Owner's Spark registers 127 miles of range

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Blackmamba

Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2013
Messages
24
From the first Spark EV owner's blog:

http://chevysparkev.blogspot.com/2013/07/lately-ive-been-doing-some-driving.html
 
nothing, really. my spark regularly shows around 145 after i leave from home and go downhill for about 10mi. this happens daily. what if i show you a 166mi of range?
 
drivefast said:
nothing, really. my spark regularly shows around 145 after i leave from home and go downhill for about 10mi. this happens daily. what if i show you a 166mi of range?

Heck, I got 207 miles once. I must have the most efficient car on the planet.

Any of the "Guess O Meters" (GOM) that start add miles to go down hills, and vice versa, don't tell me anything at all.

It specifically does NOT indicate that the "regen is really good".
 
TonyWilliams said:
It specifically does NOT indicate that the "regen is really good".

You obviously aren't very familiar with the Spark with this comment. The regen on this car, in fact, is quite excellent. You see, regen charges the battery (really, that's what it does!), and when the battery gets charged, the car gets further range! Amazing math, huh?
 
scotte said:
TonyWilliams said:
It specifically does NOT indicate that the "regen is really good".

You obviously aren't very familiar with the Spark with this comment. The regen on this car, in fact, is quite excellent. You see, regen charges the battery (really, that's what it does!), and when the battery gets charged, the car gets further range! Amazing math, huh?

Funny, but actually I do have a wee bit of experience with electric cars. No, the GOM/DTE showing a big number doesn't mean "good regen".

The car could have NO regen (coasting in neutral) and go down a long hill and the GOM/DTE would likely show a really big number.
 
scotte said:
TonyWilliams said:
It specifically does NOT indicate that the "regen is really good".

You obviously aren't very familiar with the Spark with this comment. The regen on this car, in fact, is quite excellent. You see, regen charges the battery (really, that's what it does!), and when the battery gets charged, the car gets further range! Amazing math, huh?

I find it hilarious when a 'snarky' comment shows how little the 'snarker' understands...

Also, this quote in the 'article' : "I just rolled down the windows instead of using the air conditioning just to be safe" shows the author doesn't understand that driving with the windows down on the freeway actually *raises* the Cx and uses more power. (It would have been better to use the 'vent' to allow outside air in instead of lowering the windows.)
 
scotte said:
TonyWilliams said:
It specifically does NOT indicate that the "regen is really good".

You obviously aren't very familiar with the Spark with this comment. The regen on this car, in fact, is quite excellent. You see, regen charges the battery (really, that's what it does!), and when the battery gets charged, the car gets further range! Amazing math, huh?


Dude, I'd quit whilst you're ahead.
 
The car could have NO regen (coasting in neutral) and go down a long hill and the GOM/DTE would likely show a really big number.
Exactly.
I left my house after charging, and coasted down a 700 ft. hill in neutral. I don't recall the GOM number, although it was over 100, but the energy used display showed that I got 29 miles/kwh.
Great regen?
The GOM is literally just a computed guess, based on your energy use in recent driving.
Meanwhile, if you drive up a hill at a moderate speed, then drive back down, the Spark EV regen will recover about 30% of the energy used to drive up (which is actually better than most EVs). So I guess it depends on your definition of "great".
 
OK... for what it is worth, I typically start with a full charge from my home in the foothills above Pasadena. For the most part all downhill to the downtown L.A. area. The GOM will generally show an 10-20% increase in estimated range. However, I am reasonably confident that I do not have more than a 100% battery charge at the end of this trip.
 
If you read the blog post he is not talking about an instantaneous GOM reading-- he is talking about driving for 70 miles and then plugging in the car and seeing what the cars says at that point.
 
EldRitch said:
Meanwhile, if you drive up a hill at a moderate speed, then drive back down, the Spark EV regen will recover about 30% of the energy used to drive up (which is actually better than most EVs). So I guess it depends on your definition of "great".
SparkEV recovers more than 75% of energy going down. You have to discount the energy used to propel the car at constant speed.

For example, let's say you drive up a hill at 50 MPH and saw 33 kW and down the same hill at same speed as 10 kW regen; roughly what you might see at 8% grade hill. One would think the efficiency is 30% (10/33). But energy was also used to push the air out of the way as well as the radio, lights, tire friction, etc. Let's say flat road at 50 MPH is 9 kW. Then the efficiency for hill down regen / hill up use = (10+9) / (33-9) = 80%

Now let's say you drove the same hill at 25 MPH where flat road only takes 3 kW. Then you might see 27 kW going up and 16 kW regen going down, for what seems like 60%(16/27) efficiency. But the hill portion is still 80% efficient.

Due to display resolution, you have to consider uncertainty. That's why I use 75% as conservative rule of thumb. See my blog post for more details.

http://sparkev.blogspot.com/2016/05/regenerative-braking-efficiency.html
 
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