Is it just me, or do leafs take more power in the rain

[johnrhansen]

I just went on a trip to my sister's 80 miles south of Seattle, in the rain.... I started at 100 percent, and barely made it 62 miles to tumwater! (I had 15 miles left.... ) I was driving 60 and not using the defrost as much as I could get away with and had the windows up... Is it just me, or do Leafs take a HUGE amount of power to go anywhere when the pavement is wet?

 

[JeremyW]

...and barely made it 62 miles to tumwater! (I had 15 miles left.... )

I consider "barely making it" to be under VLBW (three dashes). Yes, they use more in the rain for sure.

 

[TomT]

It takes power to push aside the water that builds up in front of a tire, and to push aside the water in the air...

Is it just me, or do Leafs take a HUGE amount of power to go anywhere when the pavement is wet?

 

[smkettner]

Same with a gasoline vehicle. Just you don't notice as much.
Of course climate control heat does take way more power.

 

[Deleted member 9549]

Long ago I had a small Honda Civic, 67hp. I was driving in a thunderstorm, against strong wind with a very wet expressway. I almost had to floor the gas peddle to just keep going 60-ish mph. The car would normally do well at high speeds. So yes, traveling on wet roads can greatly increase friction. Car acts more like a boat and hopefully does not plane (i.e. hydroplane).

 

[Klayfish]

Unless you were driving through road that were almost flooded, I would think the power consumption had much more to do with running the defrost than wet roadways. A road that's simply wet may offer nominally more resistance than a dry one, but I don't see it making a huge difference even for an EV. I've driven mine in some pretty heavy rains and haven't noticed much of a difference.

 

[johnrhansen]

That was the whole point. It wasn't the defrost. I have a 25 mile commute, and I ran the defrost at 68 degrees up the whole way. I burned just a couple more percent with it on.. something else was going on... maybe it was a headwind.

 

[Pipcecil]

It defientely does. The air is more dense, increasing your drag. There are also larger physical objects in the air (i.e. rain) that are opposing the force of the car. The tires to roadway surface interaction requires more energy. Finally the wind associated with some rain can cause additional problems. Also, although it might be small, the windshield wipers do use up a tiny bit of energy - especially at full speed.

Its just a bunch of little things that add up to a larger loss of range.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

It defientely does. The air is more dense, increasing your drag. There are also larger physical objects in the air (i.e. rain) that are opposing the force of the car. The tires to roadway surface interaction requires more energy. Finally the wind associated with some rain can cause additional problems. Also, although it might be small, the windshield wipers do use up a tiny bit of energy - especially at full speed.

Its just a bunch of little things that add up to a larger loss of range.

+1

But besides all that, you were doing 60, covered 62 with 15 showing (not sure how much is hiding below LBW and VLBW in a '13), and that's going on 80 miles range at 4 m/kWh, so you're right on target.

 

[jrreno]

They do. I just drove from my home to Tampa airport which is exactly 70 miles. It was pouring rain most of the way. I have made this trip many times and usually arrive with 16 miles on the GOM. All other conditions were equal in terms of AC usage. I arrived with 4 miles and I slowed down to 50 from 60 for about half the trip when I noticed the energy usage was much higher than normal. I think the wipers also contribute to higher energy use and I was using them judiciously.

 

[TomT]

The current draw of the wipers is pretty low in the overall scheme of things. I doubt it would contribute to more than a mile of difference...

I think the wipers also contribute to higher energy use and I was using them judiciously.

 

[davewill]

...and barely made it 62 miles to tumwater! (I had 15 miles left.... )

I consider "barely making it" to be under VLBW (three dashes). Yes, they use more in the rain for sure.

That was my first reaction. I don't consider this range performance unreasonable at all. It sounds like he was headed for 80+miles of range which is perfectly normal.

 

[Nubo]

Having just recently spent multiple days pedaling a bicycle into driving rains, I can attest to the increased energy demands. It was brutal. At speed most of a car's energy is used to move air. Water is considerably more dense than air. So if you're air is full of water droplets its effective density increases.

 

[ObjetDart]

I have also just started noticing this as well. It's been raining quite a bit around here for the last week, and it definitely seems like I'm using more charge to get around than I usually do. I don't have any precise data, just anecdotal evidence.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

I just went on a trip to my sister's 80 miles south of Seattle, in the rain.... I started at 100 percent, and barely made it 62 miles to tumwater! (I had 15 miles left.... ) I was driving 60 and not using the defrost as much as I could get away with and had the windows up... Is it just me, or do Leafs take a HUGE amount of power to go anywhere when the pavement is wet?

Oh wait . . . I read this wrong. You only got 62 miles out of a 100% charge in the rain, and had a 15 mile journey left to your sister's, not 15 left on the GOM. Luckily, there's a QC in Tumwater, so you were able to make it, but you were surprised that your power drained so much faster in the rain.

So, how much was left when you stopped to QC?

62 miles in bad weather seems reasonable to me. I would never plan to go more than 60 even in good weather without a charge stop, and we don't have QC.

Did you expect to go the whole 80 miles on one charge?

 

[TomT]

Yep. Year before last, during some very heavy rains here, I made my normal trip to work. Usually, I'd have plenty to get there and back on 80%, with a reasonably large pad left over. This time, I was down to two bars when I got there and had to charge to be able to make it back. Fortunately, they had a L2 there...

 

[johnrhansen]

One thing I've learned in the short time I have driven electric cars is that if you are on a trip where you need to charge away from home, pick up charge wherever you can, especially if it's a Level 3... So yes, I was going to charge at the AV charger in Tumwater anyway. I figured whatever electrons i shoved in there, I wouldn't have to shove in when I got to my sister's as we were going to continue on from there The total trip length that day was 265 miles... better to wait 20 minutes than 3 hours! I was expecting to make it to Tumwater with 25 percent charge, I think I had something like 12. I was flashing LBW when I arrived.. I would hope that I could make it to my sister's on a single 100 percent charge, and I may try it someday when I plan to stay there long enough for it to charge back up.. I carry a full size 30 amp EVSE with me when I go on road trips...I figure if I drove 50 the whole way I would save the charge time at tumwater and actually make it there faster. But that's all going to change as my battery degrades I imagine. Also when it's dark and rainy and high traffic, I don't feel comfortable traveling at less than the speed of traffic.

I just went on a trip to my sister's 80 miles south of Seattle, in the rain.... I started at 100 percent, and barely made it 62 miles to tumwater! (I had 15 miles left.... ) I was driving 60 and not using the defrost as much as I could get away with and had the windows up... Is it just me, or do Leafs take a HUGE amount of power to go anywhere when the pavement is wet?

Oh wait . . . I read this wrong. You only got 62 miles out of a 100% charge in the rain, and had a 15 mile journey left to your sister's, not 15 left on the GOM. Luckily, there's a QC in Tumwater, so you were able to make it, but you were surprised that your power drained so much faster in the rain.

So, how much was left when you stopped to QC?

62 miles in bad weather seems reasonable to me. I would never plan to go more than 60 even in good weather without a charge stop, and we don't have QC.

Did you expect to go the whole 80 miles on one charge?

 

[johnrhansen]

You have to have backup even if you dont think you are going to need it. On that same trip after I picked up my sister and bro in law, we set of on a 100 mile trip, 50 there and back. I was looking at some property in Graham... the owner left out a NEMA 6-15, (240V 15 A.. I built a special adapter just for the trip) and I used Ingineer's EVSE set to 13 amps, so it was a awfully slow charge. When we finally left an hour later and set off for home again I found that I wasn't going to make it. Fortunately I had arranged with a guy in Tenino through Plugshare to use his AV charging station just in case... (Nice guy.. thanks Eric).. I limped into his carport on LBW and had to sit there for a half hour to get enough juice to make it home, plus a little extra. Thank goodness I did the extra because I got to LBW again when I got to my sister's again. I had to charge there for an hour to get enough juice to make it to Tumwater again... All this use and I never went over 6 bars temp... now there's an advantage of driving in the rain! My Bro in law said next time we are going to take "grandma" his ICE powered Honda SUV. I don't think they liked waiting 30 minutes at a stranger's house in Tenino. I keep quoting old Kermit the frog... "it's not easy being green!"

Yep. Year before last, during some very heavy rains here, I made my normal trip to work. Usually, I'd have plenty to get there and back on 80%, with a reasonably large pad left over. This time, I was down to two bars when I got there and had to charge to be able to make it back. Fortunately, they had a L2 there...