Need Help New Leaf Pre-owned owner

Hi everyone im really exited on my new leaf bought it 6 days ago from a "reputable" Lexus dealer has 27,000 miles 2012, as far as I know I have been trying out my range, I have been having problems with my range first off when I learnd about the bars on the right side of the cluster ok ok here is my problem

1. 11 bars out of 12
2. at 100% charge I see 68miles
3. at 100%, 90%, 80%, charge range me 27-32miles with 2bars left
4. average driving 3.6
5. speeds 33-40mph
6. only drove it 2x on the freeway 58-63mph seems to kill battery quick
7. I get 1 tree when I drive
8. California weather 45* to 60*

I called EV Hotline to schedule a diagnostic cost $120..... im lost I need help

By the way im ed from california

What is it you think is wrong? Everything you describe is perfectly normal.

One thing you need to know is the the displayed miles have very little to do with reality*. The other thing you need to know is the bars are not nice and even. With two bars left, there's still plenty of battery left. Fill 'er up, then drive until you get the SECOND verbal low battery warning. You will probably have driven between 60 and 70 miles with a car that's one bar down. At that point you'll probably have about 5 miles left (more if you slow WAY down) to get to a charging station). You should be able to get that 3.6 mi/kWh up close to 4 (some people can get it WAY up there, but I never could). Then you'll probably have a solid 70+ miles.


* We call it the GOM (Guess-O-Meter) around here because that's all it is, a wild guess as to what you might be able to drive.

davewill said:

What is it you think is wrong? Everything you describe is perfectly normal.

One thing you need to know is the the displayed miles have very little to do with reality*. The other thing you need to know is the bars are not nice and even. With two bars left, there's still plenty of battery left. Fill 'er up, then drive until you get the SECOND verbal low battery warning. You will probably have driven between 60 and 70 miles with a car that's one bar down. At that point you'll probably have about 5 miles left (more if you slow WAY down) to get to a charging station). You should be able to get that 3.6 mi/kWh up close to 4 (some people can get it WAY up there, but I never could). Then you'll probably have a solid 70+ miles.


* We call it the GOM (Guess-O-Meter) around here because that's all it is, a wild guess as to what you might be able to drive.

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Thanks for the info i will try it out, i pulled off the negative terminal for 5mins to reset everything and that did the job of 1 to 1 on the (GOM) i drove 10miles tonight and it showed the same on the (gom) average 4.6 on my driving. Tonight ill be doing a QC and take it for a freeway drive ill come back to post my results. Thanks again.

I'm no expert on the Gen I Leaf, but you should, I think, have been able to reset the energy economy reading without pulling a battery terminal. The Guess O meter will adjust to your driving style, to the extent it can, in fairly short order anyway. Anyway, if you want to raise your economy (and thus the range) inflate the tires to 40psi cold. This will also help the steering response. Then accelerate as gently as conditions allow, and avoid going faster than 55-60MPH.

LeftieBiker said:

I'm no expert on the Gen I Leaf, but you should, I think, have been able to reset the energy economy reading without pulling a battery terminal. The Guess O meter will adjust to your driving style, to the extent it can, in fairly short order anyway. Anyway, if you want to raise your economy (and thus the range) inflate the tires to 40psi cold. This will also help the steering response. Then accelerate as gently as conditions allow, and avoid going faster than 55-60MPH.

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Thanks, i did another range test this morning with an average of 4.2 i would get a useful 30 miles out of 60 on guess O meter i would not want to risk running on the red zone (just my thing) i have my daughter with me. even on 90% shows 70-75 miles the range would drop accurate with the bars i guess thats how the dealer got me 1. They did not fully charged so i did not know the range 2. Did not noticed one bar missing (new to electric cars). Im jealous of people doing 50+ miles on a single charge, my commute a day is 30miles but i would love to get at least 60 on my leaf... ohh well we will see in the next few weeks on how far i can take my leaf btw yes my psi is 42 came like that from the dealer.

Consider - you will need to become comfortable 'driving in the red' as there is a lot of range (relative to total) down there in the LBW (Low Battery Warning) and VLBW (Very low....). I highly recommend getting leafspy running and you will know how much power (kWh) you actually have at any given time and then you can learn how far you can 'push' it into the red and remain confident of not getting stranded.

If you constantly leave 10 miles (for example) worth of charge unused that could be 20% or more of your full range....

flipnotize21 said:

Thanks, i did another range test this morning with an average of 4.2 i would get a useful 30 miles out of 60 on guess O meter i would not want to risk running on the red zone (just my thing) i have my daughter with me...

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There is no "red zone". If you don't use the last two fuel bars you are leaving as much as a third of the range of the car unused; there are about 1½ hidden fuel bars that don't even show on the dash.

The LEAF has a very good system to let you know when you are getting low on charge: the "Low Battery Warning" (LBW, audible warning and GOM starts flashing) and the "Very Low Battery Warning" (VLBW, another audible warning and GOM goes to ---). If you aren't getting to LBW then you aren't really getting low on charge. You might want to check out Tony Williams' Range Charts. Since your car is down one capacity bar you might want to use the 82% of capacity chart. Note that there is still significant range at LBW and still some range at VLBW. In general you can get about half the miles after VLBW that you got going from LBW to VLBW, so if you set your trip meter at LBW you can see how many miles you go to VLBW and then assume that you have about half that many left (at the same speed). Notice also from the chart that speed makes a huge difference in range. If you are low on charge, slow down.

I strongly suggest that you deliberately drive your car down to VLBW to get a feel for how much range you have at the low end of the battery. It would also help your comfort level if you got an aftermarket meter, such as LEAF Spy, to give you a more precise measure of the charge remaining. As others have said, the GOM is not useful: just ignore it. And I second the suggestion to increase your tire pressure to at least 40 psi cold. The 36 psi recommended by Nissan is much too low and you will get more miles and better tire wear with a higher pressure.

You can track your driving efficiency by resetting one of your meters periodically (you have two: one on the dash and one on the console in the energy screen). The manual will tell you how to do this, although it is very simple to figure out. I reset my console meter every day and the dash one every month. The idea is to observe how my mileage efficiency varies with weather and different types of trips.

dpgcolorado said:

I strongly suggest that you deliberately drive your car down to VLBW to get a feel for how much range you have at the low end of the battery.

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That was my original suggestion. Everyone should drive the car down to VLBW at least once, just to get a feel for it. Most people then become much more secure with using more of the car's true range. If after that you still decide to stop with two bars showing at least you're doing it from an informed viewpoint. I also heartily concur with getting LEAFSpy. It will alleviate a LOT of the range anxiety.

There is no "red zone".

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More accurately, the VLBW is that Red Zone, with the Low battery Warning being more like "Yellow." I don't know about deliberately driving to VLBW unless you plan well for it, but I agree that most Leaf drivers should go a couple of miles below the first warning just to see that nothing Dire happens then. I've never gone to VLBW but I assume that I can drive at least 8 miles below LBW, and that's all I need.

thank you guys for helping with the range anxiety i feel alot more confident, i will look into the charts and i will try to reach LBW first then prepare for the VLBW, how good it feels i really love the leaf gotta get the anxiety away.

In my case the anxiety faded once I realized that the car would be consistent in range (with me driving) once I factored in the temps. That and driving all of my most common routes several times, with no LBW, and the knowledge that if I did get the LBW I'd still have about 10 miles left. I've only gotten that warning about three times in about 21 months of driving, and every time I was nearing home. Two of the three times I'd only charged to 80%.

flipnotize21 said:

thank you guys for helping with the range anxiety i feel alot more confident, i will look into the charts and i will try to reach LBW first then prepare for the VLBW, how good it feels i really love the leaf gotta get the anxiety away.

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Just be sure that when you're getting the feel for low/very low you're heading toward not away from a charging station that you know is available if you're not heading home.

The times I tried for the 100 mile on a single charge I ended up driving a 2 mile loop around the neighborhood like 3-4 times. Don't try the low/very low test with the last few miles on the highway/interstate as that could leave you in a lurch.

davewill said:

dpgcolorado said:

I strongly suggest that you deliberately drive your car down to VLBW to get a feel for how much range you have at the low end of the battery.

Click to expand...

That was my original suggestion. Everyone should drive the car down to VLBW at least once, just to get a feel for it. Most people then become much more secure with using more of the car's true range. If after that you still decide to stop with two bars showing at least you're doing it from an informed viewpoint. I also heartily concur with getting LEAFSpy. It will alleviate a LOT of the range anxiety.

Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking, I just got my car March 2, 2015 and on Tuesday it got down to 6 miles and it really was intimidating and stressful, so I was thinking of running it out completely to see what happens and then it should help me be less stressed =)

I tried to get Leafspy but it's for android, I have an iPhone, unless I am misinformed?

S

Sondy132001 said:

I tried to get Leafspy but it's for android, I have an iPhone, unless I am misinformed?

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Soon:
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=18917&hilit=leafspy+iphone" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sondy132001 said:

...
I tried to get Leafspy but it's for android, I have an iPhone, unless I am misinformed?
...

Click to expand...

Available to testers now.
Should be in the iStore soon.
See http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=18917#p407233" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
Requires WiFi adapter.

desiv said:

Sondy132001 said:

I tried to get Leafspy but it's for android, I have an iPhone, unless I am misinformed?

Click to expand...

Soon:
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=18917&hilit=leafspy+iphone" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Click to expand...

Some people have found it so useful, that they've bought a cheap android phone or tablet JUST to use for LEAFSpy. Maybe you know someone who has an old phone they aren't using any more?

I just got my car March 2, 2015 and on Tuesday it got down to 6 miles and it really was intimidating and stressful, so I was thinking of running it out completely to see what happens and then it should help me be less stressed =)

Click to expand...

I suggest that you *don't* run it to a complete stop, but instead get familiar with where it reaches the first low battery warning, and just assume you have 8 miles available after that. If you need to get below the second warning regularly, you need a different car, different route, or different driving style.

Hey guys UPDATE: last night I took a 50mile round trip @ 98% charge, I had my wife and daughter in the car. Driving at 60mph on eco mode all climate control off and tire PSI @ 42, 2 hills 25miles each way. I did hit LBW with 5 miles showing.... well hope this helps, I want to know if this is the real life LEAF range? that's the max I think I would go on this car without risking my family and I getting stranded, we do have another car but I guess ill be using that for longer trips if I had a choice I wound not want to take that LS400 V8.

flipnotize21 said:

...last night I took a 50mile round trip @ 98% charge, I had my wife and daughter in the car. Driving at 60mph on eco mode all climate control off and tire PSI @ 42, 2 hills 25miles each way. I did hit LBW with 5 miles showing.... well hope this helps, I want to know if this is the real life LEAF range? ...

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Yes.
But you never said where you are or the air temperature for your test drive.
That makes a big difference.
As I have stated many times for my 2011 LEAF with two missing capacity bars it is at best a 40 to 60 mile range vehicle, and in cold weather if you like heat it can be only 30 to 35 miles.

But with a 2012 and one missing capacity bar you will be able to tolerate and use the range better if you quit using the Distance To Empty guess-o-meter and get LEAF Spy Pro so you have some useful instrumentation and data.

Thanks, i did another range test this morning with an average of 4.2 i would get a useful 30 miles out of 60 on guess O meter i would not want to risk running on the red zone (just my thing) i have my daughter with me. even on 90% shows 70-75 miles the range would drop accurate with the bars i guess thats how the dealer got me 1. They did not fully charged so i did not know the range 2. Did not noticed one bar missing (new to electric cars). Im jealous of people doing 50+ miles on a single charge, my commute a day is 30miles but i would love to get at least 60 on my leaf... ohh well we will see in the next few weeks on how far i can take my leaf btw yes my psi is 42 came like that from the dealer.

Click to expand...

Following the chart in the link above - interpolating 4.2 miles/kwh - which is a great number BTW - You should have 73 mile range - No accessories is the key here (no AC , no seat heat, No heater, no headlights).

Taking the chart down to 2 bars left - that leaves 20 miles per the chart. Thus the delta would be a desired range for this drop in bars you mentioned above in the quote to be 53 miles. Your claim of only 30 miles means you have a discrepant 23 miles.

You might be closer to loosing another bar than has been mentioned or you have several accessories turned on during your commute!!

I would have the dealer immediately run the State of Charge, State of Health on your Leaf, these numbers are what you are buying when you bought the car.

Are you using Eco Mode? How many acceleration dots do you use to get to cruise of 40 miles per hour on average. Greater than 4 on my 2015 Leaf means I am not an Eco mode driver.