What's your Real world actual range?

[GenZeJohn]

Chevy Bolt, where are you?

I bought a 1978 Chevy Chevette new. Last GM car I ever owned, REAL piece of crap. I wouldn't drive a Bolt if you gave it to me.

I'll stick with my Soul.

 

[GizmoEV]

I'll stick with my Soul.

I'm glad to hear you aren't going to lose your Soul. :lol:

 

[khaihon]

For SoCal Soul EVers:

Today I did a drive with my family from the South Bay to Big Bear.
I started with a 100% SOC, driving down the 91 FWY, at speeds between 50-70mph.


I made it to the Blink Chademo in front of the 7eleven on Waterman Ave in San Bernardino.

We charged up from 15% to 75% in 20 min.
Our GOM showed 78 miles. Great! Our destination was only 44 miles away.

I greatly underestimated how much energy was required to make it up 7000ft to Big Bear Lake.

My GOM was ticking down FAST. It looked like we wouldn't make it. We were showing 11 miles left by the time we hit Running Springs. The next 11 or so miles was the longest trip of my life! My wife rightfully chided me for not doing a 90-100% charge. Thankfully, there was a decent amount of regen that greatly extended our drive. We wound up making it to the condo with 5 miles displaying.

Hope this relieves some anxiety for some of you who want to attempt the trip. It can be done! Just make sure you go the extra mile (pun intended) at the Chademo in San Bernardino!

 

[Leafer]

I greatly underestimated how much energy was required to make it up 7000ft to Big Bear Lake.

Take a look at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=309&p=6025

So ... for the Soul EV: Curb weight 3,400 lbs ... (can anyone confirm that ?) plus "contents" ;-) ... I bet it's close to the LEAF's estimate of 1.3kWh/1,000 feet (remember that's just the Potential Energy for climbing; you need to add the travel distance requirements).

(And just for fun ... throw in another link: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1659&p=32777)

Hope that helps

 

[oilerlord]

Soul gets rather astounding range.

That is one big word. Maybe as compared to iMiev or 2011 Leaf with 3 bars down.

I get 91-97 range as calculated by miles remaining (GOM) and miles covered. Car has over 19,000 miles. My GOM starting range shows nowadays 91 miles, but it's upper 60s at night. Once winter comes, it's gonna be probably 86 this year. Originally I started with over 100 on GOM. That's long gone.

Thanks for the long term update on your Soul EV. I was reading your "Goodbye Leaf" post on the Leaf forum...you were initially so excited about your new Kia purchase, and it's "astounding" range. After 19,000 miles, and reading between the lines, it looks like the reality of battery degradation is taking a little bit of the shine off the new car. I'll be buying a heavily depreciated EV instead of leasing a new one so I'm going to assume that I'll be replacing the battery at some point. I prefer the Soul, but the better buy may be a sub $10,000 Leaf since replacing the Nissan battery will likely cost a lot less than the Kia's.

 

[OlavEmil]

Some experiences from West Norway (which is very suitable for high milage, because of low speeds):

We own two Soul EVs, one for me and one for my wife. Owning is the only sensible thing to do in Norway, leasers obviously need to get in more from the lease than they will lose from value loss on the car.

We notice big differences in range from summer to winter. The range suffers greatly when the temperature goes below zero (that would be 32 degrees farenheit). Optimal temperature is above 20c (68f). In those temperatures and dry roads, I have driven 195km with 5% to spare. No hypermiling, and totaled over 4 different trips over two days. I also ran out of power at just under 200km in rainy conditions some time later.

My wife commutes 130km / 80 miles one way to work (not daily, luckily). Never had any problems, usually parks with between 20 and 40% left, depending on if she is late for the ferry or not. She also (just) made it in temperatures of -20c / -4f and snowy roads, even though she had to run 30c / 86f on the heater all the way because the window washer fluid froze on the windscreen (yes, she had to use it a lot because of salty slush spraying from other traffic).

All in all, we are very pleased with our cars. Definitely won't ever go back to gas or diesel!

 

[thesoundsmith]

Well,with the heater on and radio, no headlights, made it 38 miles one way and back with 11 miles left. What I am really interested in is how far can you go ON THE FREEWAY AT 65 MPH AT NIGHT, IN FREEZING WEATHER, so both the lights AND heater need to be on.

IOW worst case scenario. Any takers?

 

[iletric]

At 26,000 miles my 100% charge range is now down to 84 miles at 50-75 night/day temps. It's a 10% loss from the earlier 91-93 mile starting range 5-10,000 miles ago.

Hoping it will rise during summer 60-90 degree temps. But I have my doubts.

1.5 more lease years, then off to 200-mile EVs.

 

[thesoundsmith]

At 26,000 miles my 100% charge range is now down to 84 miles at 50-75 night/day temps. It's a 10% loss from the earlier 91-93 mile starting range 5-10,000 miles ago.

That can be a usage issue as much as a battery half-life thing. I drive to work and take two breaks (pianist.) I sit in the car with the heater on, and now my range has apparently dropped 15%. But driving still discharges/recharges at "normal" rates and range seems the same.

1.5 more lease years, then off to 200-mile EVs.

I get it totally - of course, Kia may very well also have those batteries by then.

 

[2016Electric]

At 26,000 miles my 100% charge range is now down to 84 miles at 50-75 night/day temps. It's a 10% loss from the earlier 91-93 mile starting range 5-10,000 miles ago.

Hoping it will rise during summer 60-90 degree temps. But I have my doubts.

1.5 more lease years, then off to 200-mile EVs.

Interesting.

What is your average energy consumption in kw per 100km reading?
Do you have any battery degradation stats from the BMS?

 

[2016Electric]

Well,with the heater on and radio, no headlights, made it 38 miles one way and back with 11 miles left. What I am really interested in is how far can you go ON THE FREEWAY AT 65 MPH AT NIGHT, IN FREEZING WEATHER, so both the lights AND heater need to be on.

IOW worst case scenario. Any takers?

The worst (highest) consumption I've seen in the scenario you mentioned is around 22 kw/100km. It was around -20 C, windy and dark. (I.e. Canadian winter lol). Carrying two passengers, a dog and some cargo.

 

[notfred]

The big problem is when you need to use the defogger as it is below -20C and just the moisture from being in the car is freezing on the windows. I've seen the HVAC draw over 5kW in that scenario. The trick is to use it to clear the windows and then turn it off till they start fogging over again as it is very effective.

 

[edzee3]

I have been impressed with all the big numbers for trip mileages. But my experience is more like 4.3 m/kWh.
I have a '15 EV+, new in Feb. '15. Live in Long Beach , just south of LA. Have just 5,100 miles since new. I have a EMW EVSE (Level 2) in my garage that was brand new and used only with my car.

Most trips are short local but some are freeway trips (70-mi. R/T) with cruise control set at 63 mph . Tire press. set at 35 psi, Almost all trips at moderate temps and no A/C or Heat. Controls set at ECO and B for hi-regen braking.
EVSE displays total energy used and now shows total of 1,445 kWh. Assuming 86% efficiency to the EV Battery, that works out to 1,243 kWh into the EV Batt. And that calc. as 4.1 mi/kWh overall for the 5,100 mi.
Latest trip; 71-mi. R/T last week (45-mi. at 63-mph, no heat or A/C) ; left my garage at SOC=100%, returned with SOC=40%. Based on a 27 kWh Batt. , that calc. as 4.4 m/kWh. My EVSE fillup= 18.1 kWh. (into Batt. at 15.6 kWh), that Calcs. at 4.6 mi/kWh.

The current EV History display shows 4.3 mi/kwh.

Does all this seem typical for the '15 Soul EV+ ?

 

[JejuSoul]

Does all this seem typical for the '15 Soul EV+ ? Yes, for the speed you are driving. I have better stats (5.1 mi/kWh), but that is because the roads here are slower. Here's a quote with conditions and stats similar to yours.

I've got nearly 21,500 Southern California (warm-ish ZIP 90248) miles on my Soul and just did a 94.4 mile continuous run starting with a 100% charge. The car reported 4.1 mi/kWh and there was 11% remaining when I completed the trip.

 

[slobodanc]

I have a 100km daily round trip.
The latest drive at average speeds (up to 110 km/h 60 mph) I left at 80% (schedule night charge) and arrived home at 19%. AC was using less than 1 KW.

So the range would be about 160 if I did push it to the limit. When I drive slower I get around 12 KWh/100km display. So if I limited my speed to 60-70 km/h range then 200+ km would be doable. My car is brand new, so fresh new battery.

Regarding lease vs own,

I didn't buy old Leaf specifically because of range. I bought Kia because the range is almost double of what I need. This is necessary to deal with:
1) degradation with age
2) weather (winter driving)
3) days of extra trips (for kid activities and miscellany other trips after work)

As long as the range is well in excess of the typical daily usage I feel comfortable owning. I am also lucky to have the government that is investing in charging stations. I already have 2 charging locations (2 ports, free) and they are building more this year. Next year I will have 5+ locations on my route. So even in the worst case (very cold winter days) I can stop for a charge if in trouble.

The biggest problem Kia has is high speed driving. Its shape is just not suitable for speed. This where Leaf and Prius are far better, albeit at the loss of a lot of interior space. Kia is a brick compared to my 20yr old Honda Civic CX. That thing just glides and has fantastic low air resistance when cruising on highway.

 

[SoulEV2016]

What's your Real world actual range?

For me, on highway behind the truck at 90 km/h and 15°C = 180 km for a full discharge.

Usually, i make less than 80km per day and when a drive more than 120 km ... i make a detour to a chademo 43kW (usually, every 2 weeks for example).