Driving Diary

tractioninc · May 5, 2016

As I've mentioned in other posts, I'm surprised at the disconnect between the estimated range displayed on my dash (the Guess-o-Meter) with the real-world range my car is able to deliver. With that in mind, I intend to periodically check in here to compare my range / state of charge / efficiency data.

Currently my car is 13 months old and has just under 12,000 miles (roughly 19,000 km) on the odometer.

April 27, 2016
Starting GoM Range – 100 miles
Starting Charge – 100%
Distance Driven – 40.5 miles
Recorded Efficiency – 5.0 mi/kWh

tractioninc · May 5, 2016

April 28, 2016

Starting GoM Range – 100 miles
Starting Charge – 100%
Distance Driven – 36.5 miles
Recorded Efficiency – 5.0 mi/kWh
Ending Charge – 73%
Ending GoM Range – 73 miles
Calculated Efficiency – 1.3 miles/% of charge
Calculated Max Range – 126 miles

tractioninc · May 5, 2016

April 29, 2016

Starting GoM Range – 100 miles
Starting Charge – 100%
Distance Driven – 38.5 miles
Recorded Efficiency – 5.2 mi/kWh
Ending Charge – 73%
Ending GoM Range – 73 miles
Calculated Efficiency – 1.4 miles/% of charge
Calculated Max Range – 143 miles

tractioninc · May 5, 2016

May 3, 2016

Starting GoM Range – 102 miles
Starting Charge – 100%
Distance Driven – 38.5
Recorded Efficiency – 4.8 miles/kWh
Ending Charge – 71%
Ending GoM Range – 70 miles
Calculated Efficiency – 1.3 miles/% of charge
Calculated Max Range – 133 miles

tractioninc · May 5, 2016

May 4, 2016

Starting GoM Range – 100%
Starting Charge – 103 miles
Distance Driven – 36.0 miles
Recorded Efficiency – 5.1 miles/kWh
Ending Charge – 74%
Ending GoM Range – 73 miles
Calculated Efficiency – 1.3 miles/% of charge
Calculated Max Range – 133 miles

tractioninc · May 17, 2016

May 17, 2016

Starting GoM Range – 107 miles
Starting Charge – 100%
Distance Driven – 39 miles
Recorded Efficiency – 4.7 mi/kWh
Ending Charge – 71%
Ending GoM Range – 73 miles
Calculated Efficiency – 1.3 miles/% of charge
Calculated Max Range – 134 miles

Stewart2673 · May 18, 2016

Thanks for posting your real time results. I am getting my Soul EV at the end of May 2016 and range is a curiosity. With a advertized range of 90 mile and you potentially getting better then 100 that is great. I would always want to know there is more than less. With my Ford F150, as I get closer to empty, the mileage estimate to empty goes way quicker. That meaning the gauge may show 70Km to empty but in reality I may get 40.

tractioninc · May 18, 2016

About six weeks ago I was really surprised when a 70 mile round trip only used about half of my charge. Since then I've been paying much closer attention to my driving stats. I'm glad that someone else finds it useful!

May 18, 2016

Starting GoM Range – 108 miles
Starting Charge – 100%
Distance Driven – 37 miles
Recorded Efficiency – 4.8 mi/kWh
Ending Charge – 72%
Ending GoM Range – 76 miles
Calculated Efficiency – 1.3 miles/% of charge
Calculated Max Range – 132 miles

edzee3 · May 19, 2016

I'm impressed at the high mileage that you are getting.

I (2015 EV+, 35 psi tires) do a variety of local and freeway driving, always with Eco on, and mostly with no A/C or heat, and only driver.
I limit my freeway speed to 63 mph and with cruise control on.
I usually get about 4.1 or 4.2 mi/kWh.

How do you get such good mileage ? Your type and style of driving ?

JejuSoul · May 20, 2016

My car is the same age and has roughly the same miles as tractioninc's. My current stats are identical. (they were lower in the winter - and will be lower in the summer) In my case this is suburban driving (no more than 40mph) in fine Spring weather (20C). I've done a long range test a couple of times. With the GOM starting at 110 miles, I can actually drive 140.

ZuinigeRijder · May 20, 2016

Whenever you do not need the full range, it is better to not charge to 100%, but e.g. to 80%. Looking at your commute and range you will be then between 20% and 80%. Only charge to 100% when needed and also preferably just before leaving. This will make the battery calendar aging less. Especially keeping charged for long at 100% is bad for the battery.

See E400 results (pages E21-E23):
http://www.osti.gov/scitech/servlets/purl/1160224

Initial results indicate that when LMO- free E400 takes a purely drive mode, it can run more than 248,000 miles with 343kWh of energy throughput (per unit cell; 91.0MWh per pack system) based on 80% of capacity retention.

On 80% retention basis, LMO-free E400 can maintain 3.1 years, 3.6 years, 4.6 years, and 9.8 years in 30°C, Phoenix, Honolulu, and Minneapolis, respectively. This is the result result from SOC 100% storage, and when SOC conditions responding real life are applied, calendar estimated life will be much longer than this. From accumulated NCM cell experiences of SKI, calendar life of SOC 50% is approximately five times longer than that of SOC 100%, and calendar life of lower end SOC is approximately 20 times longer than that of SOC 100%. Thus, it is considered to last more than 10 years when real life SOC conditions are applied to LMO-free E400.

tractioninc · May 20, 2016

edzee3 said:
I usually get about 4.1 or 4.2 mi/kWh. How do you get such good mileage ? Your type and style of driving?

For the first year I owned this car I drove it like I drive all my cars, and typically averaged about 4 mi/kWh in mixed conditions. Even at that rate I was getting about 1 mile per % of charge, and beating the GoM range estimates on my dash.

After getting great mileage on the 70 mile round trip I mentioned above, I realized that my car was capable of a lot more -- so I took it on a 130 mile round trip, something I would never had attempted before. While I did stop part way for a precautionary quick charge on this trip, it proved that I could exceed 5.0 mi/kWh on the highway if I was careful with the throttle and took care to follow other vehicles. Even at a comfortable distance, following behind large trucks has a big impact on efficiency at motorway speeds.

Now I make a conscious effort to accelerate modestly and use as much regen as possible while in traffic or on surface streets, and I follow other vehicles while driving on the highway. That alone has bumped up my car's max driving range by maybe 25 miles over what I would have expected before.

tractioninc · May 20, 2016

ZuinigeRijder said:
Whenever you do not need the full range, it is better to not charge to 100%, but e.g. to 80%.

While I understand your point completely, and the math that supports it, charging to 80% is at odds with my lifestyle and my planned use of this vehicle.

On days when I only use the car to drive to work and back, I'm only using 25-40% of the stored charge, so charging to 80% would have been sufficient... but there are very often days when I need to run errands, too, and I want the car's full range available.

If I owned my Soul and planned to keep it for 10+ years, my charging behavior may be different. The reality is that I will only drive this car about 30,000 miles before returning it for another vehicle--a Tesla Model 3, perhaps?

tractioninc · Jun 1, 2016

June 1, 2016

Distance Driven – 84 miles
Starting Charge – 100%
Ending Charge – 35%
Starting GoM Range – 109 miles
Ending GoM Range – 35 miles
Displayed Efficiency – 4.8 mi/kWh
Calculated Efficiency – 1.3 miles/% of charge
Calculated Max Range – 129 miles

tractioninc · Jul 11, 2016

Indicated range this morning is 109 miles (175 km). Not bad for a battery pack that's driven nearly 13K miles (over 20K km) and is always charged to 100%.

JejuSoul · Jul 11, 2016

Those stats in the photo above are almost identical to my car. I'm slightly lower energy economy this month because the air con is on all the time (20,500km; GOM 175km; 8.1km/kWh; night time temp 24C). I had my car tested last week SOH=100%. I am confident you too have SOH=100%. I almost always charge to 80%. As yet I do not think we can see any difference in the stats for different charging behaviour. Also good news is the fact that you and I both live in 'hot' climates and yet our cars are keeping up with the Scandinavians in the lack of deterioration race.

tractioninc · Dec 15, 2016

Winter driving update: December 15, 2016

Today's driving temperatures ranged from 29-40 F (-2 to 4 C)

Starting Charge – 100%
Starting GoM Range – 90 miles
Distance Driven – 58 miles
Recorded Efficiency – 4.1 mi/kWh
Ending Charge – 40%
Ending GoM Range – 33 miles
Calculated Efficiency – 1.0 miles/% of charge
Calculated Max Range – 97 miles

mysoulev · Dec 19, 2016

JejuSoul said:
I almost always charge to 80%.

i bought my SoulEV so i always charge it to 80% unless i need the range for long trip. the few times i charged it to 100% i got over 190km even with AC on in the summer (GOM-170km at 100%). right now with temperature dipping below 0c (with snow and ice), my efficiency has dropped to 21KWh/100km.

i heard some people say it is ok to always charge to 100% with L2, it that true?

when you said SOH is 100%, does it mean % of battery degradation is less then the reserve?

is there any real world data for SoulEV battery degradation between DCQC, L2 and L1?

thanks!

JejuSoul · Dec 19, 2016

mysoulev: I will answer your question in the battery ageing thread. This is tractioninc's Driving Diary. I like this thread. It's just about the car working fine. No problems. All is good. My car is also trouble-free. The other threads I write on Battery Ageing, Charge Fault Error, give the impression that many of us are having problems. I don't think we are.

My car in December has dropped a little on the GOM, now shows 185km. It was 200km a few weeks ago, but the average temp has cooled down to about 13C. I now get 7.8 km/kWh which suggests a real range of 220km. Maybe time to do a range test and check.

tractioninc · Feb 1, 2017

Driving update: February 1, 2017

I forgot to plug in overnight, so I started my 20 mile (32 km) commute home this evening with 35% charge and only 26 mi (42) km range indicated on the dash. I didn't want to risk not making it home in the dark, so I made an effort to drive patiently. Outside temperature was 57 F (14 C).

Starting Charge – 34%
Starting GoM Range – 26 miles
Distance Driven – 20 miles
Displayed Efficiency – 5.3 miles/kWh
Ending Charge – 18%
Ending GoM Range – 13 miles
Calculated Efficiency – 1.3 miles/% of charge
Calculated Max Range – 130 miles

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