coming to a stop was 4-5, 3 being the average on flat roads. I find it hard to keep the green marks on the right toward the max miles, I try to keep acceleration low as possible and regen as much as possible. So far I'm at 73 miles at 4 bars left with 41 miles on the GOM, I'm wondering if I'm doing this right?

 

[NORTON]

Thanks for the quick reply/answer Norton. Coming from geared cars its hard to shake some habits. When you say SW you mean software right? I think the max amount of green marks i got for regenerative braking in D while coming to a stop was 4-5, 3 being the average on flat roads. I find it hard to keep the green marks on the right toward the max miles, I try to keep acceleration low as possible and regen as much as possible. So far I'm at 73 miles at 4 bars left with 41 miles on the GOM, I'm wondering if I'm doing this right?

Don't know if your doing it right, but it sounds like your doing it slow. Don't make a bad name for EV's.
Have you floored it yet? It has great Traction Control and Stab Control. You won't spin the tires. But you might have fun!

Prius drivers gave that car a bad name by geeking out on that dang display and driving as slow as possible.
Why "keep acceleration as low as possible"?
To save the equivalent of a few beers on the weekend vs. driving normal with, or faster than the traffic around you?
You're already driving one of the least expensive ways there are to haul yoass down the road.!! :lol:

There are different ways to config your display. I'm not sure what you are talking about on your regen display. I have mine to display kW. I think it get's close to 50kW of regen.
When I'm at a DCFC with the car powered up, I'll see ~48kW of regen (battery charging).

 

[Foxwerks]

I'm trying to see how much range it can squeeze out, I've seen some articles saying low 100s. I'm using the advance display on each side. I'll probably go back to my normal driving after I deplete this charge. Which brings me to my next question, when is the optimal percentage to charge at?

 

[MrDRMorgan]

I'm trying to see how much range it can squeeze out, I've seen some articles saying low 100s. I'm using the advance display on each side. I'll probably go back to my normal driving after I deplete this charge. Which brings me to my next question, when is the optimal percentage to charge at?

I try not to go below 20% before recharging; usually it is more like 30%. At home, I charge to 100% overnight using my L2 EVSE in my garage. On the road, I charge to 90% - 95% using an EVgo DCFC.

 

[Foxwerks]

Today I got down to orange 1 bar, with 9 miles left, I didn't think it would drop that fast from 20%. Its been about 4 days since I last charged and I was able to get 97 miles. I have it plugged in on the 110v at 120, tomorrow I'm going to top off when I get to work and pick up to my Level 2 charger.

 

[NORTON]

>... I'll probably go back to my normal driving after I deplete this charge.
>>Which brings me to my next question, when is the optimal percentage to charge at?

>You'll like flogging this little EV Hot Rod! It's something like 38% American Muscle Content !! (My standard joke is 'It's really a Hybrid. It burns electrons and rubber!")

>>I have no opinion on taking the SOC low. Sometimes you have to get there and don't want to stop for a DCFC buffer.

I think it might be important to top it up and let if finish its BMS housekeeping duties. I do this daily, thru the work week, at a free public L2.
What I see daily is: I get a txt from Onstar saying, 'Car is charged', then about 15 mins later I get a txt from ChargePoint saying, "Car is drawing little power and is probably done...".
When I look at my CP acct. I see that it continued to draw ~600 W during that time after dropping from the 3.3kW rate. I assume that is BMS doing its thing.

I've heard one person on this forum point out that they mostly do DCFC to ~80-90% and are concerned that their battery never gets a proper 'Balancing' from the BMS after it gets to 100%.

And of course TMS varies power usage and charge times seasonally.

 

[PhilPen]

The power train is very much simpler than a typical modern gas engine/transaxle. There's a nice little youtube video illustrating it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgVyeRWvzTo

 

[Foxwerks]

I think it might be important to top it up and let if finish its BMS housekeeping duties. I do this daily, thru the work week, at a free public L2.
What I see daily is: I get a txt from Onstar saying, 'Car is charged', then about 15 mins later I get a txt from ChargePoint saying, "Car is drawing little power and is probably done...".
When I look at my CP acct. I see that it continued to draw ~600 W during that time after dropping from the 3.3kW rate. I assume that is BMS doing its thing.

I've heard one person on this forum point out that they mostly do DCFC to ~80-90% and are concerned that their battery never gets a proper 'Balancing' from the BMS after it gets to 100%.

And of course TMS varies power usage and charge times seasonally.

So you would just keep it plugged when ever you get a opportunity? How long does it usually take for the BMS to balance out? I know the app is free but needs OnStar to function, and the dealership told me after 6 months there is a monthly fee to use OnStar.

 

[NORTON]

>So you would just keep it plugged when ever you get a opportunity?

>>How long does it usually take for the BMS to balance out?

>>>I know the app is free but needs OnStar to function, and the dealership told me after 6 months there is a monthly fee to use OnStar.

>Not necessarily. There is the theory that the battery sitting around at 100% SOC is not the best for pack life. Tesla and Nissan offer a 'Charge to 80%' setting for this reason.
And this is especially true if the pack is topped up and then unplugged in really hot or cold conditions. TMS only works when plugged in or with the car powered on.

My weekday routine is charge in the AM at work, move across the street to park at work at lunch and the car sits for 4-6 hrs unplugged at 100%, then home and it sits at ~ 60% or less over night.
So my car is not at 100% for much of its life.
Who knows? It will be years before we compare the Dreaded Degradation.....

>>I see about 15 minutes according to the ChargePoint site and how the two different daily txt come in.

>>>It's my understanding that the car comes with 5 years of Free Basic Onstar. You may have the upscale Onstar service for now. I had that for 2 yrs free. It's nice to get an estimate for 'charge completed by: ' but I can live without that.
I think I still get 'charge interrupted' for free.