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Upgrading battery for 500e

59261 Views 111 Replies 28 Participants Last post by  mrogers
Hello,

I love my fiat 500e, but the range I get is closer to 70/75 miles than anything else advertised. It's fine but I always feels that I'm missing the extra 30 or 40 miles that would allow me move around more. Seeing many other EV going 120 or even 250 miles makes me really wish I could have the same kind of range. Looking around I saw that the 63Ah cells could be swapped with up to 120Ah cells (from Samsung apparently) as the volume is similar. I'm sure this is not as simple as it looks but was wondering if people had looked into this and found ways to increase the overall range of the car.

thanks
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Agreed 100%. $15* for 240V charging might be a deal to consider, with an adaptor for your existing OEM unit. That adds about 10 miles every hour, for a full charge from DEAD during 8 hours of sleep or work.

* Another few dollars is often required, to adapt to your exact outlet.
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Here’s the one. He wants 190$


is this a deal or?
Here’s the one. He wants 190$


is this a deal or?
Not a deal. That unit only charges 33% faster than the OEM EVSE that comes with the car. If you're going to buy an EVSE then at the very minimum it should be a 24A unit, which is twice as fast.

ga2500ev
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That's not a lvl 2 charger. That's just a lvl 1 charger plugged into a 220v socket. It's faster than a lvl 1, but still at least half the charging speed of a lvl 2.
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Thank you guys! I really like this forum. Helpful!
That's not a lvl 2 charger. That's just a lvl 1 charger plugged into a 220v socket. It's faster than a lvl 1, but still at least half the charging speed of a lvl 2.
That's technically not true. Level 1 and level 2 charging is based strictly on voltage. Any EVSE that transmits 208-240 volts is considered to be a level 2 charger regardless of the current it delivers.

Still not worth the effort though. If one is going to purchase a level 2 charger, it must deliver as least 24A of current to be worth anything.

I will take one minute for my small rant. EVSEs are not special. They are essentially a slightly smarter version of an extension cord. So, if one is spending $200 on an extension cord, it had better be pretty special, right?

ga2500ev
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I would trust one of the EV conversion shops like EVwest as they actually break down alot of wrecked EVs to salvage cells for builds and they typically have pallets of wholesale cells. I have a feeling they could do the SDI cell swap.
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The people at EV west are great.
I've ordered lots of parts from there for my electric motorcycle project.
I would not hesitate to drop off my car there for a battery swap.
That being said, they don't currently offer anything like that that I know of for any EV. But they would probably be happy to give it a go if you paid for their time. I would imagine custom work like that would not be cheap though. I would wager it would cost close to 20k plus parts.
I saw this on an i3 Facebook group. It has some interesting tidbits about the i3 60ah -> 120ah including a chart with battery specs. It appears voltages between 60ah, 94ah and 120ah are different - something that posed a challenge for scuderia-e where if their frankenstein battery fell out of OE range it would artificially prevent operation despite having juice in the tank.

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2014. 54,000 and change on the mileage. I finished my day today at 36 miles and down to 33%. Clearly a vast difference in battery effectiveness.

ga2500ev
Lol worst I was able to do on Saturday mornings to work pinned to 88mph for the whole 34 miles I still have 59% remaining when I parked. Mine just rolled 40k miles now. If I drove “conservative, in my case 65-70) I easily get 5.0-5.2 mile a kw, driving 88mph just left me 3.9mile a kw but still better then what a model S can achieve at the same speed.
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Question, new to the EV world, but not to the Engineering side of the coin. I seem to recall a company in California that was involved with updated and recycled batteries for the Toyota Prius, maybe this company could have a bit of insight into the Fiat battery question. If I recall the company was/is named Electromotive, but I will stand corrected if that is not the name. I also believe the company was located in Orange County.

Cynical
There is 2 shops I know of that tinkers with Prius batteries and both are same owner called Hybrid 911 they swap cells and refurb a lot of batteries. I sometimes send him customers that want to pay less for the repairs since Toyota only sells entire packs and no individual cells.
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If I drove “conservative, in my case 65-70) I easily get 5.0-5.2 mile a kw, driving 88mph just left me 3.9mile a kw but still better then what a model S can achieve at the same speed.
Seems like some 500e are extreme outliers or it requires much more effort to achieve than you think.
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Seems like some 500e are extreme outliers or it requires much more effort to achieve than you think.
Don’t know since it’s my only EV I ever owned but I’m okay with its range and limitations I have a gasser for everything else. It’s always been able to get 100 miles a charge is 95% or situations. Only time in summer months I managed to get 108 miles with ac on that was remarkable, mix of 50/50 city and freeway.
Seems to me like the outliers are the relative few that get lower range.

There should be an increasing number of those though, as the cars' % gauges go progressively further out of calibration, showing less than the true remaining capacity (which shows with a $17 OBD).

I THINK twinturboz is the one who reported a substantial improvement after lowering 2". & I THINK it was "Warriors2727?" who regained about 20 miles by resetting his % gauge. Everyone else who has done so properly has reported similar results, so if range seems low, it's likely just the gauge.

Very nearly everyone else, who just plug & play, including forum members AND lots of users I meet at public chargers, report range similar to my own 100 miles in 75% city/25% highway.
Seems like some 500e are extreme outliers or it requires much more effort to achieve than you think.
Yeah, twinturboz numbers are definitely not the norm. There is something about his car or his commute that gives fantastic numbers. He was reporting pretty impressive numbers even before he had the car lowered.
It might just be that his % gauge is better calibrated than most, allowing him complete access to the full available capacity.

If he has OBD, sometime when it's low he could check for any difference between that & the car's gauge.
It might just be that his % gauge is better calibrated than most, allowing him complete access to the full available capacity.

If he has OBD, sometime when it's low he could check for any difference between that & the car's gauge.
% gauge has nothing to do with mi/kWh as far as I know. I've only run my car at full power for 3 or 4 miles, but I didn't get anywhere near 3.9 mi/kWh (but my car also topped out over 88 mph). More like 3 or less IIRC. But in San Diego, there aren't very many flat areas, so even over 3 or 4 miles you are going up and down hills. I also don't think I've ever seen over 5 mi/kWh when going over 65 mph for extended periods over typical terrain with minimal change in elevation. Maybe high 4's in ideal conditions.

I think his car might have a combination of a great alignment and super efficient components and/or his drive to work is on a decline. Not sure, but his numbers are really great.
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% gauge has nothing to do with mi/kWh as far as I know. I've only run my car at full power for 3 or 4 miles, but I didn't get anywhere near 3.9 mi/kWh (but my car also topped out over 88 mph). More like 3 or less IIRC. But in San Diego, there aren't very many flat areas, so even over 3 or 4 miles you are going up and down hills. I also don't think I've ever seen over 5 mi/kWh when going over 65 mph for extended periods over typical terrain with minimal change in elevation. Maybe high 4's in ideal conditions.

I think his car might have a combination of a great alignment and super efficient components and/or his drive to work is on a decline. Not sure, but his numbers are really great.
My alignment is dead on I had it adjusted when I lowered it. Slight camber but that isn’t going to affect range. My battery is calibrated slightly low, gauge shows lower then actual by 2%. My drive to work is slightly a decline elevation is 250ft decline over the 34 miles span so it’s slight. However range is still more or less the same on the way home 4.9ish mainly cause traffic isn’t moving as fast as the morning. My car is lowered and the air dam is literally a finger gap off the ground prob not allowing any air underneath the car. And my tires are at 40psi cold.
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My alignment is dead on I had it adjusted when I lowered it. Slight camber but that isn’t going to affect range. My battery is calibrated slightly low, gauge shows lower then actual by 2%. My drive to work is slightly a decline elevation is 250ft decline over the 34 miles span so it’s slight. However range is still more or less the same on the way home 4.9ish mainly cause traffic isn’t moving as fast as the morning. My car is lowered and the air dam is literally a finger gap off the ground prob not allowing any air underneath the car. And my tires are at 40psi cold.
I should get my alignment checked. My car is reasonably efficient and I regularly get above the EPA range estimates, but your numbers show there is clearly more to be had - even without lowering I think. Thanks for the info!
I should get my alignment checked. My car is reasonably efficient and I regularly get above the EPA range estimates, but your numbers show there is clearly more to be had - even without lowering I think. Thanks for the info!
Keep in mind something though, having zeroed out toe will cause car to wander a bit sometimes down the freeway but it’s best for range, toe out slightly and the car will be stable and track straight at the cost of some tire wear and range. Most cars out of the factory has some toe, nearly no car I know is completely zeroed out.
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