First LBW

[Caracalover]

I found this web page which has a lot of the information (largely collected from this forum it appears) related to range, battery, etc which I used to help write this post:
http://www.roperld.com/science/NissanLeaf.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nice site! I'll bookmark that. As you say much collected from here, but organizing and summarizing this info is a lot of work.

So it seems, as far as range goes, at 5m/kWh we have:
LBW-VLBW = 8.5 miles
VLBW - Turtle = 7.5 miles
Turtle - Dead = 0.4 miles

Thanks for helping my understanding of what to expect when venturing into the red zone![/quote]
Just have to throw this in - sounds like you were at sea level - so all roads are going to go up from there. Had you reached the top of a mountain at that point (VLBW, turtle, etc.) you could go many miles further, limited by how far downhill you can go plus the amount you are able to regenerate - you gain a bar of energy for about a 3000 foot descent at 45 mph., so Mt Wilson to the coast is perhaps possible - 50 or so miles - after a LBW. Hence why the GOM is not really ever to be relied on. Had you needed to go up a steep grade from sea level, the last few miles may be just that - half of what the chart above shows.

I recall someone here at MNL took his Leaf up to Mineral King in Sequioa and then turned around getting back to the valley (Visalia area?) on a single charge - I believe he turned around at Turtle.

 

[surfingslovak]

Nice site! I'll bookmark that. As you say much collected from here, but organizing and summarizing this info is a lot of work.

So it seems, as far as range goes, at 5m/kWh we have:
LBW-VLBW = 8.5 miles
VLBW - Turtle = 7.5 miles
Turtle - Dead = 0.4 miles

Great site, the owner is a retired physics professor and his work speaks for himself. Just a note: the kWh estimates he uses for all battery warnings are based on 80 Wh per Gid. It's unlikely that you will see that in your Leaf, and it would be prudent to apply a correction factor of about 10%. I drove my car to turtle multiple times and measured these values using dashboard instruments. I'm pretty confident that you won't see 3.6 kWh usable at LB and 1.9 kW at VLB.

If this interested you, please have a look at the model I came up with for a new battery in this spreadsheet. Obviously, battery degradation will affect the total range of the vehicle, but I'm pretty confident that the energy reserves at LB and VLB will remain constant throughout its life. It's a really good idea to get familiar with those values, just in case you needed to dig deep at some point in the future. About the only thing that could throw these estimates off is low ambient temperature. I would be careful if you saw anything around or below the freezing point.

 

[GoingGreener]

Close to a year of driving and got our first "Low Battery Warning" this past Saturday.

Enroute home on the freeway from Cupertino I got a call. Slight detour to pick up a passenger for a visit and lunch at our place.
Still on the freeway, the white charging icon started flashing and the Guess-O-Meter was at 8 or 9 miles. Maybe a low battery message might have been on the dash, I forget. All I could think while glancing at the GOM was, SF is only 7 square miles, right? And since I'm exiting the freeway soon, I should get better range since it'll be local driving, right? I should have our copy of Tony's chart in the glove box, not the trunk :roll: A "heads up" phone call home for reassurance and onward!

Arrive in our garage with "4" on the GOM flashing and 1 Power Bar (2 pics with the remaining bar and the 4miles flashing).
Lost the last Power Bar and the "---" appeared during the time these pics got snapped (last pic).

Just for reference re other lights on dash board: the auto headlights came on upon entering garage and the driver door was ajar when we took these pics.
And, yes, the thought about driving the LEAF around the block some to see the "turtle" crossed our minds.
Looked up the street drive earlier. A little over 5 miles once off the freeway.

 

[surfingslovak]

All I could think while glancing at the GOM was, SF is only 7 square miles, right? And since I'm exiting the freeway soon, I should get better range since it'll be local driving, right? I should have our copy of Tony's chart in the glove box, not the trunk :roll: A "heads up" phone call home for reassurance and onward!

Glad you made it! That said, if this ever happens again, just remember that you have about 3 kWh usable left when you see the first battery warning. It's half that amount, when you get the second warning with three flashing dashes. These are rough conservative approximations, but hopefully easy to remember.

It's fairly easy to get 5 or even 6 miles per kWh on city streets or 4.5 mpk on the freeway if you slow down a bit. Multiply that with the usable energy, and you have your remaining range: about 15 miles, perhaps 20 if you go super slow and efficiently.

If you can, I would also reset one of the energy meters and the trip meter as well, this helps you track the energy you have consumed since the first battery warning.

 

[GoingGreener]

Thanks Surfingslovak! Using those calculations as guidelines plus the energy and trip meters to keep track would definitely help approximate the remaining range.

 

[planet4ever]

And, yes, the thought about driving the LEAF around the block some to see the "turtle" crossed our minds.

That could have taken a ---long--- time. You were just getting to the VLB warning. If it's a quarter mile around the block, and you are averaging 20mph, you might have gone around 50 times before you saw the turtle.

Ray

 

[GoingGreener]

:lol: True!
Just that this might have been as close to "turtle" as we'll ever get ... we'll see .

 

[ztanos]

:lol: True!
Just that this might have been as close to "turtle" as we'll ever get ... we'll see .

Shoulda cranked the heater and turned the brights and windshield wipers on high.

 

[GoingGreener]

:lol: Good ideas ztanos... that way we would avoid alarming the neighbors while circling/pushing the car back into the garage!

BTW, best of wishes for getting your MY2013... love our LEAF and the '13 should bring even more joy!

 

[ztanos]

:lol: Good ideas ztanos... that way we would avoid alarming the neighbors while circling/pushing the car back into the garage!

BTW, best of wishes for getting your MY2013... love our LEAF and the '13 should bring even more joy!

Thanks, I'm just hoping that GA isn't hot enough to incur the wrath of battery Satan.

 

[ksnogas2112]

Got my first low battery a couple weeks ago (I've been out for a while). Wife freaked out. We were 10 blocks from home and she starts turning off the a/c, rolling down window and harping on me to be careful.

Since then she's chilled especially after driving it while I was out. But it was funny.

 

[Reddy]

Early on, my dealer missed some paperwork so I had to return to complete it. Since it was unexpected, I didn't have more than 3-4 bars. On returning home, I got my first LBW about 1/2 mi from home and my SO's work. I stopped at her work and "forced" her to drive it home (~ 1 mi) just so she could experience the LBW. Yes, she freaked too. Now, thanks to Tony Williams' Range Chart, I know I can circumvent the city on LBW. :shock:

Reddy