Have I (we) been duped by Renault?

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DaveM
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2022 11:29 am

Post by DaveM »

Hi, anticipating delivery of my Techno in the next couple of weeks but as that day draws closer I am picking up information I just wish I knew beforehand. It’s making me a little anxious.

60kWh battery has only 55 kWh usable.

This is listed on EV Database and through test drives by Bjorn Nyland. Don’t other manufacturers advertise their usable battery size ie VW 58kWh etc.?
Does this matter? For me I have been calculating that I use 70% of 60 kWh (min 10% charge, max 80% charge) to prolong battery life. So instead of 42kWh this is now 38.5kWh.

Charging

A common result of reviews I have seen, including Bjorn Nyland, is that no one has achieved the claimed 130 kWh, it falls marginally short at 127/128 briefly, then steadily drops away. This leaves most reviewers questioning the charging claims by Renault and it’s capabilities against rivals.

Couple this with the usable battery size and those long journeys are going to be broken by more frequent charging stops.

I acknowledge that one can charge to 100% for longer journeys but if one is focused on preserving battery life am I being over the top on my concerns.

tarbat
Posts: 43
Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2022 2:36 pm

Post by tarbat »

The UK brochure clearly says "Usable capacity (kWh) 60". And if you take the official WLTP range 280 miles, and Certified Consumption of 16.1 kWh/100km, then allowing for 17% charging losses, then usable battery size works out to be 60 kWh.

The German brochure says "Netto-Speicherkapazität", or "net storage capacity", and the French brochure says "Capacité utilisable", or "usable capacity". So it's clear that the usable, net battery capacity is 60 kWh, and the youtube tests by Bjorn must have been flawed in some way. The numbers on the EV-Database website are guesses with an "*" next to them.

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Last edited by tarbat on Tue Nov 29, 2022 2:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
tarbat
Posts: 43
Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2022 2:36 pm

Post by tarbat »

I also did some work a while ago to translate the Megane's charging curve into a more useful time-based chart. But yes, 130 kW is only briefly achieved at around 20% SoC.

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Rob
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Post by Rob »

Some of the results in real world tests are likely to be affected by the weather, am I right in thinking cold / hot weather part of the current is used to pre condition the battery, the remaining to charge the car?
perhaps the peak is the pre-conditioning going on at the start of the charge?
Or it could be software that can be fixed with an update I guess.
Phorridge
Posts: 147
Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2022 5:32 pm

Post by Phorridge »

In practice in the winter with 100% charge I'm seeing 180 miles max offered and in practice even using regen on full I'll get around 160miles.
But it's adviced to only charge to 80% to preserve battery life. So you'd be looking at around 130miles from an 80% charge.
I suspect the heating. Headlights, wipers etc are eating charge and if the batteries need heating in cold weather that will impact charge as well.
Be interesting to see how things improve in the summer.
The Renault statement of 280 miles is just very misleading and unhelpful.
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