Saturday, December 31, 2016

LA to SF: First stop

Took off from home this morning after topping up to 80% SoC (180mi range indicated). Also noted that as soon as you hit 80% the charger shuts off so if you want to try and ride the taper on the Level 3 charger I think you are out of luck. The battery was still charging at around 24 kW when it hit 80% as well. Oh well, I would have liked a few more miles in the battery. Update: I just realized it did not stop when it hit 80%, it stopped when it hit the 30min time limit. My actual SoC when I left was probably around 70-75%. I'll be more accurate on the next leg...

First stop is Delano CA at an EVgo station at a Walmart 140 miles from my start and I made it here with 14 (shows 18 but I was on the 14 mile side of the meter) miles of indicated range. Total battery use was 40.2 kW (75-8% SoC) which is ~287 Wh/mi or 3.48 mi/kWh. Speed was mainly set at the limit (65 or 70) but going up the grapevine really sapped my range although I did get back maybe 5-6 miles of range on the 5-6 mile downhill. It was also raining a bit so I am sure that did not help as well.

Overall the car is driving fine, lots of time in the right lane obeying the speed limit! The weather is pretty cold, around 45F, but I have the cabin heat off to save power. Much like your grandma's house you need to make sure to wear your sweater. It does start to beep at you around 30 or so miles of range left to stop and charge but it was not super annoying.

Charging now I am getting around 40-40 kW off the EVgo 50 kW charger, the car indicates a little more than an hour to hit 80% SoC and the charge session did stop after around 30 min. I spoke with EVgo and this is something programmed into the stations so if you want to charge more than 30min make sure to stick around your car to restart the session. The car does make some fan noise while the battery is charging but it is not too loud.

Time for the next leg...

Temp: ~45F
Wind: None
Cabin heat: Off
Miles: 140
Total kWh used: 40.2
Efficiency: 287 Wh/mi or 3.48 mi/kWh
Charging start: 11:22am, 18mi range, 8% SoC
Charging finish: 12:50pm, 187mi range, 83% SoC (Also includes three calls to EVgo to start charging sessions Update: Spent 6 minutes on the phone with EVgo)

Pre trip fast charge
Close to 80% and still pulling 23kW on initial charge
14-18 miles of range left at first stop 
Fast charging under way

Backup driver resting





5 comments:

  1. That's a long time to fill up. Hope you brought a book.

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  2. Congrats on being the first to do a long distance trip in Bolt! Thanks for the driving data too. This first stop is right in line with my model. For a constant 65 mph, my calcs say 269 Wh/mi. For a constant 70 mph, it's 300 Wh/mi.

    Looks like the DCFC was 88 min start-to-finish. How many minutes would you estimate you spent on the phone with EVgo; basically how long was the car not charging?

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  3. I was on the phone for 6 minutes.

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  4. Hmm, thanks. That's 82 minutes of charging. My charging model is saying 8-83% would take 66 minutes on a 125A charger, so it's looking too optimistic.

    I'd be curious to see what peak power level you see and at what SoC. I guessed 48kW at 67% SoC.

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  5. I have not seen over 45 at any point. After 70 it usually is dropping down to 25ish as well and holds there until after 80%. I have not gone much past 80% to see when it really tapers off (or if it does). Maybe when I am back home I will give it a try.

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