Honest question from a hybrid driver

Couple questions actually.

Given the Leaf has about 73 miles range on full charge, is there a 'rule of thumb' mileage reserve you like to have when returning home the day? Do you take it down to 20, 15 or 10 miles when coming home?

Reason I ask is what if you have a minor emergency and really need to go whevever - to doctors, family members house, etc.... and the other car in the family is out or you don't have one, what do you do? Leaf seems undriveable if you get down to 15 or 10 miles range, I guess.

Do you make sure there is another conventional car in the household in case of emergency?

The difficulty is in determining just how much usable "e-fuel" remains in the e-tank (Battery Pack). The fuel-Bars, Guess-o-Meter, LBW and VLBW all try to help, but are not "perfect" (a bit coarse).

So, to help with this, some of us use one of our "SOC-Meters" as a more useful "remaining-fuel" indicator (still not perfect, but substantially better MOST of the time).

If the LEAF gets down to having only enough energy for 10 (or 15) miles at 55 mph, then drive slower (maybe 35, or 25, or 15) if you need more than 9 (or 14) miles. Usually, most can get substantially more range by driving slower.

Remember, in an emergency you might only need to get there (to the doctor, the meeting, etc.), and worry about getting home later.

The reason why the EVSE rides along with you (with an extension cord), is that (in an emergency) you could probably get folks to help you charge almost anywhere.

Nothing better than arriving with "---" on the indicator.
DW often comes home in the Subaru after driving 30+ miles with the fuel light on so what is the difference?
If there is an actual emergency I plan to call 911. Otherwise it charges at maybe 15 mph to get on with the rest of the errands.
But then I don't even carry a cell phone

I'm with smkettner. I got home this afternoon with two bars, and something less than 20 miles showing on the "Distance to Empty" gauge (which I don't pay much attention to). My wife wanted to make a 25 mile round trip to the next town. I shrugged, and said, "Sure." When we got home tonight it was just about to go to "---", but I wasn't worried. If I had thought there was any chance I was running too close, I would have just slowed down.

I can also tell a story to illustrate Gary's point. One day my wife was going to take her car to the next town for a dentist appointment. Leaving without any time to spare, she discovered she had a flat tire. That 's not exactly an emergency, but she begged me for help. I was already past Low Battery Warning, but I told her to hop in. I dropped her at the dentist, and went over to a charging station I knew about. One hour later I picked her up, knowing I had enough charge to get home.

Ray

That is a great question! I guess I've kind of asked myself that one before (and by the way Ray, I disagree that your wife's flat tire was not an emergency--she was a damsel in distress and you were her knight in shining armor!)

Mostly I don't really worry about it too much, as we usually have one of my sons' cars around, and/or can call on relatives or neighbors for a real emergency. But within the first month of ownership I did worry about that a bit more.

I do wish the LEAF had a charge to X% function, or that CARWINGS had a "Stop Charging" function so I could program an app to stop charging at a certain percentage. That way if I got home with less than say 20 miles of range (that's what I would consider a reasonable distance to handle most situations) I could instruct the car to charge to 25% and shut off, and save the remainder of the charging for overnight (I don't have TOU metering (yet), but I do try to respect not charging in the day if I don't have to).

Most of the time it's not really an issue as we usually wind up in the garage with 3-4 bars (3 bars = 25%). I do get a bit nervous when it's 2 or fewer and the sons are out. Here is a real situation that happened recently: The LEAF was down to just over 10 miles (indicated) of range (1, maybe 2 bars). Son #1 was working. Son #2 was at his bowling league and called us up and said he lost his key. He was about 8 miles (one way) away with no easy charging opportunities between here and there. Technically I probably could've pushed it and made it. But in this case I said no, he'd have to wait until his brother got off work (about an hour). He ended up getting a ride home from a friend. It was a good lesson for him to learn, and no different than if I had been unavailable for whatever reason, so he made do. The main discomfort I had with the situation is that I couldn't drive down there and look for the key myself, because I knew it was there somewhere and he wasn't looking hard enough for it (fortunately the cleaning crew eventually found it and turned it in).

I have a Prius for these minor emergency situations, so if 2 bars or less, no problem.

To the original poster. I think you'll find this varies greatly with the driver. I usually come home with 80+ miles left on the instrumentation. Now, since my miles are city miles and not highway, that is probably pretty accurate and I could most likely get 100 miles if needed. Since my commute is shorter than average, I have plenty of power left over at the end of the day to go wherever I want.

However. My personal rule is that I don't drive anywhere that I can't come home with at least 20 miles remaining. There are very few places I would ever need to go that far away, though. Only about once every few months to do put that many miles on the car in one day.

adric22 said:

To the original poster. I think you'll find this varies greatly with the driver. I usually come home with 80+ miles left on the instrumentation. Now, since my miles are city miles and not highway, that is probably pretty accurate and I could most likely get 100 miles if needed. Since my commute is shorter than average, I have plenty of power left over at the end of the day to go wherever I want.

However. My personal rule is that I don't drive anywhere that I can't come home with at least 20 miles remaining. There are very few places I would ever need to go that far away, though. Only about once every few months to do put that many miles on the car in one day.

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+1 on the 20 mile remaining in most situations, here in Chicago 'burbs most things are close by -- the typical 'diversion' trips (non-emergency, but stop for milk, etc.) are on the way home anyway and if not we wait until the weekend. We also have had AAA for years and if we say needed to get home quickly have already laid out what range was needed as well as (at least during 3 seasons but not winter) have 4 cars for 3 drivers. Our LEAF has never left us stranded, had a bit of anxiety coming back from an airport run early on during cold weather but soon learned of the climate control and use of ECO mode to extend the driving range. I've always been a planner with our cars, thinking ahead with preventative maintenance versus waiting until the last minute, etc. so the instance of a 'car' related emergency remains low on my things to worry about.

I used to get worried whenever the LBW came (~9 miles) but have gotten used to it and regularly come home with single digit miles remaining. If I am worried, I know I can drive extra conservatively to stretch that out to ~16 before turtle.

TickTock said:

I used to get worried whenever the LBW came (~9 miles) but have gotten used to it and regularly come home with single digit miles remaining. If I am worried, I know I can drive extra conservatively to stretch that out to ~16 before turtle.

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+1

I view 20+ miles left on the GOM as a missed opportunity! :lol:

(We'll cross 20k miles today, 2 days before our Leaf's birthday! (adoption day?))

Bill

The original OP should see a couple of trends:
1) There's no "one size fits all" with range predictions
2) Range anxiety definitely fades as you own the car

Bottom line: the car definitely has a range >73 miles MOST OF THE TIME, and there's nothing wrong with pulling into the garage with "--" miles remaining (although it's not something I ever do).

Left the Leaf at home today because the morning's trip was 83 all-freeway miles. I might have tried it if it was 65, but not more. We didn't buy the car to have to plan around pushing its limits - we bought it for those 95% of trips that are comfortably within range.

So we'll usually take a 40 mile round trip from 80% charge, later in the day maybe a separate 15 mile in-town trip if the GOM says 25 remaining. This of course leaves some Leaf utility on the table, but that's better for us than missing a spontaneous side trip or some other errand because we chose to get into the wrong car.

I tried Carwings to see what it would say about this morning's trip. It had no idea what the "san francisco airport" or "SFO' was. After about 5 minutes of trying various names for the airport I had a trip planned, which Carwings thought I could make without charging. No way for 83 miles at 65mph.

Carwings could at least take into account the difference in energy consumption at 65mph vs 35mph in its estimates. As it is, Carwings is using best-case data to predict range. Trip planning is more an exercise in worst-case predictions, since you want to arrive home 100% of the time and unplanned things do happen.

Thanks for all the candid responses Although I won't move from being a prius owner to Leaf anytime soon, I'll keep my eye on it. I'm aware that even though Prius GHG emissions are 220 g/mi, Leaf is about 120 g/mi in our area. That is a clean car! I see how most people could do 90% or more of their trips in Leaf. I know I could. Hopefully it catches on more over time. I'm a little concerned about the sales figures lately, ooops ... way off topic

smkettner said:

DW often comes home in the Subaru after driving 30+ miles with the fuel light on so

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That would just drive me nuts! NUTS!

wcanl said:

I'm a little concerned about the sales figures lately, ooops ... way off topic

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Don't worry, there's a thread for that!

wcanl said:

Couple questions actually.

Given the Leaf has about 73 miles range on full charge, is there a 'rule of thumb' mileage reserve you like to have when returning home the day? Do you take it down to 20, 15 or 10 miles when coming home?

Reason I ask is what if you have a minor emergency and really need to go whevever - to doctors, family members house, etc.... and the other car in the family is out or you don't have one, what do you do? Leaf seems undriveable if you get down to 15 or 10 miles range, I guess.

Do you make sure there is another conventional car in the household in case of emergency?

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I live in a rural area. My "rule of thumb" is to have enough charge when I get home, after my 50 mile "commute" to town, to return to the nearest public L2, as well as any "emergency" destinations, back in town 25 miles away.

And, if the power is out when I get home (sometimes this happens for days, but was only for a few hours, at longest this winter) I can also get back to the Nissan dealer's L2.

During the Summer, I regularly charged to 80%, and get that 75 mile range, with conservative low-speed driving.

During the winter, I need 90-100% charge, depending on the weather for the same "reserve" range.

And I will always have a "reserve" ICEV, at least until I can get a high clearance 4wd BEV, to deal with snow and off road conditions.

i used to get home with under 20 miles on the GOM, but now I charge L1 at work daily and drive one way (25 miles) for free.
of course, the other way is free too, as I have solar.

I have a back up plan, as there is a Chargepoint and two Blink stations 10 miles away on the last freeway interchange before I head south to my house.
So, whatever the Leaf range is, I can add 10 miles in an emergency.

Glad to know that you are a hybrid owner asking questions about the LEAF! We transitioned from the Prius hybrid to our LEAF electric vehicle as our daily driver 8 months ago. The hybrid is our college kid's daily driver now (renter, off-campus). The cars work out perfectly in their current roles and we love them both for their purposes! LOL, people used to tell us how awesomely "quiet" the hybrid was. In comparison to the LEAF, the hybrid sounds so noisy when it starts up! You'll love EV driving if you're familiar with a hybrid already. The electronics (key FOB, steering, shifting, braking, etc...) are pretty similar in feel, so the transition is easy. But the EV runs so much cleaner and quieter! And even less maintenance than a hybrid!

Luckily, we don't have to push the mileage limits on a daily basis. So our "rule of thumb" is to charge the LEAF to 80% every day during the "non-peak" electricity hours no matter if we think we have enough for the next day. We will only charge to 100% if we know of plans requiring that. In the 8 mths of EV driving, there was only one occasion in which I didn't charge to 80% (thinking we were gonna have a non-driving day) and decided to get our 3rd car (an internal combustion engine one) parked at grandma's house 5 miles away for car-sharing. This re-scheduled event (due to good weather) included car-pooling with her, so we had to stop at her place anyway.

That would be one option for us in light of an emergency... going to get our ICE car at grandma's. We have a few other relatives that live a couple miles away that can help out. We could also throw our portable EVSE in the trunk (we haven't kept it in the car on a daily basis after the 2nd month or so) for almost-anywhere 120v opportunity charging too if no public L2 available. And if there was an "emergency, emergency, emergency", I think there are enough neighbors on our block that one will be able to help out. Just like we would help them with an emergency car/other issue.

But us finding a ride is totally opposite from the norm. We usually are the drivers when carpooling whether it's our ICE, hybrid or EV. We don't mind driving as it gives the others a break from their ICE vehicles... esp with gas prices lately!

Some people we know like our LEAF and will definitely consider it when they are ready to replace their vehicles. Despite the nit-picking even us LEAF owners are doing... the 1st generation LEAF is built really well. I hope Nissan does well with EVs because they deserve it for pushing ahead with it. It was the same way I felt about Toyota and the Prius years ago. Now, OMG, no worries about the Prii...

as with range, baring temperature, I easily get 80-90 miles of range, without trying, and about 85% freeway. Now if I drop into eco, don't blast my heater or ac, stop gunning it pass people or at stop lights, I am sure i could get 90-100. As for me, I don't care about range spared. If I need to, I would drive to empty or "--" But, if I feel I want a little buffer Low Battery Warning does it for, or about 8-10 miles left. Thats to insure I could get to anywhere in town or the next without problems, like if I came home and my dog was hurt and needed a rush to the vet. But in the end, if I need to go 20 miles roundtrip and the range estimate on the car is 23, then I go for it. I think it does help that I run my car recklessly so that the range estimate is always conservative. I can always do better, but can't do worse!

As you drive you easily get a feel for how far you can go on a charge, and, the round trip turning point (i.e. how far until you need to turn around to get back home).

The only experience I have driving Leaf is a couple laps indoors on two different occasions at SF auto show. I hear you about it being quiet.

Hopefully Leaf is racking up most of the miles in household while the gas cars collect some more dust