Cold weather

What sort of mileage hits are folks seeing from cold weather? Also, were you ever told that you would take that hit? I'm going around and around with the dealer because my previously 78 mile max has dropped to 54 (with preconditioning) and I'm being told that this is both normal and acceptable. Unfortunately, I was never told of this in advance and am a little pissed off that my 80 mile range car is a 54 mile range car for several months out of the year. Anyone else running into this?

All batteries lose some capacity when it gets colder. How much, depends on many factors. FWIW, most ICE vehicles get less mpg in the winter, too.

Miles remaining after daily 62 mile commute has predictably gone from as high as 13 during warmer weather to just barely making it home today with 1 mile remaining. Departed at 21 degrees F and returned at 48 degrees F.

19% range degradation at an average temp just below freezing is better than the 20% I was expecting at 32 degrees F, so I'm quite happy.

The heater uses up a lot of battery power. I went from 120KM (75mile) in the summer to 100KM (60mile) this week. The outside temp is just above 0c (32F). I do a lot of short trips and the heater is constant on to warm up the interior.

Range has dropped from +/- 145 kms to +/- 120 kms (comfort mode) the last few weeks although it is still not that cold in Belgium (about 10° C) and my car is almost always parked indoors.... We should have the heat pump but I am wondering if maybe they didn't install one (you do not see it so how can you know it is really there?). It is disappointing...

78 down to 54 certainly seems a lot.

Mine's down but I don't know how much as the s/w upgrade changed things a lot (and made forecasts more pessimistic). A 60 mile trip I do on the motorway leaves me with between 8 and 16 miles (depending on mode, use of heating, speed, etc). In the Summer I think it was between 15 and 25.

REx FWIW.

Ci3ndy said:

Range has dropped from +/- 145 kms to +/- 120 kms (comfort mode) the last few weeks although it is still not that cold in Belgium (about 10° C) and my car is almost always parked indoors.... We should have the heat pump but I am wondering if maybe they didn't install one (you do not see it so how can you know it is really there?). It is disappointing...

Click to expand...

If you remove the plastic cover on the right hand side of the storage compartment (looking from the front) under the bonnet/hood you can see part of the heating circuit. The expansion tank is at the top close to the front of the car and a pipe leads down to the circulating pump further back. If you see a pipe going down from the circulating pump to a box (the heat exchanger) near the bottom of the car and another coming back up to the black rectangular box which is the electrical heater next to circulating pump then you have the heat pump. If a short pipe comes up from the circulating pump and straight into the heater then you don't have the heat pump.

Thank you Brian I will certainly have a look for that heat pump as my range is going down too much!.. It's not even "really cold" yet !!

Phew!!! Was worried for a some time but I guess 20-30% loss is normal.... :shock:
My i3 took a big hit yday (and esp. day before) when GA temps tanked to teens (felt like 12F in Atlanta @ 6AM)... sad part is going back home w/ 10-13 miles remaining causes a chain reaction for car never gets charged to the full potential [w/o us going out of the normal charging zone (11PM-7AM)].

QQ: My bosch level 2 charger tops off at 70-72 miles range (comfort) --> max to 86 (on Eco Pro +)...even after charging it for 9 hours ... is this acceptable? I have turned pre-conditioning OFF and start charging at min of 10 miles

Hate to say (and admit to wife) that it's not easy to drive in <20F conditions with heater-ac OFF... just to save enuf juice to reach home safely :shock: :?

PS: All in all, enjoying my new ride... n zipping past those Leafs day in & out... waiting for early spring ... LOL ... :mrgreen:

Disregarding the range estimation, look at your average miles/kw, and see how that stacks up to your battery level. You might have more left than you think.

5ABIZ said:

QQ: My bosch level 2 charger tops off at 70-72 miles range (comfort) --> max to 86 (on Eco Pro +)...even after charging it for 9 hours ... is this acceptable? I have turned pre-conditioning OFF and start charging at min of 10 miles

Click to expand...

What is the current rating of your EVSE circuit (e.g., 40 amps)? Have you set the charging rate in iDrive to be the highest that your EVSE circuit would allow (e.g., if your EVSE circuit is rated at 40 amps, have you set the Level 2 charging rate to "Maximum")? From your description, your EVSE must not be providing nearly as much power as your i3's charger could use.

The max the i3 can use from the EVSE is 32A, and if yours is smaller, it will adjust to accommodate it (just like with the level 1 unit that comes with it). But, to charge at the max rate possible, you have to set the I-drive menu option to max. Verify that, the default when new is not max. There are two menu entries, one for the level 1 and one for the level 2 EVSE units...unless you have a reason to use a slower, lower rate, set it to max...the car will adjust what it uses to protect the batteries - you don't have to.

Thanks Art & Jim,

I checked the settings over the weekend and Level 2 charging (40amps) was set to MAX (on i3).... What I have realized is that close to 80 miles (w/e the car maxes out to) the charge slows down... also monitored the charge using Chargenow station/ app and graph kinda falls from actual usage to 10% value when battery reaches max charge (or so)....
whats confusing me is the actual range appearing on full charge (even after no driving n charging for 2 st. nights) = 80 MILES!

Maybe time to take it to the dealer :twisted:

I'll keep y'all posted!

Cheers,
Gill

5ABIZ said:

What I have realized is that close to 80 miles (w/e the car maxes out to) the charge slows down... also monitored the charge using Chargenow station/ app and graph kinda falls from actual usage to 10% value when battery reaches max charge (or so)....
whats confusing me is the actual range appearing on full charge (even after no driving n charging for 2 st. nights) = 80 MILES!

Click to expand...

Does the i3 top-balance its battery pack when charging fully? My i-MiEV did this. Mitsubishi recommended discharging at least monthly to about ⅛ followed by a full charge to ensure that the charge levels of all battery pack cells were equal. After the battery pack has reached full (not totally full, but "full" as defined by the charging software), top-balancing would continue trickle charging only those battery cells which had not reached "full" until all cells were at the same charge level. This usually took ~1 hour. But I don't know whether the i3 does this (I hope it has some sort of cell balancing procedure).

With the defective KLE's in our cars, the maximum charging rate has been reduced to protect the KLE until new ones can be installed. So you might be experiencing this slower charging rate because of this.

An estimated 80 miles of range when fully charged is certainly within the normal range. After all, the EPA range rating for the BEV version is 81 miles. The estimated range depends on a number of factors that aren't documented, but one's recent driving style and the ambient temperature are likely two of the factors used to calculate the expected range.

Keep in mind that the i3 does not allow the driver to use all of the battery...they maintain a buffer both at the top and bottom of the battery's actual capacity. One major reason for this is to maintain a long life.

I've not read a good discussion on that actual charging profile for the i3's batteries. But, it is very common to slow the charging process as they approach their maximum level, and keep in mind that the i3 does have active temperature control of the battery compartment via a liquid cooling (heating?) system to keep things working well long-term.