tl;dr: I think having your climate temperature at a high (and possibly low) temperature; regardless of whether the air is blow or AC is on still drains your battery. Anyone confirm this?
2016 Spark EV here and I've been averaging about 5.0+ mi/kwh on my daily commute to work since I purchased back in July. I noticed in late November that mileage dropped SIGNFICANTLY to ~3.8 mi/kwh.
First thing I did was I checked the tire pressure and noticed it was a couple psi low so I filled it up to normal. That got me to 3.9/4.0 mi/kwh.
Then I chaulked it up to "this must be what people mean when they say your ambient temperature affects your range." Thing is, I live in San Diego and weather here on average has been ~ 65 F during my commute (not THAT far from normal).
Then something occured to me. I have had my climate temperature at 80 F this whole time although it has NOT been in use while driving (no fan blowing, no AC, no defrost). The only purpose of me doing so is when I remote start each morning (while plugged in) the car gets to a comfortable temperature. As soon as I get in the car I turn off the AC/fan but have been leavingthe temp at 80 F for next morning.
Very next day I tried lowering the climate temp to close to ambient (still no fan/AC/defrost) ~ 65 F and viola! 5.2 mi/kwh.
I have been driving like that for a few days now and it has stayed strong around 5.0 mi/kwh. Now instead of keeping the 80 F all the time, right before I turn off my car @ the house I set it to 80 F then shut it off. First thing i do when i get into my car in the morning is turn the climate system off and set the temp back to ambient temperature.
Anybody else notice this phenomena? I seem to remember hearing other (gas operated) cars behaving the same.
Either way I am very relieved not to be looking at 3.8 mi/kwh every day - that was killer! Also, why can't we have climate settings available through the mychevrolet app for remote start? that would just be too awesome
2016 Spark EV here and I've been averaging about 5.0+ mi/kwh on my daily commute to work since I purchased back in July. I noticed in late November that mileage dropped SIGNFICANTLY to ~3.8 mi/kwh.
First thing I did was I checked the tire pressure and noticed it was a couple psi low so I filled it up to normal. That got me to 3.9/4.0 mi/kwh.
Then I chaulked it up to "this must be what people mean when they say your ambient temperature affects your range." Thing is, I live in San Diego and weather here on average has been ~ 65 F during my commute (not THAT far from normal).
Then something occured to me. I have had my climate temperature at 80 F this whole time although it has NOT been in use while driving (no fan blowing, no AC, no defrost). The only purpose of me doing so is when I remote start each morning (while plugged in) the car gets to a comfortable temperature. As soon as I get in the car I turn off the AC/fan but have been leavingthe temp at 80 F for next morning.
Very next day I tried lowering the climate temp to close to ambient (still no fan/AC/defrost) ~ 65 F and viola! 5.2 mi/kwh.
I have been driving like that for a few days now and it has stayed strong around 5.0 mi/kwh. Now instead of keeping the 80 F all the time, right before I turn off my car @ the house I set it to 80 F then shut it off. First thing i do when i get into my car in the morning is turn the climate system off and set the temp back to ambient temperature.
Anybody else notice this phenomena? I seem to remember hearing other (gas operated) cars behaving the same.
Either way I am very relieved not to be looking at 3.8 mi/kwh every day - that was killer! Also, why can't we have climate settings available through the mychevrolet app for remote start? that would just be too awesome