Trickle charge question

[tjlyerly]

tjlyerly, the range meter (aka Guess-O-Meter) has nothing to do with your state of charge or capacity. All it does is take your current energy remaining and divide it by some unspecified recent mi/kwh figure. If you drive fast on the way home, it will read lower than when you go slow for the last several miles. You almost certainly don't have significant range loss in 3 months.

The L1 charger was "fine" for me until I got my L2. Now I take my kids to school, go to work, run errands at lunch time, and get home with 70 or so miles on the clock. L2 during dinner, and then my wife takes it out in the evening for 30-40 miles without any range anxiety. I've only had the thing for a few weeks, but the L2 is really freedom.

Not sure you get my point. When I get in the car after a full charge, the (Guess-o-meter) reads differently for me depending if I just completed a L1 vs. and L2 charge. Seems to me like the additional voltage in the L2 charge pushes additional charge into the battery, at least that is what the range meter seems to say in my case.

 

[lpickup]

Not sure you get my point. When I get in the car after a full charge, the (Guess-o-meter) reads differently for me depending if I just completed a L1 vs. and L2 charge. Seems to me like the additional voltage in the L2 charge pushes additional charge into the battery, at least that is what the range meter seems to say in my case.

No, do NOT believe what the range meter says. You just can't trust it. It has more to do with how the car was driven just prior to when you plugged it in. For example, if you live at the top of a hill and work is at the bottom of the hill, you will have a far more efficient drive going TO work (and thus the guess-o-meter will read higher after charging at work). And conversely your trip home up the hill will be less efficient, and the guess-o-meter will reflect that.

Also if you are doing any pre-heating/cooling while plugged in, that will throw off the guess-o-meter as well. Best thing to do is to just ignore it and don't fret about variations of 10-15 miles at the top end.

 

[planet4ever]

I realize that the L1 charging is less efficient and results in greater loss (i.e. 10-15% less energy leaving the wall is put into the battery), but is there some limit to the amount of juice that can be put into the battery when trickle charging? Does the additional voltage when charging at L2 allow you to "push" more juice into the battery?

No, there is no voltage difference in what the charger (inside the car) is sending to the battery, only in what the EVSE is sending to the charger. If you want to see how full the battery is in your 2013, use the "Trip Computer" at the bottom center of your dash, controlled by the buttons to the left of the steering wheel. Page to the charge% display. I think you will find it says the same thing whether you charge at 120v or 240v. (Probably 79% or 80% after an 80% charge, and 99% or 100% after a full charge.)

Ray