Eco Mode

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sanghi

Member
Joined
May 8, 2015
Messages
7
I have Nissan leaf 2012, which has Eco Mode Driving from Driving Shift.

When would be the appropriate using eco mode? Highway or City? Average Speed?

Thank you.
 
As I understand it, Eco Mode helps:
1) Keeping you from "lead-footing" (accelerating too fast) by increasing pressure on the pedal
2) Keeping a steadier speed on the highway. I use Eco once I get up to speed on the highway to make sure I don't change my speed too quickly
3) In situations when you know you'll need to slow down (i.e. on an off-ramp, going downhill, approaching a red light) because it increases regenerative braking
 
sanghi said:
I have Nissan leaf 2012, which has Echo Mode Driving from Driving Shift.

When would be the appropriate using echo mode? Highway or City? Average Speed?

Thank you.
Click to expand...

I tend to use Eco mode most of the time. I shift to "D" when accelerating onto a freeway or when changing into the faster moving HOV lane.
 
I find that I prefer to use ECO and B mode all the time. I never have a situation that I need any more acceleration that I can already get in the more efficient modes.
 
Graffi said:
I find that I prefer to use ECO and B mode all the time. I never have a situation that I need any more acceleration that I can already get in the more efficient modes.
Click to expand...

That's because you can always get 100% full acceleration in ECO mode or D mode by flooring the pedal. The difference in the modes is simply how power is mapped in between.

So in a way it's a good thing you never need more than you can get from ECO, because you can't get more from D - you'd need to trade in for a quicker car!
 
sanghi said:
I have Nissan leaf 2012, which has Echo Mode Driving from Driving Shift.

When would be the appropriate using echo mode? Highway or City? Average Speed?

Thank you.
Click to expand...
I find the advantage of Eco mode for slow moving stop and go traffic. Keeps the wear down on your brakes and the reduces the start/stop with the cars ahead and bucking the entire way (you know those people, they take off like a rocket only to almost skid to a stop behind the car in front of them over and over).

For long range driving without a lot of stop and go city traffic, D mode is the best. It will conserve the most energy coasting down hills (besides Neutral I guess) because you have to remember any regen is a lossy effect of power storage. If you consume 40kW to get up to speed and then coast back to a stop with 30kW of regen, you lost energy along the way. The key is to minimize energy loss when moving forward, regen is great to get back energy used to stop (city driving is a good example) but driving down a highway road where you won't be stopping for traffic lights, regen is not needed for that but still useful when you do need to stop (the leaf engages that anyway regardless).

Everything in an electric car is just math and physics. You aren't worried about gears, gas mileage, or engine RPM. You only need to work with the power being consumed for the speed and distance you wish to travel. Makes everything so simple for the vehicle, you forget how complicated an ICE vehicle really is until you are forced to drive one again. :mrgreen:
 
I tried eco mode, and haven't used it since. It is fairly simple to learn to apply foot to pedal gently and not need eco mode to do it for you.

B mode is useful in stop and go, but it does feel a lot like driving the Diesel in a lower gear (manual transmission).
 
alanlarson said:
I tried eco mode, and haven't used it since. It is fairly simple to learn to apply foot to pedal gently and not need eco mode to do it for you.
Click to expand...

The biggest problem with Eco mode for me is that I end up driving like an idiot when I go back to my ICE vehicle. My wife kept saying "what's wrong with you? Why are you peeling out from every stop?"
 
dfscott said:
alanlarson said:
I tried eco mode, and haven't used it since. It is fairly simple to learn to apply foot to pedal gently and not need eco mode to do it for you.
Click to expand...

The biggest problem with Eco mode for me is that I end up driving like an idiot when I go back to my ICE vehicle. My wife kept saying "what's wrong with you? Why are you peeling out from every stop?"
Click to expand...

Yet when I drive in D I have the exact opposite problem. My ICE vehicle is a Honda Insight, so not exactly quick. The Leaf is so responsive in D that I end up driving like an idiot if I haven't driven the car in a while.
 
I drive in ECO all the time, it doesn't add much mileage, what 5-6 ? But I like how it's kind of like driving in a lower gear and I don't use my brakes as much. When I'm in D I tend to squeal my tires a lot around corners or taking off at stop lights, I love being first off the line =)
 
I drive in Eco mode all the time. It now feels normal and D feels like sport for the few times I want it.



knightmb said:
sanghi said:
I have Nissan leaf 2012, which has Echo Mode Driving from Driving Shift.

When would be the appropriate using echo mode? Highway or City? Average Speed?

Thank you.
Click to expand...
I find the advantage of Eco mode for slow moving stop and go traffic. Keeps the wear down on your brakes and the reduces the start/stop with the cars ahead and bucking the entire way (you know those people, they take off like a rocket only to almost skid to a stop behind the car in front of them over and over).

For long range driving without a lot of stop and go city traffic, D mode is the best. It will conserve the most energy coasting down hills (besides Neutral I guess) because you have to remember any regen is a lossy effect of power storage. If you consume 40kW to get up to speed and then coast back to a stop with 30kW of regen, you lost energy along the way. The key is to minimize energy loss when moving forward, regen is great to get back energy used to stop (city driving is a good example) but driving down a highway road where you won't be stopping for traffic lights, regen is not needed for that but still useful when you do need to stop (the leaf engages that anyway regardless).

Everything in an electric car is just math and physics. You aren't worried about gears, gas mileage, or engine RPM. You only need to work with the power being consumed for the speed and distance you wish to travel. Makes everything so simple for the vehicle, you forget how complicated an ICE vehicle really is until you are forced to drive one again. :mrgreen:
Click to expand...

I find Eco is better for coasting because it's easy to hold 0 power in/out without switching to N.
 
My commute is half stop-and-go local streets and half Interstate. I've been using B-ECO exclusively, but based on your 2nd paragraph I might try going with D on the highway.

The B-ECO regenerative braking is so aggressive that I'm a bit concerned about getting rear-ended, especially at highway speeds. Although it's nice that I can control speed variations pretty much with the throttle only, doing it that way doesn't alert the drivers behind me when I'm slowing down.

knightmb said:
I find the advantage of Eco mode for slow moving stop and go traffic. Keeps the wear down on your brakes and the reduces the start/stop with the cars ahead and bucking the entire way (you know those people, they take off like a rocket only to almost skid to a stop behind the car in front of them over and over).

For long range driving without a lot of stop and go city traffic, D mode is the best. It will conserve the most energy coasting down hills (besides Neutral I guess) because you have to remember any regen is a lossy effect of power storage. If you consume 40kW to get up to speed and then coast back to a stop with 30kW of regen, you lost energy along the way. The key is to minimize energy loss when moving forward, regen is great to get back energy used to stop (city driving is a good example) but driving down a highway road where you won't be stopping for traffic lights, regen is not needed for that but still useful when you do need to stop (the leaf engages that anyway regardless).

Everything in an electric car is just math and physics. You aren't worried about gears, gas mileage, or engine RPM. You only need to work with the power being consumed for the speed and distance you wish to travel. Makes everything so simple for the vehicle, you forget how complicated an ICE vehicle really is until you are forced to drive one again. :mrgreen:
Click to expand...
 
I used Eco all the time in my 2011. My 2015 does not have Eco per se, just D and B. B gives nice regen, more than Eco did, and minimizes brake use. I don't think I have ever driven in D.
 
DesertDenizen said:
I used Eco all the time in my 2011. My 2015 does not have Eco per se, just D and B. B gives nice regen, more than Eco did, and minimizes brake use. I don't think I have ever driven in D.
Click to expand...

That's strange - my 2015 model S has both ECO and the D/B option.
 

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