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- Jun 13, 2011
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Isn't that how the accelerator pedal works in ECO mode? Perhaps Nissan should simply apply that to cruise control in ECO mode as well or make it a selectable user setting. Constant power would certainly help with range management. It's funny you should mention airplanes, last time I had to deal with this concept in practice was competitive cycling. It's important to pace yourself on hill climbs to avoid bonking and the accompanying loss of time. It's easy to misjudge the power output on climbs, you cannot rely on the observed speed. Anyway, I'm sure this approach would help EV drivers too.TonyWilliams said:I doubt many folks could beat the cruise control on level terrain, but certainly with hills, there should be "fixed power" mode instead of fixed speed. No, I don't think Nissan will come out with this, but it has been done in airplanes (and I've commented on it previously).
I just wanted to direct your attention to this cool chart someone has plotted a while ago. It shows the projected range and by extension efficiency over a range of speeds. It's not super accurate, likely because it was put together before there were many LEAFs in the wild, but it gives you a good idea of what to expect. The average speed of several test protocols is marked as well for better comparison. While the typical owner might not want to drive this slow on a regular basis, knowing when peak efficiency occurs can be important. I remember relying on this a while ago, when I managed get 21 miles after the low battery before hitting turtle.
I would also hazard a guess that LEAFfan used this type of know-how to achieve his world record of 151 miles driven on a single charge. Here is one of the older threads he referred to.
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