So, owners what range are you getting ?

[mdh]

thanks so much... you are very kind. Would your best guess say this include slight AC us? Do you think Nissan will offer SW upgrades or battery enhancements to extend the range? How about making the current charger more capable down the road? I understand the 2013 might have a better charger.

Slight AC use should be OK as long as it's not too hot. I would not count on any upgrades or battery enhancements to extend the range.

Hopefully you got the DC quick charge port - once those chargers start going in you'll be able to charge very quickly if needed. But typically one rarely needs the full charge in one trip - it will include a stop long enough where having a L2 charge would be sufficient, even at current charging rates.

one more question... does the last 10 miles include turtle mode?

Yes. Once you hit turtle you are basically done unless you can point the car down hill.

OK... thanks... so with Bay Area highway driving... at 65MPH... i should be able to get 75 miles before turtle?

 

[evnow]

OK... thanks... so with Bay Area highway driving... at 65MPH... i should be able to get 75 miles before turtle?

70 to 75 miles. Will also depend on whether you have any major elevation changes. They eat up a lot of energy.

 

[TonyWilliams]

OK... thanks... so with Bay Area highway driving... at 65MPH... i should be able to get 75 miles before turtle?

You might get 75 miles, but remember, that's under ideal conditions (fully charged battery, that has no degradation, no significant headwind, no significant up hill grade, tires fully inflated, no significant hot or cold outside temps, ABSOLUTELY no heater usage, some light air conditioning might be ok, stars aligned, three hail Mary's, etc).

THERE WILL BE NO RESERVE. It's bad form to plan your trips without some reserve, particularly as you get accustomed to the car. You could just slow down to 55mph and give yourself over 10 miles of reserve.

If you get to Turtle, please pull off the road as soon as it is safe to. Your drive is over, and the only power left is enough to get you safely off the road. The speed will be reduced to about 25 mph or less, also.

It truly is pointless to take a chance on being stuck in the middle of a road (unless that's what you're trying to do). Nissan will tow you for free to the nearest dealer. AAA will tow you home.

 

[solardude]

I continue to be thoroughly impressed with this car. Today i drove from Corvallis to Portland, Or., almost entirely highway (I-5), straight shot to the level 3 charger downtown, 55-65mph, a large portion i followed a truck and kept a steady 60mph. 79.5 miles total, no problem. Charged to 80% in about 30 minutes, then headed over to my friend's house in NE Portland. i topped off at a level 2, Blink station complete with a solar panel cover. Went home, again, almost entirely highway (I-5), again 55-65mph, a large portion I followed another truck and kept a steady 60mph. 81.9 miles, total, 8 miles shown remaining. awesome!

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

160 miles in one day, very nice! Oh I am looking forward to those L3 chargers for the occasional jaunt! I know what you mean by being thoroughly impressed, it's kind of a miracle anyone came out with a car like this and that you can do this on battery power! Happy Trails!
g

I continue to be thoroughly impressed with this car. Today i drove from Corvallis to Portland, Or., almost entirely highway (I-5), straight shot to the level 3 charger downtown, 55-65mph, a large portion i followed a truck and kept a steady 60mph. 79.5 miles total, no problem. Charged to 80% in about 30 minutes, then headed over to my friend's house in NE Portland. i topped off at a level 2, Blink station complete with a solar panel cover. Went home, again, almost entirely highway (I-5), again 55-65mph, a large portion I followed another truck and kept a steady 60mph. 81.9 miles, total, 8 miles shown remaining. awesome!

 

[mossyleaf]

Hit a personal best on saturday. Did my 56 mile hilly freeway drive to wok and rolled in on 6 bars. Avg'd 50 on the freeway sometimes 57 as low as 48 up hils. Charged up and saw this on my range-o-meter

 

[TomT]

I'd slit my wrists if I had to go that slow! :lol:

Avg'd 50 on the freeway sometimes 57 as low as 48 up hils.

 

[surfingslovak]

Hit a personal best on saturday. Did my 56 mile hilly freeway drive to wok and rolled in on 6 bars

Awesome range I drove 29 miles at 50 mph once, and I was very happy with the performance of the Leaf on that trip. In your experience, is it safe to go 50 on the freeway? Any recommendations you would want to share?

 

[mossyleaf]

I do not usually drive that speed (50mph) and chose saturday because of the light traffic in the morning and as not to get in other people's way. Half of my drive the speed limit is 70 and wide open so I think it's safe, when the speed limit goes to 65 on me the carpool lane is there in about 5 miles so I can go as fast or slow as I want there without issues. Other days I cruise at 70 most of the time but wanted to see if I could make it with 5 bars to work. 6 was a bonus!

 

[evnow]

Hit a personal best on saturday. Did my 56 mile hilly freeway drive to wok and rolled in on 6 bars. Avg'd 50 on the freeway sometimes 57 as low as 48 up hils. Charged up and saw this on my range-o-meter

What was your m/kwh ?

You know the guess-o-meter only considers the last few miles (I think 3 or 4).

 

[mossyleaf]

I know the guess o meter is worthless, but it's still the highest number I have ever seen or made Carwings says I was 5.6kwh on 118.9 miles traveled that day.

 

[evnow]

I know the guess o meter is worthless, but it's still the highest number I have ever seen or made Carwings says I was 5.6kwh on 118.9 miles traveled that day.

If carwings says 5.6 - you are probably close to 4.5 m/kwh. That is pretty good considering the freeway travel.

 

[surfingslovak]

If carwings says 5.6 - you are probably close to 4.5 m/kwh. That is pretty good considering the freeway travel.

I think I saw something close to 5 m/kWh on the dash when did my 29 miles trip from SFO to Sunnyvale on 101 one late afternoon. I was going 50 mph on cruise control with no AC and the Leaf consumed four bars or about 6kWh.

It would be very helpful if folks would reset their MPK gauge on the dash before undertaking their trips and reported that number along with all the other data. Unfortunately, CarWings is pretty much useless in regards to energy economy data.

 

[TonyWilliams]

I know the guess o meter is worthless, but it's still the highest number I have ever seen or made Carwings says I was 5.6kwh on 118.9 miles traveled that day.

I drove about 140 miles on the 11th of August. I didn't record the dash m/kWh for the day, but should be about 4.6 - 4.7 (140 divided by 29.3). Don't know why I can't get any love with regen braking.

 

[Danny]

I'm not really sure how you are all getting such high miles/kWh. I take my numbers straight from the electric meter, so I suppose it's possible that after actually charging, the car might have actually stored a little less than that. Being in the denominator, that could raise the value a little. I seem to be averaging about 3.5 miles/kWh, sometime a little more, and sometimes a little less, but that's a good average. I travel just under 65 mph most of the time on mostly freeways. There are hills involved, so that might take some of the punch out of it, but that really seems different from everyone else. My dashboard shows 4.2 miles/kWh, but again maybe that is just using the actual stored power. I don't know. It seems odd.

I have noticed that I need at least 20-25 miles extra to show on the range indicator to accommodate the slow uphill before it puts that much back into the range on the downhill.

My longest drive so far I think was down to Home Town Buffet for a Southern California Leaf gathering. That was about 67 miles with a few more showing as spare. I didn't feel comfortable going too much farther though. I like to stay out of the red zone. How do the rest of you feel about the red zone? Do you feel comfortable using it?

 

[TonyWilliams]

I'm not really sure how you are all getting such high miles/kWh. I take my numbers straight from the electric meter, .......I seem to be averaging about 3.5 miles/kWh..... My dashboard shows 4.2 miles/kWh

You energy from the wall will be about 84-85% of what you'll use. That's normal, and what your data reflects.

the range indicator

No serious discussion on range can include the dash range guess-O-meter. Sorry.

How do the rest of you feel about the red zone? Do you feel comfortable using it?

I think you'd want to have a firm understanding of the parameters that affect your range before venturing into the red zone.

 

[Danny]

Well, that 85% seems to fit with my actual SCE meter usage and the dashboard miles/kWh. Maybe the rest of my low results are due to driving 65 mph on a slow uphill for about 15 miles and a downhill for about 5. That's one way then I have the reverse on the way back. Those aren't steep hills, but they are long slow climbs and drops. But if those hills are so significant then it seems like you could only get those great numbers on a track.

I'm going to have to find out how to zero out the miles/kWh. I didn't even realize I could do that.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Those aren't steep hills, but they are long slow climbs and drops. But if those hills are so significant then it seems like you could only get those great numbers on a track.

Any grade affects the LEAF (it affects a gas car, too, of course).

Example: I drove 20 miles, with an elevation loss of about 500 feet. I got over 5.0 miles/kWh.

On the return, same 20 miles, reset the meters, and I got 3.8. Same speed (on cruise control), same highway, no significant wind, huge variation on fuel economy.

You can check your elevation a number of ways. The easiest is probably the Menu / Info / Where am I *or* GPS. Both have elevation data with 3 or more satellites being received.

 

[TonyWilliams]

I'm going to have to find out how to zero out the miles/kWh. I didn't even realize I could do that.

just push the little button on the left of the steering wheel, upper right hand side of the four there, with a black dot on it.

Hold it for 2 seconds while viewing the screen you want to reset.

 

[DeaneG]

I'm going to have to find out how to zero out the miles/kWh. I didn't even realize I could do that.

just push the little button on the left of the steering wheel, upper right hand side of the four there, with a black dot on it.

Hold it for 2 seconds while viewing the screen you want to reset.

This wins the "fiendishly hidden control" award in my Leaf. Nissan has a perfectly functional menu attached to the menu key, but chose not to include a menu item for resetting the energy efficiency meter, even as a secondary means.