battery level/ performance

[mortisier]

How much does a low battery, say one or two bars effect the exelleration of an electric car? Does the inverter just use more current when the battery voltage drops or is the 0-60 time effected by lower voltages? I ask this because last nite I finaly got to drag my Leaf against my Volt. I expected the Leaf to beat the Volt off the line up to around 30 mph and then I thought the Volt would take over. My Volt was steadily faster throughout the two races we did, but just barely, maby 1/4 second to 30 and 1/2 second to 60. I bet the Leaf would do do better with a full charge instead of the single bar I had. Ill do it again later.

 

[electrifeyed]

Specifications for the Volt are that it provides 273 ft-lb torque, and weighs around 3800 lb.; the Leaf has 210 ft-lb. torque and weighs about 3300 lb.

So the Volt is 15% heavier but has 30% more torque. So I would expect the results you report, that the Volt can come out slightly ahead in a drag race.

The state of battery charge (assuming it is not close to being drained) would probably not be a factor here, because the maximum battery current that can be drawn is going to be limited by the vehicle electronics (i.e., how much juice can the electronics provide), rather than battery voltage. The reason is that even when the battery voltage drops a bit, the electronics can still command it to provide the amount of current required according to throttle setting; this automatically will compensate for the voltage drop (until battery gets close to being discharged).

 

[RegGuheert]

Specifications for the Volt are that it provides 273 ft-lb torque, and weighs around 3800 lb.; the Leaf has 210 ft-lb. torque and weighs about 3300 lb.

Note that those numbers are correct for the OP, but the 2013 LEAF you purchased appears to have a lower torque specification.

So the Volt is 15% heavier but has 30% more torque. So I would expect the results you report, that the Volt can come out slightly ahead in a drag race.

Actually, in a drag race I have seen on YouTube, the race exactly matched OP's expectations. Actually, in that race, the Volt battery was low. Perhaps battery voltage does come into play here.

 

[Nubo]

The LEAF does begin to reduce available power but that only happens at very low state of charge (nearing turtle mode). You'll see the outlines of the "power bubbles" change from double-lines to single lines to represent the degree of power loss. Until then, my understanding is that you can still deliver the full 80kW to the motor, but I'm not certain of that.

 

[RegGuheert]

Until then, my understanding is that you can still deliver the full 80kW to the motor, but I'm not certain of that.

80kW is what is shown on the dash, but that doesn't mean the power limit is not above that level.

It's entirely possible that the limits in the inverter are current limits rather than power limits. If that is the case, then the LEAF would be capable to put out more power when fully charged than when mostly discharged.

OP might shed some light on this question by also testing with the Volt at a low SOC and the LEAF fully charged.

 

[Pipcecil]

My wife and I actually did a straight drag race test and confirmed the results that others had - the Volt beats the Leaf by about 0.5 seconds and 3-4 mph top speed at the quarter mile.

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