kwh in vs out

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evboy

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 12, 2015
Messages
198
When I charged with Chargepoint yesterday, 19kwh were put in my battery according to them on their 2 level charger. I ran my battery down the most since I bought the car. doesnt that mean i have at least 19kwh of capacity. the formula you guys say to use is all over the place and doesnt seem reliable at all.. Isnt how many kwh are put in, the most accurate way to tell capacity?
 
evboy said:
....l.. Isnt how many kwh are put in, the most accurate way to tell capacity?
No. Goes-in power is always higher than goes-out power. It's the nature of batteries in general.
And Li-ion batteries have the best ratio, I believe.
You should research this subject.

Also, with the Spark EV having a TMS, some of the 'Goes in' power is running a cooling system for the battery and another for the On Board Charger (if on L1/2), and some just running the brains of the operation.
Sometimes you can hear TMS really spool up when at a DCFC, especially if you are outside the front of the car.
And then there is BMS, battery management system. This is keeping the cells 'balanced' and who knows what else, and when, this consumes power.

AFAIK, the 'leaf' power page is the only way to plot battery capacity, but it's more data than a lot of EV displays.
I understand you wanting to know what the published original capacity is. Me too. But I gave up searching and just keep plotting the data the car gives me.
 
The numbers I have seen is that the car's battery will return about 85% of what is put in. 85% of 19 kwh is 16 kwh. That should give you between 55 and 80 miles, minus whatever you use for heating the cabin, etc.
 
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