Used Vehicle and Battery Personality?

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ESQ

New member
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Nov 30, 2018
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We just bought a used Chevy Spark with roughly 35,000 miles. Overnight on a 110 charger we are getting only 52 miles. Dealership says its a product of how previous owner drove the vehicle, and that battery life can be improved with our own driving style. What? Will a 220/240 charger be able to shove more juice in? Is this battery sufficiently jacked that we ought to be consider returning the vehicle? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
 
ESQ said:
We just bought a used Chevy Spark with roughly 35,000 miles. Overnight on a 110 charger we are getting only 52 miles. Dealership says its a product of how previous owner drove the vehicle, and that battery life can be improved with our own driving style. What? Will a 220/240 charger be able to shove more juice in? Is this battery sufficiently jacked that we ought to be consider returning the vehicle? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

- Dealership says its a product of how previous owner drove the vehicle

Possibly. More on that later.

- Will a 220/240 charger be able to shove more juice in?

No - absolutely not - rate of charge doesn't matter at all.

- Is this battery sufficiently jacked that we ought to be consider returning the vehicle?

Maybe.

OK, 1st. The "range" is a *guestimate* based on many things, one of which is driving style. Nobody is sure exactly how long it takes the car to 'relearn' or 'modify' the guess based on a new driving style. Maybe 10 miles, maybe 100.

Another thing is temperature. Your vehicle will drive fewer miles of range when it is cold. The colder it gets, the less range you will have. At 32F (0C) you will have pretty low range (?25% lower?) just based on battery chemistry, and a lower temp than that it will suck even more. Since you will also be used the *electric* heater when it is cold, that will also lower your range. I advize using "remote start" on your vehicle while it is plugged in, about 15-20 minutes before leaving. That will start to warm the battery, and you can also set the heater controls to (say) 66 degrees to warm the air inside and take some of the energy from the wall instead of the battery. Use the "seat warmer" instead of the car heater, and bring a small throw-blanket to keep on your lap / knees / legs while in the car to help stay warm. It all helps a little bit, but the best thing is to "remote start" the car while plugged in so that it will heat the battery.

You can 'measure' (guess at) the amount of battery capacity that is left. Do a full, full, charge (leave it plugged in at least an hour after is says that it is full). Go to the "leaf" screen (push the leaf" button near the screen" and find the screen with the circle diagram that shows "amount of energy used since last charge". It should say 0 kWh used. Now go drive the car until the battery is low (?10 miles left?). Go back to that screen. It should tell you "amount of kWh used" as well as "% charge". Do the math :

(amount of kWh used) / (amount of battery % used)

So, suppose you used 12 kWh and 80% of battery capacity (20% left). 12 / .8 = 15 : your battery capacity is about 15 kWh total.

So, suppose you used 16 kWh and 90% of battery capacity (10% left). (16/.9=17.77) Your battery capacity is about 17.77 kWh.

The battery is *about* 20 kWh for a 2014 Spark EV (someone here can chip in with the exact amount). The warranty on a 2014 guarantees 'fixing' the battery if you have less than 65% of original capacity before 100,000 miles or 10 years (or is that 8 years?). So, if your battery capacity is less than 13 kWh, you can ask Chevy for a battery replacement under warranty. You may not get a new one - you might simply get one that will bring you over the 13 kWh limit (if 13 is the correct amount).

Hope this helps.
 
While you are calculating the battery capacity, you will also be 'resetting' the guess-o-meter (what we jokingly call the range display) based on your driving style. Drive calmly, no fast accels. You also probably want to drive at "slower" speeds rather than at 70 (even though that will allow you to drain the battery and thus measure faster) - since wind resistance goes up with the SQUARE of the speed (the air resistance at 40 is the square of the resistance at 20 - not simply the double, and the resistance at 60 the resistance is the power of 4 greater than the resistance at 20 - not times four). So if you have an expressway where you can drive (say) 40, that would be great to measure the actual, realistic range. (Unless you are going to be using it on the freeway a lot - then drive at the speed that you will normally be driving it.)

Oh, and if it is really cold where you live (*where* do you live?) then you should definitely keep the car in a garage AND plug the car in overnight to keep the battery warmer.
 
Yep, heat usage is a biggy for your Guess-O-Meter. Speed, Temp, Elevation change and Tire Pressure are also biggies... :cool:

But don't suffer. Use heat if you need it. It's still the cheapest way to roll yourself down the road.

When it's in the single digits I have to use defrost with outside air. Hate it. :cry: Nobody likes winter, especially BEV's. :?
When it's not that cold I can get away with it on 'Recirc' or cycle between that and outside air.

When the 70's and 80's return you will be surprised what the GOM displays.

Start plotting your battery's 'kWh/% used' when you use over 50% to get an idea of the battery's current capacity.
 
Thanks guys. We got a "better" range estimate today and will keep following the advice.
 
SparkE said:
Nobody is sure exactly how long it takes the car to 'relearn' or 'modify' the guess based on a new driving style. Maybe 10 miles, maybe 100.

In my experience, the guess O meter range is based on about the last 4 days of driving / charging cycles.
 
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