62kwh Leaf Plus Efficiency Posting

[DougWantsALeaf]

Yep, same here. My wife drives the SV+ and comfort is king. Efficiency is hardly a thought. I drive our S+ (with my daughter), and enjoy the smooth icy cold feel of lower watts per mile.

 

[knightmb]

Yep, same here. My wife drives the SV+ and comfort is king. Efficiency is hardly a thought. I drive our S+ (with my daughter), and enjoy the smooth icy cold feel of lower watts per mile.

My wife sets your climate control for 90F and keeps the windows cracked to "vent the heat" out because it gets too hot. :roll: I quit trying to coach her out of those old ICE habits, let her have her 2.0 m/kWh efficiency. :lol:

 

[user 24513]

I noticed something this morning that I have not noticed before, since I rarely charge above 80% and rarely look at LeafSpy unless the battery is getting low. At 87% according to the GOM LeafSpy showed about 3% less or about 84%. So the dashboard not only under-estimates battery charge below about 45%, by as much as 10% when approaching empty, but it over-estimates battery charge percentage above 80% exacerbating the rapid decline one sees when traveling. The GOM and LeafSpy agreed with each other at 71% of charge, and stayed pretty close down to about 50%. Does anyone know what LeafSpy says when the dash shows fully charged? (anyone else geeking out while driving?).

 

[oxothuk]

Does anyone know what LeafSpy says when the dash shows fully charged? (anyone else geeking out while driving?).

IIRC, last time I did a full charge LeafSpy showed 98.4% SOC. But it’s possible that might have gone higher had I left it on the charger.

 

[rogersleaf]

I noticed something this morning that I have not noticed before, since I rarely charge above 80% and rarely look at LeafSpy unless the battery is getting low. At 87% according to the GOM LeafSpy showed about 3% less or about 84%. So the dashboard not only under-estimates battery charge below about 45%, by as much as 10% when approaching empty, but it over-estimates battery charge percentage above 80% exacerbating the rapid decline one sees when traveling. The GOM and LeafSpy agreed with each other at 71% of charge, and stayed pretty close down to about 50%. Does anyone know what LeafSpy says when the dash shows fully charged? (anyone else geeking out while driving?).

This is an interesting observation. A couple weeks back I made a rare road-trip beyond the pack capacity (40KWh). The outside temps were dropping colder than expected. I was watching my range vaporize so fired up Leafspy part way through the 1st leg as a 2nd gauge set. Think I was observing the same charge/GOM % differentials, both low end and top 30% of the pack. However, was using public L-3 charging to get back to @ 95% before making that observation so not a fully topped off pack.

 

[GerryAZ]

Here is what I noticed during my last charge cycle:
LEAF Spy indicated 8.7% SOC when the dash display switched from 1% to ---%.
I started the car about an hour after the L2 charge completed the next morning and the dash displayed 100% while LEAF Spy indicated 95.9%. These differences at high and low SOC are normal.

 

[knightmb]

Nissan *fudges* the numbers to avoid endless calls from non-technical people, I would bet money on it.
There are lots of technical reasons why the battery would never truly be charged to 100%, due to temperature, use, age, etc.
If Nissan didn't fudge the numbers, they would get endless calls to tech support about "My Leaf only charges to 98.6%, Something is Wrong!" or "My Leaf died while driving when the screen clearly read that I had 0.3% battery left, Something is Wrong!" :lol:

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

A new Plus will charge to 59 kWh (occasionally a bit higher). That is about a 5% buffer at the top.

 

[Marktm]

A new Plus will charge to 59 kWh (occasionally a bit higher). That is about a 5% buffer at the top.

When first purchased in May of last year, the top energy reading was 59.4 kWh at 99.2% SOC and 174.9 ahrs. About a month ago, it topped out at 58.0 kWh at 99.3% SOC and 170.5 ahrs. The correlation of kWh and ahrs is very close - at a given SOC.

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

January is done. We were at an apartment for 2 very cold weeks in January and paid the price in very cold soakedcars with lots of preheating and idle heating. The house was having painting done. Chicago hit -6 one night and we were single digits on many day, and snow on others.

SV+ 348 miles 2.5 miles/kWh

S+ 403 miles. 3.5 miles/kWh

With this experience, I am not sure I would buy a sub 300 mile/90+ kWh EV (or more) in this climate if I did not have a garage. Summer would be fine, but not subzero. Neither car made it a week without a full up. In our ole minivan, it would usually be 2 weeks in winter, 3-4 in summer (pre Leaf). Every 4 days would be a pain in the ass to hit a DC charger.

 

[user 24513]

Our S+ went 2.9 miles/kWh in January, also been cold here (actually BELOW the historical normal for the month, which almost never happens any more), often below zero. Total of 939 miles. A few times the battery temperature indicator showed the temp at the minimum but never below that and we had no glitches either charging or driving. Kept under cover with timed L2 charging on the nights we plugged it in, about every second or third night. Still great in snow and ice except for the clearance....

 

[OldManCan]

2022 SL+ 1947 miles driven in Jan @ 3.8 kWh average. SOH dropped from 99.22 to 98.95.

 

[frontrangeleaf]

Pretty strong relation to temperature in Denver. On mild days (~50 degrees), we're in the upper 3's, even 4 mi/kwh. On cold days, low 3's.

Some of this is related to ambient temps messing with the tire pressure - I don't adjust for every swing in the thermometer. So recently we hit 4.0 mi/kwh on a 50 mi round trip, mostly highway moving quickly, with the tires at 45 psi. Our snows are XL rated, max pressure cold = 51 psi.

Normally we run closer to 40 as reported by the car, which translates to 42 on my digital tire pressure meter.

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

Oldmancan. Keep us updated on your SoH as you roll through your first few BMS adjustments. I am curious if the batteries have been subtley improved over the years.

 

[OldManCan]

Oldmancan. Keep us updated on your SoH as you roll through your first few BMS adjustments. I am curious if the batteries have been subtley improved over the years.

Will do for sure. The drop below 99% was painful to see but all is good function wise. My usage will pickup significantly from March/April onwards with 3-4 110 mile round trip days each week. Will be interesting to see how this changes things.

 

[knightmb]

Will do for sure. The drop below 99% was painful to see but all is good function wise. My usage will pickup significantly from March/April onwards with 3-4 110 mile round trip days each week. Will be interesting to see how this changes things.

That's why you should not extrapolate the future from what you see, otherwise it causes a little panic. My Leaf Plus dropped 3% per year, so now it's sits at the high 92% SOH. My Wife's Leaf is twice the age of mine and it's also sitting at the low 92% SOH. The mileage seems to have little effect as I drove my Leaf Plus +30K miles last year. My Wife's Leaf is sitting at +37K Miles, I'm going to pass her in miles this month easily. :lol:
I've read a lot of posts here about the "drops 3% per year, my battery will be dead in X amount of years", but the math isn't really that linear and should not cause anyone to worry.

 

[OldManCan]

I've read a lot of posts here about the "drops 3% per year, my battery will be dead in X amount of years", but the math isn't really that linear and should not cause anyone to worry.

Thanks for this encouraging post for all new EV owners such as myself. I understand the non-linear nature of SOH degradation curve and will make sure not to worry too much about it. I am only keeping track just to make sure I can spot any irregular trends if they emerge and deal with them over time. All things going well, hopefully none of this will be important and we will keep enjoying this LEAF for at least 3-4 years without a significant drop in range.

 

[skateguy50]

Seems like a lot of factors here but did a very small test with my new SV Plus.

I got it at the end of December and live in Massachusetts. I drove it the first month pretty much driving as I normally drive. I traded in my Toyota Yaris manual that I drove from 2018 to 2021 and took it from 50,000 miles to 200,000 miles in that time. My current job is a lot less driving that previously so wont put on the same miles but I drive mostly highway and my honest average speed is 80 mph unless Im in traffic.

So for January I had a lot of working from home but also some days in the office, my office commute is 52 miles each way with only about 2 miles off the highway. I have not figured out the charging from home in a way to efficiently have it stop in the 80-90% range and wake up often to it charged to 100%. That aside I was roughly finding the 52 mile drive taking roughly 40% battery each way, so if I started at 90% I would get to work at 50% remaining so letting it go to 100% seemed worth it.

TLDR: average for first 1000 miles was 2.8 miles/kwh driving in average outdoor temp of 15, indoor heat set to 60, and average highway speed of 80mph. Also I have it in eco mode and always regen braking on.

The last two days I tested setting cruise to a max of 65mph, that in Massachusetts is the speed limit but extremely slow and gets you passed by everyone. Was also around 15 outside and indoor heat at 60 and eco mode and regen braking on. I reset the computer calcs and for the first 100 miles like this I'm at 3.6 miles/kwh and battery went from 100% to 75% on my drive this morning.

Based on those rough numbers winter highway driving at 80 mph is 2.8 * 62 = 173 miles or say 150 highway miles range, or at 65 mph 3.6 * 62 = 223 miles or say 200 highway miles range. So for planning for a longer road trip I would definitely look for chargers between 150 and 200 miles as my max and try to drive slower but if I can find a charger around 150 miles I can mostly drive like I normally do.

So far I have only charged at a pubic charger once at a mall just to try it out but I have 8 level 2 chargers at my office parking garage that charges a small fee, but its a 4 hour max and charges you if you don't unplug and move the car. So unless I plan to leave for lunch I don't want to take a spot and forget to move it.

 

[knightmb]

So for January I had a lot of working from home but also some days in the office, my office commute is 52 miles each way with only about 2 miles off the highway. I have not figured out the charging from home in a way to efficiently have it stop in the 80-90% range and wake up often to it charged to 100%. That aside I was roughly finding the 52 mile drive taking roughly 40% battery each way, so if I started at 90% I would get to work at 50% remaining so letting it go to 100% seemed worth it.

If your schedule is consistent, as in you leave for work at the same time every time, having a charge timer to bring the Leaf up to 100% right before you leave is nothing to worry about. Having it sit at 100% SOC for days is where it hurts in the long run. There is a trick here that if you want to target some lower SOC (like 90% or 80%), use a charge timer and set the "finish" time an hour or two after when you will actually leave. That way, if you leave at 8am to go to work, try setting the finish time for 9am instead. That way, you can experiment to see how far into the future you can set it and get lower and lower numbers before you leave. So an extra hour might only get the Leaf to 90% for example, or more time might get it closer to 80%. Short of an actual setting to set the charge level, it's a clever way to get around it.

 

[user 24513]

That aside I was roughly finding the 52 mile drive taking roughly 40% battery each way, so if I started at 90% I would get to work at 50% remaining so letting it go to 100% seemed worth it.

Not sure if you are using LeafSpy or not, but LeafSpy shows that Leafs actually have a much bigger reserve of range at the bottom end of the battery percentage than the dashboard shows. In our particular case there are at least 20 miles "hidden" by the dashboard- the car starts to warn about running out of power 20 miles before ACTUAL turtle mode happens. LeafSpy is money well spent for this purpose alone- reducing anxiety about the last bit of the ride home. My co-pilot is not so convinced.....