How Many KWh to Charge the Volt?

[hamchief]

...unless it's NOT parked in a climate controlled garage and it's very cold. Hopefully, I'll find out firsthand how much power overnight battery conditioning is used...this winter! (early this winter?)

[scottf200]

#105 from todays blog.
Lyle Says
Nov 19th, 2010 (12:10 pm)Jackson: Lyle, is your 220V charger on a separate meter?

No.
For those who ask about electric energy use, I am told OnStar will issue a monthly report showing exactly all the energy the car consumed from the grid in kwh. I will post it here immediately for all to see.
I charge every night at home at 240-v (usually about 7.5kwh I’d estimate) and as much as I can during the day at 120-v ( from 4 – 8 kwh).
The Volt’s dash does NOT show kwh consumption.

[greencar]

This is great info. Can you post the information for a few days? Perhaps even with preconditioning? Thanks

Here is some more data on how many kWh the battery takes:

column 1: date
column 2: miles left unused
column 3: kWh drawn
column 4: miles noted after charge

Nov-9 8 10 38
Nov-10 8 9 37
Nov-11 14 7 35
Nov-12 16 7 35
Nov-13 0 12 38
Nov-13 22 6 37
Nov-14 27 3 37
Nov-17 23 5 37
Nov-19 23 6 38
Nov-20 0 12 42

Sorry, I don't know how to post an excel chart on this website without the spacing being altered.


The "miles noted after charge" is not the same as how many miles I actually go on a full charge. The furthest I have been able to on battery mode with one full charge was 53.8 miles (it was 53 degrees outside).

[Rusty]

It should be noted that HTML (and this forum) sucks for space aligned tables by default. Let's try this:

date   miles left unused        kWh drawn         miles noted after charge
11/9   8                        10                38
11/10  8                         9                37
11/11  14                        7                35
11/12  16                        7                35
11/13  0                        12                38
11/13  22                        6                37
11/14  27                        3                37
11/17  23                        5                37
11/19  23                        6                38
11/20  0                        12                42

I tried using the HTML tag and either PRE or TABLE. But that didn't work so well. Even doing this with the CODE tag was rather a PITA.

[greencar]

I have now had the opportunity to fully charge the battery multiple times. I have found that the Volt continues to require 12 kWh to fully charge the battery. My TOU meter does not get any more exact then whole numbers unfortunately. My car is parked in my garage so it doesn't require preconditioning. Only once it took 13 kWh.

[Ziv]

I think it was Motor Trend that said that they filled the Volt completely from a fully depleted state and it took 12.9 kwh. Since your charger only reads whole numbers, do you think it might read 12 kwh up until the meter clicks over for a full 13 with no rounding up or down? That may be why the 13 popped up once when conditions were just a bit less that optimal for recharging.

[RDO CA]

It looks like it would have cost me $0.72 to fill your tank that night.

In the last twelve months I spent an average of $68 per month of fuel for the Prius. Seems like it will be hard to spend that much on electricity for the Volt.

Now I have to figure out whether it would make more sense to route my solar generation through the EV meter rather than the house meter (both TOU).

How did you get the 72cents to charge 12kwh?
I am in CA on SCE and the lowest rate they have for dedicated meter tou is 11 cents. Your numbers would be 6 cents.

[hodginator]

Thank you for posting the charging information. I have one more question. Did it take more tha 8 hours to charge it when fully depleted? I'm trying to decide whether I will spend the money on a 220 charger. It would also be interesting to see what the efficiency difference is between the 220 and 110 chargers.

[ColinSummers]

My rate on my TOU-EV meter from midnight to 6am is 0.068 per kilowatt. The Volt is smart and only charges in that window, unless I get crazy and charge after my school pickup. That's usually only an hour or so of charging, but I think my rate is bumped to 0.18 at that point.

I am pretty sure it has yet to take more than 4.5hrs to charge.

[RDO CA]

My rate on my TOU-EV meter from midnight to 6am is 0.068 per kilowatt. The Volt is smart and only charges in that window, unless I get crazy and charge after my school pickup. That's usually only an hour or so of charging, but I think my rate is bumped to 0.18 at that point.

I am pretty sure it has yet to take more than 4.5hrs to charge.

What Electric company are you with? I met with SCE and their best deal for an EV is a second dedicated meter for the EV (called TOU EV-1). The rate is 11c winter and 12c summer when you charge between 9pm and noon. I would love to have your rate available. They also have a rate for TOU but you use the same meter that all the other home use is on. When I read the tariff there is 2 portions of the billing --delivery and Generation and the total of the 2 comes to either 11c or 12 c depending on time of year. The generation is a blended rate as they have 2 sources and it depends on the percent they get from each. Any more info you can give would be appreciated.

If you are with SCE is it possible you have a old rate that is Grandfathered in and not avalible currently?