Characterizing energy usage of Chevrolet Volt versus speed

There is a large quantity of data available on the CAN bus of the Chevrolet Volt that can be obtained through the OBD2 connectors on both the passenger and driver side of the vehicle. Although much of this is not available on the console of the vehicle to passengers, with additional equipment it can be logged and collected to analyze various vehicle performance measures and behaviors as well as charging characteristics. Average energy usage is determined for a constant speed portion of a trip over a range of speeds from 30 mph to 75 mph. The energy usage ranges from 170 Wh/mile at 30 mph to the high of 369 Wh/mile at 75 mph. The segment used for evaluation was selected to have the smallest practical elevation change to reduce the dependency of the energy usage on this factor. The optimum speed for energy efficiency over this range has been determined experimentally and is found to be the lowest speed of 30mph. The average energy usage for a variety of complete trips is also given as a comparison of the usage over a variety of speeds and elevations as well as potential driving behavior effects.