OT: Electric Vehicles--anyone driving them or seriously looked at them?

[72gmc]

Originally Posted by saab2000

For anyone interested…….

Made my first road trip today, from the western suburbs of Chicago to just south of Nashville.

Saab, if you revisit this thread, I have a question borne of 7 hours driving a gas-powered vehicle yesterday, largely with no audio on because I preferred talking with my wife or just the whoosh of the road.

What is/was drawing on the battery on a trip like this? Lights presumably, but are you running the heater, listening to the radio? How does your use of climate control and other systems affect range? I know I could visit a Tesla forum for this but it's more fun to ask you.

[Louis]

Surely the answer to the "what's draining the battery" question has to be 1) Peak drain on acceleration and hills, 2) Steady-state drain from aero drag and perhaps the heater if it's really, really cold out and a heat pump just won't do it. I bet everything else is down in the noise.

[saab2000]

Originally Posted by 72gmc

Saab, if you revisit this thread, I have a question borne of 7 hours driving a gas-powered vehicle yesterday, largely with no audio on because I preferred talking with my wife or just the whoosh of the road.

What is/was drawing on the battery on a trip like this? Lights presumably, but are you running the heater, listening to the radio? How does your use of climate control and other systems affect range? I know I could visit a Tesla forum for this but it's more fun to ask you.

I don’t believe the accessories account for much drain, though the climate control definitely does. By far the biggest drain is propulsion. Just like on the bike, pushing the air out of the way is the biggest problem and the reason EVs, especially Teslas, look weird. Aero is everything.

I’ll have a peek at the energy page in the menu of options and see if I find anything interesting. But running the radio and lighting is, I believe, almost negligible.

What I have learned is that the cold (i.e. sub-freezing) temps can cut efficiency by 25%. When it warms up a bit it improves.

Finally, level 1 (wall outlet) charging is very slow, but not useless at all if the car is parked all day and overnight. Seems about 3-4 miles of range per hour, which adds up and easily covers my needs while on vacation. Runs to the grocery store, beverage stores, etc. I’ve been plugging it into the outdoor wall outlet and it is adequate for local errands.

My car has a nominal range of 330 miles. But that’s from 100% down to 0%, which doesn’t really make sense. The heat pump is likely the biggest drain, after just moving the car forward. The other things are borderline trivial I’d guess.

[robt57]

Originally Posted by saab2000

What I have learned is that the cold (i.e. sub-freezing) temps can cut efficiency by 25%. When it warms up a bit it improves.

The Pacifica in warm starts @ as high as 38miles EV range, cold 27 lowest reported getting in cold.

When warm, 5-6 comes off the 38 in first 3 mile driven.

In cold, as HV battery actually warms range goes up instead of down first 5-6miles, or goes up and then stays @ 28ish for 5-6miles. So it seems in the wild cold is not near 25% for the Pacifica. And in cold the heated seats and wheel must use part of the lower than the warm range if not most.

I don't drive the Bolt enough to notice/watch for trends cold/warm. Just know the finished charge range is lower in winter by that 25% maybe when reported if you get in it cold.
Precondition and remote starts ups the max range reported when you get in it.

Best cold practice is have it plugged in and fully charged when you remote start it. Then the warming up juice comes from charge side and not HV battery lowering range when you depart.

[Louis]

This has some interesting info:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/...0.1002/er.5700

[David Kirk]

Originally Posted by 72gmc

........
What is/was drawing on the battery on a trip like this? Lights presumably, but are you running the heater, listening to the radio? How does your use of climate control and other systems affect range? I know I could visit a Tesla forum for this but it's more fun to ask you.

I have the Kia EV6 and it's still pretty new to me so I'm no where near an expert.

There is a screen I can pull up in my car that shows where all the energy is going and it's very interesting to track. Some things show very little draw (radio), some are larger (heated seats) and some are significant (cabin heat which is a heat pump and fans). I need to take the car out with Karin driving so that I can study it as it's too much a distraction to really use while one is driving.

One interesting thing is that the main display shows a running mileage left until empty given the way the car is currently being used. If I'm driving along at a steady state and it says the remaining range is 200 miles and then I turn up the cabin heat by a degree or two the range will drop from 200 to 195...turn down the heat and it will add some to the range. This does not happen when using the heated seats or the radio or headlights which are all a small draw on the low voltage battery that runs this stuff. I suspect that the heat pump runs off the high voltage battery and uses much more juice and this is why the estimated ranges drops.

Interesting stuff.

dave

[AngryScientist]

All of a sudden in my neck of the woods these new Amazon delivery trucks have been showing up everywhere. I initially thought it was just another gas/diesel redesign, but walking past one I noted the "powered by Rivian" or something like that. Sure enough, that's what they are.

Now that is some progress. Pretty cool.

[Louis]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

but walking past one I noted the "powered by Rivian" or something like that. Sure enough, that's what they are.

Maybe I'm just not in the "Rivian demographic" but I have to say, the folks who designed the front ends of the Rivian trucks and Amazon vans are IMO totally off the mark.

Do they plan on marketing these to the kindergarten set? They look like the car cartoon characters in that Pixar movie. Yuck.

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

All of a sudden in my neck of the woods these new Amazon delivery trucks have been showing up everywhere. I initially thought it was just another gas/diesel redesign, but walking past one I noted the "powered by Rivian" or something like that. Sure enough, that's what they are.

Now that is some progress. Pretty cool.

That's a hell of a windshield.

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by Louis

Maybe I'm just not in the "Rivian demographic" but I have to say, the folks who designed the front ends of the Rivian trucks and Amazon vans are IMO totally off the mark.

Do they plan on marketing these to the kindergarten set? They look like the car cartoon characters in that Pixar movie. Yuck.

I agree. It's been my pet peeve of this new electric market. At least Musk hires decent designers who create somewhat nice looking cars. But other manufacturers seem to go full dork when designing them. I mean, they're still cars. Not toys.

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pink

That's a hell of a windshield.

What, no hubcaps?

I'm going to laugh like a sum-bitch if I ever see one of these being towed!

Speaking of windshields, someone posted this photo on Facebook. They said they followed this Chinese spy balloon for 200 miles before realizing it was just bird poop on the windshield.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by MikeD

What, no hubcaps?

I'm going to laugh like a sum-bitch if I ever see one of these being towed!

Amazon van BIG, means BIG battery but also probably pretty heavy. I wonder if they have the range needed for a daily delivery schedule?

On a rural route, I can easily drive 200 or more miles a day and deliver 50 - 90 stops. Most of the trucks track your average speed, among other things.

[saab2000]

Here’s some info about the Rivian vans for Amazon.

As for their trucks, they look better in person than in pictures in my opinion though I’m not really in love with the face either. Otherwise it looks good and gets pretty good reviews.

I hope Rivian makes it.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/chec...-electric-van/

[Davist]

The issue with the Amazon delivery vans is the drivers making it bigger won't help! They're not allowed anymore to pull into most driveways, so bigger just blocks more of the road. One got "beached" in my driveway (frame hung up trying to k turn, dropoff on the side of driveway) a couple years ago and needed a tow..

[Ralph]

Orange County, Florida, just received 6 E school buses for testing. Probably purchased with some Gov program. They plan to test them to see if they are really cheaper over the long run. Their nat gas fueled buses have worked out well.

Initial use shows the buses can go 100-200 miles between charges. Depending on size of bus....they got different sizes. Drivers report they are smoother and quieter to drive. Smell better with no diesel fumes. Some claim ride better. Negatives are there is only one charging station, so the buses have to return back to the same place every night. Can't be used on longer routes, and can't be used for school field trips, travel for band and sports teams etc. So far they have limited use. But more charger stations could be added as county adds more EV vehicles of all kinds to county fleet. Would imagine it's going to be a while before E buses take over.