Cold spell seriously reducing range and ability to charge

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edmc

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 20, 2013
Messages
62
Those of us in the SF Bay Area have been dealing with an unusually cold climate of late (low 20's at night in Pleasanton).
Sure, suffering with a cold cabin with the seat heaters avoids the massive drop in the GOM... but I've noticed a very disconcerting reduction in power starting as early as 18 miles.
Worse than that, charging for a solid hour on a 30A ChargePoint failed to add more than just a few miles to the GOM range indicator... nor restore full power.
I limped home the other night unable to drive above 30mph as I nervously approached the hill leading to our home. I made it home fortunately and was able to obtain a full charge.

I, for one, will maintain a much higher charge in reserve until the temperatures rise :-(.

Am I the only one noticing this?
 
I'm in Upstate New York. We've had a few weeks of low temps here.

You stated that charging added little mileage to the GOM. I would not worry about that as the GOM is even less useful in cold weather. I have seen the GOM say I had 60 miles...I then drove 74 miles and it told me I had 20 left.

The second part I've only experienced once. When you had a reduction in power did you get some kind of warning? I've seen a regen is limited warning but have not seen any performance issues. If you are seeing performance issues my guess is that your battery is cold. If you are plugged in at a chargepoint start a preclimate before you head home. That will warm the cabin but more importantly it provides 0.5 kw to the battery. As the battery warms your power and efficiency should increase. I notice on long trips that my efficiency rises over the 5 minute intervals.

Try the preclimate and and let us know if you see an improvement.

Mike
 
I'm up in Angels Camp and have been in the upper teens for the past couple of days. Yeah, I've noticed about a 15 to 20% drop in range and the efficiency has gone from about 3.5 miles /KWh to 2.7 mi/KWh and that's with no heat on and only the heated seats. It's got to be the battery heaters working overtime to keep the traction batteries up to the normal operating temp.
 
Based on what I've seen on my 30 mile weekend trip it seems like the batteries my take as long as 20-25 minutes to warm up to ideal range starting from around 40 degrees.

Mike
 
THIS is one of the reason why the RAV4 EV is offered ONLY In California, and NOT in Minnesota. ( put your Favorite winter state here!)
My standard charge, based on the GOM ( which i ignore ) is 80, 81 and 83 for the past 3 days.
And everytime o try to use B mode, it says i have limited regenerative braking.

In reality, im still able to do more than 80 miles/day with the heated seats and heater on Eco High.
I'm thinking of doing extended charging in the next few days.
 
Agreed on the GOM being sketchy in terms of accuracy. I'm actually thinking, however, that it at least would offer relative indications.

In any case, it's the "power is limited" warning popping up much higher on the GOM (and expected range even accounting for the lower mi/kWh in cold weather).
My previous experience with the "power is limited" message was only when getting to single digits.
 
Yes this cold spell has definitely lessened the range by probably 15% or so.

I normally go 80MPH for most of my 45 mile drive to work to SF in the morning and end up with about 50 miles left on the GOM for the return trip. Lately, I've been getting down to 45 miles left for the return trip and have had to slow down to 60 mph near the end to make sure I get home. I can always extend charge though and have a lease so I'm not worried about losing battery capacity long term.

I have zero range anxiety too because I always check the GOM vs. the NAV mileage home. Just make sure the NAV mileage is less than the GOM by 1 mile and you will always make it to your destination 100% of the time. Only start worrying when you see the turtle (which has only happened once). Otherwise just ignore the low battery sign!
 
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