Accidentally leaving the Leaf on: What happens?

Hello fellow electric car owners

http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?15903-Leaving-the-car-on-accidentally" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

We are having a lively debate on gm-volt about the Volt's inability to automatically power itself off in the event the driver exited the vehicle and forgot to power it off. As it turns out, our informal poll already shows 30% of drivers have done this already. When this happens, when the battery depletes, the engine will turn on and run until the battery is recharged to a certain point. At which point it turns off, waits for the battery to discharge another 5% or so, then restarts the process. It will do this until there is no gas. Its not good. There has been one report of a lady forgetting to turn off her car and coming into a garage filled with fumes. I have stated that this should be a simple fix: If the car is in park, and the Volt is about to transition from electric to gas, a pop-up notification should show on the center screen. Unless you acknowledge the event, the car automatically powers off.

So, with that said, does anyone know how the Leaf behaves? Will it sit idly by until the accessories drain every last ounce of energy from the battery? Who has forgotten to turn off their car?

Yes will drain the battery, but never happened to me

EdmondLeaf said:

Yes will drain the battery, but never happened to me

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And if you did not lock the car, someone can drive away in it, even with no key.

it will drain the battery and i guess the real question is will it commit suicide? iow, drain to a dangerous level before shutting down?

Yes, as stated, LEAF will happily drain the battery to dead (auto shutdown at about 2% of total battery capacity). It's happened many times. What is more common, by the way, is leaving the LEAF plugged in while away, and coming back in a few weeks to a dead 12 volt battery (the main battery is fine). The LEAF won't charge the 12v while plugged in for long periods, while all the background power sucking devices continue to run.

I think that a simple logic circuit that says, "Car in Park, car stationary for more than XX minutes", it shuts down. A simple beep beep and pop up on the screen to warn of impending shut down would be nice.

TonyWilliams said:

Yes, as stated, LEAF will happily drain the battery to dead (auto shutdown at about 2% of total battery capacity). It's happened many times. What is more common, by the way, is leaving the LEAF plugged in while away, and coming back in a few weeks to a dead 12 volt battery (the main battery is fine). The LEAF won't charge the 12v while plugged in for long periods, while all the background power sucking devices continue to run.

I think that a simple logic circuit that says, "Car in Park, car stationary for more than XX minutes", it shuts down. A simple beep beep and pop up on the screen to warn of impending shut down would be nice.

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Tony: You're making way too much sense again----now knock it off! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

TonyWilliams said:

I think that a simple logic circuit that says, "Car in Park, car stationary for more than XX minutes", it shuts down. A simple beep beep and pop up on the screen to warn of impending shut down would be nice.

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no doubt probably located in volume 4 of planned LEAF upgrades

Well, one thing not mentioned, if you leave a LEAF 'on' (in Park but power still on) and you have the key on you when you get not very far away from it (just a foot or so) it will emit a loud beep, beep, beep that is hard to ignore --- it's just a key proximity alarm but typically enough to let you know that car is still 'on'. I almost think this was part of the software update as I did leave the car 'on' once before I had the update done and no alarm went off while we were out shopping and I had left it 'on'. One of our other cars has an auto shut down of the interior lights if say someone leaves a door open so the 12V battery doesn't go dead; EV's are a challenge due to how really quiet they are at a stand still but would imagine all plug-in hybrids may also have the same issue as the Volt (if running on battery power). How does the PiP handle this task ...?

Doesn't everyone have "auto lock" on? The car stays locked until you turn if off. When exiting the vehicle, finding you can't because the doors are still locked - this should clue you in that the car is still "on".

Not before the software upgrade it didn't... That's how it happened to me about three weeks after taking delivery of mine when I was distracted by a co-worker. It had four (old) bars left when I got back to it 12 hours later...

redLEAF said:

Well, one thing not mentioned, if you leave a LEAF 'on' (in Park but power still on) and you have the key on you when you get not very far away from it (just a foot or so) it will emit a loud beep, beep, beep that is hard to ignore

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My LEAF has beeped since I first got it June of last summer ro warn me it was still on if I exited. Must have had later release software when I purchased.

June would have had the newer post-AC-problem software, I believe...

JimSouCal said:

My LEAF has beeped since I first got it June of last summer ro warn me it was still on if I exited. Must have had later release software when I purchased.

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dandrewk said:

Doesn't everyone have "auto lock" on? The car stays locked until you turn if off. When exiting the vehicle, finding you can't because the doors are still locked - this should clue you in that the car is still "on".

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I turned it off as soon as I figured out how. I hate auto lock.

However, I always lock the car using the buttons on the door and trunk. I'm almost positive that it won't lock that way if the car is on.

In any case, in 9 months of ownership, I've never left my Leaf turned on.

DoxyLover said:

dandrewk said:

Doesn't everyone have "auto lock" on? The car stays locked until you turn if off. When exiting the vehicle, finding you can't because the doors are still locked - this should clue you in that the car is still "on".

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However, I always lock the car using the buttons on the door and trunk. I'm almost positive that it won't lock that way if the car is on.

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I can lock ours from the front doors, from the trunk or from the fob regardless of which mode the car is in, including "READY".

dandrewk said:

Doesn't everyone have "auto lock" on? The car stays locked until you turn if off. When exiting the vehicle, finding you can't because the doors are still locked - this should clue you in that the car is still "on".

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I do, and good point! Not to mention it does "beep" when you walk away from the car with your key.

It happened to me one time. I think I accidentally hit the power button twice in quick succession when I was getting out of the car. It turned back on. When I came back to the car 9 hours later after work, the car was on and the battery had dropped 2 bars. Fortunately for me I did not have the HVAC system on that day. I usually drive with my windows down in the mornings during the summer months.

TonyWilliams said:

I think that a simple logic circuit that says, "Car in Park, car stationary for more than XX minutes", it shuts down. A simple beep beep and
pop up on the screen to warn of impending shut down would be nice.

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Wile E. Coyote: Brilliance. That's all I can say. Sheer, unadulterated brilliance!

The car's dash/radio display is bright enough that I seem to never have a problem knowing the car is on (Ready Mode) and that I need to push the button to turn it off before leaving the car.

What I am much more at risk of doing is deliberately leaving the car on in Ready Mode in order to do some expected short term action and returning -- only to be interrupted by some urgent need and forgetting to return. What I need to do is to train myself to NEVER exit the car in Ready Mode -- ALWAYS turn it off first. It really takes very little time (don't let yourself get overly annoyed by the Nissan prompt) to turn the car back on.

If I want to wash the car or something while listening to the radio -- I ALWAYS turn the car to Accessory Mode (that way if I forget to turn it off, at least the car turns itself off automatically after an hour). Accessory mode also uses less power than On Mode or Ready Mode. (Maybe someone with a LeafScan can comment on total power used in the Leaf's 4(?) modes at "idle".)

I know it too well.
When I went to dealer buying the Nissan Leaf, they happened to leave the key in the car the previous day.
So by the time I arrived the car was totally out of battery and the car couldn't even start up.
I ended up have to wait 7 hours at the dealer for the car to charge up so I can drive home safely.

DoxyLover said:

dandrewk said:

Doesn't everyone have "auto lock" on? The car stays locked until you turn if off. When exiting the vehicle, finding you can't because the doors are still locked - this should clue you in that the car is still "on".

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I turned it off as soon as I figured out how. I hate auto lock.
.

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why?