Efficiency Has TANKED

[goldburger]

Just drove back home from a night out and was triggered by the efficiency changes the last 7-10 days, so I closely monitored on a 30 minute drive at 70 mph with no wind whatsoever.

heat at 75, 2 dots for 25 minutes
Heated steering for 10
Temp was 43 degrees
Hardly any elevation change
Last mile was in my hood at 25 mph max.

it’s been this way for one week, out of nowhere, after hovering 2.1ish daily.

I have my heat in 73 and it drops my effeminacy to around 1 or so lol

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[mikehmb]

If possible, precondition the cab and charge right up until the point you leave. The battery should be brought to temp (75ish degrees F) and the cabin will be toasty. You’ll use a similar # of electrons net, but your driving efficiency will increase and hence range.

Weird side note - if I immediately put the Rivian in the garage after a longer drive, the heat soak becomes painfully obvious, as the garage warms up considerably. It’s also very well insulated, and has deep concrete under the parking pad, so it stays warm most of the night. Which means the car needs to do less work heating itself up in the morning.

I always think it’s weird to walk into the garage in the morning and have it warmer than the house, but in this case it actually helps.

 

[gvtucker]

If possible, precondition the cab and charge right up until the point you leave. The battery should be brought to temp (75ish degrees F) and the cabin will be toasty. You’ll use a similar # of electrons net, but your driving efficiency will increase and hence range.

Weird side note - if I immediately put the Rivian in the garage after a longer drive, the heat soak becomes painfully obvious, as the garage warms up considerably. It’s also very well insulated, and has deep concrete under the parking pad, so it stays warm most of the night. Which means the car needs to do less work heating itself up in the morning.

I always think it’s weird to walk into the garage in the morning and have it warmer than the house, but in this case it actually helps.

My garage isn't nearly as warm as yours, maybe around 60 or so, but there's a noticeable difference in efficiency in the morning when my R1T has been in the garage all day versus the evening when the truck has been outside at an office all day. On the 15 minute drive to the office I get around 2.4 miles/kWh, but on the way home it is around 1.9 miles/kWh.

 

[Golfer04]

Either way, I guess I wouldn’t have expected such a large drop with the heat on low setting and the temp not too very cold. In a few weeks it will be 20 degrees cooler.

so we should expect cold temp ranges of 190-200 miles? Yikes.

Assume you live in Iowa; I'm in Western Illinois and can tell you to get used to it. I've tried shutting the heat off and didn't notice much of a difference. During last year's bitter cold period I got 1.1 mi/k. Like others have said 30 minute and less drives in cold weather are really bad. We have not had much cold weather since the enhanced gauge view came out, but near as I can tell the most important factor is motor temp. In cold weather they need to be pretty warm to be efficient. I expected it to be battery temp, but have not found that to be true. Unplug at home with battery at 90 degrees and get bad efficiency until motors warm up.

 

[Southern R1S]

For those with discounted power rates for off-peak charging overnight, another thing I do in the winter is push the scheduled charge to start later during the off-peak window so that charging will end as close as possible (within that window) to the time I'm usually ready to leave in the morning.

Basically allows me to capture some benefit out of the charging I'm already doing vs. allowing it to start / end earlier in the off-peak window (which would allow more time for the battery to cool between when it's done charging and when I'm ready to leave in the morning).

 

[goldburger]

If possible, precondition the cab and charge right up until the point you leave. The battery should be brought to temp (75ish degrees F) and the cabin will be toasty. You’ll use a similar # of electrons net, but your driving efficiency will increase and hence range

What if it's in the middle of the day and I've been driving all the day the battery is not cold soaked and it still tanks to around 1? If you're Rivian... no issue found!

 

[mikehmb]

For those with discounted power rates for off-peak charging overnight, another thing I do in the winter is push the scheduled charge to start later during the off-peak window so that charging will end as close as possible (within that window) to the time I'm usually ready to leave in the morning.

Basically allows me to capture some benefit out of the charging I'm already doing vs. allowing it to start / end earlier in the off-peak window (which would allow more time for the battery to cool between when it's done charging and when I'm ready to leave in the morning).

I do something similar, where I will set the max current draw to something that gets me close to my target % at my planned time of departure. Usually for when I need 100% at time of departure, but no harm in doing it to keep current draw down, either.

 

[mikehmb]

What if it's in the middle of the day and I've been driving all the day the battery is not cold soaked and it still tanks to around 1? If you're Rivian... no issue found!

That sounds terrible. What conditions are you driving in?

 

[Ecupip]

I know it's not helpful to your situation, but I've been pleasantly surprised driving the R1T in cooler weather. I expected the worst after reading comments from lots of ev drivers saying they get half the range in the winter. Even in the 20's I've only seen a slight reduction in efficiency (.22 miles per KWH or less).

Mine stays in an unheated garage at night, I wait until the cabin gets cold before turning the heat on, and when I do it's never higher than 72.

 

[Dark-Fx]

That sounds terrible. What conditions are you driving in?

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[Craigins]

I love all these posts. Makes me glad that I enjoy the cold and the only time I run the heat is to defog the windshield. I always get asked, doesn't your efficiency suck in the winter? Nope, maybe a 5-10% hit max.

I wish they'd come up with a way to heat the windshield without the forced air.

 

[NineElectrics]

They should have shipped this car with a heat pump. Many adventures involve cold weather.

 

[mikehmb]

12 inches of fresh powder

Then it is, in fact, excellent.

 

[mikehmb]

I wish they'd come up with a way to heat the windshield without the forced air.

VW did this in the eGolf, and while it is certainly more efficient, it is terrible once you see - and cannot unsee - the filaments.

 

[Craigins]

VW did this in the eGolf, and while it is certainly more efficient, it is terrible once you see - and cannot unsee - the filaments.

we are so far beyond putting tiny wires into glass to heat it.

Why can't we do something like embed IR absorbing particles into the glass, then use an IR laser to evenly heat the windshield when it is needed. You could have a thermal imager to even identify sections that need to be warmed. You'd get the added bonus of the sun helping heat the windshield too.

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