[srimedico]

Greetings all,

May this thread be used to share the real world statistics and roughly arrive at battery degradation, Range drop . And discuss upon possible ways to decrease the degradation, if its worthwhile.


March 2020., ~ 300kms on odometer, night journey 4pm to 4am , cool climate, 434 kms Tirupati to Gannavaram, not sure about the altitude, Head lights on, No AC, only fan, windows rolled up, ~50% of journey behind slow moving large trucks to decrease air resistance, myself solo occupant, Eco, kers3, Cruise Control @ 40 kmph, only 2 stops of ~90 minutes, 100% (better balanced through granny charger) to 9%, 434 kms





August 2021, ~27000 Kms on odometer, day journey 3am to 3pm, Hot climate (active battery cooling kicked off quite frequently) , 387kms, Ibrahimpatnam to Kurnool, not sure about the altitude (but had Hilly area runs of certain kms ), Head lights off, No AC, only fan, windows rolled up, didnot run behind big trucks this time, so more air resistance , myself solo occupant, Eco, kers3, Cruise Control @ 37 kmph, few stops , 100% (poorly balanced through granny charger) to 12 %, 387 kms




Mask, Distance, Vaccine, Dharma

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by srimedico

Greetings all,

May this thread be used to share the real world statistics and roughly arrive at battery degradation, Range drop . And discuss upon possible ways to decrease the degradation, if its worthwhile.

Thanks for sharing this info. I don't think there is any degradation at all. Only difference I see is that the first drive was in night and second one in day time.

The terrain makes a big difference in the range as well.
How did you keep yourselves engaged for 12hrs on both the drives?
Must be very tiring.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Congratulations on the ZS. Real life experiences by actual owners are the best judge of the car’s capabilities. To me, your post highlights two things.

1. Your battery has held up pretty well and is offering about the same range after 30k odd km as it did on day 1.

2. As good as the range you have achieved is, comfortable long distance touring in EVs is still some time away. If I have to drive for 400km without AC at 40kmph cruise, I’ll go mad. Maybe there weren’t any fast charging facilities in your route. Any car has to be able to deliver minimum 250km range with AC at 80-90kmph to be practical for intercity use.

[abhishek46]

You should avoid following Heavy Vehicles Closely for extended distances.

There are scenarios, which may put you in trouble, like for example, a huge stone/concrete block in the middle of the road OR stuff falling out of the Truck's Loading area.

If you are following a Heavy vehicle closely, and all of sudden there is a huge stone/concrete block in the middle of the road, you will have no chance of avoiding it.

This has happened to me personally, and because of these kind of un-predictable stuff, I either overtake the Heavy Vehicle as soon as possible, or maintain three car lengths gap.

[srimedico]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Thanks for sharing this info.
How did you keep yourselves engaged for 12hrs on both the drives?
Must be very tiring.

As students we are habituated to study long hours (~ 16 hours) of exhaustive Med books. Music - my aide then and now. Plus, the car is comfortable .

.

Originally Posted by abhishek46

This has happened to me personally, and because of these kind of un-predictable stuff, I either overtake the Heavy Vehicle as soon as possible, or maintain three car lengths gap.

Noted. Thank You for sharing. The only instance I did this is on my first long trip., because I wasn't confident on bjorn hypermiling YouTube video. So had to be over conservative. I did maintain some 20 feet. And selected only closed lid trucks.

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

. Real life experiences by actual owners are the best judge of the car’s capabilities.

Indeed. That's one of the reason, to take time to post this, despite exhausting covid schedule.

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

2. As good as the range you have achieved is, comfortable long distance touring in EVs is still some time away. If I have to drive for 400km without AC at 40kmph cruise, I’ll go mad. Maybe there weren’t any fast charging facilities in your route.

Yes. No chargers then. Now, few chargers have comeup and budding at pace. Looking at this trend, I won't be doing these kind of trips any more. But i thoroughly cherish these slow long trips., especially because - I am bearing some discomfort/inconvenience to leave no exhaust from the tail into the city/village vulnerable environment.

Majority of people discouraged me on this purchase. But I thought, if every one keep waiting for better infrastructure., No significant Initiators will be there to take this forward. Plus, had I waited till now to buy this electric., I would have polluted the city environment with 4.5 Tonnes of Co2.

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

1. Your battery has held up pretty well and is offering about the same range after 30k odd km as it did on day 1.

I used only portable charger. Only ~25 times I have used fast AC/DC chargers.

But I always charge it to 100%. Some are saying its bad. But my battery seem to hold up well for 1.5 yr/30k kms. So I wonder, if using portable charger, hasn't compromised the battery Health, despite charging it to 100% every time. (I charge up from, 30%, 50% basing on requirement). Or, the BMS, buffer, in place will not cause the damage?! Can anyone clarify this please?!

[flanker]

Originally Posted by srimedico

Or, the BMS, buffer, in place will not cause the damage?! Can anyone clarify this please?!

The BMS has a buffer, the Indian version of ZS EV has a less buffer and hence the pack voltage at 100% charge is near at 455v. In UK (and EU) they have updated the BMS software to drop the pack voltage to 450v as the top buffer wasn't sufficient. I think it is best to not charge the battery to 100% often.

The most accurate way to check degradation is by plugging in a OBD port reader and getting the stats for each cell and the maximum imbalance.

Rough degradation can be calculated by noting the total cell voltage after 100% charge and balancing. In India, it should be near 455v.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by srimedico

March 2020., ~ 300kms

Thanks for sharing the real world range. This has so much more informational value than the useless ARAI stats.

No AC, only fan, windows rolled up, ~50% of journey behind slow moving large trucks to decrease air resistance

I can understand the obsession with range, but please also enjoy the drive . After all, we live to drive. Drive normally, enjoy your machine, the road and the views.

Hot climate (active battery cooling kicked off quite frequently)

How did you know it was kicking in? Is there an indicator?

[manjubp]

Originally Posted by srimedico

Majority of people discouraged me on this purchase. But I thought, if every one keep waiting for better infrastructure., No significant Initiators will be there to take this forward. Plus, had I waited till now to buy this electric., I would have polluted the city environment with 4.5 Tonnes of Co2.

Attachment 2211024

If the electricity is from hydro or solar then what you said is correct. However, if it is from fossil fuel then the net CO2 emission save is very low maybe 20-30% of what is shown. You need to consider end to end. This is one of the reasons Japan is still taking EV in slow phase.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Originally Posted by manjubp

. This is one of the reasons Japan is still taking EV is a slow face.

Japan is taking EVs slow because Japanese majors bet on the wrong horse. They invested big time in hybrids and hydrogen. The global shift to EVs has caught them totally off guard and unprepared. Toyota recently announced a large EV development program of its own. A decade too late, for Mercedes,VW and Ford have grounds up designed EVs on sale already.

[ABHI_1512]

Originally Posted by srimedico

Majority of people discouraged me on this purchase. But I thought, if every one keep waiting for better infrastructure., No significant Initiators will be there to take this forward. Plus, had I waited till now to buy this electric., I would have polluted the city environment with 4.5 Tonnes of Co2.

Thanks for sharing your real world experiences over the time. These datas should help any prospective future buyer into making informed decisions for sure.

One thing that I just want to mention here that while going electric is commendable and that it gives this false sense of not polluting the environment. Truth is, while using an electric car on the road does save on environmental pollution but same can’t be said about the process through which a battery is manufactured.

According to some researchers, manufacturing a electric battery for a car actually emits more than 70% CO2 then while manufacturing a conventional car running on fossil fuels.

Majority of battery producing countries like China, Thailand, Poland still depend on non-renewable sources like coal for electricity. May be in few years down the line, we will have another way of reducing the carbon footprint when every other manufacturer is moving towards electric and governments declaring their support for future electric vehicles. But until then, it’s a lost cause vis a vis reducing carbon footprint is concerned.

Enjoy your vehicle and do post more of your driving experiences but do enjoy the drive as much as you enjoy saving up on the battery

[flanker]

Originally Posted by GTO

How did you know it was kicking in? Is there an indicator?

The battery cooling pumps in the MG ZS EV have an audible hum that comes through into the cabin.

[Axe77]

This is really nice and thanks for sharing.

One request / suggestion from my side. These are simply stats from two distinct data points with understandably varying results within acceptable margin. Could we change the thread title from “degradation” to maybe something like “consumption” or similar. The thread title is actually misleading.

Secondly, while hypermiling is fine, I would be much more interested where people simply drive “normally” with the usual creature comforts like AC on (I know this can vary but at least for me and many others specially living in humid cities like Mumbai) ACs are on pretty much round the year. Same for cities like Delhi where if not weather, pollution requires internal temperature control.

I am really keen to hear of stories of real world range in real conditions with no specific steps being taken to maximise juice.

[sagarpadaki]

I appreciate your tenacity to drive at 40 kmph for extended periods of time without AC to get the maximum battery range. Not my cup of tea. Especially after paying 20+ big ones on a car.

[AirbusCapt]

EV are efficient in stop and start traffic (due regen) and provide the worst range on constant speed (highways). You getting around 400 kms during the most inefficient usage cycle is commendable.
I don't think your battery has degraded considering that you got similar range about 30k kms apart.
Battery life is measured in cycles. Each full charge to full discharge (0-100-0%) is counted as one cycle. The intersting fact is: if you don't discharge to zero and don't recharge till 100%, you keep the cycle intact. Ideally discharging till 20% and recharging till 90% will prolong your battery life.

[Vijay T]

Very encouraging stats for future EV buyers.
Hope, you will provide real world range with normal speed & AC on.
This will further help buyers.
Also request other EV owners of diffrent make in this august group to share their stats to make this thread more interesting.