The fallacy of the MPGe on the window

[RetMD21]

If those videos told you that the mpge/mpg reflected costs they were misleading you

 

[Koolau]

OK... last one for now... I am a bit miffed with the estimated range calculation... I have been tracking it off and on for awhile and have gotten these miles when my estimated range had been reduced by 100 miles...

66
106
66
75
78
66
66
58...

The 106 was a longer drive to my sister's house, but I went there again and did not get near that...

One of the stranger times was when I had 66 miles with 11 left to get to 100... thought I would be getting a decent outcome... but got in the car the next morning and... I lost 11 miles overnight!! No, it was not on.. but while sitting in the car in the garage I watched it go down an additional 12 miles!!

Yep, I lost 23 miles in estimated range and the car had not moved... I will say that I have seen it go up a couple of miles a few times, but that is rare...

OH, on the good news side... I bought a Lectron lvl 1 charger that charges at 1.5 kw vs the other two I have that charge at 1.2... it can take 6 to 8 hours off my charging time... I assume that I have less waste with the faster charging but who knows for sure...

I don't own an EV but the daily losses you mention sound like something is "wrong." I hope other members chime in with comments on this. I could NOT have an EV that lost much by sitting since our Island car sits as long as 5 months! In theory, the same person who starts our ICE once a month could take the EV to a charger, but I simply would not ask that of a friend.

Talk of an electric "town car" has had me thinking (well, maybe). But if the battery is gonna run dry while I travel - forget it.

 

[Texas Proud]

The loss only happened once... not sure what it was so not that big of a deal to me...

It was NOT some kind of battery drain... it was the computer changing the estimated range of the current charge.. I do not think the charge changed at all..

I just think my estimated range calculation is bad... even though videos said it was accurate...

I usually go from 80% down to 30% before plugging in... that is about a week of driving... I think I went to 20% once..

My DW loves the EV driving of our PHEV... I love the driving of my EV.. I was wrong to be so against them earlier... my only concern is the depreciation they have.. and if batteries etc keep getting better they will go down even faster... my car I bought used at less than 50% of sticker in 2 1/2 year... my DWs PHEV has barely dropped in value in one year...

 

[RetMD21]

It sounds like the estimates are off. I'd also be skeptical of those energy consumption estimates for shorter trips. I wonder if they are just due to imprecision in the battery estimates.

Personally I decided to stop fooling around with 120 volt charging. I could make it work but with level 2 I just plug in and the car is usually up to target in a few hours or for sure overnight. I went with 11.5 kW but it's overkill. IDK and don't care about the payback period of the more efficient charging. I'm more concerned about convenience.

 

[Zathras]

The same drive will not result in the same range use every time.
A change in a strong wind direction can affect it.
So can HVAC use (both for humans or battery), tire pressure, precipitation and in some cases, temperature.

These things also affect gas cars. But because they are so inefficient to start with, and we have been trained to not be concerned with it as refueling is everywhere, we don’t notice.

MPGe is a great tool, just the wrong tool to compare prices. Don’t be frustrated with a hammer because some fix-it man told you to use it to mow the grass

 

[Texas Proud]

It sounds like the estimates are off. I'd also be skeptical of those energy consumption estimates for shorter trips. I wonder if they are just due to imprecision in the battery estimates.

Personally I decided to stop fooling around with 120 volt charging. I could make it work but with level 2 I just plug in and the car is usually up to target in a few hours or for sure overnight. I went with 11.5 kW but it's overkill. IDK and don't care about the payback period of the more efficient charging. I'm more concerned about convenience.

I am not sure, but the usage info in the app show the exact amount of kwh used and distance... so I am thinking they are accurate... I am just surprised that there is so much variance in short trips but the long trip calculation (which is however long you want it to be, mine was 3 months) is exactly the same for my first two...

If we both go EV I will probably spring for a level 2... I just do not drive enough miles and level 1 does everything I need... and the PHEV fills up overnight so no need for one there...