Milage Range has dropped below 80 miles

Pumpman2 · Feb 14, 2022

Hi,

I have my 2014 Rav4 86K miles which when I first got it 3 years ago I was getting 105-110 Miles as a reading (regular charging). In the last few months now the range is in the 75-86 range. When I try to activate the extended range I do not get that much more of a milage boost. Can anyone assist is there anything that can be done? I charge at home with a home charger. What kind of battery drop off are others seeing?

Richard

miimura · Feb 14, 2022

The displayed range is not a direct indication of the battery capacity, it's the car's best guess of the range based on it's estimation of battery energy and your recent driving efficiency. However, the amount of range increase when choosing Extended Charge is a pretty good indication of battery degradation. The Standard Charge is more or less normalized to a fixed capacity level. That means that as the battery degrades, the energy stored during Extended Charge will gradually decrease until it matches the normalized Standard Charge. After that point, the Extended Charge won't actually do anything.

The best indication of your battery condition for a normal owner is from the "Tony Test". See the thread below for how to do it.

http://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1625

Beyond that, you would have to look at the Tesla CANbus to see what the Tesla BMS thinks the energy capacity is.

davewill · Feb 15, 2022

As the battery degrades over time, the "extended" part of the range is sacrificed to keep the "normal" range stable until there is finally no extended range left at all. After that, the normal range will begin to show degradation as well.

However, the "Guess-o-meter" is not a great way to guage that degredation as it is based on past consumption as well as current battery capacity. One method for determining how much your battery has actually degraded is to do the "Tony Test" (below). It basically erases all the consumption history and resets the calculation to a default one that is consistent over time and between vehicles.

The procedure:

1) Fully charge the traction battery in EXTENDED mode
2) Make sure the car is unplugged
3) Disconnect all 3 black negative leads from the 12 volt battery (12mm wrench)
4) Let the vehcile sit overnight
5) Next morning, reconnect the 12 volt. You should get a spark.
6) Open the driver’s door and look at the GOM. Write the number down.
7) It will take two pushes of the start button to power up the car. Push once, and wait for the Navigation to spin up. Then push a second time, and you’ll hear the familiar “clunk” and see READY above the speedometer
8) The GOM is reset. The number you wrote down is then divided into 146 to get the approximate degradation:

Example: 132 / 146 = 90% capacity of the traction battery

http://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2258&p=27608&hilit=146#p27608

Pumpman2 · Feb 16, 2022

Thanks all I'll give it a go and see what the numbers are. I heard that Tony is looking at putting a Tesla Model3 battery in the RAV4 any update on that?

asavage · Feb 23, 2022

[snort]

I offered to send a $10k deposit to Tony immediately, to investigate doing that, three years ago. After a couple back-n-forths, he stopped responding, and failed to return VMs I left.

Based on that, I'd say he isn't pursuing that, or maybe it's just me.

Looking at videos of M3 batteries, they do not disassemble/regroup easily, not like the MS (and RAV4EV) battery modules. It does not look cost effective to me, but I'd love for someone reliable to enter this space.

davewill · Jun 4, 2022

asavage said:
[snort]

I offered to send a $10k deposit to Tony immediately, to investigate doing that, three years ago. After a couple back-n-forths, he stopped responding, and failed to return VMs I left.

Based on that, I'd say he isn't pursuing that, or maybe it's just me.

Looking at videos of M3 batteries, they do not disassemble/regroup easily, not like the MS (and RAV4EV) battery modules. It does not look cost effective to me, but I'd love for someone reliable to enter this space.

These guys might be able to help you if you really need something:

http://www.recell-ev.com/

I've corresponded with Chad a bit. They started out with the RAV4 EV, and sounded willing to help, but I don't have a need at this point.