Smart Car of America Forum banner

Made it 160 miles to my dealer

6K views 40 replies 14 participants last post by  emailchrishall 
#1 ·
Made the trip in Pea Pod to Cary, NC. Left about 6 AM and made it to the Cary dealership at 5 PM. Let's see - that's 160 miles in "only" eleven hours, an average of 15 mph.

First leg was 70 miles to Lumberton. My typical distance I can go on a charge is 70 miles, so I was a bit worried about being able to make that leg. However, I kept my speed at 40 to 45 mph the whole way which really helps to increase the range. Even after the 70 miles trip to Lumberton, I still had 19 miles left. Traffic was very light and any cars I was holding up were able to pass me pretty quickly, so I don't think I pissed too many people off. At least I got no fingers, gestures or angry comments from any other drivers that I noticed.

We stopped for 2.5 hours in Lumberton to recharge at the Nissan dealership.

Next leg was 35 miles to Fayetteville. We stopped there for two hours to recharge, eat lunch and kill time at the Transportation Museum.

Then an hour trip to Fuquay-Varina where my charge level was about 10% and my range was down to about 12 miles. I was pretty sure that making it to Cary was out of the picture, so I did a charge there for about an hour. I had made previous contact with a business there that had a charger just in case I needed it - glad I did.

Finally the last half hour to Cary, Made it to the dealership with about 20% charge left. So the car is getting the annual battery check today and they are looking at a warranty item or two. If any new parts are needed, they will likely have to order them and that will mean that the car will be there until early next week. They did give me a loaner, a 2015 gas Smart. First time I had ever driven the gasoline version. It got us home in three hours and handled very well at 75 to 80 mph. Got home about 9:30 last night and we both slept very well after that day.

Len
 
See less See more
#3 ·
This is awesome. My dealer is about 62 miles from my house. I have been debating if I want to try to make the run straight there or hit a public charger at about the 40 mile mark before going all the way. My other option I'm considering is to trailer it there. I just did a test today and got 60 miles out of it and it said I had about 8 miles left. So I think I can make the run without issue. My concern is if they don't keep it and I have to try to make the run back in the same day. I'll have to charge it there before coming back.

Thanks for sharing this awesome story.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#4 ·
Chris - read my report on my trip home too. The car charged to 90, 90 and 89 miles and based on my my observations, those were pretty accurate. You should have no problems at all with 62 miles if you watch your speed and keep the AC off.

Len
2014 EV
 
#5 ·
OK, long trip experts, I need some feed back.
I'm going to take my Smart in for service tomorrow. I'm driving from the Dayton, Ohio to the Cincinnati area. I have several opportunities to hit a charging station along the way.

My plan was to take the shortest route so I could keep my speed low. That's no highway at all and it would be 52 miles taking 1 hour and 27 minutes. Option 2 is to take the highway. That cuts the time down to about an hour but it's 64 miles. Either way, I would feel better hitting a station along the way.

My question is, in your personal experience, how much more draining is it to run highway speeds versus taking the back roads? Is it worth the extra time to keep from having to charge as long along the way? Or, is the stopping and starting on the back roads going to hurt me more than the higher freeway speeds?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#6 ·
Backroads, for sure. Your average speed will be 35 mph, and cost you just an extra half hour. Lower velocity, less wind resistance, and more regen will save you a ton of juice.

Leave home early, well before traffic starts, and you'll get bonus miles. Do some charging in/around Montgomery, and then make sure they get you plugged in right away at smart.
 
#9 ·
Glad it went well. I was going to suggest the back roads at least for the trip over to prove to yourself that you could easily make it. The longest leg of my 160 mile trip was 70 miles and I had 19 miles left when I got there. Kept the speed under 50 mph and was very happy with the range.

Len
2014 EV
 
#15 ·
He said it had had the service it needed. Plus, I read up on the warranty and there is language in there about the warranty only being void if anything goes wrong after missing a cycle. So anything between now and 30,000 should be fine as long as I make that 30,000 check.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#20 ·
I would think the weather would need to be right: 60 degrees, no humidity, low barometric pressure and so on. Maybe slightly over-inflated tired, slight tail wind, mildly down hill, drafting off a semi and like someone already said, 20mph.
All joking aside, I would love to try it if I had a friend with a flat bed trailer to come pick me up at the end.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#22 ·
"192.3 km 0% SOC and 7km remaining range according app, more I did not dare. I'm unfortunately not been from the outset to record run from, so the first 30km as normal (12, x he consumption) down, even with some little tire pressure. The 200km can thus be cracked. But you should know enough side roads / secret paths, because the 92Wh / km last achieved just go with most cautious driving style."

https://translate.googleusercontent...0.html&usg=ALkJrhg9B-MAifp-mDtcAMsYCHIDApgnqA
 

Attachments

#24 ·
"192.3 km 0% SOC and 7km remaining range according app, more I did not dare.
Good find! I didn't think of that when I read your post.
Sadly, the driver here didn't report conditions very clearly. He said in an earlier post during the experiment that max. speed was < 70 km/h (44 mph), but didn't mention average speed. I suspect it was much lower.

The references to the odyssey diagnostics interface are there because with it, we can read the internal "true" State of Charge from the BMS, which tends to be ~ 10% higher than the dash-mounted SoC gauge. This way one can drive an extra few miles after the dash gauge drops to zero without risk of getting stranded.
 
#26 · (Edited)
Yes, warm summer weather 80's F definitely helps range. Don't use AC - it isn't needed at 85F/30C. Run with the windows down and/or just the blower on. Also, with respect to air drag, you want high humidity - as every airplane (or even just hang-glider) pilot knows, warm, humid air is less dense.
 
#37 ·
the sad part is on a closed track, i could probably make an easy 600 miles on a tank with an ICE, 500 miles at a constant 45mph. not that i want to sit in a smart for 10+ hours, i have done it, 400+ miles on a tank at normal highway traffic speeds. i seriously doubt many have driven any smart 10 hours straight, a few "hard core" rally goers, maybe. most people's bladders would give out before that with a 73 inch wheelbase on the average American road. given the fact that electric cars have been around as long as ICE cars, or longer, the technology, in general, doesn't show it!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top