Stationary Power Consumption - Any Figures?

[nitramluap]

I've not seen any data on this but does anyone know what kind of power draw the vehicle has when just sitting in traffic - but in ready/drive mode - and how do various things affect it (HVAC, Lights, etc)?

The reason I ask is that while sitting in bumper to bumper traffic in an EV should be easier to deal with than in an ICE, you still will be consuming power while sitting still - the question is, how much and is it a significant issue for long delays?

I guess it could be expressed as 'miles/hour' or 'kWh/h' for a more technical assessment.

 

[jadnashuanh]

In order of magnitude, here's my guess of the power use while stopped:
- hvac (climate control - you can turn most of this off, and the Eco modes do, at least to a degree)
- lighting (while most of the lights are led's, they still consume power - the high beams are not, and by themselves combined add up to about 100W/hr)
- computers and displays

The community average energy use is slightly over 4-miles/kw, or about 250W/mile. Given an average speed of say 20mph that you might get in stop-and-go traffic in the city, that's about 3-minutes/mile, or 250/3 - let's say rounded to about 80W/minute. Acceleration is a big part of the energy use, cruising is less. Without a good ammeter, it would be hard to divide the energy uses, but you could make estimates for each of the loads other than the motor.

You can get an idea of how various things impact range by switching the display to one of the energy use screens, then turning various things on/off...you'll see the range available change.

 

[nitramluap]

Thanks for the reply.

When I (eventually) get my BEV I'll endeavour to measure these things. It would be nice to know that if, in the rare event that I'm stuck for a few hours in traffic with a low battery, I will still have enough power to finish the journey.

 

[jadnashuanh]

While you may not need it for a familiar trip...when you have set in a destination to the nav system, it will do a graphical range ring on the map, showing you your range at various modes (comfort, eco, or eco+) and whether you can get there on your current SOC and mode. If you can't get there, it will also show you alternate routes where you might find an EVSE. FWIW, stop and go with an EV is much more efficient than on an ICE (maybe similar while stopped if the ICE has auto shutoff verses sitting there idling). The EV, though, doesn't have the load to run the starter each time.

 

[Gif]

My Ford ICE has a neat facility which would be useful on an EV. Normally the mpg readout displays. When the vehicle stops, it can't do an mpg calc for obvious mathematical reasons. It actually flips the display to gph to give you a readout of how much fuel you're getting through standing still.

If the EV switched to a straightforward "watts in use" readout it would be really helpful.

 

[nitramluap]

That would be perfect.

 

[alohart]

The community average energy use is slightly over 4-miles/kw, or about 250W/mile. Given an average speed of say 20mph that you might get in stop-and-go traffic in the city, that's about 3-minutes/mile, or 250/3 - let's say rounded to about 80W/minute.

The use of incorrect units above makes this calculation difficult for me to understand, so I'm going to restate the above:

The community average energy use is slightly over 4-miles/kWh, or about 250Wh/mile. Given an average speed of say 20mph that you might get in stop-and-go traffic in the city, that's about 3-minutes/mile, or (250Wh/mi / 3min/mi) (60min/h) = 5kW.