The purpose of this test was to get some baseline numbers on my car and compare it to the testing done recently by Tony and the Phoenix group. I liked the detail of the testing done, but in my case I wanted to change a few things to make it easier to repeat the test in the future.
The main difference in my testing and the PHX testing is that I only run the car down to LBW and not all the way to turtle mode. There are a couple of reasons I did this 1) I do not want to damage the car towing it 2) I want to be able to run the test anytime and not have the hassle of waiting for a tow vehicle or another driver to pick me up in a chase vehicle. By only going to LBW I can still move under my own power and find the nearest charge station on the GPS and refill the pack.
I also feel that deep discharges will shorten the battery life which I want to avoid. I also feel that LBW is consistant at 49 GIDS and enough people have already done this and I feel no need to do it again.
The test route I chose was a freeway route around the Salt Lake City area that enabled me to stay close to home and the charging stations that I am familiar with. There are very few level roads around here but the 215 freeway only has one high point and by using a somewhat circular route the effect of the up and down hill would somewhat cancel each other out. The circular route would also mitigate the wind factor to some degree.
About the car
2012 model SL LEAF
8300 miles
270 GID to start.
392.5 volts
63 degrees on the dash car temp.
Freeway driving was done at 65 mph with the cruise control set on.
For those familiar with SLC my route was as follows starting at my residence in Sugarhouse area of SLC.
East on 1300 south.
South on Foothill Blvd towards freeway entrance.
Enter I-215 Southbound ( 3 miles from start)
Follow I-215 westbound
Follow I-215 Northbound
Turn East onto I-80 ( by the airport)
Turn South on I-15
Turn East on next leg of I-80 and proceed towards freeway starting point and I-215.
On intersection of 215 South this completes one loop of the valley.
After completing just more than 2 loops of this route I had logged 74.5 miles. The GID meter was at 56, so very close to LBW and I took the next exit and headed back home by the shortest route on city streets.
This was the fourth time I have done this test. The other 3 tests were slightly different route and showed shorter ranges due to the different route. The temps today were much cooler than last month, not sure how much that changed the results.
9-8-2012 68.8 miles
9-9-2012 66.3 miles
9-16-2012 66.8 miles
10-08-2012 74.5 miles
In summary all tests were from 100% charge to LBW. The driving speed was 65 MPH by the speedometer in the car.
According to Tonys chart there would be 11 miles left in the pack at LBW, so with the miles driven I feel the battery pack is still in pretty good shape after 10 months and 8,000 miles.
Now that I have a preferred route I will do this test again and compare the results.
The main difference in my testing and the PHX testing is that I only run the car down to LBW and not all the way to turtle mode. There are a couple of reasons I did this 1) I do not want to damage the car towing it 2) I want to be able to run the test anytime and not have the hassle of waiting for a tow vehicle or another driver to pick me up in a chase vehicle. By only going to LBW I can still move under my own power and find the nearest charge station on the GPS and refill the pack.
I also feel that deep discharges will shorten the battery life which I want to avoid. I also feel that LBW is consistant at 49 GIDS and enough people have already done this and I feel no need to do it again.
The test route I chose was a freeway route around the Salt Lake City area that enabled me to stay close to home and the charging stations that I am familiar with. There are very few level roads around here but the 215 freeway only has one high point and by using a somewhat circular route the effect of the up and down hill would somewhat cancel each other out. The circular route would also mitigate the wind factor to some degree.
About the car
2012 model SL LEAF
8300 miles
270 GID to start.
392.5 volts
63 degrees on the dash car temp.
Freeway driving was done at 65 mph with the cruise control set on.
For those familiar with SLC my route was as follows starting at my residence in Sugarhouse area of SLC.
East on 1300 south.
South on Foothill Blvd towards freeway entrance.
Enter I-215 Southbound ( 3 miles from start)
Follow I-215 westbound
Follow I-215 Northbound
Turn East onto I-80 ( by the airport)
Turn South on I-15
Turn East on next leg of I-80 and proceed towards freeway starting point and I-215.
On intersection of 215 South this completes one loop of the valley.
After completing just more than 2 loops of this route I had logged 74.5 miles. The GID meter was at 56, so very close to LBW and I took the next exit and headed back home by the shortest route on city streets.
This was the fourth time I have done this test. The other 3 tests were slightly different route and showed shorter ranges due to the different route. The temps today were much cooler than last month, not sure how much that changed the results.
9-8-2012 68.8 miles
9-9-2012 66.3 miles
9-16-2012 66.8 miles
10-08-2012 74.5 miles
In summary all tests were from 100% charge to LBW. The driving speed was 65 MPH by the speedometer in the car.
According to Tonys chart there would be 11 miles left in the pack at LBW, so with the miles driven I feel the battery pack is still in pretty good shape after 10 months and 8,000 miles.
Now that I have a preferred route I will do this test again and compare the results.