Battery Condition Report question

[ToBuyorNottoBuy]

I'm not sure if this is a 'Buying a PHEV' question or a 'Technical Discussion' so please feel free to move if it's in the wrong forum?

Hello and thank you for all of the great information that is available on the forum, I'm reading and trying to retain as much info as possible!
I'm in the process of buying my first PHEV, and I'm currently looking at a 2017 Juro with 15'000 miles on the clock (40Ah from new as I understand)

I asked the dealer to carry out a battery condition report and they came back to say the battery SOH was 32.4Ah, when I said I thought that sounded a bit on the low side for a 2 year old car with only 15'000 miles on the clock they said they would perform a full over night test. I said that I didn't want the battery to be 'balanced' or 'smoothed' as this would give a false reading (as I understand it?) and they said that they would just do a full battery drain and test - a DBCAM.

They have now come back with a reading of SOH 37.6Ah number (number 18 on the BMU readout) so a drop of around 5% which I am happy to live with.

Is there anything I should be worried about between the two reading of 32.4Ah and the new reading of 37.6Ah or is that normal?

Also is there any other information on the BMU results that I should be looking at, like I say this is all very new to me and I want to make sure I've done as much research as possible before I commit to the purchase.

Thank you all for any help


3 Battery cell maximum voltage 4.096V
5 Battery cell minimum voltage 4.09 V
7 Battery total voltage 327.4V

393 Sum total time back up 27 month
394 OBC integrated current value 9 Ah*1000
395 Quick charge integrated current 0 Ah*1000
396 Stop time back up 27 month
397 Charge&Discharge integrated cur. 26216Ah
398 BAT.capa. secular deterioration 8.95 %
399 BAT.capacity cycle deterioration 6.58 %

 

[obiuquido144]

393 Sum total time back up 27 month
394 OBC integrated current value 9 Ah*1000
395 Quick charge integrated current 0 Ah*1000
396 Stop time back up 27 month
397 Charge&Discharge integrated cur. 26216Ah
398 BAT.capa. secular deterioration 8.95 %
399 BAT.capacity cycle deterioration 6.58 %

Are these the latest readings after all the procedures, or readings from before they did the DBCAM?

If from before, it could be that they did a Batt capa estimated info reset + Control information reset, and the 37.6Ah SOH is just a "fake" value straight after reset and bit of charging and driving causing a 0.4Ah drop.
I'd expect the car to have around 35Ah at that age and km and EV usage, but maybe you're lucky and it's a really good battery (although then it probably wouldn't have been showing 32.4Ah initially...)

 

[misterbishi]

From my experience, if you are already concerned about battery capacity then you should not buy an Outlander PHEV. I use mine almost exclusively as an EV and it has lost about 6.6% capacity since May(!) according to PHEV Watchdog. I am seriously looking at alternatives.

 

[jaapv]

If you want to drive a car as a pure EV you shouldn't be driving a PHEV. So you are right to look at alternatives.

 

[AndyInOz]

Before buying the PHEV, I had heard of EV owners suffering from "range anxiety" and I'd assumed it was just a put-down, or joke.

Now I'm much less sure.

I had the opposite behaviour from the GUESS-ometer the other day.

The weather is starting to warm up here.

When I got into my car at the end of the day, the guessometer was showing more range than when I got into the car to drive to work.

First time I've seen a value over 40km in a while.

 

[houndog]

If you want to drive a car as a pure EV you shouldn't be driving a PHEV. So you are right to look at alternatives.

Is this considered to be detrimental to battery life?

If my memory serves me correctly, when I purchased my MY16 PHEV in Dec 2015, MMC were claiming 145mpg which would suggest a very high proportion of ev mode driving.

In my case most of my journeys are local to my home and I have achieved about 99.9mpg average over the 4 years of ownership. Probably more usefully expressed as Total energy cost in p/mile: Last year 9.74 and this year so far 9.96. Also last year 82% of total miles were ev and this year so far 85%; many journeys were 100% ev between charges (All charges made using the MMC 10A block).

I have never checked the battery SOH and wonder if I should now invest in a Vgate device...

 

[ThudnBlundr]

The ridiculous MPG readings were done in lab conditions, and the car was designed to maximise MPG in those tests. But you've a big, heavy car with a small battery, so using the battery alone to move the car will impact its degeneration more than someone who bought the car because of its BIK breaks and seldom charged it up.

You have to consider what you'd do with the knowledge of the SOH. Would you drive it any differently? Would it make you use the car less? You might be better just using the car however you want and not worrying about it :mrgreen:

 

[houndog]

The ridiculous MPG readings were done in lab conditions, and the car was designed to maximise MPG in those tests. But you've a big, heavy car with a small battery, so using the battery alone to move the car will impact its degeneration more than someone who bought the car because of its BIK breaks and seldom charged it up.

You have to consider what you'd do with the knowledge of the SOH. Would you drive it any differently? Would it make you use the car less? You might be better just using the car however you want and not worrying about it :mrgreen:

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and sensible advice.

As you have probably already concluded, I chose the PHEV with environmental considerations high on my list of priorities. The SOH data would therefore not alter my driving style in any way, as far as I can see.

It's worth noting that the information provided by the MFD has certainly influenced my driving technique; I am now much more focused on economy than previously (but that could also be age related of course :roll: ).

So yes I'll just carry on enjoying this vehicle as I have always done right from the beginning.

 

[ThudnBlundr]

It works for me :mrgreen:

 

[GJM]

These are the figures from a car I have been looking at, how can you have more than 100% degradation?

Auto Capa.Measured Result HIS.9 40 Ah
Average Cell Voltage 3.90 V
BAT.Capa. Secular Deterioration 110.00 %
BAT.Capacity Cycle Deterioration 109.35 %
BAT.Cell Voltage Difference Max 0.01 V
Battery Cell Maximum Voltage 3.91 V
Battery Cell Minimum Voltage 3.90 V
Battery Cooling Fan PWM Output 100
%
Battery Cooling Fan Rotations
0 rpm
Battery Current -1
A
Battery Current Capacity 26.40 Ah
Battery Maximum Input Power 38 KW
Battery Maximum Output Power 63.50 KW
Battery Remaining Capacity 10.30 Ah
Battery Total Voltage 312.20
V

 

[zzcoopej]

Battery Current Capacity 26.40 Ah

This is the only value that really matters. 26.4/38 = 69.5% SOH (or 30.5% Degraded)