[Naylz82]

We've had our mx30 3 weeks and covered about 650miles.

It seems to have settled down to 3.5miles/kw which seems to put it bang on the manufacturer's claims.

Haven't been driving particularly different from my combustion engine except trying to use the regen braking ie were using air con, heater seats etc

What's others experiences of the range?

 

[Paul]

Had mine two weeks now & learning to use paddles. I don’t do that much mileage but I do tend to drive better. Previous car was a KIA Niro & for some strange reason it made me drive better & more carefully. Don’t even know had to change radio stations yet but I love this car. Will be venturing on further distances, around 70 miles to my lad in Nottingham, what am I in for?

 

[PPJ]

Distance is no problem with these cars, use zapmap to plan your stops, try to find stops with more than one charger, check with zapmap when it was last used and if it was working properly, have a plan B, know where other charging stations are along your journey incase plan A fails, know the range of the car, with climate control on the car will only be good for 100 miles at motorway speeds so plan to stop before this, with climate control off I did a 210 mile trip with only 1 stop but this was at 65mph.
Be mentally prepared to let the car go all the way down to the last 5% and not worry about it, prepare for it but don't worry about it. Alternatively plan to stop earlier and therfore more often. Make use of free chargers often found in supermarkets and shopping centres, they are good emergency life savers and remember if all else fails we have free recovery and it's not the end of the world if we get it wrong now and then.

 

[Paul]

Thanks for that PPJ yep have zap map I need to download some of the apps, I’ve heard a lot of people saying that eventually most of the charge points will be moved over to credit & debit cards. Should make things a lot more easy.

 

[PPJ]

They already are, on my journey all I needed was a debit card with the exception of the free charging which was all pod point and really simple and reliable.

 

[Paul]

Cor that’s a relief, some of the apps, any app area bit confusing to use.u

 

[seasidebaz]

My current estimate is 2.6mi/KWh which seems a bit low to me - so far only used it for the school runs which is up a big hill so I reckon 70 or 80 miles from a full charge is my limit. The car is a bit more optimistic and saying I can do another 55 miles on 45% but I'm using 5% every 4 miles at the moment...

 

[PPJ]

Yeah it is a bit low,.I'm averaging 3.6 miles per kwh but it's gonna depend on how and where you drive everyday, better to plan for worst case scenario and if you do better no harm done.

 

[Greencarguy]

I am in the US and the dealer here told me that Mazda recommends only charging the battery to 80%. I was under the impression that there is an untouchable buffer on the top end of the battery, so charging 100% is fine. I think the EPA range of 100 miles would be charging the battery full. What has everyone else heard? This lack of transparency on Mazda’s part regarding useable battery is annoying and makes car shopping hard.

 

[Milkfloat]

There is some mystery and doubt in this area that Mazda could, but doesn't debunk. They have never, to my knowledge, actually said what the usable battery energy is. Limiting such a small battery to 80% is silly and very conservative. I charge to 90% and here is my rationale. If you charge to 100%, then as you drive away, you will find that you have zero regeneration available. So Mazda has designed the system not to take any energy at all above 100%. If there were much available capacity, I'm sure that some regeneration would be enabled. Furthermore, at 95% SOC, the regeneration energy is still reduced to about 50%. Only at 90% does the regeneration system work normally at full capacity. So, in my eyes, Mazda treats 90% as the maximum for normal operation. The probability is that there is some battery reserve at 100% but probably more of that reserve is at 0%. Now I've had the car for over half a year, I find 4.3 miles/kWhr is typical summer average even including some highway driving. In cold weather with heating set at 19C, I still found 3.6 easily achievable.

 

[Greencarguy]

There is some mystery and doubt in this area that Mazda could, but doesn't debunk. They have never, to my knowledge, actually said what the usable battery energy is. Limiting such a small battery to 80% is silly and very conservative. I charge to 90% and here is my rationale. If you charge to 100%, then as you drive away, you will find that you have zero regeneration available. So Mazda has designed the system not to take any energy at all above 100%. If there were much available capacity, I'm sure that some regeneration would be enabled. Furthermore, at 95% SOC, the regeneration energy is still reduced to about 50%. Only at 90% does the regeneration system work normally at full capacity. So, in my eyes, Mazda treats 90% as the maximum for normal operation. The probability is that there is some battery reserve at 100% but probably more of that reserve is at 0%. Now I've had the car for over half a year, I find 4.3 miles/kWhr is typical summer average even including some highway driving. In cold weather with heating set at 19C, I still found 3.6 easily achievable.

thanks, that is helpful. Unfortunately, the dealers here seem I’ll prepared for EV and Mazda is not helping by giving mixed messages. If wonder what the EPA rating of 100 miles is based off of? It seems almost fraudulent to advertise a 100 mile range, which is already low, then tell you to charge to 80%. Comparable small battery EV’s like the Mini Cooper are very upfront about the buffer space and encourage full charging. I test drive the Mazda and actually really liked its handling. The front tires seem like they want to slip very easily, especially up a hill. How is this car going up hill on wet roads?

 

[Milkfloat]

Spinning wheels = heavy right foot. If you spin wheels, even in the wet, your driving style is not consistent with 4.3 miles/kWhr. Think 3.2. If you go from, say, 90% SOC to 10%, then you have about 25kWhr's available and at 3.2 consumption, you will get 80 miles range. My experience is that one quickly adapts to an EV; driving swiftly but gently is a skill soon acquired and it means 100 mile range is not difficult. But spinning wheels is a "no-no"! Strange that Mazda traction control actually allows it.

 

[VivaMazda]

The car is driven until it conks out basically in the EPA cycle, allegedly. But here is the thing. EPA then multiplies that range with 0,7 to compensate for real life issues such as wind, temperature, friction etc etc. To make this battery size work IRL agree with Milkfloat that routinely charging to 90% is fine. After 1900 miles, one year there is no obvious degradation.
Look at it like this. Mercedes Benz EQS is probably great but its battery pack is more than three times bigger and costs 120 000 Euros plus. So even if you would swap the MX-30 pack two times you would still not have reached EQS territory battery wise. The most likely scenario is that the battery will outlive the car without probs.

 

[Greencarguy]

The car is driven until it conks out basically in the EPA cycle, allegedly. But here is the thing. EPA then multiplies that range with 0,7 to compensate for real life issues such as wind, temperature, friction etc etc. To make this battery size work IRL agree with Milkfloat that routinely charging to 90% is fine. After 1900 miles, one year there is no obvious degradation.
Look at it like this. Mercedes Benz EQS is probably great but its battery pack is more than three times bigger and costs 120 000 Euros plus. So even if you would swap the MX-30 pack two times you would still not have reached EQS territory battery wise. The most likely scenario is that the battery will outlive the car without probs.

That’s true. The range in general is fine for my daily needs. I think Mazda could give better clarity by just stating what the buffer is and then allowing people to charge it fully. First time EV buyers are scared by 100 miles and would probably walk away if they got to the dealer and were told to only charge it to 80% or 80 miles range. I suspect there is an actual upper and lower limit buffer allowing us to charge to 100%. I e-mailed Mazda and am waiting for a response.

 

[VivaMazda]

That’s true. The range in general is fine for my daily needs. I think Mazda could give better clarity by just stating what the buffer is and then allowing people to charge it fully. First time EV buyers are scared by 100 miles and would probably walk away if they got to the dealer and were told to only charge it to 80% or 80 miles range. I suspect there is an actual upper and lower limit buffer allowing us to charge to 100%. I e-mailed Mazda and am waiting for a response.

This all comes down to battery tech.
There are issues with charging to 100% a lot, wear and tear. Normally its something you do if you really need to. Not all the time.
If you have a charger at home this is less important than people think. When the car is sitting around doing nothing it might as well charge to 80%.
If you expect to drive 100 miles plus every single day this car is probably not your best option. Less advanced cars always charge to 100% and a bigger degradation is then expected. Complicated stuff this.

 

[Ciprotim]

There is some mystery and doubt in this area that Mazda could, but doesn't debunk. They have never, to my knowledge, actually said what the usable battery energy is. Limiting such a small battery to 80% is silly and very conservative. I charge to 90% and here is my rationale. If you charge to 100%, then as you drive away, you will find that you have zero regeneration available. So Mazda has designed the system not to take any energy at all above 100%. If there were much available capacity, I'm sure that some regeneration would be enabled. Furthermore, at 95% SOC, the regeneration energy is still reduced to about 50%. Only at 90% does the regeneration system work normally at full capacity. So, in my eyes, Mazda treats 90% as the maximum for normal operation. The probability is that there is some battery reserve at 100% but probably more of that reserve is at 0%. Now I've had the car for over half a year, I find 4.3 miles/kWhr is typical summer average even including some highway driving. In cold weather with heating set at 19C, I still found 3.6 easily achievable.

Hi I managed 4.2 mi/kWh over 60 miles 50% split motorway city also you need to reset it occasionally as that is an average reading

 

[Paul]

Just saw this thread, I did put my thread in as I couldn’t find this one which I looked for. Anyway if the battery is a 30.5 kw hour battery giving a Mazda range of 120 miles as near as dammed . I did 85 miles from 100% for 75%. Not sure how many kw miles that is. Interestingly if you only charge to 90% & go down to a minimum of 10% you are then losing 20% of the battery power. Surely then Mazda’s claim is false & misleading.

 

[Milkfloat]

The small print! "† Range figures are for comparison purposes and may not always reflect real life driving results which depend on a number of factors. These include the starting charge of the battery, accessories fitted (post registration), variations in weather, driving styles, vehicle load and use of features such as air conditioning or heated seats".

 

[Paul]

PS sorry not 20% but you understand where I’m coming from. I also did read some where that there is a built in buffer of 10% at each end of the battery. This would be a reasonable assumption. Anyone else heard this?

 

[Paul]

Hi Milkfloat ref my last have you heard of the buffer. I’m asking this because I’m only assuming that if the buffer is fact then it’s ok to charge to 100%. It seems that you have had your 30 for a while now so you have probably picked up more info than others on the site. Given the % & miles what’s the formula to see what mileage I got. Previously owned a hybrid so trained myself to drive with care. Needless to say I’m no boy racer, prefer to get where I want to go these days.