I Beat EPA's 73 Mile Range : Report your experience

[hill]

While the motor/inverter is at max efficiency from 37-74mph (outstanding range), its still very high outside of these limits.. it is likely the Leaf is similar to the Tesla Roadster and maximum range will occur below 20mph, due to the air resistance effect. It would be nice if Nissan published a power vs speed graph like Tesla does.

Seems I read some where that once below 22mph-23mph, parasitic loss(es) outweigh the benefit of low speed. Thus, sticking to around 25mph (on flat ground, no wind) would yield the greatest miles per kWh. I'll try to find the link.

 

[IBELEAF]

This weekend I had my "around the town" test where I tried to beat the EPA rating during our regular weekend outing. We drove 55 miles total for the day with a mix of freeway (50 mph for 18 miles and 8 miles 60 mph) and roads with plenty of hills using only ECO mode and came home with 3 bars remaining. That translates into using 6.1 miles per bar or about 73 miles total range. So, I did not beat the EPA... yet, but at least I found out that 55 miles to be enough to do everything we needed to do that day and still have some range left. Next to find out what would the range be with the heater on during the same commute.

 

[mark13]

I m having no problem avg. 120 + per charge in eco mode in Phx at night with no AC on..I use to avg. 58 miles in a Prius..Ill need to upload my video's and pics.. Has anyone posted going 140 miles on a charge yet ? Thats my goal but dam the traffic lights need to be kind to me also to get there..

 

[LEAFfan]

I m having no problem avg. 120 + per charge in eco mode in Phx at night with no AC on..I use to avg. 58 miles in a Prius..Ill need to upload my video's and pics.. Has anyone posted going 140 miles on a charge yet ? Thats my goal but dam the traffic lights need to be kind to me also to get there..

Mark, you're using 100% charging, right? I plan to use 80% and avg. over 100. :mrgreen:

 

[LEAFfan]

While the motor/inverter is at max efficiency from 37-74mph (outstanding range), its still very high outside of these limits.. it is likely the Leaf is similar to the Tesla Roadster and maximum range will occur below 20mph, due to the air resistance effect. It would be nice if Nissan published a power vs speed graph like Tesla does.

Seems I read some where that once below 22mph-23mph, parasitic loss(es) outweigh the benefit of low speed. Thus, sticking to around 25mph (on flat ground, no wind) would yield the greatest miles per kWh. I'll try to find the link.

I set the CC at 25mph today (25mph limit) on a flat side street and achieved over 80mpg. That's the lowest it will set and the best mpg except for 'gliding' in neutral or turning off the engine.

 

[edatoakrun]

I m having no problem avg. 120 + per charge in eco mode in Phx at night with no AC on..I use to avg. 58 miles in a Prius..Ill need to upload my video's and pics.. Has anyone posted going 140 miles on a charge yet ? Thats my goal but dam the traffic lights need to be kind to me also to get there..

You seem to have the single-charge record, so far.

Post the details, average speed, altitude changes etc., here.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=3479&start=10

 

[EVDRIVER]

Phoenix, warm, long block, flat.

 

[evnow]

I m having no problem avg. 120 + per charge in eco mode in Phx at night with no AC on..I use to avg. 58 miles in a Prius..Ill need to upload my video's and pics.. Has anyone posted going 140 miles on a charge yet ? Thats my goal but dam the traffic lights need to be kind to me also to get there..

Did you actually travel 120 miles or is that an estimate ? If you did travel 120 miles, you should tell us all about it !

 

[webgeek]

I beat the 73 mile EPA number every day on my commute. I do 76 miles round trip, 68 of it on the highway. With some decent hills, probably 1200 ft total up and down. And I have between 10 and 20 left when I get home. Seems to depend only on temperature. I drive in Eco mode and mellow and I use the cruise control on the highway, even though I have noticed the tree growing bar indicator drops when I turn I on. Strange.

 

[evnow]

I beat the 73 mile EPA number every day on my commute. I do 76 miles round trip, 68 of it on the highway. With some decent hills, probably 1200 ft total up and down. And I have between 10 and 20 left when I get home. Seems to depend only on temperature. I drive in Eco mode and mellow and I use the cruise control on the highway, even though I have noticed the tree growing bar indicator drops when I turn I on. Strange.

Nice ! What speed do you use on the highway ?

 

[Jimmydreams]

I beat the 73 mile EPA number every day on my commute. I do 76 miles round trip, 68 of it on the highway. With some decent hills, probably 1200 ft total up and down. And I have between 10 and 20 left when I get home. Seems to depend only on temperature. I drive in Eco mode and mellow and I use the cruise control on the highway, even though I have noticed the tree growing bar indicator drops when I turn I on. Strange.

Something I noticed last night on the way to work: going down a hill and putting the car into N for coasting. If you press the 'go-pedal' to the floor, obviously nothing happens because you're in N, but the "grow a tree' meter thingy drops like a brick. Apparently, it's display is somewhat tied to the 'go-pedal' and reacts as if you've floored the car, when in actuality, you haven't floored anything because you're in N. The energy meter doesn't budge, since you're not sending any power anywhere.

Hmmmmm.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Its the thought that counts Jimmy

 

[mark13]

If i dont grow baby trees doing a long drive I feel like a failure

 

[c1987]

I have never taken the battery pack past the red bars for a full range test. However, looking at the SOC, I
hit 50% left at 37 miles. This puts my range at 74 (still beat EPA by a hair), driving all freeway at 62 mph, environment
control off, lots of rolling hills.

 

[blackleaf]

On my second day of driving my Leaf to work I hit 82 miles and had 4 left blinking on the dash. For those in the Seattle area, this was from Juanita, to Boeing Everett, down to Boeing Field and back to Juanita. Almost all driving 60+mph and several hills along the way, so I was impressed.

Update a week later: Did the same drive this week, really demonstrates how things can change. Don't understand it, but I didn't make it this time. I had to stop off 10 miles short at about 70 miles to charge at a public L2. Still said I had 7 miles left so it might have made it...but I sure didn't think so. Was definitlely at least 5 if not 10 miles worst then my first attempt, and I thin i was driving about the same.

 

[tzzhc4]

I drove the Leaf to work the other day. It is a 66 mile round trip mostly highway and I was not planning on charging because this should probably be within the range of the Leaf and anyway there are two Nissan dealerships and two Chargepoint L2 chargers on my home so I really wasn't worried (there is also a EVGO quick charge but I an NOT paying $79 dollars a month to access it). Trip to work in the morning was uneventful and since it was early it was only in the mid 80's so I drove halfway with no AC. I got to work with ~46 miles to spare so I figured it was a no brainer coming home. On the way back there was a multicar pile up on the highway about 10 miles from home so rather then try and sit in traffic I exited and took the back roads which added another ~9 miles to the trip which I figured was stretching it but what the hell and ended up making it home with a white bar left and ~9 miles free.

Date : 7/9/11
Leaf End Condition : Normal full charge the night before
Route / Terrain: Mostly highway, relatively flat
Speed: 55-60mph
Weather : peak of 96F so I set the AC to 80
Distance travelled: 75.1 miles, had one white bar when I got home and the car said 9 miles left
5.6 miles/kWh

 

[tzzhc4]

Drove a similar trip again yesterday with the wife and kids (to the resturant district near my office) and was able to eeek out 5.7miles/kWh

 

[evnow]

5.6 miles/kWh

Is that according to carwings ? Carwings is highly inflated. I expect you got about 4.6 m/kwh. At 4.8 m/kwh you get a total of 100 miles range.

 

[tzzhc4]

5.6 miles/kWh

Is that according to carwings ? Carwings is highly inflated. I expect you got about 4.6 m/kwh. At 4.8 m/kwh you get a total of 100 miles range.

Yeah, it was from Carwings so I guess that is off.

We did drive ~93 miles on that charge (from the trip odometer in the dash) since we had to drop the kids off before we went out to dinner and pick them up afterward before we drove home. The extra miles were all city ~35mph and I also took a farm to market road rather than highway for half of the drive their and back since it permits lower speeds and I didn't use the AC on the way home since it had dropped into the high 70-80's once the sun went down. At ~8 miles the "Low Battery" warning came on (first time that has happened) but it didn't go into turtle mode. Still had 6 miles left on the guess-o-meter when we got home. Not a trip I plan on making regularly but nice to know it is possible.

 

[tzzhc4]

Got a page that a disk had faulted in one of the arrays so I took the kids for a ride to work to give my wife a rest. Took mostly FM and state highway since they are lower speed and only about 2 miles of normal highway to make a more efficient crossover. After replacing the disk at work I went to check out some other chargepoint stations before I made the return trip home.

Date : 7/12/11
Leaf Start Condition : Normal full charge the night before
Leaf End Condition : had one white bar, no warnings and the car said 10 miles left
Route / Terrain: Farm to Market Roads and State highway, relatively flat
Speed: 45-55mph
Weather : 97F outside so used the AC the whole time at 80F
Distance traveled: 81.6 miles