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Any GTAM'ers own an electric vehicle?
- Thread starter PrivatePilot
- Start date
Ha ... Congrats! ... I believe that puts you in the lead ... two cars in driveway with meaningful EV only range ...... I have a feeling it will take me a while to match you, since the towing requirement and comfy seating of 5 for the second car .... but one never knows.
The EV drive is absolutely addictive as you pointed out number of times. I have a feeling there might be a negative side to it all .... speeding tickets ... it feels like other cars are literally stand-still ... the 0 to 50 km/h is just so smooth, no drama or noise affair. Also the 80-110 is very brisk and smooth. Hard to describe ... I don't know how people drive Tesla's without a bag of speeding tickets. I guess it wears off, like everything ... but still.
Reminds me of when I switched from a Harley Sportster to a Goldwing. The Wing was so smooth I didn't realize I was going into a corner at 80 that I typically took at 50 on the Sportie.
LOL ... Do we count electric bikes as well? I think, I will have electric dirt bike before I will be able to replace the towing car ....
Something along those lines. No shifts, just focusing on the traffic and the pylons in my way .... LOL
I think we've all had a similar experience when we have a big jump in power. After a while you just get used to it. The first time I took the ape out for a spin I was confused about why things were going by so quickly when I hadn't left 2nd gear yet (the K75 it replaced did not have nearly the grunt).
When I drive our Volt it's actually a significant drop in power vs my Hemi Magnum, but what's deceiving with an EV is how the power is delivered - it's so linear and quiet that you quickly lose the sensation of acceleration that most are used to, with the engine roar, transmission shifting, etc. It's easy to just push and hold the accelerator on an EV and then suddenly look down and see you're doing 130 without hardly realizing it until you start to hear the wind noise getting louder and louder.
Fixed it for you.
With the Wing, at speed, the things alongside the road become a blur. With the Harley it's the instruments.
I definitely predict trouble .... And by the looks of it, I am not the only one ....
I just cannot fathom the Tesla cars performance .... Which is twice as fast as my car anywhere between 0-100 .... Nuts.
I just use the cruise control a lot on the Volt. Not only does it prevent you from accidentally accelerating to ludicrous speed, but it's also way more efficient for maximizing EV mileage.
Anyhow, on the topic of EV range, with the arrival of the cold snap, as expected, the EV range on my wifes Volt has gone in the toilet, and the car has been running in "Engine Running Due To Temperature" mode a lot - commonly referred to as ERDTT. In ERDTT mode (below -4c) the engine runs on and off even when there's battery remaining in order to provide heat - on a smaller battery EV like the Volt the engineers decided (wisely) that running the engine to heat the coolant and generate cabin heat that way is more effecient vs just relying solely on the electric grid heater. It works well, but the last few mornings with temperatures hovering in the -20 range out here, we've seen about a 20KM EV range drop from what we were seeing in the summer.
Again, this was expected, but it's more noticable on a smaller battery EV like the Volt.
Lunatic, how's your experience been with the Bolt in this cold snap? How has the heating been working? How big of an effect on the range it's displaying between the heating demand, the just the fact the cold has an effect on the battery?
Anyhow, I've put about 400KM on the Magnum in the last few days running around to see the new Volt as well as a few other trips, and I've burned through $80 in gas. The new Volt can't come fast enough, I wouldn't use that much gas in 3 months.
Peaking just quickly through power consumption history (haven't had time yet to go through the whole computer thingy) ... yep, all 175km or so since Wed ... LOL .... I am averaging 17.5 kWh/100km ... that is with garaged car and set pre-heat to 23C indoor (and heated seat and steering wheel on during drives; it seems I could save another 2kWh if I shut it off). The car sits in cold unplugged until lunch where I typically go out for a top-up or eat, run errands etc. ... so the battery heater cranks up, so the consumption on those mid-day squirts is up to 30kWh ... so my conclusion is, 20kWh average through out year should be easy and the EV is really no different in cold snap than a gas car ... it simply doesn't like short rides starting with unplugged car in the cold (to be clear, you cannot notice any difference in drive, but the consumption history tells what the BMS had to do, to get the battery close to its 30C optimal temp asap). No surprises there I guess ....
I will note that I just drive the car to the fullest comfort possible with no Eco mode turned on ... this basically limits torque and increases regen. I really don't have to watch every Wh with free charging available .... I know, perhaps not fair, but it is what it is.
I will note that I just drive the car to the fullest comfort possible with no Eco mode turned on ... this basically limits torque and increases regen. I really don't have to watch every Wh with free charging available .... I know, perhaps not fair, but it is what it is.
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Your Magnum requires Premium?
Trust me, since I have had the Soul, my mind is all over the place regarding the second car .... It's just hard to see how, I could be driving this car for the next 4 years .... I think what people are saying is absolutely true ... you get your first EV and everything changes as far as your priorities. They are still there, but their order is changing as we speak. Stupid human wiring ... LOL
No, but with a tuned Hemi under the hood, well...it's thirsty.
Yep. Seeing my wife drive the Volt for an entire money in the summer for about what I spent on 400KM driving my Magnum is the reason why there's another Volt coming to our driveway in the next few days. Using the exact same driving I drove the Magnum the last 3 days I would have used a few dollars in electricity and perhaps $15 in gas, and that was only because a few of the trips . For my typical driving I will be probably upwards of 95% electric focused in the summer, and still probably 80% in the winter - I don't have any long commutes like my wife does, and I'm also a more efficient driver in the Volt.
Yeah, I'll miss that little adrenaline rush that the Magnum provides when you tromp on it, and yeah, I'll miss that v8 rumble and bark, but I will NOT miss 15L/100KM in the summer, and 17-19L/100KM in the winter.
On the bright side, my wife informed me that she's getting closer to gaining access to a plug at work. Inside an 8 hour work day, even using the portable 12A 120V charger she should be able to get about 80% of a charge in the winter, and easily 100% in the summer. Woohoo!
Just picking through some EV news this morning .... things about to shake up with the Tesla semi and Ontario. Apparently the Libs are about to announce an incentive to the trucking industry ... https://electrek.co/2017/12/14/tesla-semi-other-electric-trucks-ontario-govt-incentive/ .....
While the headliner states $75K, it certainly is not what many people will think it is. Nevertheless, looks like this will get things moving, certainly companies will start hopping on-board.
Looks like a good run for Ontario, with the recent BYD announcement as well .... https://electrek.co/2017/11/15/byd-new-electric-truck-assembly-factory-canada/
While the headliner states $75K, it certainly is not what many people will think it is. Nevertheless, looks like this will get things moving, certainly companies will start hopping on-board.
Looks like a good run for Ontario, with the recent BYD announcement as well .... https://electrek.co/2017/11/15/byd-new-electric-truck-assembly-factory-canada/
I was poking through the new stories on this. So they reimburse half of the price difference between conventional and EV up to 75K per vehicle? What a $#!tshow that is going to be. What is the reference price to compare a Tesla truck too? They should have just flat-rated it like consumer purchases (eg something like 25% of purchase price comes back up to $75,000). Is the reference vehicle supposed to be a similar size or similar power/performance? Another government boondoggle happening here folks.
I have been seeing about a 30 to 40km drop in estimated range. The Bolt is always plugged in when at home in the unheated garage, and sits all day in a heated parking garage at work. Up until this week, it was actually turning on the A/C when I got in to go home to get the inside temp to 21c!
It sat for half a day outside yesterday and there was definitely an impact on the range, but I still managed over 200km of travel and got home with 55km showing as the minimum range still available. 95% of that travel was 400 series highways at normal speeds.
Heat works just fine, functionally doesn't seem much different from any other car.
I've seen about a 50-60km range drop in this cold snap. Mine is outdoors at home and work and have finally seen battery conditioning show up on the battery use graph. The power consumption I was averaging in the cool weather before this week was close to 18 kwh per 100 km; this week it's about 22 kwh per 100km. The consumption pie chart this week is showing 20% of that is for heating, 3% battery conditioning, and the rest for propulsion. I keep the interior temp at 19C, and a lot of the driving's on the 401.
It looks like battery capacity reduction from the cold temps is helped out by the Bolt's battery thermal management system. Cabin heating is a big drain and one issue I've found is that the defrost/defog isn't as good as on my old ICE cars. It's not horrible, but it takes a little bit longer to clear the interior of the windshield.
It looks like battery capacity reduction from the cold temps is helped out by the Bolt's battery thermal management system. Cabin heating is a big drain and one issue I've found is that the defrost/defog isn't as good as on my old ICE cars. It's not horrible, but it takes a little bit longer to clear the interior of the windshield.
Agreed ... sounds like a good intent, but yet another horrible execution. What else can one say ... maybe they will have further details soon.
That's strange. It is easily possible to design it to blow any ICE car out of the water as it has instant heat at full temp. They must have prioritized battery life over performance (either with a small heater or by limiting current in software).
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