mi/kWh: Typical, Average, Record Best?

I think that the indicated "Energy Economy Average" was something like 1.5 mi/kWh when I took delivery of my 2015 Leaf with 8 miles on it. (This initial number must be practically meaningless.) This number has continued to increase with nearly every drive.

Now, after about 100 miles, it has reached 3.8 mi/kWh (and still appears to be climbing).

Is there a thread here where other Leaf drivers can share these values? I'd like to know typical/average values as well as the upper extremes.

I've almost always hated when people say this....

but you have to search for something like that. It's very basic. There's actually a whole section of the forum just for these topics.

You posted in

"Board index » mynissanleaf » new members & newbie questions"

You want to browse around the posts in:

"Board index » LEAF Ownership » Range / Efficiency / Carwings"

Look near the top left of your screen, click on the board index then go from there.

A quick search for a link to help you find your way found that you posted the same question there.....

minispeed said:

I've almost always hated when people say this....

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I don't hate it--I'm learning my around here, and this helps.

However, I find the search function to be, well, non-functional! If I search for, say, "mi/kWh", I'll get hundreds of results, through which I have hunt and pick to, hopefully, find the appropriate thread. That's tiresome. (I have to wonder if the search function could be improved...)

Thanks.

4 m/kWh is my average after two years, 3.7 in winter, 4.3 in summer.

Mix of city and highway.

Some hyper-milers do way better, but I never bother.

That's why I almost always hate it when people say that.... I find a lot of forums (this one isn't so bad) when you search for common questions the most recent are always people asking a question then someone else saying "hey try a serach" and some people refusing to link (or even a mod locking it) so that the search function finds a bunch of people searching for the same thing as you and many others refusing to link to info to help them out (and hence increase the value of the search).

I would suggest that you don't try to search specific things too much. "mi/kWh" might not show up if someone posted "I'm getting 4.7 m/k is that good?"

The best thing to do when you want info that will probably be common is go to the best section and browse the posts top to bottom. Common things will be a sticky at the top. Things that come up all the time will have many many pages posted on them like this one....

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=3207

In the summer I can easily do 5.25 55mph max, below that I can get up to 6.25. Winter my "I don't care" is 3.06 with a monthly avg of 3.60.

Try resetting it every single time you start a drive. This will let you know how driving habit changes, and weather affect the car more. If you have it car wings will let you go back and see daily/monthly avg.

I took delivery in May, and we got 3.9 after the summer. In the cold weather + LRR snows we dropped to 3.2

Mostly stop and go and hilly driving, but reading folks on here I think we should be doing better. :|

Are there any **problems** that manifest as low mileage...i.e. wheel misalignment?

woodgeek said:

I took delivery in May, and we got 3.9 after the summer. In the cold weather + LRR snows we dropped to 3.2

Mostly stop and go and hilly driving, but reading folks on here I think we should be doing better. :|

Are there any **problems** that manifest as low mileage...i.e. wheel misalignment?

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Tire pressure.

Dealer put mine at 30 psi cold.

I had my stock at 48, my LRR snow (hakka R2s) are at 49 cold (51 rated). Spec is 38, many run 42. It's not a linear relationship, returns diminish as you go up. 70 for example wouldn't be worth it when you factor in the ride. 30 to 38 is a big change!!!! The volt factory spec went up 3 psi on the year they claimed battery chemistry improved the epa range.

I am averaging 4.9 miles/kWh at the moment, and up until this cold snap, I was averaging 5.0. The best I did is 5.5 miles/kWh.

When we have to use the defroster, and sometime the heated seats and steering wheel, my spouse and I average between 4.2 and 4.5miles/kWh.

Keep in mind, this display is the consumption of the car, and it doesn't include charging losses. I have been logging most of the charges on our Leaf S since we got it:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/em-fuel-log.php?vehicleid=8730



Our worst charge was ~370.74wH/mile, which is 2.697miles/kWh - that was a cold sleeting icy rain storm, if I recall correctly, and the defroster had to be run constantly. My best so far was 232.09Wh/mile which is 4.3 miles/kWh. So that is the difference between the dash gauge and the actual charge. And our Leaf S stock tires are 2.3% too small (compared to the 17" SL/SV stock tires), so the dash gauge is overestimating because of this, too.

By the way, we have some of the lowest RR tires in the world: Nokian Hakka R2. And I am correcting the distance on the EcoModder.com energy log. My spouse tends to drive in Eco mode, with a few coasts in neutral, and I tend to drive in D with as much coasting in neutral as possible, and then D and B when I am coming up to a stop, too hot!

MartinChico said:

I think that the indicated "Energy Economy Average" was something like 1.5 mi/kWh when I took delivery of my 2015 Leaf with 8 miles on it. (This initial number must be practically meaningless.) This number has continued to increase with nearly every drive.

Now, after about 100 miles, it has reached 3.8 mi/kWh (and still appears to be climbing).

Is there a thread here where other Leaf drivers can share these values? I'd like to know typical/average values as well as the upper extremes.

Click to expand...

Your economy will strongly depend on speed, terrain, weather and driving style.

Just like gasoline cars, but it is much more pronounced in an electric car. Gasoline engines waste the majority of their energy intake as heat, and their waste can obscure the effects of driving style, terrain and even speed. Consider that most gasoline cars get better mileage on the highway than in the city.

In an EV, most of the energy is turned into motion. So any change you make to the use of that energy is very noticeable.

I would suggest that you locate Tony William's range chart, where the relative efficiencies of different LEAF speeds was arrived at by experimentation, as well as effect of elevation gain and temperature influences. That should give you about as good an idea of the LEAF's efficiency regime as you're likely to ever need.

THANKS to everyone who has supplied all this great information.

NeilBlanchard said:

By the way, we have some of the lowest RR tires in the world: Nokian Hakka R2. And I am correcting the distance on the EcoModder.com energy log. My spouse tends to drive in Eco mode, with a few coasts in neutral, and I tend to drive in D with as much coasting in neutral as possible, and then D and B when I am coming up to a stop, too hot!

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Any clue on the RR numbers of the Hakka R2? I knew they were "super low rolling resistance" but have no clue how they compare to say the RE92 or Energy Saver numbers.

I know the Hakka R's were the best tires made by Nokian, and they are a company that designs for this, and does rolling coast tests:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40TpAB818_8

And I know that they were used on the winning car in a economy run, when he got 118MPG over about an 85 mile road circuit. The Hakka R2 are claimed to be better than the original R's.

Nubo said:

Your economy will strongly depend on speed, terrain, weather and driving style...

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This. It is hard to compare numbers across climate zones, terrain, and driving patterns. For what it's worth (which isn't much) my numbers:

I deal with large elevation changes every time I leave home. And there are no freeways within LEAF range of where I live. And I have a "four seasons" climate (got down to -1ºF last night).

I get about 3.5 in the summer, 2.0 - 2.5 in the winter. If I hypermile (keeping speeds under 50MPH, coasting as much as possible, never accelerate with >10kW), I can just barely eek out 4.5.

I think my biggest problem in the summer is tires - I have cheapo non-LRR tires because I planned on returning the car. They are inflated to the sidewall max - 44PSI. But then Nissan offered me $5000 to buy out the lease, so come spring I will be looking at better tires.

In the winter, I'm SOL either way, since I have to run my resistance heater (no heat pump here). I always have a full car (2 adults, 2 kids in carseats) if I'm driving more than a few miles, so 1) heated seats don't suffice and 2) I need the defogger on constantly.

NeilBlanchard said:

I know the Hakka R's were the best tires made by Nokian, and they are a company that designs for this, and does rolling coast tests:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40TpAB818_8

And I know that they were used on the winning car in a economy run, when he got 118MPG over about an 85 mile road circuit. The Hakka R2 are claimed to be better than the original R's.

Click to expand...

That was a good video, I especially like how it shows the euro C-B-A rating. So we know that the Hakka R got a B and a prototype got an A (summer tire) so it's safe to say that the Hakka R2 is a high B. Too bad the euro label doesn't have the same requirement in a winter tire. There are already 2 A tires that you can get in Europe in a size that will fit the Leaf (215 55 17 is what I want). Continental is pretty expensive, http://www.continental-tires.com/ww...ires/summer-tires/conti_e_contact_hybrid.html and Toyo is about $700 plus shipping http://www.toyotires.eu/tire/pattern/nanoenergy-2. Odd that the nano energy 3 is only a B-C. 16 inch sizes show a couple more As but again nothing that you can buy here.

Tires that get a B in the euro label that are available here with similar or exact names (still could be a different tire though).
http://www.mytyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/rs...eis_bis=&Ang_pro_Seite=20&sort_by=Lable_1roll
Pirelli Cinturato P7 BLUE
Michelin ENERGY SAVER

Can't find anything on the Nokian eNtyre euro label but found a review on MPG of that tire vs the EP422 and it lost.
http://tires.about.com/od/Tire_Reviews/a/Low-Rolling-Resistance-Showdown-Ecopia-Vs-Entyre.htm