Battery drain

Last night I took one of my longer trips to see a client. I had a full battery charge when I left, 25% upon return. It is winter here but I was wondering about what controls/accessories have a higher drain on the battery such as:

Heat
Air conditioning
Heated seats
Heated steering wheel
Radio
Radar detector plugged into cigarette lighter
USB port to charge a cell phone

Bill

Cabin Heat and AC use significant battery. The others have no effect on your range at all.

Baltneu said:

Radar detector plugged into cigarette lighter

Click to expand...

The radar detector itself? Almost nothing. But driving faster has a big impact on range.

I guess if I can then use the heated seats and steering wheel heater, should be ok

You took a long trip and came back with 25%.... What is the problem?? I don't understand your point..

Baltneu said:

I guess if I can then use the heated seats and steering wheel heater, should be ok

Click to expand...

Yes. Seat heaters are your friend if trying to stretch range. Notice you have an SL, which will have a heat pump style HVAC system that uses a lot less energy than the basic resistance heat. If I needed to stretch range, would turn on the seat & steering wheel heat, and set the main hvac system to heat with a low thermostat temp. Often wore a hooded sweatshirt to help when very cold. Also note at outside temps below freezing the resistance heater will also run, which will drive down your range substantially. Keeping the main thermostat low will minimize use of resistance heat.

Thank you to all

They all consume electricity but It's important to understand how much power things consume. Watts is the issue.

Baltneu said:

Heat
Air conditioning

Click to expand...

Those are the big 2. These draw power directly from the main battery at around 400V. Climate control can use anywhere up to 6000 watts of power depending on circumstances.

Heated seats
Heated steering wheel
Radio
Radar detector plugged into cigarette lighter
USB port to charge a cell phone

Click to expand...

These all get their power from the 12V system. They still consume energy but won't amount to more than a couple hundred watts altogether, and most of that would be from the heating elements. That would take over an hour's use to consume 1 mile of range.

Things like USB charging consume only a few watts and so the effect on range is zero for all practical purposes.

They all consume electricity but It's important to understand how much power things consume. Watts is the issue.

Baltneu said:

Heat
Air conditioning

Click to expand...

Those are the big 2. These draw power directly from the main battery at around 400V. Climate control can use anywhere up to 6000 watts of power depending on circumstances.

Heated seats
Heated steering wheel
Radio
Radar detector plugged into cigarette lighter
USB port to charge a cell phone

Click to expand...

These all get their power from the 12V system. They still consume energy but won't amount to more than a couple hundred watts altogether, and most of that would be from the heating elements. That would take over an hour's use to consume 1 mile of range.

Things like USB charging consume only a few watts and so the effect on range is zero for all practical purposes.

My Tips & Tricks topic gives useful suggestions on this. I'll bump it and link it here.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=23297

Great info!!!