How many early buyers are still using Carwings?

When I first got my 2011 Leaf I always would press the Accept button when starting the Leaf and and I would check Carwings regularly to judge my efficiency compared to others, etc. Now I don't even bother with that initial screen. I just press the audio button or map button I want , which is the equivalent of Decline. I only do Carwings when I have to, like downloading a destination that I uploaded from my home PC. I never look at those charts on my PC any more. They were terribly inaccurate anyway. I'm curious what percent of the early users have mostly given up on Carwings like I have.

I always hit the accept - it is ingrained in me now. I don't look at the carwing site too much now although I do use the app on iphone to start the AC or the heater in the morning. I think that function is part of Carwings.

I use Carwings almost daily, sometimes multiple times in a day, to check or start charging, set or start climate control. It is very useful for me.

I use it once a month when I get it’s estimate of how many kW we used. Nothing much beyond that, though.

I use it to turn on AC remotely. Don't access the "contest" pages at all anymore...

I drive a 2012 LEAF and have never used CarWings from day 1. I do hit accept out of habit just to get that screen out of my way.

Mostly I use it with the Leaf Link app, for remote activation of the climate control. Which is a very nice feature and I use it frequently if the weather is either very hot or very cold, or if the car has been parked out in the sun. Also the app's timer feature can be handy.

Never did spend a lot of time on the well-hidden CarWings web page, but will occasionally check something out of curiosity, like how much regen did I really get on that long descent, etc… Probably the most useful thing there is the electrical rate simulation that breaks down each trip leg to give you kWH for motor, regen, total.

The contests aren't very interesting. As in all walks of life there is always someone who will go out of their way to get "high score" somewhere on the internet, no matter how obscure. Whoopee. :roll:

Blessedly, Nissan did relent somewhat on the "press ok" lawyer-madness. Once a month on the 2015 instead of EVERY FREAKING TIME on the 2012 we had.

1 - Charge status
2 - Start charging
3 - AC (rarely)

About the same type of usage since 2011.

My two uses for CarWings are to remotely turn on climate control, and to check charge status. I've never used it to remotely override the charge timer.

Same here. I hit accept because it is now an automatic action but about the only thing I use Carwings for it is to remotely turn on the climate control...

jhm614 said:

I always hit the accept - it is ingrained in me now. I don't look at the carwing site too much now although I do use the app on iphone to start the AC or the heater in the morning. I think that function is part of Carwings.

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My Carwings stopped working in May 2015. I used to use it with a work computer to check on the charging status of my car away from home — it never worked at my house — but now Carwings is completely nonfunctional because it can't contact my car. My guess is that AT&T ended 2G service in my remote rural area early, but I really don't know for sure. I don't even bother to check anymore.

By far the most valuable use I've found for for CarWings is the ability it gives you to estimate you actual available battery capacity, which in my LEAFs case, seems to be much greater than shown by my LEAFs LBC ("gid") reports.

Nubo said:

Probably the most useful thing there is the electrical rate simulation that breaks down each trip leg to give you kWH for motor, regen, total...

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By dividing the nominal total kWh use, either on the ERS page for trips, or from the daily kWh use report, by the metered kWh required to recharge to the same SOC level you began with, you get the nominal 240 volt Overall Trip Efficiency, the efficiency of your LEAF from out-of-the-meter to out-of-the-battery.

AVTA results for Overall Trip Efficiency @ 240 V, for both LEAF L2 kW charge rates::

http://avt.inel.gov/pdf/fsev/fact2011nissanleaf.pdf

http://avt.inel.gov/pdf/fsev/fact2013nissanleaf.pdf

The much lower average nominal Overall Trip Efficiency, calculated from my CarWings reports, than shown from the AVTA data, has allowed me to estimate with reasonable accuracy the actual kW use and m/kWh efficiency from any trip, and to calculate actual kWh use from either of my LEAFs m/kWh displays (when corrected for their differing odometer errors) while I drive.

I've been able to estimate my packs actual available capacity is now ~13% to 14% down from what is shown by the AVTA 2012 LEAF capacity tests averages ~21.0 kWh available from "100% to ~stop in the road tests (and ~23.4 kWh average static capacity) when new.

So, without using CarWings, I might actually believe (as many seem to) my LEAF's current LBC report of ~76% capacity.

Who knows, I might even credit my own skills for my LEAFs ability to continue to regularly make 100+ mile warm-weather trips, using only the ~87% of the total available kWh, from "100%" charge to ~ the VLBW.

I still use it for remote climate control once in a while. I hope there is a fix when AT&T discontinues 2G cellular service.

I also like to download the energy and daily usage statistics for laughs. The energy use displayed by CarWings makes it appear that the car is much more efficient than it actually is. The difference between energy use displayed by CarWings and actual charging energy from the wall is over 25%. I am surprised that the data for the 2015 is no more accurate than the data was for the 2011. CarWings will show 15 or 16 kWh used when I use at least 20 kWh to charge at L2 as measured by a revenue accuracy meter ahead of my AeroVironment EVSE. It is unfortunate that Nissan (and others that access the data) are using such inaccurate data for modeling EV use.

Gerry

Used it to turn the CC on and off several times today already, for the first time in quite a while. Worked fine.

I use it to turn on the heat in the winter time sometimes, but I don't think I've ever remotely turned on the A/C. It just doesn't get hot enough around here to require a pre-cooling. (I say on a 90+ degree day - but that happens maybe 4 days a year where I live.) My garage keeps it cool. If I'm parked in the sun somewhere, I can't do it anyway since I don't have a smart phone. The A/C always comes on fast as soon as I start the car, though, so that's not an issue. It's the slow heater that requires remote pre-heat.

I have a 2012 and mine never asks to be updated ?? I do go to it from time to time to update new charging stations. I have no idea what it's capabilities are ?? I thought it was just to update your nav system.

I use it regularly to check status or precondition. It hasn't collected driving data for months (or years, perhaps) now...

I still use CARWINGS all the time, although nearly exclusively for controlling the heater and a/c. I used to use the online stats for total electric consumption for a quick estimate of gas-vs.-juice costs but the novelty of that has worn off. Very early on I also used the online version to plan a trip and send the info to the car but that quickly proved cumbersome, inaccurate, and a waste of time vs. using the nav in my iPhone or my Garmin GPS both of which have far more current map info.

Stated another way: if CARWINGS disappeared (no more 2G support, pricing model implemented, Nissan abandoned it, whatever), would I be affected? Yes, but only for the remote climate control feature, albeit a feature quite important to me.

="GerryAZ"]...The energy use displayed by CarWings makes it appear that the car is much more efficient than it actually is...

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It looks like you may misunderstand what kWh data CarWings is displaying.

Read my post above yours, and look at the AVTA links I posted.

Evidently, the kWh use report from CarWings, and the identical kwh use shown the dash and nav screen m/kWh displays while you drive, are reduced by the factor of "Overall Trip Efficiency...calculated by dividing the DC energy out of the battery (A+) by the AC energy from the EVSE "

http://avt.inel.gov/pdf/fsev/fact2011nissanleaf.pdf
http://avt.inel.gov/pdf/fsev/fact2013nissanleaf.pdf

The large efficiency variations, from 81% to 84% in the 2011 tests, and from 82% to 85% in the 2013 with the higher kW charger, IMO probably reflect variations in the percent of total capacity the LBCs of AVTA LEAF allowed them to access, not large variations in efficiency.

So if you want to find your own LEAF's nominal "Overall Trip Efficiency", I suggest you collect as large a sample size of discharge/recharge events as is practical.

If you monitor your LEAFs nominal "Overall Trip Efficiency" you probably will also see you get large increases in efficiency by avoiding the top of your pack capacity, that above "80%"charge, and also a significant increase in efficiency when charging at higher battery temperatures.

="GerryAZ"...The difference between energy use displayed by CarWings and actual charging energy from the wall is over 25%. I am surprised that the data for the 2015 is no more accurate than the data was for the 2011...

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If that discrepancy really is "over 25%" (below 75% nominal "Overall Trip Efficiency") on average, I suggest you look into it, as that may mean your dash and nav screen are showing the same error, a large underreport of kWh use reflected in an erroneous report of higher m/kWh.

The largest monthly discrepancy I've seen on my 2011 was last January, over a five-recharge sample measured from the meter, beginning the charge between the LBW and VLB, and ending at "80%" charge, was ~77%. that nominal inefficiency IMO was certainly much higher than actual.

I estimate the underreport error in my LEAFs nominal kWh use that month was then nearly 10%, meaning my actual "Overall Trip Efficiency" was probably ~84.5%, over those five sessions.

Of course, my dash/nav screen m/kWh displays reflected the same error while I drove, and it seems very likely my LBC using the same erroneous kwh use data was what caused it to overstate my pack's actual loss of capacity, as displayed by the (pre-Leaf Spy) battery app.

I use it with the app to check status and turn on AC pretty often.
I have not looked up anything on the website in 4 years.
I never found it accurate or helpful