Cold Weather Range

Chevy Spark EV Forum

Help Support Chevy Spark EV Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

RustyMon

New member
Joined
Jan 2, 2017
Messages
3
I read several other posts about cold weather range, however I didn't see a general consensus of what owners get shown on the display after a full charge.

I'm in Eugene, Oregon - so relatively mild with just a few weeks below freezing at night and our Spark EV only shows 55 miles after a full charge. We owned a Leaf before, so are no newbies to the drop in range during cold weather, however a difference of 32% seems extreme to us (from our 80 miles when we purchased it).

Is this something I should ask the dealer about? Could we have a problem with our pack?
 
My experience almost exactly. I've been seeing 53 on the GoM with Portland temps in the 30s and 40s, and using the heaters. With my hilltop location and enthusiastic driving, it was estimating 72 this summer.

It seems to have gone up 2-3 miles, to 55, since I started using L mode full-time last week.
 
Thanks for the feedback... we love driving in B mode the whole time, don't use sport mode often, but my wife is a bit of a lead-foot.

I guess your response lets us know nothing is wrong with our vehicle, however I was hoping that somehow I was the only one with such reduced range!
 
EldRitch said:
My experience almost exactly. I've been seeing 53 on the GoM with Portland temps in the 30s and 40s, and using the heaters. With my hilltop location and enthusiastic driving, it was estimating 72 this summer.

It seems to have gone up 2-3 miles, to 55, since I started using L mode full-time last week.
For my 2014 Spark EV 2LT - no DCFC - my full-charge range dropped from 110 miles in the Summer / Fall to 75 miles in the Winter with temps in the 30's and 40's and lots of heater use. My full-charge range for my 2015 spark EV 2LT - with DCFC - dropped from 102 in the Summer / Fall to 72 miles in the same winter conditions. Both drops were expected as we saw this in the winter of 2015 - 2016 too. I drive the 2014 in L all of the time. My wife drives the 2015 in D all of the time. I like the one-foot driving and the charge gained through regeneration.
 
I'm in Portland, Oregon. During the recent cold spells (in the 30's) where I had no choice but to turn on the heat and use the defroster, I've consistently been seeing a range in the upper sixties. Generally 68 or 69. Plus now that its winter, its usually dark both when I leave for work and when I return, meaning I'm using the headlights. My round trip commute is about 40 miles and 70 -80 minutes. Most of that time, both the heater and the lights are on.

I do my best to get the maximum range and in the milder months can routinely get over 100 miles out of the car. But between the heater and the headlights, I'm way below where I would otherwise be. In another month or two when I can kill the lights and the temps are back in the 50's, I expect to be back in the 90's.

BTW, my car is a 2014 with almost 30,000 miles on the clock. I haven't noticed any degradation in the range that can't be explained by driving style or the use of the heater, etc.
 
Was 17 degrees F today in Denver, left the house at 6:30, the GOM was overly optimistic - even with having to take it easy due to unexpected snow accumulation on the roads (and me sliding all over) I managed a miserable 2.4 miles per kW hour (I had to have the defrost on full blast as the snow was sticking, slightly melting and then freezing). If I had stuck with that average energy usage, that would have meant a range of 50 miles give or take.

Note 2014 2LT, 10k miles, no DCFC.
 
SciroccoTDI said:
Was 17 degrees F today in Denver, left the house at 6:30, the GOM was overly optimistic - even with having to take it easy due to unexpected snow accumulation on the roads (and me sliding all over) I managed a miserable 2.4 miles per kW hour (I had to have the defrost on full blast as the snow was sticking, slightly melting and then freezing). If I had stuck with that average energy usage, that would have meant a range of 50 miles give or take.

Note 2014 2LT, 10k miles, no DCFC.

Do you use the pre-heating option through the remote start? I find it helps the range by preheating the car via remote start while connected to my L2 EVSE.
 
MrDRMorgan said:
SciroccoTDI said:
Was 17 degrees F today in Denver, left the house at 6:30, the GOM was overly optimistic - even with having to take it easy due to unexpected snow accumulation on the roads (and me sliding all over) I managed a miserable 2.4 miles per kW hour (I had to have the defrost on full blast as the snow was sticking, slightly melting and then freezing). If I had stuck with that average energy usage, that would have meant a range of 50 miles give or take.

Note 2014 2LT, 10k miles, no DCFC.

Do you use the pre-heating option through the remote start? I find it helps the range by preheating the car via remote start while connected to my L2 EVSE.

I did, for a short time (maybe 5 min?), it was plugged into a 16 amp L2 EVSE.
 
SciroccoTDI said:
MrDRMorgan said:
SciroccoTDI said:
Was 17 degrees F today in Denver, left the house at 6:30, the GOM was overly optimistic - even with having to take it easy due to unexpected snow accumulation on the roads (and me sliding all over) I managed a miserable 2.4 miles per kW hour (I had to have the defrost on full blast as the snow was sticking, slightly melting and then freezing). If I had stuck with that average energy usage, that would have meant a range of 50 miles give or take.

Note 2014 2LT, 10k miles, no DCFC.

Do you use the pre-heating option through the remote start? I find it helps the range by preheating the car via remote start while connected to my L2 EVSE.

I did, for a short time (maybe 5 min?), it was plugged into a 16 amp L2 EVSE.

It will run for 20 minutes and then shut off. I set my cabin temp to 72 deg. F and activate the remote start (preheat) 20 minutes before I leave. This warms up the cabin and keeps the battery full which results in a bit more range.
 
MrDRMorgan said:
It will run for 20 minutes and then shut off. I set my cabin temp to 72 deg. F and activate the remote start (preheat) 20 minutes before I leave. This warms up the cabin and keeps the battery full which results in a bit more range.


Fortunately I have a short commute, so it didn't bother me much. Today's drive was the sort where my 20 mile round trip commute would have depleted the battery on my old 2013 Volt (theoretical max range of 38 miles in perfect conditions). It gets COLD here at night, we have big temp swings - even though the car was in a garage, I am sure it was a meat locker - so it puts a big dent on when the battery conditioning has to kick in. Predicted lows in the next few days are in the negatives, the highs below freezing plus more snow. My trusty 94 F150 4x4 winter beater will be my steed the next couple of days as it has a locked front diff and proper mud and snow rated tires on it (well and its rusting to hell from the mag chloride, I'd like to avoid any further abuse I subjected the Spark to today).

I will say this about my experience with my old Volt and now the Spark in the snow...terrible. I want a real mechanical ebrake and a snow mode that completely removes all regen when letting off the throttle...I've driven FWD cars all my life here in Colorado, through all sorts of weather, and the drive this morning was frustrating because I knew with my old VW Rabbits and Sciroccos over the years with a stick and a normal ebrake I would have been having FUN, not being annoyed by terrible programming. I will next time I get surprised by snow in the Spark attempt to drop it in neutral when I get massive understeer and see how it reacts.

One thing I found rather funny, was the blower fan has enough positive pressure on these cars that when I went to the passenger side to let my dog in the car I could feel air coming out of the door handle as I reached for it (it was still in pre-condition and plugged in).
 
SciroccoTDI said:
MrDRMorgan said:
It will run for 20 minutes and then shut off. I set my cabin temp to 72 deg. F and activate the remote start (preheat) 20 minutes before I leave. This warms up the cabin and keeps the battery full which results in a bit more range.


Fortunately I have a short commute, so it didn't bother me much. Today's drive was the sort where my 20 mile round trip commute would have depleted the battery on my old 2013 Volt (theoretical max range of 38 miles in perfect conditions). It gets COLD here at night, we have big temp swings - even though the car was in a garage, I am sure it was a meat locker - so it puts a big dent on when the battery conditioning has to kick in. Predicted lows in the next few days are in the negatives, the highs below freezing plus more snow. My trusty 94 F150 4x4 winter beater will be my steed the next couple of days as it has a locked front diff and proper mud and snow rated tires on it (well and its rusting to hell from the mag chloride, I'd like to avoid any further abuse I subjected the Spark to today).

I will say this about my experience with my old Volt and now the Spark in the snow...terrible. I want a real mechanical ebrake and a snow mode that completely removes all regen when letting off the throttle...I've driven FWD cars all my life here in Colorado, through all sorts of weather, and the drive this morning was frustrating because I knew with my old VW Rabbits and Sciroccos over the years with a stick and a normal ebrake I would have been having FUN, not being annoyed by terrible programming. I will next time I get surprised by snow in the Spark attempt to drop it in neutral when I get massive understeer and see how it reacts.

One thing I found rather funny, was the blower fan has enough positive pressure on these cars that when I went to the passenger side to let my dog in the car I could feel air coming out of the door handle as I reached for it (it was still in pre-condition and plugged in).
I drive in L so I really feel the regen. If I drive in D, the car seems to just coast until I start applying the brakes. Fortunately, here in Central California, I do not have to deal with your extreme weather conditions. Cold to me is in the low 30s and NO SNOW!
 
In Portland with a 2014, parked in an unheated attached garage, Level 2 evse, often preheating plugged in we are currently seeing 62-65 miles.

However a friend has a slightly newer 2014, parked outside, using a Level 1 evse but she is only seeing the mid 40's.

Proof positive that YMMV.
 
I have a 2016 Spark, purchased new in April 2016, and now have 12k miles on her. Lifetime MPGE is 139, and this is with experimenting with different tires (Direzza, Yoko S, stock). Really prefer the stock tires due to quietness, maximum range and more nimbleness (though more squirrely)

Was getting 107 ish range in the summer, now down to 75 ish range in the 30 degree temps and rain here in Portland. 60 mile commute everyday. Pre-warming car now in unheated garage using a Level 2 charger each morning.
 
2015 Spark EV - parked outside Daily in driveway, using Level 1 EVSE to 'top-up' battery before my wife drives car to work & plugs into Level 2 EVSE - Range we're seeing is averaging ~82 miles. Her Average commute roundtrip is 25 miles/day. Cool/misty North Carolina...

bnc
 
You guys, :? the thread title is 'Cold Weather Range'. :mrgreen:

Try some 5°-15° driving at 70-75 mph.
I was picked up at the airport in mine this cold morning at the airport way north of town. I left it with the son-in-law for 2 weeks.
He did one DCFC before getting me and then I did a second after dropping him off and going straight to work after a red-eye.

About 97 miles for the morning drive at 70 mph, mostly, 2 DCFC sessions to less than 80% and heat set at 69° with outside air selected because recirc caused fogging.

New all time low: 56 miles shown on the app's Vehicle Status page.

But this really is worst case scenario driving, right? :cry: Come on summer !!
I couldn't use this little EV like this if my town didn't have a 15 unit DCFC network and + 1000 L2's.
And as always, this is all free electrons because KC is EV heaven!

So, time to precondition and start the 25 mile commute home and sleep in my own bed!
 
All of this "cold weather" information is really great - especially for new Spark EV drivers. It probably will apply equally to the Bolt too. With this kind of information available, drivers get a "real" picture of the car's range capabilities under very harsh conditions. All it takes is a little planning, DCFC and/or L2 EVSE availibility and "range anxiety" goes away giving way to some really fun driving.
 
I've concluded that if one drives with any enthusiasm in warm weather, the Spark EV will get approximately 15% less range than Chevy states, i.e. about 72 miles on the GoM for my location and driving. I've also concluded that winter weather cuts the range by about 1/3: I'm seeing 55 on the GoM.

So for my on-order Bolt, I'm expecting about 200 mile range to zero charge in summer, and 170 in the winter. Realistically, I'd be looking for a DCFC at around 150 miles during a road trip, to allow some margin for non-functional chargers. Given that most CCS chargers today are only 25KW, that's a really leisurely road trip - drive 2 hours, charge 2 hours - maybe 300 miles on a good day.

Oh well, I guess it's really not a Tesla - no CCS superchargers yet...
 
Energy use may not be proportional to battery capacity. It probably takes roughly similar energy to heat as SparkEV since volume isn't whole lot more (ie, much less than 2X). If you're losing 30 miles range with SparkEV in winter, you're probably looking at 40 miles with Bolt. That will put it close to 200 miles in winter.

As for DCFC, I have yet to use a 25 kW unit. Every DCFC has been 40 kW (BTC) or 50 kW (ABB). Going forward, there will be many higher power units, such as 350 kW unit planned in June and 400 kW unit from Chargepoint. Question is, is current version of Bolt capable of more than 50 kW? Some announcements imply 80 kW, but nothing concrete.
 
SparkevBlogspot said:
Energy use may not be proportional to battery capacity. It probably takes roughly similar energy to heat as SparkEV since volume isn't whole lot more (ie, much less than 2X). If you're losing 30 miles range with SparkEV in winter, you're probably looking at 40 miles with Bolt. That will put it close to 200 miles in winter.

As for DCFC, I have yet to use a 25 kW unit. Every DCFC has been 40 kW (BTC) or 50 kW (ABB). Going forward, there will be many higher power units, such as 350 kW unit planned in June and 400 kW unit from Chargepoint. Question is, is current version of Bolt capable of more than 50 kW? Some announcements imply 80 kW, but nothing concrete.

Their literature says up to 90 miles range in 30 min, or 160 miles in an hour. That suggests pretty low kW to me.

-E
 
Back
Top