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New Personal Record 82.1 Miles on a charge

10K views 17 replies 15 participants last post by  2Noob4U 
#1 · (Edited)
This weekend we did some sightseeing of the fall colors and I decided to go for a new personal record. Started at Keystone resort in Summit County. The image below is the center console reading, just before it switched over to ICE. A new personal best at 82.1 miles.



Went a bit slower than my previous record or 75miles but it was very twisty/turny so lost lots of energy in the terms (i.e. we did not go for max range, maybe another time). We wanted to do a rural path and see some new things. Saw a herd of elk and even 2 camels (yes camels!)

Yeah, silvercorvette, I know it was downhill, so it does not count in your model. But still I'm happy to use my environment to my advantage, go for "leaf-like range" and just call it a personal best. Such a great car.. I'm still grinning after 14months.



I have more details with battery SOC, on a mapt (and engine RPM etc) at

http://vast.uccs.edu/~tboult/VOLT/Summit-82.html


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#2 ·
If I only somewhat charge the volt (instead of a full complete charge) I can get that to say over 100 miles. Not saying I don't believe you but I noticed the 82.1 miles thing only resets after a full charge.
 
#3 ·
Having been to Keystone, I believe him. As I recall, the elevation there is about 8,500 feet above sea level. Depending on the route chosen, a vehicle will have a lot of "gravity assist" in descending from Keystone.

But it took a lot of energy to get the Volt up to Keystone. :)
 
#6 ·
Congratulations! The colors are changing here as well, and it is gorgeous.
 
#7 ·
Nice record! A couple of questions though:

When you are fully charged did the estimated range say 50? After passing by A Basin and coming back down the other side, did the estimated range go back up to 50 after awhile? If you started in Dillon or maybe Frisco, do you think you could get back up to 50 mile range after coming down the pass? If so what do you think the total EV range would have been?

Just trying to remember the layout up there and see what would be possible if you absolutely tried to maximize the range given the elevation change there.
 
#9 ·
The estimated range when we started was 45 miles -- as the recent driving up the mountain was very energy intensive. On the drive up was we left home with 50miles estimated range, my wife drove up, used mountain mode getting 28miles EV 92 miles on the ICE, using only 2.32 gallons over the 92 ICE miles. We ended trip with 11miles EV, as we did not get out of mountain mode early enough -- my wife wanted full power going up the loveland pass. We might have used that going out to dinner but decided to say in. The drive up used was thus 39 EV and 39.6MPG on the ICE portion, 52MPG overall. Not bad for highway driving (I25/I70) up the mountains. But the hard driving did reduce our estimated range.

The return trip home was 82 miles of EV and 37 miles of ICE using .865 gallons for 42.8 MPG on the ICE and 137 MPG overall. The full R/T was 239 miles using 3.17 gallons (and about 22 kWh) for 75.33 overall MPG and 63 MPGe. I doubt a prius could match that!


The raw SOC is on the map I posted, but the estimated range is not recorded/recordable.
When we starte the estimated range was 45 (86.6 SOC, not on map as GPS had not synced yet). Map starts after about 2 miles and range was down to 41 estimated. As we passed A-basin (i.e. after about 6 more miles) it was showing 29 miles (61 SOC), at the top of the pass it was showing 10 miles (47.06 SOC). I'll note last summer we crested at 11miles, but the temps were warmer. As we rejoined I70 it was only showing 18 miles (54.90 SOC).

Keystone to loveland is about 2500' climb, and the decent on the other side did not come close to "refilling" the battery. My pikes peak run, with ~7000' vertical, had more regen and it only refilled 39 miles (22->70 SOC).


If I started in dillion I might, but might not, have made it up over loveland without the ICE. (Dillion is an added 5-6 miles but also another 500' or more vertical). Frisco would definately not leave enough energy to make it over the pass without the ICE.

I was hoping to really push the range, and figured I could break 90miiles If I took a better route, did not listen to the radio, etc. (I used to think maybe 100, but now I think 90ish may be the limit). But my wife is not into trying for a record.. she did make comments like oh we can turn off the radio and save power... but also complained going slower (we had some sections doing 65) or sitting in traffic on I-70 was not acceptable. Luckily when I suggested we take a back road to see more foliage and rural areas she was good with that, otherwise it would have been highway driving on I70/25 and probably only 70-75miles of EV range. Our normal 2:15 drive home did take 3.5 hours but we saw new things which made it okay.
 
#10 ·
Excellent post! This is another event that merits GM's attention, and deserves to be recorded in another Volt user ad.
 
#14 ·
Are you kidding? The GM ad will have to be wallpapered in a large flashing colorful font that reads NOT AT ALL TYPICAL RESULTS, SURVEY YOUR GEOGRAPHICAL AREA FOR ACTUAL RESULTS.

I believe tBoult since moderators don't lie :) j/k but I do like to see GM change the total miles traveled if partial charges are given to their Volts. Although you can really mess with people. Congratulations Tboult, was hoping you could have done better than a measley 82.1 miles. :)
 
#13 ·
Great job! Glad you had the time to enjoy some of mother nature's finest this fall.
Another thing that starts to come into play on the long drives is the quiescent current draw of the car itself (400 watts). Over a 3 hour period, that 1.2 KWH's. That constant power draw of the car is something I hope GM can reduce in the next generations, leaving more available power for propulsion.
 
#15 ·
I did a quick comparison of your altitude change and calculated the following:
Starting Altitude: 2897.1 Meters
Ending Altitude: 1692.5 Meters
Change in elevation = 1204.6 Meters

So total gravitational energy can be calculated as Mass*Gravity*Height
1715 kg (Volt Mass) * 9.8 m/s^2 * 1204.6 meters
-> 20,245,712.2 Nm or 5623.8 Whs.

So assuming you used 10.4 kWH out of your battery, your total trip was conducted in about 16 kWh of energy or about 195 Wh/mile (172 MPGe).

You can do better ;).
 
#16 ·
Congrats. You have the Volt world, non-door to door, range record..... Eventually, someone will descend the Himalayas....The guy in Texas has the door to door of about 72 miles...

MrEnergyCzar
 
#17 ·
#18 ·
Hm the decent from Monarch Pass (3448 m) to Salida (2159m) is a difference of 1289m. The problem would be charging the car at Monarch. The other great place to try this would be from Wolf Creek Pass to Alamosa. Alamosa and Fort Garland is pretty flat until you start going up La Veta pass. The distance to Fort Garland is 91 miles from Wolf Creek although the elevation change isn't as drastic as Monarch to Salida.

Yes this is my first post and yes I just bought my Blue 2012 Volt a few months ago.
 
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