Still Going

A couple of folk have asked me about the Vogue since there hasn't been any blog entries for a while. Yes it's still going - and still waiting for the front end components to be fitted. The batteries have suffered a little from calendar life degradation but all 384 cells appear to be tracking each other pretty well. Range is down to around 55km. I'm always looking out for new cells to fit in the same place as the headways and if I can get the ones I like it would give me about 240km range. The pack weight would go from 140kg to just under 200kg - not bad. Hard to justify though as the range still gets me where I want to go and back.

Vogue passes 30,800 km

I have been a bit lax updating the blog lately but the Vogue passed 30,000 km a month or so ago so I got a picture yesterday.

Temperature and Projected Range for 2016

Here is the full year's graph of the eVogue's projected range vs temperature for 2016.
Summer is December to February here in Australia.
I have logged the temperatures for the drive "To Work" at about 8:30AM, the "From Work" at around 5:30PM and the "Charge" temperature at around 4AM (I start charge at 3AM and it usually stops at 5 or 5:30AM).
The magic number for 80km total range appears to be 15 degrees C.

That NOISY EV

Reuters - 14th November.

The U.S. government on Monday finalized long-delayed rules that will require "quiet cars" like electric vehicles and hybrids to emit alert sounds when they are moving at speeds of up to 18.6 miles per hour (30 km per hour) to help prevent injuries among pedestrians, cyclists and the blind.

The rules, which were required by Congress, will require automakers like Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O), Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) and Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) to add the sounds to all vehicles by September 2019. The U.S. Transportation Department said it expects the rules would prevent 2,400 injuries a year by 2020 and require the addition of alert sounds to about 530,000 2020 model vehicles.

It looks like I'll be installing that EV SoundRacer in the Vogue before too long.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-autos-regulations-idUSKBN13923M

Range vs Temperature by Day

Since I have noted temperature to and from work and charge temperature for the past three and a half months I can now verify that 15 degrees C is the magic number. Above 15 degrees and I go above (or close to) 80km projected range.

September is an excellent example (colder than last year).

October is a bit more scatty as I did a couple of "don't care about range" trips but the trend is still evident.

November has warmed up and just about every day's drive home is above 15 degrees so projected range is following.

Month by month so far for 2016.
You can see the unusually cold October.

Compared to last year.

Range and Temperature

I have collected temperature data this year in an attempt to understand a little more about what effects range the most from summer to winter.

I have logged my drive to work temperature, drive home (From Work) temperature and charge temperature.

It looks like the highest correlation with projected range is the drive home. That may simply reflect the daytime temperature of course.
Temperature is in degrees C.

(Edit: 27 Sep 2016 Updated - again)

Dark Red Nissan Leaf

I followed a dark red Leaf through the back streets of Scoresby for a couple of kilometers today.
Anyone?

Getting cold in Melbourne. In winter range territory now.

The Wedding Pictures are in!

The professional pictures are now available. Emma just made this short montage (just over 3 minutes) available for Tammy and Matt. The Vogue features a lot.
Link to Vimeo version.


Tammy and Matthew from emmawisephotography on Vimeo.

More wedding pics

I had a special spot in the shade reserved for the Vogue during the ceremony.
It was a 10AM ceremony and 12 Midday reception. It worked out well for the non-air-conditioned Vogue's occupants. A pleasant 40 minute drive to the Chapel with temperature at about 21 degrees C. A tad hot at 12:10 PM when we moved again but it was only a four minute drive to the reception.

About to leave home for the drive down to Brighton. The Man of Honour (son) travelled with Laurel (wife) in her car so it was just Tam and me.

The Bride and Groom were picked up from the reception in a Tesla.

Daughter gets Married - the Wedding car?

My daughter Tammy was married yesterday and it was my honour to provide the wedding car at her request. She and her husband (sounds weird) began serious dating in 2009, just around the time I started the Vogue restoration and electrification.

A Tesla took them from the reception to a city hotel so she travelled entirely electric for the big day.
More pictures to come...

Summer range, Getting 90km predicted

I'm getting 90km predicted range on my normal drive to work now that it's warmer weather again. My previous post showing just past 20,000km was a bad day with a few little trips. (Even EVs don't like those sub 5km local trips.)

I don't get much time to take my logging picture in the morning a we are usually in a rush to get my daughter to the station, but I did get a second shot when I saw the bad light reflection.

Vogue passes 20,000km

I meant to stop and snap a picture when the Vogue hit 20,000 electric kilometers but it slipped by without me noticing. I only realised this morning when I took my standard picture so that I could update the daily charging spreadsheet.
(Sorry for the hand reflection.)

Range Improving for Summer

It's been a long winter - not too wet but colder for longer.
The Vogue range is returning to 80+km. With four nine 17 charges recorded for October it's looking good. It's unusual for August to be similar temperatures to June and July in Melbourne.

The Vogue is up to 18937 electric kilometers.

(Image and numbers updated 30th Oct 2015)

Strange Vogue Picture

I was on the way to work yesterday and a strange site caught my eye.

Can't see it?  I'm not surprised - you probably had to be sitting on stationary traffic and bored to notice.


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The shape of the Mazda rear hatch door turned the Vogue front view into a cartoon-like image.

The Mazda hatch must be more a triangle shape (in plan view) rather than a gentle curve.

All's well for start of 2015

There's not much going on with the Vogue at the moment. It's my daily driver to and from work and is completely reliable. I do have to keep a check for charger failures but they seemed to have settled down. We are not getting the 40 degree days that are typical of this time of year so the Vogue is very pleasant to drive. The odometer reads just over 13000km.

Once minor change a few days ago is that I implemented a regenerative braking "boost". I have regen. set at the maximum I think is safe to run for wet roads etc. but every now and then, mainly when slowing down for a right turn lane, I'd like a bit more. (I also have it set so I don't exceed 2C to the batteries.) Now, when I press the reverse-interlock pushbutton on the dash, the regen. ramps up to 200% what I normally run. The ramp is over a 1 second period.

I don't seem to need to use it more than a couple of times a week but it's nice not to waste the energy with mechanical brakes.

Hi to the folks in France who seemed to have topped the Vogue blog page views last week.
Feel free to leave a comment...

Range by Month to mid December 2014

October was hotter than normal, November dropped a bit and the Vogue's range followed.

Monthly Energy Usage to Spring 2014

I have deferred the front end work until I have time to clean up the wishbones etc.
Meanwhile, I am getting good range figures now that it's warmed up a little here in Melbourne.
Here is the up-to-date range history since I have been driving the Vogue on electricity.
Range is based on 80% Depth of Discharge (DOD) of the battery pack.

The anomaly in October 2013 was caused by two high speed trips raising the average of only eight recharges. June 2013 had only five recharges. I normally recharge about 20 times a month in winter (every weeknight) and about 15 times a month in Summer.

Edit: Updated 28th October 2014

Vogue about to clock up 10,000km on Electric Power

My range is creeping back up now it's over 15 degrees C in the morning.
I quickly took this picture on the way to work. I had another 5km to go. The over-100km-projected-range didn't last long as I was about to go up a big hill - nice to see though.
(Range is Remaining Range - I should rename it sometime.)

So on the way home I'll go over the 10,000km.

Poodle playtime and Vogue passes 9000km

The Vogue passed 9000km on battery power at the start of this week.
Meanwhile the Rag stealers play...

Energy Usage per Month

I have noticed that the Vogue's range has increased during summer so I entered the AH used and the distance traveled for each time the car was charged since I started routinely driving the Vogue back in April 2013 (I keep a log). The data was entered in a spreadsheet divided into columns of months.
I then simply divided the AH used by the distance and averaged these values for each month.
The range line (purple) is that figure divided into 16 - my pack is 20AH and 16 is 80% of the pack's AH capacity.

The result. (In Australia the hottest months are January/February - coldest is around June/July).

Energy usage per kilometer is on the way back up as it gets colder down under.

(Edit: Graph updated again June 5th 2014)

It's not aligned but here is the temperature graph for where I live. The grey area is the rolling average.

Source of graph: http://weatherspark.com/history/34069/2013/Melbourne-Victoria-Australia