I'm a 3.7 miles/kWh flunkee

I see that folks on this bulletin board are routinely getting above 5 miles per kWh. I pretty consistently get around 3.5 - 3.8 kWh driving around the San Francisco Bay Area. Granted:

- I have to drive home to the Oakland hills every night (elevation = 1100 ft)
- I take a couple freeway trips every week to Fremont (round trip = 54 miles)
- I drive it like a V6 (70 mph on the freeway, but pretty mellow around town)

Are there others keeping quite on this board for whom 3.7 miles/kWh is average, or am I really a flunkee?

Kevin

I am 3.3 lifetime. Waiting for "electric sports car" to replace GSXR. Ya know what they say; "With age, get a cage!".

I have had mine since April 8, 2011. I got 4.3 once. My normal average is 3.4 - 3.8. Welcome to my world. I commute from Vacaville to Sacramento, beat most everybody off the line, drive ~70, a/c or heat when needed. And DO NOT care, cause I ain't using gas :lol: :lol:

You're not alone. I get about the same miles/kwh as you. I also live 1,000 ft up in the hills in the Bay Area, but do very little driving on freeways. Oh, and I don't know what Eco is I drive it in the same style as I do my RX8 (when I have to use it for longer trips). It's fun and I firmly believe that EV's must be so in order to succeed.

rawhog said:

I have had mine since April 8, 2011. I got 4.3 once. My normal average is 3.4 - 3.8. Welcome to my world. I commute from Vacaville to Sacramento, beat most everybody off the line, drive ~70, a/c or heat when needed. And DO NOT care, cause I ain't using gas :lol: :lol:

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Good way to look at it.

Thanks for the feedback. At 3.5 miles/kWh, we'd still beat the EPA benchmark of 2.9, and we're still saving trees and gas money. So I guess we're not doing too bad for ourselves!

Kevin

prisonfood said:

Thanks for the feedback. At 3.5 miles/kWh, we'd still beat the EPA benchmark of 2.9, and we're still saving trees and gas money. So I guess we're not doing too bad for ourselves!

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I suspect the 2.9 is wall to wheels, so you're right around the EPA benchmark.

But still, if it works for you, then that's great! You're still beating the crap out of the best gas cars out there.

And by the way, I'm at 3.8 in the winter, trying really hard to break my "record" of 4.2 this month. We definitely don't have any 1000' elevation changes here (although it's not flat either). My wife and I drive very softly and do try to get good mileage, but that's about the best we can achieve. I think I probably wouldn't be able to stand driving with the guys that are getting better than 5!

Also, we near sea level. It's the thick air!

I was also in the 3.5 miles/kwh efficiency range for the past year. But after my one-year battery check-in (and the update codes) at the Nissan dealership, my efficiency broke 4.0 and has even reached 4.9 . I still do the same around town driving as before. So I'm thinking it has something to do with the software upgrade and battery check. Or just a coincidence?

That's where our LEAF been over the winter w/ my wife doing most of the driving.

arnold

3.6 here. Currently at 3.5 because of heater action during my first Leaf winter. Hills and freeways. That'll do it to ya. Bay Area.

I am not going to go 50 mph on the freeway to hypermile, look like an idiot, and cause freeway casualties. That is the dumbest thing to do to a Leaf. Be a road hazard. We want to advertise this car, not make it look like it's not worth its mettle. You know... 0 to 60 - yes.

I have to "gas" it up a pretty good grade when leaving for work...I live in a valley. So I'm less than 3.7 miles/kWh at the start of my commute. Averages out to 4.9 though, lifetime. The people on here getting over 5 are probably Houston residents where the highest thing around is an overpass on loop 610...living in quite level cities, generally.

Try just not looking at your m/kWh.

Drive the car and enjoy it. It is very liberating.

I spent the first couple of weeks learning how to hypermile, stressing over every little number on the dash. While it was interesting and educational, it was also stressful and annoying to my passengers and other drivers around me.

Since then I try to ignore that stuff and just enjoy the car, knowing I will know what to do if I ever get in a pinch. I know what my range is, I stay well within it.

I average around 3.9, I drive half conservatively but never hesitate to burn rubber sometimes. Almsot all my driving is freeway so it kills my rating.

Phoenix said:

I was also in the 3.5 miles/kwh efficiency range for the past year. But after my one-year battery check-in (and the update codes) at the Nissan dealership, my efficiency broke 4.0 and has even reached 4.9 . I still do the same around town driving as before. So I'm thinking it has something to do with the software upgrade and battery check. Or just a coincidence?

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Strange, I noticed something fairly similar too. Before the update last month, I was usually around 4.0-4.2, but I noticed most recently that I'm now around 4.8-5.2.

Since they changed the GOM sample size, maybe it modified the mi/kwh sample rate as well and that's why it seems to be a bit different.

coqui said:

The people on here getting over 5 are probably Houston residents where the highest thing around is an overpass on loop 610...living in quite level cities, generally.

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Maybe some, but not all. My daily commute in Los Angeles involves about 1300 feet of elevation gain (and loss, of course--I have to get back home). Lifetime average 5.7 on the dash.

Cheezmo said:

Try just not looking at your m/kWh.

Drive the car and enjoy it. It is very liberating.

I spent the first couple of weeks learning how to hypermile, stressing over every little number on the dash. While it was interesting and educational, it was also stressful and annoying to my passengers and other drivers around me.

Since then I try to ignore that stuff and just enjoy the car, knowing I will know what to do if I ever get in a pinch. I know what my range is, I stay well within it.

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Absolutely. Now that I am in the 100 mile club and k ow how to hypermile, I am going to enjoy this car. But the last 20 miles of getting to 100 miles yesterday was just too stressful,and with the 100% ELECTRIC sticker in the back probably gave a bad name to EVs in that 1 hour of driving. I will make up for that from on.

My long term average is 5.8 m/kwh. But Tucson is pretty ideal: the valley is flat, I used the heat only once to see that it worked, there are frontage roads along the highway which are always empty allowing one to drive at any speed desired, and I stay in Eco mode. Geez I love this car.

I think you'll find that they are in the minority of Lead owners and drive in a manner that many are not willing or able (terrain, climate, commute, etc.) to pursue. My lifetime average is 4.3 and I believe that is far more representative of the majority...

prisonfood said:

I see that folks on this bulletin board are routinely getting above 5 miles per kWh.

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Nubo said:

Also, we near sea level. It's the thick air!

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That's actually a big deal. I get better numbers, despite steep hills and cold winter weather, in part because of the thin air and in part because the maximum speed limit here is 60 mph (no freeways or even multi-lane highways). The LEAF loves 60 mph plus thin air, even with major elevation changes.

But, I admit, I don't "drive it like I stole it" unless I'm doing rides/test drives with friends. [Thirteen test drives, five rides, thus far.]