[tlister77]

Hello! Can anyone tell me, is there a way to see what the instant MPGe is on your Bolt? I was driving the other day trying to figure that out but could not find a gauge or screen that showed that (or at least made it clear that that was what it was showing). Any help? Is there a way to see what immediate or instant range you are getting? Also, is there a way to see where the energy is going specifically and how much is going there?

 

[XJ12]

There's two screens that I've used to determine what I think you're looking for. The Efficiency History has off to the right a real time mile per kWh gauge. Then the info is gathered in 5 mile increments that are viewed as a running histogram. I can estimate how much is left in the battery by the gauge (3kWh per bar) and multiply it by the present usage, average, or last 5 miles to determine range.

The other screen is the Energy Detail that shows a pie chart of sorts with percentages of Driving, climate settings, and battery conditioning.

 

[tlister77]

There's two screens that I've used to determine what I think you're looking for. The Efficiency History has off to the right a real time mile per kWh gauge. Then the info is gathered in 5 mile increments that are viewed as a running histogram. I can estimate how much is left in the battery by the gauge (3kWh per bar) and multiply it by the present usage, average, or last 5 miles to determine range.

The other screen is the Energy Detail that shows a pie chart of sorts with percentages of Driving, climate settings, and battery conditioning.

That's what I figured that graph was showing over on the right hand side. It would have been nice if it was laid out in a better/easier method to identify real time numbers, but hey, beggars can't choosers.
Thank you for your input!

 

[Fivedoor]

If you want real time info and have a passenger with a calculator, take your speed in mph and divide by the current KW reading and you will get your miles per kWh. For example, if you are traveling at 50 mph, and using 10 KW you are getting 5 mile per kWh.

Keith

 

[GJETSON]

Such a display would work fine in the flat middle of the country. On the bumpy coasts, the energy use changes so fast, going up and down, that a digital display would be almost unreadable. A graphical display, like the right bar on the energy history, is easier to grasp quickly.

 

[wesley]

I'm not sure how well it'd work with US Customary Units, but as my Bolt uses Metric values it's somewhat easy for me to see if I'm driving it effiicently by looking at both the speed and the power consumption. If I drive efficiently in a city, I can get somewhere around 10km/kWh. So if I'm driving at 60km/h and the power consumption is showing 6kW, I'm meeting this goal.

 

[GJETSON]

I'm not sure how well it'd work with US Customary Units, but as my Bolt uses Metric values it's somewhat easy for me to see if I'm driving it effiicently

Sure. The metric system is nicely logical. But furlongs per fortnight rolls off the tongue.

 

[p7wang]

KW is metric, h and miles are not. Confusing...

 

[discodanman45]

MPGe is not how many miles you are getting per kWh. To calculate MPGe you need to do a calculation. I gallon of gasoline is equivalent to 33.7 kWh. So if you travel 4 miles per kWh for the 33.7 kWh, you will get 135 MPGe. I think it is a bad comparison, since there are energy loses in charging the car and also in transmission of electricity from power plants, but it is how they compare ICE to EV's.

 

[surgeonFWW]

Thanks for the good info, discodanman45. In chemical "power", 1 gallon of gasoline may be equivalent to 33.7 kWh. There is a second (financial) way to estimate MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent). Take the cost of a gallon of gas (average, local, changes daily) & calculate how far you can travel on that dollar-equivalent amount of electricity. e.g. Say gas is $2.40/gal, and your electricity costs $0.12/kWh. That $$ buys you 20 kWh of electricity. @ 4mi./kWh, you can drive 80 miles, or 80 MPGe. Different gas price, electricity cost, and mi./kWh driving gets you different MPGe.

 

[GJETSON]

MPGe is not how many miles you are getting per kWh. To calculate MPGe you need to do a calculation. I gallon of gasoline is equivalent to 33.7 kWh. So if you travel 4 miles per kWh for the 33.7 kWh, you will get 135 MPGe. I think it is a bad comparison, since there are energy loses in charging the car and also in transmission of electricity from power plants, but it is how they compare ICE to EV's.

MPGe is directly based on how many mile/kWh you get. The extra step of dividing your mi/kWh into the energy content of a gallon of gas is a pointless extra step, that is intended to help science and math challenged folks "understand" their EVs energy use.

 

[discodanman45]

MPGe is directly based on how many mile/kWh you get. The extra step of dividing your mi/kWh into the energy content of a gallon of gas is a pointless extra step, that is intended to help science and math challenged folks "understand" their EVs energy use.

I believe they also take into consideration energy lost from the outlet to your battery for MPGe. So if your car travelled 100 miles on 30 kWh, they will use 33 kWh for the 10% loss of electricity.

I for one hate the MPGe calculation, because most people think of money when they see it. If your car is getting 130 MPGe and an ICE vehicle gets 30 MPG, people think that the EV should be over 4 times cheaper in electricity.

 

[surgeonFWW]

MPGe is directly based on how many mile/kWh you get. The extra step of dividing your mi/kWh into the energy content of a gallon of gas is a pointless extra step, that is intended to help science and math challenged folks "understand" their EVs energy use.

I admit to ignorance. If you do not take into account either the energy equivalent of a gal. of gas or the cost equivalent, how do you make a comparison? I read that the Bolt EV had a MPGe of 120. I do not know how they calculated this (I thought from the "energy" in the petrol gallon). But I do not understand how the mi./kWh by itself makes a useful comparative factor.

 

[p7wang]

It's 100% cheaper when you get free charging.

 

[GJETSON]

I admit to ignorance. If you do not take into account either the energy equivalent of a gal. of gas or the cost equivalent, how do you make a comparison? I read that the Bolt EV had a MPGe of 120. I do not know how they calculated this (I thought from the "energy" in the petrol gallon). But I do not understand how the mi./kWh by itself makes a useful comparative factor.

If you say, as GM does, that the Bolt averages 3.97 mi/kWh, and you look at your electric bill, you know your cost per mile. Anybody who can't get their head around that probably doesn't know the mpg average, or cost per mile, of their old car.