2017 94 Ah CPO: 98 miles range displayed w/ full charge?

[eNate]

A 2017 BEV with 94 Ah battery that I'm looking at surprised me! When I powered it up this morning for a test drive, with the display indicating a full charge, it indicated only 98 miles of range.

Is this cause for concern? Does the car's computer calculate this based on how it's been driven lately (lead-footed dealership test rides?) What's "normal" for displayed range with a full charge?

 

[alohart]

Yes, the range "guess-o-meter" uses the past 18 or so miles of driving to predict the range assuming that the driving conditions will be identical. If you could arrange an extended test drive driving it like you would normally do, the range estimate should become more accurate for your driving.

The EPA rated range is 114 miles. Many feel that this rating is very conservative because it's apparently not difficult to exceed this range.

 

[eNate]

Ha! Funny you should suggest that.

I thought I had talked the salesman in to letting me take the car home for the night, charge at work, drive the kids in the morning, and get a real flavor of the i3 over 100 miles.

But then his manager got involved and wanted me to sign a voidable sales contract and apply for financing, and I just wasn't ready for the commitment -- or hampering my ability to negotiate the price.

 

[robthebold]

It's still warm here, but if it's cold where you are that kind of range isn't ridiculous, especially if you haven't preconditioned the car.

 

[jadnashuanh]

One thing most people do when checking out an EV is to goose it as much and as often as they can. Now, driving any car like that will take a big toll on efficiency, gas or electric. So, without knowing how it was driven, any range displayed will be an extrapolation of what went before.

On the display, you can switch one of the readouts to indicate your average or current efficiency. You can reset it, and see how it goes forward. The community average efficiency is around 4-miles/Kw discharge. You can get a fairly good idea of how far you can go by monitoring that.

 

[JohnKelly]

Make sure the 2017 actually has the larger capacity battery. I think some of them did not ?

 

[eNate]

Thanks, good suggestion. The VIN decoder I'm using says it's a 94 Ah battery.

 

[JohnKelly]

Sounds like you need an extended test drive to reset the guese-o-meter.

 

[eNate]

I went through with the purchase. My mi/kw was stuck around 3.4. After resetting the trip meter, getting some charges on it, and driving it for a few days, I'm up to 4.0 mi/kw and my battery's range is penciling out to 130 miles. So all good! Yay!

 

[jadnashuanh]

4.0 seems to be the community average. It takes a different mindset to achieve much more than that, but it's possible. You'll find high speed is your worst enemy as the drag goes up radically with speed. Unlike a car that usually enriches the mixture during hard acceleration, it isn't as much a factor with an EV. But, not keeping a steady speed and using the brake a lot versus mainly one-pedal driving does make a major hit in efficiency. Well, that's true for an ICE, too, but when your range isn't great in the first place, you notice it more. If you have the active cruise control, that helps, too.

 

[frictioncircle]

eNate -

If most of your driving is on the freeway (and your freeway moves faster than 45mph!), 4.0kWh/mile is pretty good. Would be interesting to know your average speed (as calculated by the OBC).

I've been at 4.6kWh/mile for ages but that's probably due to my ≈ 19mph average speed.

 

[eNate]

It's a mix of streets, freeway, some stop-and-go, but actually, it's too early to say for sure. I just picked the car up last Friday, and have been off work during this time, so I haven't driven a normal routine. That includes establishing a charging routine. For instance, I went in to work overnight and am charging for the first time. Looks like I'll be getting about 27% charge over 8 hours, which covers my mileage to and from work, with a little to spare. So I'm not too concerned about driving for peak efficiency, but I'm also not a racer boy cutting lanes. For what it's worth, I've been keeping in in EcoPro mode most of the time, but it's hard to keep it there on a wide open freeway.

 

[ohm]

Thanks, good suggestion. The VIN decoder I'm using says it's a 94 Ah battery.

Nice. I'm using mdecoder and it doesn't show that info. What VIN decoder are using?

Thank you.

 

[alohart]

For what it's worth, I've been keeping in in EcoPro mode most of the time, but it's hard to keep it there on a wide open freeway.

Why is it difficult to drive in Eco Pro mode on an open freeway?

I always drive in Eco Pro mode and can drive at any speed. I have turned off the Eco Pro speed warning in iDrive, but that's just a warning that doesn't limit the car's speed.

Eco Pro+ mode has a soft 56 mph speed limit that can be overridden by pressing the power pedal further or by driving with adaptive cruise control on. Are you driving in Eco Pro+ mode?

 

[eNate]

For what it's worth, I've been keeping in in EcoPro mode most of the time, but it's hard to keep it there on a wide open freeway.

Why is it difficult to drive in Eco Pro mode on an open freeway?

Because of the way the throttle is remapped under Eco. It's great when I want to be reminded to drive constrained, but takes the enjoyment out of "flowing like water."

 

[eNate]

Thanks, good suggestion. The VIN decoder I'm using says it's a 94 Ah battery.

Nice. I'm using mdecoder and it doesn't show that info. What VIN decoder are using?

I've been using mdecoder, too.

It's under the first block, Vehicle Info, 4th line:

Type I3 94REX (USA)

 

[alohart]

Why is it difficult to drive in Eco Pro mode on an open freeway?

Because of the way the throttle is remapped under Eco. It's great when I want to be reminded to drive constrained, but takes the enjoyment out of "flowing like water."

Always driving in Eco Pro, my experience has been that its power pedal mapping makes its response feel somewhat sluggish during the first half of power pedal travel but more sensitive than Comfort mode during the second half of the power pedal travel with the result being the same power level as Comfort mode when the power pedal is at 100% of its travel (i.e., floored). Maybe that's more like "flowing like a waterfall" at power pedal positions while driving at highway speeds (i.e., too sensitive).

 

[ohm]

Thanks, good suggestion. The VIN decoder I'm using says it's a 94 Ah battery.

Nice. I'm using mdecoder and it doesn't show that info. What VIN decoder are using?

I've been using mdecoder, too.

It's under the first block, Vehicle Info, 4th line:

Type I3 94REX (USA)

Interesting, mine only shows I3 (EUR)

Can you try for instance V308295 ?

 

[eNate]

Interesting, mine only shows I3 (EUR)

Can you try for instance V308295 ?

Ah! The larger battery only showed up on 2017, or maybe some late 2016 production. That's when the 94 tag was used, to differentiate from the 60Ah battery.

If it isn't tagged with 94 or 120, then it's an original 60Ah (22 kW) battery.

 

[ohm]

Interesting, mine only shows I3 (EUR)

Can you try for instance V308295 ?

Ah! The larger battery only showed up on 2017, or maybe some late 2016 production. That's when the 94 tag was used, to differentiate from the 60Ah battery.

If it isn't tagged with 94 or 120, then it's an original 60Ah (22 kW) battery.

Ah, thank you very much!