Driving range after charge

[tdm850]

Hello,

We just purchased a 2015 B-Class a week ago and still been trying to figure out the technical aspect of this interesting car.

Since we don't have 240 V charger set up yet, we still use 120 V Lever 1 charger to "fill up" the car. After around 26 hours of first charging, the odometer showed driving range of "63 miles" and battery showed "full". We drove the car a bit, less than 10 miles, and put it back to charger and thought it's fully charged. But it still showed "63 miles". I though B-Class has around 85 miles range more or less, what gives?

Second questions, how do I use the "extended range"?

My apology for the newbie questions and didn't take time to do some more search.

Thanks in advance,

 

[JeffRay]

First congratulations, it is a fun car. Second, please at least do a search for range as it is a popular topic. You will see lots of interesting stories. That being said, never saw what you are reporting, 63 miles on a full charge. Did you hit reset to clear the brain of recent driving history? If so, it should show 85 miles or so as its default. Check the percentage of charge screen and the gauge to confirm you are at full charge. Ugh 26 hours to fill up is crazy. Get yee a 240 charger, you want to drive it every day and not miss out.

 

[tdm850]

Thanks for replying. We traded in a 2014 E350 for this B-Class and just love how it drives and looks.

I did some more reading on the forum after posting my initial post and found what I asked was a such uneducated question. The GOM is for reference the most. I'll reset the setting after every charge from now on.

The car is fun to drive but charging with 120 V is painful. Since I just called Southern California Edison to switch to TOU plan, it's even worse if I choose not to charge during the peak hours. Luckily we have a second car to drive around when we sort these out, especially before we install a Class 2 charger.....

 

[Stretch2727]

Congratulations as well. Good to really understand the technical stuff. If you do it will give you a lot of confidence to use the car to its full potential.

-The general consensus is to ignore the mileage meter or the GOM (Guess o Meter) as it affectionally called. It will not give you an accurate range (it is generally always a low estimate) or tell you how much the battery is charged.

-Use the % battery charge meter. In one of the displays in the center of the dash if you toggle the arrows on the left side of steering wheel. If you drive 10 miles and you use 10% of the battery charge you have a range of 100 miles. One good thing on the MB is one mileage trip meter (from start) resets automatically after 4 hours of non use. So you will usually have the miles you have driven with our remembering to reset.

-If you take a long trip I am always using the % battery meter. If I have 90 mile round trip, I make sure I can do the first leg in <50% of battery charge. If I can make it in under 40% usage I know I have 60% for the return which should be no issue. The GOM might only read 35 miles after the first leg...which would be a real concern if it were accurate.

-For extended range just press the extended range button which is above the climate control prior to charging. If you use this the % battery meter will remain at 100% while you use your extended range. This is usually good for an extra 10-14 miles. When you see the % battery go below 100% you are below the level of the standard charge.

Hope this helps.

 

[rdavis0521]

You can likely get onboard with 240V charging pretty cheaply. In my case there was a 240V dryer plug (30A) that I was not using in the garage. I simply tapped off of that, and ran a line back to the garage door area. Put in a 30A plug there. Then I purchased a very inexpensive Clipper Creek charger for about $400. It is a 20A charger.

This still will generally charge my car in 3-6 hours most evenings, depending upon my charge level. I have TOU, so I put a timer inline with it, and it starts charging at mid-night. It's always full before 6AM.

ps: You asked about extended range. There is a button on the center dash, just above the radio, next to the heated seat button on right side. Push it before charging, and it goes green. That will enable an extended charge for the next charge. You have to re-push that every time you want the extended charge, prior to charging.

 

[tdm850]

Thank you all for the information. After reading and messing around the buttons more, I feel a lot better. After resetting the on-board odometer, it read 85 miles range with 100% charged. I just explained to my wife and asked her to ignore GOM and she felt a lot better as well.

Now it's time to figure out how to install a 240 V outlet from the electrical panel....

 

[GlennD]

You can likely get onboard with 240V charging pretty cheaply. In my case there was a 240V dryer plug (30A) that I was not using in the garage. I simply tapped off of that, and ran a line back to the garage door area. Put in a 30A plug there. Then I purchased a very inexpensive Clipper Creek charger for about $400. It is a 20A charger.

This still will generally charge my car in 3-6 hours most evenings, depending upon my charge level. I have TOU, so I put a timer inline with it, and it starts charging at mid-night. It's always full before 6AM.

ps: You asked about extended range. There is a button on the center dash, just above the radio, next to the heated seat button on right side. Push it before charging, and it goes green. That will enable an extended charge for the next charge. You have to re-push that every time you want the extended charge, prior to charging.

I charge at the full 40A. In testing the OpenEVSE's I have built I have charged at 24A and 16A. The beauty of the Tesla charger that Mercedes uses is that it fully follows the J1772 standard. If you are like me you can charge at 40A from a 50A circuit. You can also charge at 24A from a 30A dryer circuit.

Assuming you have the time and you do not have rate tiers even a 16A EVSE will work. Where the higher amp EVSE's shine is where you charge on a timer late at night to save money. I do not charge every day but when I do I use the OpenEVSE RTC to start charging 5 minutes after midnight. That is the default but it can be set to any time.

Some users have even used a pool timer to charge late at night. Given the extremely high daytime rates it makes sense.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Thank you all for the information. After reading and messing around the buttons more, I feel a lot better. After resetting the on-board odometer, it read 85 miles range with 100% charged. I just explained to my wife and asked her to ignore GOM and she felt a lot better as well.

Now it's time to figure out how to install a 240 V outlet from the electrical panel....

Be sure to get a 50 amp circuit installed at your charging location with a NEMA 14-50R receptacle. We sell the receptacle here for just $5.99 (cheaper than Home Depot or Lowes):

http://shop.quickchargepower.com/14-50R-Outlet-14-50R.htm

If your car has extended charge, the gauge will read "100%" just like it does with a normal charge.

Mercedes B-Class ED battery

36.0kWh total – 100% SOC
31.5kWh usable- 90.0% SOC (extended charge, 94 miles GOM after reset)
28.0kWh usable- 80.0% SOC (normal charge, 83 miles GOM after reset)
1.0 kWh unusable- 2.7% SOC