The following writeup is taken from the EV1 Club email list...

Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1998 02:16:47 -0800
From: Greg Hanssen
Subject: [EV1-CLUB] My day with NiMH

Joe Medivitz was kind enough to lend me a 99 NiMH car for a trip I had to make today to Los Angeles from Irvine.. I'd love to play with it longer but I'm driving (ICE) out to Vegas tomorrow for Xmas... here's my trip report...

Started at Saturn Santa Ana with a full charge and a cool pack.. 116 Mi Est. range. After a quick drive to Redondo Beach, I've driven 41 miles and the pack is down to 67% (extrapolate to 123mi possible).. I was driving 70-75mph the whole way so I know I could have used half the power by driving slower, but with 116mi Est range, why bother?

I know we're supposed to kick the opportunity charging habit with these, but I WANTED to heat up this pack to see what would happen.. So I plugged in at Hawthorne Savings for lunch.. charged from 67% to 92% in 1hr25mins...(3.4min/%) the pack warms up some more (as it also did during the first 41 mile drive).

For the next leg I try to drive really mellow.. slow start/stop in 35-45mph city driving then 55mph on the freeway... the pack does not heat at all. 21 miles later I've gone from 92% to 80% (about) extrapolating gives 175 miles range.

Now I drive it average (65mph) from Cerritos to Burbank... 32 miles later I've gone from 80% down to 52% (extr. 115 mi.. hmm note these are not exact figures).. pack heats up some more.

I let it sit in the shade in Burbank for 2 hours.. it's damn cold out. Pack doesn't cool at all.

Now I take an average drive (right after sunset) through Glendale and back to Burbank.. down to 39% charge now after another 12 miles... and the pack has actually cooled a tad.

I charge again at Burbank City hall (5.2kw just like Hawthorne) from 39% to 73% in 1hr 55mins (3.4min/%). During this time the pack didn't heat up at all (!!) but then remember it's damn cold out.

Now it's a quick drive back to Irvine from Burbank... some traffic but I'm going 75mph most of the way. Arrive home at 32% SOC (extrp 50mi/41soc = 122mi) Assuming 55mph is half the power of 75mph, that might imply I could go nearly 180 miles at 55mph.

Ok.. charging at home: (6.3kw)

         9:00pm     32% soc        pack: warm enough for passive cooling fan
                                         to come on.. 1st time today.
         10:30      64% soc        pack: same temp as 32%   (2.8min/%)
         midnight   89% soc        pack: heating up.. (in my garage)
         12:30      FULL/LEVELING  pack: toasty!  still heating up.
         1am        FULL/SUPPORT   pack: way hot!  I unplug the charger
                                         and it's STILL running thepassive
                                         cooling fan (not sure if AC
                                         came on, I wasn't watching)

         

2am after sitting outside for an hour, running the passive cooling fan on battery power... the pack is still toasty! and it's REALLY cold out there... I wonder when it shuts off...

gads, what am I doing, it's 2am and I'm driving to Vegas tomorrow

(next day).... other observations:

The car is REALLY quiet!!! although there are a few new noises.. strange whine when accelerating mildly from 20mph to 30mph..

The first fan setting moves a LOT more air than it did on the gen1.

Mild heating starts fairly quickly with the electric assist.

Hard to tell if acceleration is the same or a tad worse. Will have to run more tests...