2013 Drivers: D Mode or B Mode?

[LEAFfan]

+1! Very well said.

 

[BlackLeaf13]

Thanks! It does make it feel like you are driving a manual as if you are down shifting. It makes you more involve with the driving experience. I also put it into P at the stop lights to rest my foot.

 

[DanCar]

I wonder why B mode doesn't make the car come to a complete stop. Instead they have programmed it to let the car coast at slow speeds. The strong regen is only at higher speed.
Is it because regen doesn't work well at low speeds or something else?

 

[KR200]

The regen uses the motor as a generator, thus the slower it turns, the less regen down to zero nearing a stop. They could actually reverse drive the motor for braking but have apparently chosen not to. I tried a prototype VECTRIX Electric 3 wheel scooter years ago where reversing the twist grip throttle activated regen which transitioned to actually reversing the scooter after stopping. It worked very well, but Vectrix eventually went bankrupt and never went into production of the three wheeler.

 

[lencap]

Greetings - I'm a new owner, just over 28 hours! My prior two cars were both Toyota Prius models. On those cars the "B" mode is for electronic braking. The idea was that using this mode recharges the battery by capturing energy that would ordinarily be lost. Think about going downhill, which was the primary use of the "B" mode. Over the many years of driving the car I used the B mode as some have suggested to drain speed from the car, typically when coming to a stop, but I never used it as a primary driving mode. The reason, at least on the Prius, was that the B mode was far less efficient when you needed to apply power. The amount of energy going into the battery, which was visible on the Prius display, rose very minimally when in B mode and power was being applied - the net effect was less energy propelling the car. It clearly showed that the net energy generated by applying power and remaining in B mode was less that would be provided by just driving in D mode.

I don't know the design of the Leaf, but I would think it is similar - use the B mode to drain off energy when not under power, but if power is called for, rely upon D mode.

The Nissan website suggests that the B mode is an energy recapture design, with the ability to fully monitor on the energy display: http://www.nissanusa.com/electric-cars/leaf/versions-specs/version.sl.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[LEAFfan]

Greetings - I'm a new owner, just over 28 hours! My prior two cars were both Toyota Prius models. On those cars the "B" mode is for electronic braking. The idea was that using this mode recharges the battery by capturing energy that would ordinarily be lost. Think about going downhill, which was the primary use of the "B" mode. Over the many years of driving the car I used the B mode as some have suggested to drain speed from the car, typically when coming to a stop, but I never used it as a primary driving mode. The reason, at least on the Prius, was that the B mode was far less efficient when you needed to apply power. The amount of energy going into the battery, which was visible on the Prius display, rose very minimally when in B mode and power was being applied - the net effect was less energy propelling the car. It clearly showed that the net energy generated by applying power and remaining in B mode was less that would be provided by just driving in D mode.

I don't know the design of the Leaf, but I would think it is similar - use the B mode to drain off energy when not under power, but if power is called for, rely upon D mode.

The Nissan website suggests that the B mode is an energy recapture design, with the ability to fully monitor on the energy display: http://www.nissanusa.com/electric-cars/leaf/versions-specs/version.sl.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

No, the LEAF isn't similar at all. It makes no difference which mode you are in to get full power. In ECO or B ECO you just have to push the pedal farther, but you get the full power as in D. The only way that B or ECO mode is more efficient than Neutral is going down steep hills and or mountains.