100 Miles in a 2011 Leaf on a Full Charge

I inadvertently drove this far in the last two days in my Leaf which has lost 19.6% of original battery capacity:

Day 1 - Started with full charge, drove to work (20 miles, 1000 feet elevation gain). Had to go downtown at noon, which was another 30 miles. Drove home 10-15 miles. Total 60-65 miles for the day. Drove about 50 MPH knowing I would need to be frugal.

Day 2 - Forgot to charge the night before. Charged for 10 minutes in the morning to raise from 27% Gids to 30% Gids, had to leave for work. Decided to take the Leaf even though I have a 40 mile round trip with 1,000 feet of elevation gain on the way and 700 feet gain on the way back. Figured I would find an L2 EVSE and charge for an hour to make sure I could get home. After work I drove to two "charging stations" shown on my Leaf Nav--no charging stations found. Drove a mile back to a Whole Foods, but no EVSE there. Got on the 101 freeway and headed for another EVSE that was about 7 miles away. I had 24 Gids showing on the LeafDD at that point. Traffic was slow (fortunately), when I got to the 405 I still had 19 Gids remaining. Only a few miles left to go to the Sepulveda Pass, but a 700 foot gain. Decided to chance it rather than go to another non-existent EVSE. Drove up the hill at 38 MPH, arrived at the Pass with 9 Gids left (whew!!!). Used regen on the 7 mile downhill, got home with 11 Gids remaining. Estimated distance for the day - 42 miles.

Estimated Distance (not exact) - 102-107 miles; if I had not charged for 10 minutes in the morning I probably would have hit turtle and not made the pass. Estimate 100 miles or more was from the original full charge.

PS I may not take the Leaf to work if I forget to charge again.

That matches a similar experience I recently had in our slightly-newer, 15+% degraded LEAF: I drove ~70 miles and arrived home with 34% SOC remaining. In that trip, I passed 50% SOC after traveling 51 miles. Having made a similar trip two years previously in which I arrived home right near LBW, I considered this new run to be an excellent result.

I considered finishing out the 100-mile run, but I didn't do it.

Stoaty said:

arrived at the Pass with 9 Gids left (whew!!!).

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You got lucky. I've hit turtle at 9 GIDs remaining.

garsh said:

You got lucky. I've hit turtle at 9 GIDs remaining.

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I like to think it is my superb driving skills... but whether 9 Gids or 4 Gids for turtle, I know I got damn lucky.

nice.
i would hate to try it in my one-bar down 2011 #1442.
i bet you were driving solo, as a passenger would make that experience even more difficult (they just dont get it).

thankyouOB said:

i bet you were driving solo, as a passenger would make that experience even more difficult (they just dont get it).

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I suspect Stoaty was solo, but I had three smallish people in the car with me, just like two years ago.

Stoaty said:

I inadvertently drove this far in the last two days in my Leaf which has lost 19.6% of original battery capacity...

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Your LEAF has lost 19.6% of LBC-reported capacity, Stoaty.

I00 miles is still easy for my LEAF, which now has more than 20% LBC-reported capacity loss.

Actual loss of available battery capacity for my LEAF is far less than 20%, as shown by recharge capacity and range tests, such as these 100+ mile trips, including my longest ever:

Four more 100+ mile trips since my last posting last Spring on p 71.

That makes 22 total 100+ mile-on-an-"100%"-charge trips on my LEAF (not including the multiple 100+ mile trips utilizing net descent) the last eight made after losing capacity bar 12 last August.

To sum it up, still no perceptible loss of range on this mountainous (over 6,000 ft of ascent and descent) and low-speed route, since I started range/capacity test back in the Summer of 2011, as the increase in vehicle efficiency has continued to very closely offset the loss in available battery capacity...

For the first time since delivery, I took my pack below ~VLBW. I had to do a lot of work on an old logging track to improve it into a LEAF-able route to my home bypassing the ~200 ft. turtle-killer climb that is my driveway.

6/30/14:
109.3 miles to VLBW, 14.9 KWH (at~200 ft higher altitude than start point)
121.0 odometer miles to 10 gids, 16.2 kWh.

7/13/14:
109.2 miles to VLBW, 15.0 KWH (at~200 ft higher altitude than start point).
126.1 miles to turtle (5 gids ), 17.0 kWh.

All miles above are as reported by odometer. Due to tire wear, the odometer was reporting ~0.002 high on these last four tests. I replaced my OE tires last week, at ~28,700 miles, so I'll expect new results for odometer accuracy, and, due to the (noticeable!) increase in rolling resistance a loss of range-for the first time since I got my LEAF, on my next range test...

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http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=7022&start=740" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

edatoakrun said:

All miles above are as reported by odometer. Due to tire wear, the odometer was reporting ~0.002 high on these last four tests. I replaced my OE tires last week, at ~28,700 miles, so I'll expect new results for odometer accuracy, and, due to the (noticeable!) increase in rolling resistance a loss of range-for the first time since I got my LEAF, on my next range test...

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http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=7022&start=740" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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This brings up an interesting possibility: Could tire wear be masking some (all?) of the capacity losses reported by the LEAF's electronics? In other words, could the gradual wear of the tires slightly *improve* range performance while the gradual degradation of the battery *reduces* range performance. All three of us reporting decent results after three years are basing these reports on the original tires.

Assuming your new tires are OEM Ecopias, I think your future 100-mile runs with the new tires will provide valuable insight into what is going on.

RegGuheert said:

...Assuming your new tires are OEM Ecopias, I think your future 100-mile runs with the new tires will provide valuable insight into what is going on.

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Already have made two ~100 mile range tests on the new Ecopias, as well as one ~600 mile Bay Area trip and two trips to the top of Lassen Peak.

Not quite ready to post results as a % loss in range/efficiency yet, but I am very relieved to see that the loss of range from the new tires has not been a problem in any of these trips.

edatoakrun said:

Not quite ready to post results as a % loss in range/efficiency yet, but I am very relieved to see that the loss of range from the new tires has not been a problem in any of these trips.

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That's great news! Thanks!

edatoakrun said:

Your LEAF has lost 19.6% of LBC-reported capacity, Stoaty.

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Ed, we have been over this before. You are beating a dead horse. While I didn't do a range test early on when I got my Leaf, I have little doubt I could have gotten 120-130 miles when it was new driving the way I drove yesterday. I wouldn't have even broken a sweat to get 100 miles when my Leaf was new. That amounts to a 20% loss in range.

Stoaty said:

edatoakrun said:

Your LEAF has lost 19.6% of LBC-reported capacity, Stoaty.

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Ed, we have been over this before. You are beating a dead horse. While I didn't do a range test early on when I got my Leaf, I have little doubt I could have gotten 120-130 miles when it was new driving the way I drove yesterday. I wouldn't have even broken a sweat to get 100 miles when my Leaf was new. That amounts to a 20% loss in range.

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It's always a good Idea to maintain a certain level of doubt about any theory, IMO.

Especially a theory as unlikely as that the LEAF LBC can be relied on to provide an accurate gauge of battery capacity.

Without the ability to doubt, you will find evidence proving most every preconception...

The Grand Canyon - Amazing Proof of Noah's Flood

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http://www.grandcanyonflood.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

edatoakrun said:

It's always a good Idea to maintain a certain level of doubt about any theory, IMO.

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Agreed. I strongly doubt your theory that the batteries have a lot more capacity than the LBC says and that Nissan is replacing batteries that don't need to be replaced.