FINALLY purchased a new-to-me-Leaf

[DaveinOlyWA]

Hi! Thanks for the reply! The tires are all at ~41psi and practically new and evenly worn. The HVAC is showing zero consumption (as I'm not using it much. It's kinda cool here these days!). I was thinking of driving it down below 20% and use leafspy again to see if there are any bad cells. I'm not too concerned about the SOH at the moment, but reading the leaf range chart for a Leaf @ 80% SOH makes it seem I should be able to go well over 100kms on our highway at a reasonable clip (~100kms/hr), but maybe because I'm not willing to let it go down far enough? Learning by reading information is one thing, but actually seeing it in practice is another.

1) Bad cells would become obvious well over 50% SOC so driving it down to 20% is unnecessary.

2) Have you had the LBC update done yet? Your Hx seems low although I really couldn't tell you what Hx is or what it should be.

3) Many will belabor the point but stray from Ecopias and its all downhill from there. But Ecopias are hardly the slam dunk answer either. Highly efficient tires have only one avenue to attain those high numbers and that is reducing friction. This means harder rubber (poorer traction) so there are trade offs.

4) If efficiency is that important, you should investigate all driving options to find which suits your driving style/conditions the best. Reset your trip A odometer daily recording miles traveled and miles/kwh daily. Not doing this means analyzing larger chunks of driving while looking for improvements. There is too much variation in your day to day driving conditions to take on any more complication.

5) REGEN IS NOT YOUR FRIEND. High use of it only means you are driving too fast for conditions. So don't use friction brake pedal EVER (not really possible in your car but less is better) minimize regen ONLY using it when coming to a full stop or near it is required.

Finally; This is not a gasser where barely 20% of the power available is devoted to motive force. In any highly efficient scenario, small things have HUGE impacts. If I had to say one thing, the best way to high efficiency is constant power. Time your lights, avoid coming to a full stop. You don't win anything if you are first at the red light.

 

[knightmb]

Finally; This is not a gasser where barely 20% of the power available is devoted to motive force. In any highly efficient scenario, small things have HUGE impacts. If I had to say one thing, the best way to high efficiency is constant power. Time your lights, avoid coming to a full stop. You don't win anything if you are first at the red light.

That is a good point, have the EV torque is tempting to play stoplight champion all the time :lol:

 

[knightmb]

Thanks again everyone. I can get 8-9, but I'd be travelling well under the speed limits in my area (40-50/hr). I guess I'm fixated on the leaf range chart and those wonderful numbers that I cannot seem to get even though I know I'm a very conservative driver. Yes, the tires seem fairly new with lots of tread (no nubbies), so I suspect the original owners put the cheapest tires they could upon its lease return. I'll be swapping the tires for winters come November-December and maybe grab a spring sale of new tires down the line. I must say I have been putting a tonne more reading into the forum that I ever expected. You all rock with your patience. Again, appreciated.

If the tires have extra grip (at the expense of efficiency), you might be able to inflate them to maximum cold tire pressure to increase range, but the ride will be a little stiffer over bumps. You could always start at the top of tire pressure, then get a feel for the ride. If it is too rough, drop the pressure a little each week to see how much it affects range and the ride comfort. Some tires ride great at high pressure, others do not.

To add to the tire discussion part, when driving down the road, can you hear the tires at highway speed. Does it sound loud or about normal? A loud tire is one wasting energy to make the loudness.

 

[SageBrush]

If I had to say one thing, the best way to high efficiency is constant power.

Nah. You stuck in the ICE-age ?

The seekret is to minimize braking. Certainly almost no friction braking, and then reduce regen braking.
In an EV you can easily use 3/4 of max power and then coast for darn good efficiency. That is the way I drive in the city a lot of the time and I average ~ 200 Wh/mile (about 125 Wh/km) with AC in the summer

The 'rithmetic is pretty straight-forward.
Instead of friction braking at 40 mph, you regen brake at 30 mph. Figure regen recoups 50% of kinetic energy

Compared to base case, you use
1/2 of 0.75^2 = 28% of 40 mph friction brake losses

For the remaining 28%, concentrate on driving to minimize red lights. Even if only half are successful, the braking losses are down to 14% of braking-as-usual.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

If I had to say one thing, the best way to high efficiency is constant power.

Nah. You stuck in the ICE-age ?

The seekret is to minimize braking. Certainly almost no friction braking, and then reduce regen braking.
In an EV you can easily use 3/4 of max power and then coast for darn good efficiency. That is the way I drive in the city a lot of the time and I average ~ 200 Wh/mile (about 125 Wh/km) with AC in the summer

What works best varies quite a bit depending on circumstance. I would not do well with your process. Too many lights, roundabouts and people who drive like they are lost. There is also a question of driver persistence. The best process will fail if the driver cannot adhere to it consistently.

I will say, in an average "minute" of in town driving, I hit D, B N and E Pedal at least once and sometimes several times. Occasionally I get lucky and traffic gets out of my way and I can stay in D. Timing lights is easy. Making lights with the local yokos on the road is not.

 

[MPScotia]

The tires actually ride very well at ~40psi. They're quiet, but the ride is a bit stiff and pretty much silent on the highway. Went around town slowly today (no faster than 60) and wasn't able to crack 6. Sigh. Honestly I'm a really easy-going driver. I'll swap out the tires for something else and see how I make out!

 

[nlspace]

i thought you were getting into the high 7's after clearing the previous owners history.

What gear are you using-- D or Eco?

Maybe you can make a coast-down test to get some data on rolling resistance, or jack it up and see if there is drag in spinning the wheels by hand, maybe parking brake is dragging or a bearing, etc...

 

[MPScotia]

I am able to squeak into the 8s driving at a pace around town I would almost consider too cautious/mobile speed bump-ish.

I did a 30km highway jaunt this morning on as flat of a section of highway as I could, cruise set at 104-105km/hr (speed limit is 110), no climate control and both screens were showing 5.1km/kwh at the end (15kms to the next exit and back again). Maybe it is what it is. I am so fixated on the range chart as it seems I should be around 15% better so I've convinced myself it's the tires and will swap out them soon. I found a couple of older threads about drivers losing efficiency after doing tires swaps and if new LRR tires get me the extra range I'm expecting without having to stop for a QC then that would make me feel much more comfy.

The brakes were serviced before I picked it up and it rolls in neutral on the slightest slope, so I don't believe anything is sticking. I'll put it up on the hoist and see how they spin. I'll figure it out!

 

[nlspace]

oh you didn't say you were using Cruise control before.

thats part of your problem--Cruise control is not efficient and your speed it too high for getting the better numbers either.

And again What gear are you using D or ECO ?

 

[SageBrush]

oh you didn't say you were using Cruise control before.
thats part of your problem--Cruise control is not efficient and your speed it too high for getting the better numbers either.
And again What gear are you using D or ECO ?

Those are all red herrings in my opinion.
Low speed driving without stops in a LEAF should be 10+ km/kWh, no questions asked

Checking tyre pressures, and verifying that the wheels rotate freely are good ideas.
Next up in line are less sticky tyres.

 

[MPScotia]

I'm in Eco 99% of the time and I only used cruise so I could make sure my speeds were exactly the same going both ways, but, yah, I was hoping for much better numbers. Maybe I'll make a video of my driving style, speed and efficiency.. for science.