Re: [EVDL] Chevy Bolt 2020 50 mile Range Drop in One Year

[steve sawtelle via EV]

 We had ours set back to 80%, but as you said, it was done at the dealer. We 
got our new battery pack the other day and will be testing it out tomorrow 
driving to NC from northern VA..

Cold weather definitely affects range. Mark, you haven't had yours through a 
winter yet, right? My wife drives our Bolt so I'm not sure how the range 
changes with temperature, but on my Volt I get 50 plus range in summer and 
around 40 in winter. Probably similar climate to you.

-steve


 On Monday, December 20, 2021, 09:33:29 PM EST, Mike Chancey via EV 
 wrote:  
 
 I am told GM can't do over the air updates on the Bolt except to the
infotainment system, and they have never bothered to do that.  Have you had
any of the recalls performed yet?  My 2020 Bolt LT has not been made
eligible for the recall battery replacement or even the interim software
that limits full charge to 80%. If you are in an area with cooler weather
you might want to check to see if you have the auto defrost function
enabled. Some folks have seen a significant range hit when that activates. I
have just been seeing the lost of miles per kilowatt hour that comes with
cold weather and heater use.  I don't charge to 100% since the recall, just
90% per GMs recommendations so I can't compare my range, and there are too
many other variables to make a comparison valid.

Mike Chancey
2020 Chevy Bolt LT
Kansas City, MO

-Original Message-
From: EV  On Behalf Of mark hanson via EV
Sent: Monday, December 20, 2021 7:55 PM
To: 'Electric Vehicle Discussion List' 
Cc: mark hanson 
Subject: [EVDL] Chevy Bolt 2020 50 mile Range Drop in One Year

Hi Folks,

 

My 260 mile $30K Chevy Bolt 2020 range dropped to 210 this year.  I normally
charge to 80% for local trips (although that tidbit is missing from the
manual/display unlike the Leaf & Tesla).  When I charge to 100% last month
it was still about 260 miles, now this week it dropped to 210 miles.  I read
that there were some battery issues at 100% (maybe because they didn't tell
folks to charge to 80% for local use).  The battery was advertised as 64KWH
although it's stamped underneath at 62KWH but now behaving like a 50KWH or
80% battery pack.  I wonder if the Mother Ship downloaded a 80% operation
through OnStar that it has (but I didn't pay for)?

 

Has anyone had this happened on their Bolt.  I was going to buy a cheaper
210 mile Leaf, but bought the Bolt for the longer range, oops - now the same
as the cheaper Leaf.

 

The Tesla Y at the same 21K miles is still doing 325 miles range and charges
*much* faster (up to 200KW pre-cooling the pack), more fast charging
stations through the easy to use GPS.

 

Have a renewable energy day,

 

Mark

 

Mark E. Hanson

184 Vista Lane

Fincastle, VA 24090

540-473-1248 phone & FAX, 540-816-0812 cell

REEVA: community service RE & EV project club

Website: www.REEVAdiy.org (See Project Gallery)

UL Certified PV Installer

My RE&EV Circuits: www.EVDL.org/lib/mh 

REEVA Demo:   http://youtu.be/4kqWn2H-rA0 

 
 Fincastle Solar Weather Station

 

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Re: [EVDL] BMS question

[steve sawtelle via EV]

 Thanks all for the advise and ideas.

I joined the Electricboats list - excellent resource! There is also a PlugBoats 
website/journal which looks good.

I borrowed our electronic load from work and will cycle a few batteries to see 
what I have. Good to know it may take a few cycles to see where they are at. 

I also found an excellent resource on Lithium batteries on boats:

https://nordkyndesign.com/category/marine-engineering/electrical/lithium-battery-systems/

Very thoughtful look at what it takes to make a good BMS. It's not easy. I'm 
hoping to do slow charge from a small solar panel and use the batteries weekly. 
It looks like it may be a bit hard to make that work really well. Well, part of 
why I do things like this is to learn

-steve

 On Thursday, October 7, 2021, 11:15:12 AM EDT, paul dove via EV 
 wrote:  
 
  I don't know anything about BMS's but Lithium Iron Phosphate cells can 
experience capacity fade even if they have good voltage. I had some cells that 
sat around for a year and a half and showed good voltage but when I cycles them 
they only had 45Ah out of 100Ah they started with. I thought I ruined them but 
I got back 100% of the capacity after the 5th cycle so just note you may need 
to cycle more than once.

    On Thursday, October 7, 2021, 8:11:11 AM CDT, Rod Hower via EV 
 wrote:  
 
  There are great resources for electric powered sail boats at 
electricbo...@groups.io https://groups.io/g/electricboats 
    On Wednesday, October 6, 2021, 07:25:44 PM EDT, steve sawtelle via EV 
 wrote:  
 
 I guess this may qualify as an old-school question now.

About 12 years ago I built an electric motorcycle. I actually had it up and 
running, but other things got in the way and I am abandoning the project.  The 
rolling chassis will get back it's ICE and I need to find a home for the 7" Jim 
Husted motor and the controls. I have a new endeavor now - a small cruising 
sailboat (CLC Pocketship). I'm thinking of using a trolling motor as the backup 
to the sails and I hope to repurpose some of my 100 A-H Thundersky batteries 
for power. My batteries have been sitting for 10 years but still are at around 
3.25V. I need to cycle them to see if they are still viable of course. If they 
are, what BMS is recommended for them now? I did a  bit of searching but didn't 
see much.

-steve
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[EVDL] BMS question

[steve sawtelle via EV]

I guess this may qualify as an old-school question now.

About 12 years ago I built an electric motorcycle. I actually had it up and 
running, but other things got in the way and I am abandoning the project.  The 
rolling chassis will get back it's ICE and I need to find a home for the 7" Jim 
Husted motor and the controls. I have a new endeavor now - a small cruising 
sailboat (CLC Pocketship). I'm thinking of using a trolling motor as the backup 
to the sails and I hope to repurpose some of my 100 A-H Thundersky batteries 
for power. My batteries have been sitting for 10 years but still are at around 
3.25V. I need to cycle them to see if they are still viable of course. If they 
are, what BMS is recommended for them now? I did a  bit of searching but didn't 
see much.

-steve
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[EVDL] OT: motor/generator

[steve sawtelle via EV]

 Hi all,

This is a bit of-topic, but I can't think of a better place to ask this.

Another group I subscribe to is devoted to BMW motorcycles from the 1960's 
(slash2s). For the most part we are getting 'long in tooth', and one member 
lamented that, although he could still ride, he had trouble kick-starting the 
bike due to knee problems. A lot of ideas were generated; one that came to me 
was that the engines used in these motorcycles (or close to them) were used in 
BMW cars of the late 50's and early 60's. They had a motor-generator mounted 
directly to the crank which was used to start the car and then charge the 
battery once it was running. Now these motor-generators were pretty big - maybe 
12" or so in diameter, which would be too big to adapt to a motorcycle. But I 
was thinking, we have made huge strides in motor design in the past 50 years, 
so maybe a motor-generator could be designed to fit in place of the generator 
on these bikes. the space is about 5" diameter by 2" long. On my motorcycle, I 
measured less than 10 ft-lbs torque to push through TDC, and I have 
 the hardest engine to kick start in the series (R69S). This seems pretty low, 
but these engines, when well tuned, could be started by pushing the kickstarter 
through by hand. 

So, as a thought exercise, do you think a motor-generator could be designed to 
start these engines yet fit within the physical constraints?

-SteveS



  
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