Regenerating power with braking

[LEAFfan]

I have owned my Leaf for 4 weeks. I have noticed with a full charge that I have no regen bubbles when I go down hill for the first 10km. I believe there is no room in the batteries for more power from the regen system. From my house it is mostly down hill for the first 10 km. It freaked me out the first time I noticed it because I always drive in ECO mode and I was use to the hold back of the regen system going down hill.

Is the hill fairly steep? If not, and you can coast without gaining too much speed, it is better than regen as far as saving energy. I had a 3 mile mild incline once and just coasted in N for the whole three miles and hit 8.0m/kW h on the dash.

 

[ebill3]

If an 80% charge plus what you get from regen during your 10 KM descent will give you the range you require, then great. If not, experiment a bit. Maybe 80% and then 45 minutes more, or an hour, or ??

Sadly, for now you are limited to 80% and 100% for an unmonitored charge. Looks like maybe Phil's Leafscan will allow users to program any level of charge - we'll see. Hope so.

Bill