Winter Range in Connecticut

[tehjosheh]

My interior temp was set at 72F this morning, though the system was off. I didn't see any climate usage on the energy screen. It definitely was below 72F in the car. It would be very dumb of GM to waste energy keeping the heater core warm if the system is off. So, hopefully that's not the case.

While I totally agree with you it would be (and possibly is) very dumb, that is what my experience is showing. If you can, try setting your temp to 85 F (no fan, AC or defrost on) and drive around a bit. And see if your mi/kwh drops off.

 

[SparkE]

I have a light on the temp control that lights up (turns on) when I fiddle with the temperature knob. If I 'cancel' it (push button to make the light go out) then there's no energy used by my SparkEV for climate.

 

[NORTON]

So you're saying the Heater element that heats the coolant (that runs through the standard Spark 'heater core') is using energy even though Climate Control is in the OFF postilion- - no lights/no fan.
Wouldn't this usage show up on the Leaf usage page?

I did a precondition recently and the usage showed up as 'Battery Conditioning' only, but I know the cabin was warmed.
This system may still have 'issues' with usage reporting. Like it's supposed to hide the truth???

Maybe, it's a Fed thing to have a little flow thorough the cabin even on Recirc. (10%?) This is left over from Gasser Regs and does not apply to EV's. But what're you gonna do?
Maybe, the climate control doesn't let ice cold air come through the system, even though the driver selected 'No Climate Control' ?

How can this be figured out?

 

[PhilPen]

My max fully charged indicated range hit a new low recently of 61 miles. This is a after a few commutes with single digit or teen F temperatures. My commute (25 mile round trip) is 90% highway (with a hill) which at 7:00 am is flowing at around 70 mph and I have the heat on... so I guess this is normal. I expect I'll be in the 50-60 mile range in Jan/Feb. I got this car in Nov and the highest range value I have ever seen is 74 miles. Hope one day to see an 80.

 

[EldRitch]

I'm with you, PhilPen: I've never seen more than 72, and with weather here in the 30s & 40s I'm getting 58 lately.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

My max fully charged indicated range hit a new low recently of 61 miles. This is a after a few commutes with single digit or teen F temperatures. My commute (25 mile round trip) is 90% highway (with a hill) which at 7:00 am is flowing at around 70 mph and I have the heat on... so I guess this is normal. I expect I'll be in the 50-60 mile range in Jan/Feb. I got this car in Nov and the highest range value I have ever seen is 74 miles. Hope one day to see an 80.

My current full-charge winter range for my 2015 Spark EV 2LT is 75 and dropping due to morning weather in the low 30s and heavy use of the heater with the cabin temp set to 73 deg. F. However, in warmer weather - 55+ deg. F - my full-charge range is around 100 miles.

 

[zzzzzzzz]

I'm also now getting about 76-77 miles range in the winter. The heater is definitely a large contributor/range loser. Winter "snow storm" in Portland we just had hasn't helped, though the Spark stayed home in favor of using the AWD car. Summer/fall weather I normally got 104 miles, with a commute of approximately 60 miles round trip from Clackamas to Beaverton in Oregon, and with quite a bit of elevation change.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

I'm also now getting about 76-77 miles range in the winter. The heater is definitely a large contributor/range loser. Winter "snow storm" in Portland we just had hasn't helped, though the Spark stayed home in favor of using the AWD car. Summer/fall weather I normally got 104 miles, with a commute of approximately 60 miles round trip from Clackamas to Beaverton in Oregon, and with quite a bit of elevation change.

I see the same with my 2014 Spark EV 2LT. My "mild weather" non-heater use range is usually around 110 miles. Right now my cold-weather full-charge range is in the 70s too.

12/21/2016: 2014 Spark EV 2LT: This morning I had to take an early morning trip to Stockton and back - about 48 miles round trip on the freeway [55-60 mph]. I started out with a full charge and the GOM read 80 miles. After my 48 mile trip, the GOM reading plus my trip mileage equaled 94 miles - I gained 14 miles of range. My miles / kWh display reading was 5.7 at the end of the trip. Outside temperature was 50-51 deg. F so I did not use the heater - I just wore a light jacket.

 

[CCIE]

Added another datapoint to the original post. Car said it was 8F outside today when I left. Used 36% of the battery on my normal 30 mile commute.

That's a bit higher usage than normal. But, there was very little traffic today (higher average speed), which likely accounts for the difference. Given the option, I'd take the lighter traffic even though it reduces efficiency!

We had snow yesterday and my Volt is at the dealer for the common axle/hub click/pop issue on accel/decal. The OEM tires on Sparkie leave a lot to be desired in snow. If I didn't have the Volt I would definitely have to put snow tires on.