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Reduced Electric Range after Service Visit


EnergiCCAATS
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Had Ruby serviced for first time yesterday.  Was at 11,000 miles, and oil life still had 48% but check engine light was on.  Had 39.95 oil change, tires rotation, multi-point inspection done and dealer found an emissions related sensor bad (vapor pressure sensor I think?).  

 

The ticket says they reprogrammed the PCM and replaced the bad sensor.  My question is, could the reprogramming of the PCM/replacing the sensor have caused the calculated battery only range to "reset" to a default value of 21 miles max on full charge?  We have been averaging 26-30 miles on a full charge the last couple of months (colder weather).  We averaged 30-35 in the summer months.  The first thing I noticed was that when I dropped it off, I had 19 miles range remaining and when picked up had only 13 miles range, but they didn't drive it anywhere but in the service bay.  I assumed it could have just drained during service if they left the power on etc, but when fully charging at home last night, the full battery now only indicates 21 miles total range.

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The battery indicator has no effect on the range you get when you or your wife actually drive the car.  It is only an estimate based on past driving.  If the battery is fully charged and indicates 19 you can still get a range of 30 depending on your driving.  Conversely, if you drive like a bat-out-of-hell you may only get 10 miles before the battery is depleted--even if the battery indicated 19 when fully charged. 

Edited by JATR4
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The battery indicator has no effect on the range you get when you or your wife actually drive the car.  It is only an estimate based on past driving.  If the battery is fully charged and indicates 19 you can still get a range of 30 depending on your driving.  Conversely, if you drive like a bat-out-of-hell you may only get 10 miles before the battery is depleted--even if the battery indicated 19 when fully charged. 

 

This is true, but I think the PCM update also has an effect.  When I was getting my car done I was in the waiting room on laptop on MFM and it said 18 miles remaining on HVB, and then when I checked it again a few minutes later (car had not driven anywhere, odometer only changed 1/10 mile on service visit) it said 12 miles (most it has ever dropped due to HVAC has been 3 miles, so no I don't think that was it)... sure made me do a double-take when I saw the update on MFM.

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This is true, but I think the PCM update also has an effect.  When I was getting my car done I was in the waiting room on laptop on MFM and it said 18 miles remaining on HVB, and then when I checked it again a few minutes later (car had not driven anywhere, odometer only changed 1/10 mile on service visit) it said 12 miles (most it has ever dropped due to HVAC has been 3 miles, so no I don't think that was it)... sure made me do a double-take when I saw the update on MFM.

Even with the update it shouldn't matter what the battery indicator says.  If the battery is fully charged you should get a range based on how you drive.  It could read 12 and you could get 25 or it could read 25 and you could get 12--or any number.  Your range on a fully charged battery is dependent only on how you drive, what accessories you use, and the weather. 

 

It appears that the update erases previous memory but that shouldn't affect the actual range you get with a fully charged battery--even if the indicator is different than prior to the update.  I expect the actual range of the battery to decrease--no idea how much--as the battery ages. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

After over 3 weeks have passed, it really hasn't improved any.  I can only guess the "timing" just hit of consistently colder weather, but still don't understand why it was averaging 26-30 (on the display/MFM and actual driving) and now my wife says the best she has gotten is 22, and lately even lower (like today she only got about 15 - same exact route she has always taken to work, and she used to always consistently make it the 21 miles with miles to spare on the indicator).  Really hope the dealer didn't completely screw something up.

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After over 3 weeks have passed, it really hasn't improved any.  I can only guess the "timing" just hit of consistently colder weather, but still don't understand why it was averaging 26-30 (on the display/MFM and actual driving) and now my wife says the best she has gotten is 22, and lately even lower (like today she only got about 15 - same exact route she has always taken to work, and she used to always consistently make it the 21 miles with miles to spare on the indicator).  Really hope the dealer didn't completely screw something up.

 

 

As JATR4 said, it doesn't matter what the meter says, what is she actually achieving? Was she actually going 26-30 miles on a charge, and now she is only going 15 in the same driving? The big one, is she running the heater now, and before she wasn't I can cycle my heat on off and go from 22-24 down to 14-16.

 

If you do look for another Energi, look used. I have seen SE's in the NW for 21-23 with 10-20k miles on them. Thats a lot of savings.

 

And as a friend pointed out, you can get a Leaf for 11k with 28k miles on it also. Even if you got another SUV, if you do any amount of driving each day, putting the miles on a Leaf would be handy.

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Personally, I think it was a combo of things, with weather being the biggest. I wouldnt worry about the dealership doing something wrong by now since its been a few weeks. Same thing happened to me, they did an reinstall or something to the emission and everything was like new. Now thats its winter, you wont see those numbers till spring. Using the heater just kills the numbers in half! or close to it, it seems...

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  • 2 weeks later...

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