The Lake Washington Loop

[GaslessInSeattle]

JohnnySebring and I met up last Wednesday to begin what we hope will be a series of "test runs" around Lake Washington. We figured the I-5/405 corridor would be a good route to begin setting some benchmarks to track how the Leaf's range changes with different season's/temperatures, traffic conditions and with age. We both started out with a 100% charge in Shoreline, running a clockwise circle around Lake Washington. We weren't trying to break any records or win any contests, just wanting to compare some notes and have some fun.

We did our drive at around 10 pm with zero traffic and went for a conservative run at a moderate speed figuring we'd ramp it up on future runs once we had a sense of how much leeway we had. Our run was 1 hour 8 minutes, clocked 58.8 miles, average speed of 51.3 MPH (including the jaunt to the freeway on city streets). The temperature ranged between 66-70 F. Johnny stayed in D mode I drove in Eco. He returned with 3 bars and I returned with 4 (showing 27 miles remaining/4.6 mkWh). We stayed close together and stuck to the same speeds. We were shooting for 57 MPH but also kept to 2-3 bubbles, which meant our speed dropped into the mid 40's on one or two steep hills and crept up to the mid 60's a few times going down hill.

We were pretty happy with the run, not expecting to do so well given all the hills. next time we may add another 5mph to see what that does to the range. We'll be mixing it up a bit in future runs.

If anyone else wishes to do the run and share their numbers, please feel free to post the results. While some may want to try and get the best MkWh others may wish to shoot for the highest average speed. We will be meeting up on occasion so if anyone wishes to join us for a lap, drop me or Johnny a line.

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

Just did the loop the other day again, outdoor temperature was around 50, the drive took 72 minutes, went 60 miles, kept it to 3 bubbles, driving more aggressively this time, AVG 4.2 MPkW, came home with 3 bars and an estimated 19 miles remaining. I went in the opposite direction this time adding a little over a mile without really thinking about it beforehand, going a slightly different route home from the off ramp ... for this to be more scientific I'll have to be more consistent and I'm realizing I'll probably need to set the cruise control and just let it do it's thing if I really want to see if there is any chance in range through the seasons and over time because small changes in driving style could otherwise skew the numbers... figured it was worth sharing the numbers anyway for whatever they are worth.

my overall range does seem down a bit, consistent with what I'm hearing from others but it's a little hard to know what to attribute it to since 3 people have been driving the car and we are now using the heater some of the time.

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

Went for another run tonight, wanting to see how the colder whether would effect things. Went 58.8 miles in 67 minutes, kept it to 2-3 bubbles, averaged 3.8 MPkW, ended with 2 bars and 14 miles on the guesometer. It was 39 degrees. I preheated for a good twenty minutes, wore a sweater, kept cc off, temp set to 60. No defrost. Heater kicked in about 20 minutes in, never went over about 1/3 of a kilowatt. No rain. High today was 59 degrees. Topped off just before leaving.

 

[JohnnySebring]

My last loop a couple weeks ago was 67.2 miles, all but 10 freeway, 3.6 MkWh. 45 deg, Climate on auto @ 68 deg, Cruise on 60 mph except on a couple of the bigger hills I backed off to 55 mph. Back in the barn with 0 Bars and --- on GOM but no turtle, started 100%.
I'll try run another soon, but I will have to economize to make it in cooler weather it seems or get turtled or parked!

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

the temperature dropped another 10 degrees so I thought I'd go for another round last night, here are the numbers:

drive time: 67 minutes
distance: 58.9 miles
MPkW: 3.4
Outside temp from dash: 28 F
Miles remaining on guesometer: 8
Bars remaining: 1
Climate control consumption: 750 watts continuous, set to 60 degrees, AC off, defrost setting on
wore a hat, gloves and heavy coat. I did not think ahead and preheat the cabin, it got too late.

It's interesting to note from the above posts over the last several months, that at 70 degrees I did the loop with 4 bars remaining (4.6 MPkW), at 50 degrees I returned with 3 bars (4.2 MPkW), at 39 degrees I returned with two bars (3.8 MPkW) and now at 28, I returned with 1 bar (3.4 MPkW)... from this trend I'm guessing that on the coldest day of this winter (guessing in the teens) the range of the leaf will be half that of a 70+ degree day in the summer. I may attempt the route at 18 degrees but not lower as it looks like I will not make the trip, unless I find that heating the garage brings the MPkW back up, which I plan to do some time. I am very interested to see if I can isolate the effect of cold on the battery. While wind drag coefficient, drive train resistance and Climate Controle all go up in the winter, I suspect that the loss of range is due mostly to the temperature of the core of the traction battery... not sure what I'll find, but I'll keep reporting as the Winter sets in. I do believe I have it down pretty well to drive in virtually the exact same manner around the loop, which should help in figuring some of this out, though the Climate Control is virtually unavoidable and eats more electrons the colder it gets, skewing the findings.

 

[ebill3]

Thank you for the reports.

Yes Sir, the cold battery and moderate use of climate control are certainly taking their toll. While I normally charge to 80%, and a month ago that would be fine for tomorrows use, I'll go to 100% tonight just for a bit of a buffer.

Bill

 

[rdhauser]

Thanks for the posts. Last weekend, the wife and I had planned to visit friends at Ocean Shores, some 72 mi from Olympia. There is almost no plan B available on that trip. There is an EV friendly RV park on the way, and an L2 just 10 mi or so out of Oly, but I'm not ready to put a trip like that together yet. We've got the Modified L2 and an adapter for the clothes dryer at our friends house, but when we looked at the mi/Kwh that you're getting with these lower temperatures, we decided to rent an ICE. Sorry we had to do that, because we "might" have made it.

 

[evnow]

Thanks for the posts. Last weekend, the wife and I had planned to visit friends at Ocean Shores, some 72 mi from Olympia.

You may be able to do that - but would have to drive slow and use little heater. Possible if you have the heated seats.

GaslessInSeattle's 3.4 m/kwh means about 71 miles of range ...

Ofcourse, you can make it in warmer weather after March.

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

On December 7th I did the Lake Washington loop again, preheated for a half an hour (no fog since I dried out the car), turned CC off for the entire drive, zero draw, mode set to foot/defog. Windows stayed crystal clear! The cabin stayed pretty warm, took about 45 minutes to get chilly (I wore a light coat, no gloves or hat). I maintained 4.3 MPkW, went 58.8 miles with just under 4 bars remaining and 21 miles on the guesometer, figure I had about 85 miles or so actual range, temp was 39 outside. I did the loop in about 71 minutes keeping it to 2-3 bubbles, there is substantial elevation change on this route. this was a vast improvement over leaving car on Auto and toggling defrost.

Since the seventh I've maintained 4.0 to 4.2 MPkW's driving the family around town, relying heavily on preheating, mode set to foot/defog CC off. I'm looking forward to another night in the 20's to do the loop to see if I can maintain the high MPkW.

It's interesting to note that the general wisdom that you give up 1 mile of range for every 2 degrees drop does not seem to be applying since I've been applying the latest regimen.

 

[FairwoodRed]

That's amazing that you are able to get such a high effeciancy. I average only 3.3 on my commute from Kent to Northgate. I'll have to give some consideration to the techniques you are using.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

That last trip does have higher than expected performance.

Just curious if you are taking estimated battery capacity during different temperature ranges. I did a range tests during the week that the temps never got above the upper 30.s and in both cases it appeared that o only had just over 17 KW. this was based on distance remaining, distance traveled ave the miles per KW reading

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

That last trip does have higher than expected performance.

Just curious if you are taking estimated battery capacity during different temperature ranges. I did a range tests during the week that the temps never got above the upper 30.s and in both cases it appeared that o only had just over 17 KW. this was based on distance remaining, distance traveled ave the miles per KW reading

the temperature range question still alludes me. we don't have an accurate way to track the car battery temp. assuming it's on par with ambient air temp is questionable and of course as soon as you start driving, it changes. accelerating and regen heat the battery internally and wind chill chills it externally... a statistical pea soup. I am not always starting the drive the same way. some times I've done a long charge just prior, sometimes it's been sitting "cold" for a while. I'll try to track capacity after full charging but for some reason I've gotten the wild hair to lean in the direction of testing weather increased wind drag coefficient of colder air really makes an appreciable difference on overall range like so many claim. so far, I'm not seeing it.

the climate control is so squarely that it's gotten the focus of much of my ire... I swear the thing turns its self on at times

Since I'm always preheating and that charges and presumably warms the battery, it's going to be hard to isolate for cold battery unless I get a snow suite on and drive with gloves on and no preheating and no charging for say 12 hours or something. I am planning on doing that at some point, but my first priority is to apply preheating, foot/defog and no CC at 2-3 bubbles as the temp drops to figure out what my maximum winter range recommendation will be. I want to be able to tell people what I think the car can be expected to do. a lot of folks want to know if it can handle their commute even in the worst whether.

 

[JohnnySebring]

I tend to drive the loop without hyper-mile techniques to get average driver results. I think my 68 mile version could turtle me even with 100% charge and a pre heat in the cold and rain. I'll try it after the Holidays. Last time around i was back to the barn with ---