13 Mile Winter Range?

[Reddy]

I'm just about ready to leave on a 35 mi trip, just waiting for the battery to finish charging. Last night before leaving work I had zero temperature bars and zero F. Charged with L1 back to full overnight in the garage and saw two temperatures bars and 28F. This morning's drive was only 7 mi but took 4 bars (heat blasting). It's 10 F outside and some snow on the roads. I made a similar trip last week but snowing heavily. It wouldn't be possible without the slower driving due to snow. Today I may have to go without heat. 2011 Leaf without cold weather package, so I have to be pretty careful. Next winter I may need to drive the ICE or upgrade to a 2015.

 

[IssacZachary]

I think Leftie meant "low uses substantially less power than the second lowest fan setting". Of course I suppose he could have meant "heat" in which case taking less heat away from the heating coil would also result in less power being drawn, either way I agree with him. To conserve battery I also run with the lowest fan speed with a temp setting of 77. Yes I know the cabin will never reach 77 but it's just a psychological thing and at 77 it assures I'll always have at least some heat, even if it's just a trickle. I also have tried playing with the recirc or even partial recirc options but to keep my windows from fogging(actually icing up in my climate) I find I need to run my mode with at least partial defrost(I almost always keep mode set to floor + windshield) which disables all forms of recirc
I totally agree with your statement about heating warmer air than sub zero air, unfortunately because of the fogging/frosting issue I'm not personally able to take advantage of this, if you are then great, no doubt it will use less battery power.

Yes. A lower fan speed should reduce power consumption. It would only seem logical that the heating element would be thermostatically regulated to only reach a certain temperature and then turn off. If there's very little air flowing past it it will reach that temperature and cycle on and off, being off more of the time than on. At least that's what I guess it's doing.

Yep, you need fresh air to defog the windows. I wish the climate control went clear down to 50°F. I find 60°F to be too hot when I'm all decked out in snow pants and the works. So usually I turn off the heater, leave it on defrost with no heat or A/C and put the fan on level 1. If the windshield starts to frost or fog I turn on the heat. Then if I have to I turn up the fan setting, but only to defrost the windshield.

Only when I have passengers are things different. It's kind of a pain that some folks are so used to just blasting the heater and not having heated seats is that they turn the heated seat off and then want me to turn the heater on full blast. I got an EV with front and back heated seats for a reason. But I still try to meet in the middle and turn the heater on to 60°F or 65°F.

 

[IssacZachary]

I'm just about ready to leave on a 35 mi trip, just waiting for the battery to finish charging. Last night before leaving work I had zero temperature bars and zero F. Charged with L1 back to full overnight in the garage and saw two temperatures bars and 28F. This morning's drive was only 7 mi but took 4 bars (heat blasting). It's 10 F outside and some snow on the roads. I made a similar trip last week but snowing heavily. It wouldn't be possible without the slower driving due to snow. Today I may have to go without heat. 2011 Leaf without cold weather package, so I have to be pretty careful. Next winter I may need to drive the ICE or upgrade to a 2015.

I ditched my ICE for the Leaf partly because I wanted better heat. I have to park outside. There's an anti-idling law. So basically in an ICE I scrape the glass inside and out, start the car and go, pull over every 300ft and scrape the glass inside and out again, and by the time I've made it to my destination a tiny bit of heat is coming out of the heater vents. Then I shut the car off. After coming out of the store, job, school, or whatever the whole process starts all over again.

Not in the Leaf. If the glass needs to be defrosted I turn on the car and heat comes out instantly, or better yet, I can preheat and come out to clean glass. Of course I made sure I had the winter package. I also love it when I get into my Leaf and there's always at least two heat bars. I charge at 6.6kW right before I go in the mornings. In many ICE vehicles I drove there would be days I never saw the temp gauge move. This is especially true of my diesel Golf. Yes it got 60mpg but the heat was worthless. Now I get 100mpg-e and much better heat.

 

[LeftieBiker]

The Leaf's heating system before 2013 is pretty bad. It is very slow to heat, for much the same reason as an ICE (having to heat coolant), and it can't even be turned off without shutting off everything in the climate control. The cold weather package is also standard from '12 on, IIRC. The heater in the 2013+ cars heats the air directly, so even the S, which lacks the heat pump, does heat the air fast.

 

[Reddy]

Well, I made the 35 mi without much problem. The drive is 50/50 35 mph in town roads and 70 mph freeway. Yes, the original 2011 heater sucks power and I switched it on/off to keep the windows from fogging to badly. Once on the freeway and close to the 1/2 way point I had 7 bars and knew I could make it. I turned on the heater continually and arrived home just below the first low battery warning. Easy peezy, no drama. Even so I had my normal emergency kit of jumper battery, snow shovel, boots, heavy winter clothes and a blanket (no food or water this time). I can see how a person new to EVs might freak out and think this is crazy stupid, but it's really not, and these few times of adversity are easily compensated by the daily routine of never having to scrape a windshield or pump gas. Yes, I would love to have the faster 6.6 KW charging, winter package with heated seats and improved heat pump, that drive would be simple, but those weren't available in 2011. In a few years when the longer range EVs are available used, I'll revisit the idea of buying another. But for now I'm just trying to put as many miles as possible on the car (which is difficult in this small town) before the battery degrades due to age.

Edit: oh, I have insulated the heater lines and reservoir, but it still sucks power, as much as 5 KW at these temperatures

 

[LeftieBiker]

Once on the freeway and close to the 1/2 way point I had 7 bars and knew I could make it. I turned on the heater continually and arrived home just below the first low battery warning. Easy peezy, no drama.

This is the best way to undertake a trip in which you aren't sure about range. Drive carefully from the beginning, and once you are sure you will make it easily, enjoy the drive, with heat, A/C, speed... It beats going into Panic Mode at the halfway or 3/4 mark. This is also another situation in which my 'Heater In A Box' might be handy, especially with the the little ceramic heaters connected to an inverter running directly from the 12 volt system.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=15519

 

[macnut]

I'm embarrassed to admit that I mis-reported my battery capacity; I'm not really sure what it was at the time but I now know it's at 10 bars.

Thanks for clarifying that - was having a hard time believing your seemingly low winter range on a 2011 still with all 12 capacity bars.

Easy to get misled from the way Nissan put the "1" alongside the 11th. bar rather than the 12th. bar.
But pleased they did as it doesn't look so bad once that first bar disappears off the display, or even when the second one goes.

I definitely recommend Tor's heater mod. for "shoulder season" so as to not waste power on heating the water jacket when it is not really needed.

Even with a brief Spring and Fall season it might still pay its way.