T8 Battery Range

[s3t0Kaiba]

A question to other T8 owners. I have an MY19 T8 since July, battery is the 10.4kWh.

I use pre-conditioning consistently every day, on starting the car hybrid mode on a full charge the battery range is reported as 35km. In pure, reported as 40km.

Then low and behold since Saturday, the range is now reported as 31km on a full charge, and in pure it's 37km.

Weather is a little colder (7C) and more humid these days.

Is this normal? Is this weather dependent? Should I expect the range to go back up to 35/40 as we move into the spring and summer?

Or could this be a sign that my battery started to degrade already? Any body else got a similar experience? I'd be interested in the reported range on a full charge in sub zero climes, and if cold humidity has any effect.

[Director76]

Originally Posted by s3t0Kaiba

A question to other T8 owners. I have an MY19 T8 since July, battery is the 10.4kWh.

I use pre-conditioning consistently every day, on starting the car hybrid mode on a full charge the battery range is reported as 35km. In pure, reported as 40km.

Then low and behold since Saturday, the range is now reported as 31km on a full charge, and in pure it's 37km.

Weather is a little colder (7C) and more humid these days.

Is this normal? Is this weather dependent? Should I expect the range to go back up to 35/40 as we move into the spring and summer?

Or could this be a sign that my battery started to degrade already? Any body else got a similar experience? I'd be interested in the reported range on a full charge in sub zero climes, and if cold humidity has any effect.

Have noticed same these past few weeks too. Could be that range prediction is based in part on ambient temperatures.

We use preheat too, but with the temps a bit up and down recently not using it every time yet so there are maybe two other factors - without a preconditioned battery in the cold, range will drop, and using preheat, even when plugged in seems to use some battery (with fuel heater)

I was wondering if there was some battery degradation - but I hope not too much yet. We’re on 11k miles 11 months old (charged / discharged daily) - will find out next summer if it goes back up!

[MaDProFF]

I have done 9k miles now and my range over the last few weeks on pure dropped from 25 miles to 24 at full charge, although since reading 24 on a full charge I have had 25 since on the odd occasion.

Seems a bit of coincidence that we all seem to have a drop recently.

What I really do not understand:-

Volvo officially quoted a 30 mile range, that dropped I think to 28, I remember reading a Whatcar report on their T8, they stated they started with a 28 mile range on their journeys, I have never seen a full charge at 28 mile range ever when I turn on the ignition.

What I want to know if after a full charge and you turn on the ignition to get a reading at 25 miles on Pure how the hell you are ever going to get 28 / 30 range so I do not understand even under test conditions if you start with 25, to get 28???????
Considering I would not even get 25 miles, it is more like 20 real world driving nicely, so a real world difference of around 30%.

[Director76]

Originally Posted by MaDProFF

I have done 9k miles now and my range over the last few weeks on pure dropped from 25 miles to 24 at full charge, although since reading 24 on a full charge I have had 25 since on the odd occasion.

Seems a bit of coincidence that we all seem to have a drop recently.

What I really do not understand:-

Volvo officially quoted a 30 mile range, that dropped I think to 28, I remember reading a Whatcar report on their T8, they stated they started with a 28 mile range on their journeys, I have never seen a full charge at 28 mile range ever when I turn on the ignition.

What I want to know if after a full charge and you turn on the ignition to get a reading at 25 miles on Pure how the hell you are ever going to get 28 / 30 range so I do not understand even under test conditions if you start with 25, to get 28???????
Considering I would not even get 25 miles, it is more like 20 real world driving nicely, so a real world difference of around 30%.

I think software upgrades from the early cars to the later ones have reduced the maximum range value down to what it is now, which seems to be 25 on pure 21 on hybrid (on a warm day at least!)

[s3t0Kaiba]

An update - I ran the battery down fully yesterday, arrived home with the remaining mileage at --.

Fully charged it overnight and I'm back at 35km Hybrid / 40km Pure. Today is a little warmer at 10C, Humidity 82%.

I hadn't run the battery down fully since middle of last week, so perhaps short runs and top-ups etc were responsible.

I referred to this article:
https://www.volvocars.com/uk/support...a80151310787c4

seems to have been udpated since I last saw it, they refer to eDTE (Electric Distance To Empty) vs using a "forecast of electric mode range".

Thanks everyone for sharing, glad to see my experiences was not unusual

[SwissXC90]

Originally Posted by s3t0Kaiba

Then low and behold since Saturday, the range is now reported as 31km on a full charge, and in pure it's 37km.

Weather is a little colder (7C) and more humid these days.

Is this normal? Is this weather dependent? Should I expect the range to go back up to 35/40 as we move into the spring and summer?

All rechargeable batteries rely on chemical reactions to store the energy.
these reactions are much less efficient at colder temperatures, and thus storage capacity in kWh reduces as temperature reduces.

It increases again as the temperature increases, but as it also reduces with time, some degradation is always present.

If you want to prolong the life of your car's battery, do the following:

1. Keep the car in a garage overnight where it can stay warmer than cold outside temperatures in Winter, and cooler than hot outside temperatures in Summer.

2. Try to recharge the battery at ambient temperatures that are not extremely low or extremely high. Batteries are, like humans, happiest at around 20°C

If you have a worst-case scenario where your car is always parked outside, and freezes in Winter and sweats in Summer, then you can expect the battery to fail sooner than a car that lives in a nice warm insulated and air conditioned garage. With carpet. And double glazed windows.

And if you garage the car, you'll suffer less corrosion, less paint fade, less dirt, and less theft.

Benefits all around.

[Philip Fisher]

Originally Posted by SwissXC90

And if you garage the car, you'll suffer less corrosion, less paint fade, less dirt, and less theft.......

.......And far less space for all the other stuff that lives in the garage....

[SpaceBoy42]

Originally Posted by Philip Fisher

.......And far less space for all the other stuff that lives in the garage....

I have a reasonable 4 bed with a "standard" garage. There is NO WAY I could open the doors even if I could squeeze my XC90 in!! Like everyone else in our area, the garages are all used as a store for "stuff"!

[Driver Dave]

Originally Posted by SwissXC90

And if you garage the car, you'll suffer less corrosion, less paint fade, less dirt, and less theft.

Benefits all around.

Not necessarily, putting a car which is wet, with a warm/hot engine into a small, enclosed, poorly ventilated garage is not the best way to avoid corrosion.

[anotherv60]

Originally Posted by SwissXC90

All rechargeable batteries rely on chemical reactions to store the energy.
these reactions are much less efficient at colder temperatures, and thus storage capacity in kWh reduces as temperature reduces.

It increases again as the temperature increases, but as it also reduces with time, some degradation is always present.

If you want to prolong the life of your car's battery, do the following:

1. Keep the car in a garage overnight where it can stay warmer than cold outside temperatures in Winter, and cooler than hot outside temperatures in Summer.

2. Try to recharge the battery at ambient temperatures that are not extremely low or extremely high. Batteries are, like humans, happiest at around 20°C

If you have a worst-case scenario where your car is always parked outside, and freezes in Winter and sweats in Summer, then you can expect the battery to fail sooner than a car that lives in a nice warm insulated and air conditioned garage. With carpet. And double glazed windows.

And if you garage the car, you'll suffer less corrosion, less paint fade, less dirt, and less theft.

Benefits all around.

This is right, you will probably see a decrease in range at temperatures above 30C for two reasons the most significant being you have to cool the battery which takes energy and the second is that the battery becomes less efficient at temperatures over 30C also. Anyone noticed this? I assume the battery has a heating/cooling system.