Battery died with 35 miles left. Is this normal?

[Anonymous]

I was a few miles from home and had 35 miles left, according to the dashboard. I was on the freeway, going about 60, and received the message "Propulsion Power Is Reduced." The car immediately slowed to about 40 mph and, luckily, I was right at my exit so slowly made my way off the freeway. For a mile, still reading 35 miles, the car slowed to around 20 mph and then shut off on a low grade hill. Unfortunately, I had to get the car towed 1 block to my house. So does "35 miles" actually mean ZERO? I had planned the trip in a way knowing that I'd have a small buffer and made sure to not run AC. I've read that Propulsion Power can be reduced in extreme temperatures but it was a moderate 70 degrees.

 

[phil0909]

I was a few miles from home and had 35 miles left, according to the dashboard. I was on the freeway, going about 60, and received the message "Propulsion Power Is Reduced." The car immediately slowed to about 40 mph and, luckily, I was right at my exit so slowly made my way off the freeway. For a mile, still reading 35 miles, the car slowed to around 20 mph and then shut off on a low grade hill. Unfortunately, I had to get the car towed 1 block to my house. So does "35 miles" actually mean ZERO? I had planned the trip in a way knowing that I'd have a small buffer and made sure to not run AC. I've read that Propulsion Power can be reduced in extreme temperatures but it was a moderate 70 degrees.

I don't think GM bothers to tell us what is 'normal' in this situation. What the manual says is that "This message is most commonly
displayed when the high voltage battery charge level is low. "

They give no hint as to how low...

But I can tell you that this does not always happen at 35 miles. The lowest I've gotten is 31 miles estimated range left, and I did not get the power reduction or the message. I did have the battery meter turn orange to warn me, though.

 

[devbolt]

The two times I've gotten the "Propulsion Power is Reduced" is when the SOC hit ~10%. In both cases, estimated remaining miles was between 14 and 20 miles. And in both cases, I was easily able to get to a charger to recharge (I had actually deliberately ran the battery down as a test).

The fact that your car decided to "die" with 35 miles remaining is troubling. Do you recall what your battery percentage was (how many bars on the left side of the DIC), or how many miles per kWh you were getting at the time? Of if you had recently done a full charge (not hilltop reserve limited)?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies. The battery SOC was around 10 percent and the battery meter turned orange about 30 seconds before the car shut off completely. Not much of a fair warning. I had driven approximately 150 miles, a mix of city and freeway, since the last charge which was several days before. I'm going to be much more cognizant of my battery percentage from now on.

 

[SparkE]

Frankly, I would make a complaint to GM - the car shut off with 10% Soc? If it happens again, I would *immediately* pull over (safely) and call OnStar and say "my car is telling me I am running out of energy, what do you show?". Followed by "my estimated range is 32 miles, and it won't drive faster than 25 mph - is that normal?" (This is simply to get another example of this failure DOCUMENTED - OnStar should be able to see all the stats you see - including range remaining, and SoC.)

Personally, running out of 'juice' when 10% SoC is showing is UNACCEPTABLE, and a warranty item.

 

[dandrewk]

This sounds like a serious calibration issues. If this happens to others, it's an issue that needs to be fixed ASAP. I'm thinking it's software related, so hopefully an update will make things right.

In the meantime, don't let your battery get that low. ABC.

 

[SeanNelson]

The battery SOC was around 10 percent and the battery meter turned orange about 30 seconds before the car shut off completely.

Have you been charging your car in "Hilltop Reserve" mode? If so, when was the last time you charged it fully (right up to 100%)?

I've read some posts that suggest that full charging is occasionally required to calibrate the SOC meter, so I'm wondering if it hasn't been fully charged over a period of time whether that might result in this kind of issue.

 

[dandrewk]

The battery SOC was around 10 percent and the battery meter turned orange about 30 seconds before the car shut off completely.

Have you been charging your car in "Hilltop Reserve" mode? If so, when was the last time you charged it fully (right up to 100%)?

I've read some posts that suggest that full charging is occasionally required to calibrate the SOC meter, so I'm wondering if it hasn't been fully charged over a period of time whether that might result in this kind of issue.

Good point.

Come to think of it, when we got our Bolt in early January, it wasn't fully charged. One of the first things I did was to activate hill mode. So I don't think the car has ever been at 100%.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

Charging to 100% allows the pack to balance fully, you should do it once monthly at a minimum, and definitely before a long trip. Unbalanced cells wil cause it to shut down sooner.

Speed also plays into this, highway speeds will cause it to shut down sooner when you're low.

 

[WetEV]

Charging to 100% allows the pack to balance fully, you should do it once monthly at a minimum, and definitely before a long trip. Unbalanced cells wil cause it to shut down sooner.

This is correct for other EVs, but is it true for the Bolt?

Has anyone studied how the Bolt does battery balancing?

Does GM document it?

 

[Anonymous]

I have been less than 29 miles remaining twice when the gauge switched to LOW and had no problem finishing my short drive from that point.

I have never seen this "Propulsion Power is Reduced" mode although now I am tempted to push the envelope to test it!

My Volt 1.0 had no such mode and when I pushed the envelope near the end of its 3 year lease, it just came to a dead stop! I had to call AAA for some gas!

 

[newton513]

Just had something very similar happen. Left my in-laws with a hundred and eleven miles on the indicator. About 35 miles later the propulsion power reduced warning came on on the freeway reduced our speed slightly didn't know what to do with that. Got back got off the freeway and started driving we went from 50 miles range to 35 miles range to the car shutting off in the middle of the road.

 

[litesong]

Watching the Formula E racing EV events, they show remaining charge percentages of all the racing EVs on the TV screen. In almost all cases, remaining EV charges will track from 100% to 70% to 30% to 10% to 5%. Only then will the EV racers come into the pits to exchange their battery depleted EV for a fully changed EV. Then, they will power onto the race track & continue racing with their new fully charged EVs. The entire race is run by the racers with their two EVs, each depleted to 5% to 10% or even less with no power problems. If Formula E EVs can register accurate electric discharge rates under racing conditions, Chevy Bolts should easily show accurate discharge rates, too. Otherwise send EVs back to the dealer for corrections.

 

[SeanNelson]

Just had something very similar happen. Left my in-laws with a hundred and eleven miles on the indicator. About 35 miles later the propulsion power reduced warning came on on the freeway reduced our speed slightly didn't know what to do with that. Got back got off the freeway and started driving we went from 50 miles range to 35 miles range to the car shutting off in the middle of the road.

Did you read my post above regarding Hilltop reserve mode? Have you been using that charging mode exclusively?

 

[newton513]

I did see the post about Hill mode, but it's never been on. Now the vehicle say "Unable to charge" and an error message says an error has happened and try turning it off and back on again...if that doesn't work take it to the dealer.

 

[LeftieBiker]

The 2013+ Leafs with State Of Charge display will go down to 5-6% SOC and then the display goes off. Even after that you can usually go a few more miles. I'm not sure what the Leaf Guess O Meter (range estimator) does at those low SOCs, but mine has been down to 12 miles, with roughly that many miles of range left, several times when I was between 10% and 18% SOC. It appears that something is wrong with this Bolt, given that others aren't seeing this issue.

 

[sparkyps]

No, it isn't normal and it suggests a problem with your car that needs to be taken care of under warranty.

Unlike a gas tank, an EV's range estimate isn't based on a fluid level reading and while a gas car can be allowed to run the tank dry without (generally speaking) causing damage, an EV battery must never be allowed to be fully depleted or it will be permanently damaged. As a result your car shut down your battery when it determined it couldn't allow any more current to be drawn without risking permanent damage and at the same time a separate piece of software was calculating that you had 35 miles of range remaining.

It could be that the overall voltage level of the battery pack was sufficient to estimate 35 miles of remaining range while one of the 288 battery cells that makes up your battery pack was at a low enough voltage level to require the battery management system to shut down the battery pack to avoid damage.

Sort of like a gas car with 288 gas tanks where they should all be at almost the same level but if any 1 of the 288 drops below a certain point the car stops working even though the other 287 tanks still have enough gas to get you another 35 miles down the road.

 

[dandrewk]

Just had something very similar happen. Left my in-laws with a hundred and eleven miles on the indicator. About 35 miles later the propulsion power reduced warning came on on the freeway reduced our speed slightly didn't know what to do with that. Got back got off the freeway and started driving we went from 50 miles range to 35 miles range to the car shutting off in the middle of the road.

Clearly there is an issue here. Please keep us updated when you get new info. Hopefully it will get resolved soon, and to your satisfaction,

 

[newton513]

Had the car towed to my house to charge it. When I plugged in the charger it said "unable to charge". When turning it on, this weird sphere would come up on the dashboard screen and then diagnostic alerts for the anti-lock brakes, stability control, and the battery pack showed.

So called the dealer (Dublin Chevrolet) at 7:05 this morning. Then called Roadside Assistance to setup the tow. The tow truck didn't show up until after 10:40, 90 minutes after it was schedule to be there. Finally got the Bolt into the dealer. Service Advisor called this afternoon to say they have determined there is a short in the battery pack and it needs to be replaced. He then informed me it would be seven business days to get the work done. When I inquired about a loaner vehicle, he told me I had not purchased an extended warranty that would cover a rental.

The engineer in my would like to a more detailed explanation but it doesn't appear it will be forthcoming. So, $40K car with 2443 miles on it and now we are without it for a week and with no loaner car. I suppose that's the difference between buying from Chevrolet vs. one of the premium brands which offer loaner vehicles. I'm a bit disappointed.

 

[devbolt]

Had the car towed to my house to charge it. When I plugged in the charger it said "unable to charge". When turning it on, this weird sphere would come up on the dashboard screen and then diagnostic alerts for the anti-lock brakes, stability control, and the battery pack showed.

So called the dealer (Dublin Chevrolet) at 7:05 this morning. Then called Roadside Assistance to setup the tow. The tow truck didn't show up until after 10:40, 90 minutes after it was schedule to be there. Finally got the Bolt into the dealer. Service Advisor called this afternoon to say they have determined there is a short in the battery pack and it needs to be replaced. He then informed me it would be seven business days to get the work done. When I inquired about a loaner vehicle, he told me I had not purchased an extended warranty that would cover a rental.

The engineer in my would like to a more detailed explanation but it doesn't appear it will be forthcoming. So, $40K car with 2443 miles on it and now we are without it for a week and with no loaner car. I suppose that's the difference between buying from Chevrolet vs. one of the premium brands which offer loaner vehicles. I'm a bit disappointed.

Escalate things with GM. You absolutely should have a loaner vehicle made available to you regardless of whether you purchased an extended warranty.