Putting the LEAF in "N"

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TennLeafer

Member
Joined
May 7, 2011
Messages
21
Location
Murfreesboro, TN
I took my car through an automated carwash today. It's the kind with the track system that pulls your car through. I realized that I had no idea how to place my leaf in neutral! The controller lists "N", along with "D" "R" "P" and "eco". I knew it must be capable, but I didn't have time to pull out the book to figure it out.

The car-wash guy and I eventually worked through the problem. When the car is in "P", and your foot is on the brake, pull the controller all the way to the left (but not up or down), after a few the seconds the "P" on the dashboard turns into "N", and you are in neutral!

Hope this helps some other new leaf owners.

-David
 
TennLeafer said:
I took my car through an automated carwash today. It's the kind with the track system that pulls your car through. I realized that I had no idea how to place my leaf in neutral! The controller lists "N", along with "D" "R" "P" and "eco". I knew it must be capable, but I didn't have time to pull out the book to figure it out.

The car-wash guy and I eventually worked through the problem. When the car is in "P", and your foot is on the brake, pull the controller all the way to the left (but not up or down), after a few the seconds the "P" on the dashboard turns into "N", and you are in neutral!

Hope this helps some other new leaf owners.

-David

Thanks, I finally started to read that section of the manual about the neutral position. Now I can take my LEAF to the same type of carwash here in CA. I thought I read somewhere in the MNL forum that you can put the LEAF into N while driving. I didn't search the forum so could be wrong.
 
linkim said:
TennLeafer said:
I took my car through an automated carwash today. It's the kind with the track system that pulls your car through. I realized that I had no idea how to place my leaf in neutral! The controller lists "N", along with "D" "R" "P" and "eco". I knew it must be capable, but I didn't have time to pull out the book to figure it out.

The car-wash guy and I eventually worked through the problem. When the car is in "P", and your foot is on the brake, pull the controller all the way to the left (but not up or down), after a few the seconds the "P" on the dashboard turns into "N", and you are in neutral!

Hope this helps some other new leaf owners.

-David

Thanks, I finally started to read that section of the manual about the neutral position. Now I can take my LEAF to the same type of carwash here in CA. I thought I read somewhere in the MNL forum that you can put the LEAF into N while driving. I didn't search the forum so could be wrong.

It may be capable of going into neutral from D, but I haven't tried it. Has anyone? I'm too chicken to play around with the gears in the middle of a drive!
 
IBELEAF said:
I noticed a slightly delay when putting in Neutral, I wondered why did they feel the need for this...

My guess is this to support on-the-fly changing between D and ECO, since you must pass through N to get to D / ECO.
 
linkim said:
I thought I read somewhere in the MNL forum that you can put the LEAF into N while driving. I didn't search the forum so could be wrong.

Without moving the shifter, you just ease up on the accelerator until the white dot is in the 'neutral' position on your display. You can also put the shifter into Neutral from D or ECO, but it's easier to find the 'neutral' on the power screen.
 
What exactly is neutral? Does it mechanically disengage something? What happens if the battery is dead and ou need to push it. Are you pushing against the resistance of the motor?
 
"Neutral" is pretty much a computer thing. Obviously, it won't accelerate, but also, it removes the regenerative braking. That allows you to coast, and that is why they like to do that. I have shifted from drive to neutral, and back into drive. That's no problem. What I don't know about is trying to put it in Reverse, or Park :eek: . I'm not going to be the first to try it, either, unlike in the Prius, where it's easy to do accidentally. The Prius does it right; it beeps and goes to Neutral. Let's just hope Nissan thought of that :)
 
You can go to N while at any speed. You can't harm the car, no can maker would allow that to happen on accident, some idiot would do it at some point.
 
DarkStar said:
gbarry42 said:
What I don't know about is trying to put it in Reverse, or Park :eek: .
We know that you can go from Reverse to Drive! :D

Yeah, I love how changing from R to D is just software and there's nothing mechanical you can break. It's so easy to flip back and forth when parking and stuff, though I admit to my brain getting out of sync with the car briefly once or twice... :shock:
 
Wouldn't it have been better to stay in the car during the car wash, in "Drive" with your foot lightly on the brake? That way the car wash would have given you some regen charge on the way through. Might be an extra charge for that, just like wax and tire shine.
 
EVDRIVER said:
You can go to N while at any speed. You can't harm the car, no can maker would allow that to happen on accident, some idiot would do it at some point.


http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=64664#p64664

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=66057#p66057
 
z0ner said:
That is one of my favorite videos of all-time. Obviously a lease :)

Nope. No leasing here. I'm proud to be a full owner. :D And I don't for a minute think that this has any long term effect on the car (except for the tires).
 
LTLFTcomposite said:
Wouldn't it have been better to stay in the car during the car wash, in "Drive" with your foot lightly on the brake? That way the car wash would have given you some regen charge on the way through. Might be an extra charge for that, just like wax and tire shine.
I was thinking the same thing! Like getting a free charge "boost" at the carwash. :lol:
 
lemketron said:
LTLFTcomposite said:
Wouldn't it have been better to stay in the car during the car wash, in "Drive" with your foot lightly on the brake? That way the car wash would have given you some regen charge on the way through. Might be an extra charge for that, just like wax and tire shine.
I was thinking the same thing! Like getting a free charge "boost" at the carwash. :lol:


At those speeds the regen might give you 10%, and given that the wash is 100 feet long, that will give you an additional 10 feet of range. Awesome!!!
 
nader said:
What exactly is neutral? Does it mechanically disengage something? What happens if the battery is dead and ou need to push it. Are you pushing against the resistance of the motor?
When there is no current flowing to the motor (dead battery, or car in neutral) the motor offers no resistance. This is why an EV must be put in Park or have the hand brake set when you leave it. A manual transmission car, left in gear when off, will be held in place by the engine compression. But there is nothing like that with an electric motor. A properly designed EV will have a Park position, which will engage some sort of mechanical lock on the wheels. A poorly or cheaply designed EV (like my Xebra) will roll freely if the hand brake is not set.

This also makes pushing an EV easy, provided you have a way of putting it into neutral. It's very complicated (if possible at all) to get a Prius into neutral if the battery is dead or the car cannot be turned on for any reason. With my Xebra off, I merely have to release the hand brake to push it.

Is there a way to put a parked Leaf into neutral without turning it on? (e.g. dead battery or other starting difficulty.)
 
You can safely go from drive to neutral by throwing the shifter into reverse when traveling at a high enough speed. If you do it at a low speed, you will go into reverse, which I don't reccomend. The car will make two small beeps when doing this.

I have found that coasting in neutral is a great way to travel.
 
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