LEAF's brakes saved me today

[Azrich]

I've driven my 22 mile commute for twenty years. I have 8 more days until I retire. I've driven over 168,000 miles on this commute over the twenty years without an accident. Today it almost happened.

I was driving about 48 mph in left lane of the three lanes going east. A large white car similar to a Town Car turned left in front of me, across my lane. I slammed on my brakes and they grabbed immediately and there was squealing and smoke. The older lady in the passenger seat looked at me in horror as she saw me coming towards her door. The big car went forward just before I would have slammed into the rear side of it. I sat there for a while and smelled the rubber, but I was safe. I've never had that close a call in 30 years. The LEAF stopped quickly and kept me safe.

 

[Boomer23]

Rich, so glad you are safe and glad to hear again that the LEAF's brakes are up to the task.

Be careful out there, we want you posting about retirement in a LEAF pretty soon.

 

[Ready2plugin]

Rich, so glad you are safe and glad to hear again that the LEAF's brakes are up to the task.

Be careful out there, we want you posting about retirement in a LEAF pretty soon.

+1

I've tested the brakes as well when someone pulled right in front of me in the carpool lane..... Be safe....maybe stay in the right hand lane for you last week.

 

[abasile]

Thank God you are okay!

I am impressed with the LEAF's brakes. First, as I understand from other forum posts, the brakes are oversized. While this couldn't hurt in an emergency situation like yours, it made me more comfortable in doing a 5000 foot mountain descent today with a bit less than an 80% charge at the top. Right before we started a descent down Live Oak in Running Springs, CA followed by CA-330, we had 9 bars of charge. With perhaps 1500 feet of descending remaining, we were up to 11 bars. Regenerative braking was becoming less and less helpful in slowing the car; at times, regen maxed out at only about 5 kW. Needless to say, a significant amount of friction braking was required. Thankfully, the LEAF's brakes didn't seem to heat excessively, and handled the task well. (Next time I'll attempt to stop charging at about 60% or 70% before making the descent, if I can finagle that.)

Also, Nissan seems to have done a better job than Toyota with the Prius in smoothly transitioning between regenerative and friction braking. The transition doesn't seem as noticeable as in the Prius, and it may be it that takes place more quickly.

 

[garygid]

A perfect example of why Nissan needs to make the charging percentage value a User-Setting, not just 100% or 80%.

 

[LakeLeaf]

Needless to say, a significant amount of friction braking was required.

Like you - we have several long downhills around here - 11 into Nevada and 30+ into the big Sac. I try to use brakes as little as possible going down them - preferring to downshift in a regular car or run in "B" in the Prius, or regen all of the way down in the other hybrid. This helps avoid the brake shimmy that you get by having to brake constantly on long downhills.

Oversized brakes or not - it's disappointing to hear that you have to use them a lot to descend, as I suspect you'll develop that downhill shimmy after a while - long before the brakes would otherwise need service.

 

[thankyouOB]

i got cut off in a freeway 30mph crawl by a lane grabber.
the brakes worked really really well.
just a little tire squeal.

 

[abasile]

Oversized brakes or not - it's disappointing to hear that you have to use them a lot to descend, as I suspect you'll develop that downhill shimmy after a while - long before the brakes would otherwise need service.

Most likely, we can remedy this particular issue by charging to a lower SOC before making big descents. The big downside of having to do that is that we'll have less total charge when we reach the bottom of the mountain, meaning we're more likely to have to stop at a Nissan dealer for a charge before returning home. The upside of this is that we can clearly see that the car is quite proactively protecting the battery from overcharging at higher SOC %s. Perhaps we can find the "sweet spot" in terms of maximum starting SOC at which we can get down the mountain without friction braking. (Given more opportunities for "opportunity charging" apart from Nissan dealers, this would be less of a concern.)

As Gary mentioned, Nissan really should allow user-customizable maximum charge percentages in the charging timers.

 

[JohnnySebring]

Good brakes and good defensive driving saved a bicyclist this afternoon. The guy ran a red light from behind a bus and i didn't see him until almost too late. He thanked me with his middle finger! We actually made contact, nice stuff that 3M Clear Bra.

 

[Jimmydreams]

Rich, so glad you are safe and glad to hear again that the LEAF's brakes are up to the task.

Be careful out there, we want you posting about retirement in a LEAF pretty soon.

+1. I'm (not) waiting for the first RIP Leaf thread. :?

 

[Glenn]

...Today it almost happened.

I have no idea what the driver ahead of the driver ahead of me was doing, but slamming on brakes was the order of the day all the way down the line. Suffice it to say the ABS on our 24 hour old LEAF is awesome, though those new Ecotopias gave up some of their life to help bring about a crumple-free ending.

I'm just glad the guy behind me had good brakes and reflexes also!

Glenn

 

[bytrain]

After three months, I'm still getting used to the LEAF's grippy brakes. Twice now, I have applied the same amount of force necessary to quickly decelerate my Prius, and have inadvertently initiated an emergency stop instead.

 

[Herm]

Oversized brakes ... it made me more comfortable in doing a 5000 foot mountain descent today with a bit less than an 80% charge at the top... With perhaps 1500 feet of descending remaining, we were up to 11 bars. Regenerative braking was becoming less and less helpful in slowing the car; at times, regen maxed out at only about 5 kW.

Next time open up all 4 windows, turn on your lights and set the heater to maximum.. then you will have an extra 5kw of drain to dissipate the excess brake regen without overcharging your battery. Once you master this then you progress to "Leaf Operator:Advanced Class", if you can manage to never exceed 55mph then you get a set of gold cluster leaves to wear on your "Advanced Class" ball cap.

Diesel-electric locomotives do a similar thing.. they have a series of resistance loads running along a vent on top of the cab.. with blowers, difference is several times more regen brake energy to dissipate

 

[Herm]

After three months, I'm still getting used to the LEAF's grippy brakes. Twice now, I have applied the same amount of force necessary to quickly decelerate my Prius, and have inadvertently initiated an emergency stop instead.

The alternative is much worse, as many Toyota owners can attest to

BTW, this is why I like bright colors on my cars, I would chose international orange if I could.. I wonder what color the OP's Leaf is?

 

[TomT]

The lights pull so little (about 30 watts if you have replaced the front parking lights and license plates lights with LEDS, about 50 if you have not) that it would takes days to make any real difference in regen...

BTW, The biggest limitation in a panic stop with the Leaf is the mediocre tire adhesion...

Next time open up all 4 windows, turn on your lights and set the heater to maximum.

 

[abasile]

Oversized brakes ... it made me more comfortable in doing a 5000 foot mountain descent today with a bit less than an 80% charge at the top... With perhaps 1500 feet of descending remaining, we were up to 11 bars. Regenerative braking was becoming less and less helpful in slowing the car; at times, regen maxed out at only about 5 kW.

Next time open up all 4 windows, turn on your lights and set the heater to maximum.. then you will have an extra 5kw of drain to dissipate the excess brake regen without overcharging your battery.

I have actually done this. It did help some. A better approach, if you have the time, is to simply turn around and drive part way back up the mountain in order to use up some charge, then try the descent again.

Once you master this then you progress to "Leaf Operator:Advanced Class", if you can manage to never exceed 55mph then you get a set of gold cluster leaves to wear on your "Advanced Class" ball cap.

:lol: