So, owners what range are you getting ?

[evnow]

SOC bar estimate is just as unreliable as the range estimator unless you live in a perfect place for EV. First bar always goes away very quickly and that seem also dependent on the temperature when you charged the car. Also if you drive at freeway speed or up the hill or with heater on or all at the same time your bars will go by very quickly making an estimate miles per bar completely useless. I am relying on one thing now is familiarity with the route.

I've never been able to keep track of when a bar disappears.

If you can keep track of when the bar goes away - I suggest keeping track of both the miles & the m/kwh shown. That way you know exactly how many kwh of energy each bar represents when discharging (ofcourse, assuming the m/kwh shown is correct).

 

[Jimmydreams]

Any altitude changes, Heater/AC use?

No climate controls of any kind. Whatever altitude change I had going in to work, I reversed coming back, so minor if any.

Was this after the "non-recall" update?

Yep.

Why do you think the "miles remaining" was accurate?

Because it was tracking pretty well with the miles travelled. If anything, it was conservative.....I was knocking off 1.5-2 miles actually driven before I'd lose 1 mile on the remaining miles.

Do you belive the 55 mph maximum range is only about 90 miles before "turtle", rather than 100, which earlier reports seemed to indicate?

At 55mph, yes, I'd say 85-90 is maximum. I haven't seen any 'earlier reports' of 100 miles at 55mph. 100 miles is at 40-45mph or less AFAIK.

 

[jsvette56]

Got Leaf last Thursday as car for my wife to run around town. She had a Prius but it got poor gas mileage in town. Today I took the Leaf from Santa Clara to Soquel and back for exactly 75 miles. Had two bars left, 21 miles on range predictor and got 4.3 miles/Kwh. Used no A/C, but did use the fan and radio. Drove no faster than 55mph as the speed limit on Highway 17 over the Santa Cruz mountains is 50 for much of the distance. The electricity costs nothing, as I have solar system generating more power than I normally use. Well, it remains to be seen whether I've got excess power now that the Leaf is plugged in.

 

[solarman]

Hello all you "seasoned" LEAF drivers,
Thanks for providing your range numbers - there is quite a 'range' of results (pardon the pun).
I am picking up my new Nissan LEAF this coming Saturday May 7, at North Bay Nissan in Petaluma and
I have an 86 mile drive home to Santa Clara. I plan to use 'eco' mode, drive 55, and leave all the
accessories off. Some hills, all freeway, Temp 70's. Will I make it home without having to recharge?

I've mapped out where public charging stations are located along the SF peninsula, (not many yet) just in case.
Has anyone else from the South SF Bay made the drive home from the dealer in Petaluma on one charge?

The dealer tells me it should be no problem, but I want to hear from LEAF owners

 

[evnow]

..I have an 86 mile drive home to Santa Clara. I plan to use 'eco' mode, drive 55, and leave all the
accessories off. Some hills, all freeway, Temp 70's. Will I make it home without having to recharge?

I think it will be close. To be on the safer side you want to take a break and charge for an hour or two on L2.

 

[LBCev]

..I have an 86 mile drive home to Santa Clara. I plan to use 'eco' mode, drive 55, and leave all the
accessories off. Some hills, all freeway, Temp 70's. Will I make it home without having to recharge?

I think it will be close. To be on the safer side you want to take a break and charge for an hour or two on L2.

I agree with evnow; you'll want to charge on the way home. The most I ever did in a single day with mixed driving was 91 miles. On that day, I parked for 45 minutes at a free level 2 charge station for lunch and when I pulled in my garage I showed 11 miles left. Without that extra juice I think I may have hit turtle. Also, hills seem to really impact range.

 

[thankyouOB]

Hello all you "seasoned" LEAF drivers,
Thanks for providing your range numbers - there is quite a 'range' of results (pardon the pun).
I am picking up my new Nissan LEAF this coming Saturday May 7, at North Bay Nissan in Petaluma and
I have an 86 mile drive home to Santa Clara. I plan to use 'eco' mode, drive 55, and leave all the
accessories off. Some hills, all freeway, Temp 70's. Will I make it home without having to recharge?

I've mapped out where public charging stations are located along the SF peninsula, (not many yet) just in case.
Has anyone else from the South SF Bay made the drive home from the dealer in Petaluma on one charge?

The dealer tells me it should be no problem, but I want to hear from LEAF owners

I say yes. especially if you can keep the power dot (the one that moves to the right) to one dot or no dot whenever possible.

 

[Andy]

solarman - you can make it home if you drive carefully, limiting your power usage. Similarly I drove mine home 80 miles from Petaluma and came home with 2 bars and 19 miles indicated on the guess-o-meter. I used 101 and 280, but would recommend you to stay on 101 which is flatter, and you will then have the option to stop at Broadway Nissan if needed.

 

[ERG4ALL]

It may be tricky trying to stay at 55 if you're on a freeway. If traffic is light and the right lane is traveling about 55 you may not have a speed problem. When we took ours for a 70 mile trip over hilly terrain (35 miles out and back), I was not on freeway and so started the trip at 45 mph. When I went down some long hills, I put the car in neutral and coasted. The speed gradually increased to 65-70 mph. Because the regen is not 100% efficient, up to a point it is better to coast. However, I would appreciate anyone out there that can figure out the efficiency of the regen vs the drag at increased speeds. Because energy use goes up with the square of the speed, at some point it may be better to use regen to slow the vehicle down and then back to neutral for a ways. Anyway we had plenty of juice remaining at the half way point, so I set the cruise control at 55 on the way back and only coasted on one long hill (80 mph at the bottom) and still had about 20 miles remaining when we pulled into the garage. Hills can definitely take their toll.

 

[ERG4ALL]

Also, I've read that if you are traveling above 50 mph that it is better to keep the windows closed and use the A/C. However, I'm a little skeptical that just cracking a window at 60 mph would produce more drag than using the A/C. I can see that if the windows were open all the way that it would produce more drag than the A/C. Again, if there are any scientific bloggers out there that can come up with a formula for windows vs A/C, that would be useful.

 

[Bassman]

Drove to work for the first time today.
100% charge, Range = 85 miles
Drove 63.5 miles to work in ECO mode, from Angels camp to Rancho Cordova (1500 foot elevation drop) Mixture of uphill and downhill but overall a decrease in elevation.
Arrived at work with two bars and 23 miles of range estimated.
Charging with the modified L1 and a Quick 220 - estimated charge time to full battery 9 hours 30 minutes, but after 30 minutes status showed 8 hrs and 30 minutes remaining

The return trip should be interesting.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

well i guess you are to "go to guy" for estimated range degradation!!

 

[Bassman]

Yeah, we'll see how the battery handles 100% charging twice a day.

 

[solarman]

solarman - you can make it home if you drive carefully, limiting your power usage. Similarly I drove mine home 80 miles from Petaluma and came home with 2 bars and 19 miles indicated on the guess-o-meter. I used 101 and 280, but would recommend you to stay on 101 which is flatter, and you will then have the option to stop at Broadway Nissan if needed.

Thanks Andy - Did you take 19th Avenue to 280 to 380? Your numbers are encouraging. If I reach the 70 mile point and the guess-o-meter reads 16 miles - should I go for it? or would it be more prudent to stop and charge at that point? There are several available public charging locations showing on the ChargePoint network in the Belmont and Redwood City area. Broadway Nissan is another option - would any LEAF driver be welcome at the Broadway Nissan Charging station? About how many miles range (approximately) should one expect per 1 hour of L2 charging?

 

[DaveEV]

However, I would appreciate anyone out there that can figure out the efficiency of the regen vs the drag at increased speeds. Because energy use goes up with the square of the speed, at some point it may be better to use regen to slow the vehicle down and then back to neutral for a ways.

The difference in power requirements between 55 mph and 65 mph is appx 12 kW vs 17 kW - in other words aero drag is responsible for an additional 5 kW of power "usage".

One way to think about it is this - if you regen back down to 55 mph - are you able to coast back up to 65 mph by the bottom of the hill? If so, you've thrown away energy to aero drag and you'd use less energy using regen to maintain 55 mph until you get to the point on the hill where you'd be able to coast back up to your maximum speed.

Also - how much energy does that extra 10 mph of speed at the bottom of the hill save you? I'd guess that most of that speed will quickly get bled off as aero drag anyway once you hit flat ground... And finally - how efficient is the regen / power process? ~90% efficiency is probably pretty reasonable estimate for regen / power efficiency, or about 80% efficiency round-trip (in other words, if you are using regen at 5 kW, only 4.5 kW gets into the battery during regen and 4 kW gets out of the motor when using it).

My gut tells me that coasting at terminal velocity won't be as efficient as using regen unless we are dealing with really short downhills and speeds under 55 mph.

Here are some rough Wh/mi for various speeds on flat ground taken from the EV-range spreadsheet - the difference in energy usage is nearly all due to aero drag:

30 mph: 150 Wh/mi
40 mph: 177 Wh/mi
50 mph: 211 Wh/mi
60 mph: 253 Wh/mi
70 mph: 303 Wh/mi

It shouldn't be hard to run some calcs to determine optimal coast to regen ratios depending on the particular situation...

 

[evnow]

And finally - how efficient is the regen / power process? ~90% efficiency is probably pretty reasonable estimate for regen / power efficiency, or about 80% efficiency round-trip (in other words, if you are using regen at 5 kW, only 4.5 kW gets into the battery during regen and 4 kW gets out of the motor when using it).

Any links on that - I remember seeing lower efficiencies ...

 

[Andy]

Solarman - I took 19th Ave to 280 and stayed on 280 down to Los Altos. Hilly all the way. I would consider just staying on 101 to get the flattest route. Depending on your destination you could also go to 880 instead of over GG. Keep a cushion of remaining range as compared to remaining distance you feel comfortable with (10 miles?) and slow down as needed (or stop to charge if needed) to maintain your cushion once south of SF. Why not call Boardwalk Nissan beforehand...charging there for an hour should give you about 10 extra miles. Unfortunately I have little experience with L2 and no experience with the latest LEAF sw version to give more detailed advice. Good luck!
Andy

 

[pennc]

With 100% charged, I drove from my home to Laguna Beach in ECO mode on freeways with smooth Saterday night traffic, mostly in slow lane, at average speed of 65 MPH, roughly 60 miles of total distance with A/C. I got there with 9+ remaining. :?

 

[LEAFer]

Drove to work for the first time today.
100% charge, Range = 85 miles
Drove 63.5 miles to work in ECO mode, from Angels camp to Rancho Cordova (1500 foot elevation drop) Mixture of uphill and downhill but overall a decrease in elevation.
Arrived at work with two bars and 23 miles of range estimated.
Charging with the modified L1 and a Quick 220 - estimated charge time to full battery 9 hours 30 minutes, but after 30 minutes status showed 8 hrs and 30 minutes remaining

The return trip should be interesting.

So ... HOW WAS the return trip ??? Inquiring minds ...

 

[DaveNagy]

So, I'll be taking delivery of my Leaf at Northbay Nissan tomorrow, and driving it back to my home in Livermore. 77.5 miles, according to Google Maps. This sounds "do-able", but I was hoping that one of you old hands could advise me on what sort of freeway speeds I should aim for.

Can I get home at 60 MPH? Or do I need to aim even lower?