So, owners what range are you getting ?

[MKevenJ]

Bought my leaf today and took it to Sea Tac airport to pick up my son. The distance was 76 miles roundtrip, 60 on the freeway. On the way down, I used the heated seats and the heater on occasion.

Miles to begin were greater than 100. I tried drafting behind trucks on the way down, it seemed to help, but in reality it didn't. I was probably averaging between 60 and 65 on the freeway. When I got to the airport I was down to 43 miles, with 38 to get home. I drove the same way until there was about 20 miles to go, then I decided to get in the right lane and slow down to 54 miles and hour (speed limit was 60). I made it back home with 5 miles remaining.

Lesson learned: If you drive on the freeway and you are going more than 60 miles, best to go 55 mph if you can. If I had done this the whole way, I think I could have had 20 miles left when I got home.

I'll be taking a few more trips to the airport for the holidays, I'll keep you posted.

I think we will like this car, once we get used to it.

Starting SOC : 100%
Range (till battery low) : 5 miles
Range (till turtle) : ?
Efficiency : miles/Kwh (from the dash, not carwings) 3.4
Driving : 62 on freeway
Climate : Out side temp 50 degrees, mostly sunny. Used heated seats, heater on occasion when feet got cold.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

yep i do 55-60 on freeway even South of Olympia where speed limit is 70. have no problems with traffic (i just ignore them) and its better than driving 70 and walking!

 

[MKevenJ]

Went back to the Seatac airport today at 100% charge and drove 55 on the freeway (76 miles roundtrip, 60 on the freeway). Used the heater a bit more, and had 8 miles of range when I got home. When I get off the freeway and I have at least 12 miles left (which I had last time), I know I can make it, this time I had 17.

I find the range indicator to be extremely helpful. I went to Bellevue with a range capacity of 57 miles (round trip 52 miles), arrived at my destination with 25 left. I drove on the freeway at 46 miles per hour (18 miles) and was able to make it back home with 3 miles left. Definitely better than walking.

 

[highcountryrider]

65.2 mile loop today, with many stops, some freeway but mostly not.
Ran the heat all the way, didn't need the A/C to clear the windows.
ECO, but I did not drive gently. I plugged in at Freddy's but was only in
the store for about five minutes.

Left 100% about 50ºF

Returned 44ºF, 1 bar, 11 miles on the GOM. No Low Battery warning.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

65.2 mile loop today, with many stops, some freeway but mostly not.
Ran the heat all the way, didn't need the A/C to clear the windows.
ECO, but I did not drive gently. I plugged in at Freddy's but was only in
the store for about five minutes.

Left 100% about 50ºF

Returned 44ºF, 1 bar, 11 miles on the GOM. No Low Battery warning.

for Xmas Eve, it was a beautiful sunny day in the mid 40's here. that should give at least an extra 5 miles over last week's weather

 

[brettcgb]

Now that some of you have had the Leaf for some days, what is your estimate of the Range ?

Suggested format :

Starting SOC : 100% or 80%
Range (till battery low) :
Range (till turtle) :
Efficiency : miles/Kwh (from the dash, not carwings)
Driving : describe hwy/city/mixed/speeds here
Climate : Temperatures, use of climate control

Feel free to give multiple ranges under different conditions.

Starting SOC : 100%
Range (till battery low) : 8 mi (first day)
Range (till battery VERY low) : 4 mi (first day, luckily only a few hundred meters from home)
Range (till turtle) : --
Efficiency : 3.2 miles/Kwh (from the dash, not carwings) across several charge cycles
Driving : mixed driving, usually ECO mode
Climate : 50's light heating (Temperatures, use of climate control)

2012 in Phoenix (delivered Dec 21 2011 - "had for days" is right, <200 miles total ).
No VSP switch... but haven't noticed anyone looking either (still haven't heard it myself, but my ears aren't so good).

I suspect the low battery warnings are triggered by various battery measurements. Li Ion batteries have a very flat voltage discharge curve until near end of full discharge. I suspect the first warning occurs when the first cell is detected falling off the flat portion. The second warning when the the first cell is detected at minimum discharge voltage. Turtle mode acts to prevent cell reversal (very bad for the battery).

 

[TonyWilliams]

I suspect the low battery warnings are triggered by various battery measurements. Li Ion batteries have a very flat voltage discharge curve until near end of full discharge. I suspect the first warning occurs when the first cell is detected falling off the flat portion. The second warning when the the first cell is detected at minimum discharge voltage. Turtle mode acts to prevent cell reversal (very bad for the battery).

Those warnings appear to be indexed off a numerical value from the calculated battery level that we can measure through the vehicle's CAN bus. A value of 49 out of 281 triggers LBW and 24 triggers VLB. The non-linear part of the voltage curve "the knee" is at the 24 value. Turtle mode limits the vehicle power at low battery levels until the vehicle physically shuts down.

You might want to include your actual driven miles at each landmark event, and the miles/kWh from a full charge (reset at full charge).

 

[N1ghtrider]

I have 375 miles on my Leaf. . My first charge was the longest distance (93 miles) until low battery warning. I last charged last it on Thursday night and drove 76 miles on this charge, mostly around town but with about 20 miles on the Turnpike at 55 mph. A/C on about half the time. I averaged 4.7 mpkwh on the dash (4.9 on Carwings). I had 11 miles to go on the meter, with no warning yet.

Roy

 

[1jenna1]

What a great thread. This is the info that no owner's manual will ever give you.

 

[ttweed]

For Xmas, we repeated the trip we made last Easter from La Jolla to Alpine in San Diego for dinner with my wife's family at her sister's house. This time, we had 9 months and 9,000+ miles of experience with the Leaf to calm our original range anxiety when we made the first trip as relative newbies in April. The route planning shows 36 miles each way, with a 2,000+ elevation gain on the way out, almost all freeway miles, with about 3 miles on each end being surface streets. On our first trip, we weren't sure if we would make it roundtrip on a 100% charge, so we plugged in for 3 hours of L1 charging at their house while eating dinner. This time, armed with Tony's excellent range chart and a lot of real-world driving experience, we made the trip confidently without any opportunity charging, and it worked out exactly as anticipated.

We had 121 miles showing on the GOM in Eco mode as we pulled out of the garage, which quickly shrank to 84 by the time we hit the freeway. I set the cruise control for 64mph and mostly maintained that speed, staying in the righthand lane, slowing as necessary for traffic and resuming speed as soon as possible, going faster on the downhill portions by gliding or coasting. We kept climate control off, as the weather was perfect (70F and sunny). As expected, the uphill portion at the end of our outbound trip ate into the GOM range radically, but we were unconcerned. We arrived in Alpine with 31 miles estimated remaining and a 36 mile drive home, but unlike the last time, we knew the downhill return would be a piece of cake, so we didn't even plug in.

Leaving to return to La Jolla, it was already dark, and temps had dropped radically, but the outcome was never in doubt. Even running the lights and driving 65 mph, by the bottom of the downhill section of freeway from Alpine to El Cajon, the GOM had jumped from 31 to 46 miles and we only had 27 left to go. We could have turned on the heater if we wanted, but the car was comfortable enough without it, and we arrived home just as the first blinking LBW displayed at 9 miles of range left on the GOM. We might have been able to drive 68-70mph the whole way and still make it, if we were willing to push into VLB warning and beyond, but there was no reason to drive that hard to save a few minutes of travel time. It was a perfectly routine and mellow trip, without any anxiety this time, and the Leaf performed exactly as expected.

Happy holidays to all of you out there in Leaf land!
TT

 

[highcountryrider]

Awesome. The temp sure makes a difference.

 

[sparky2011]

On Dec. 13, 2011 it was 16*F here, and our Leaf showed a range of 36 miles when I left work to drive home, a distance of 22 miles. Range anxiety set in. There's a slight drop in elevation on the way home, with one big downhill/uphill through a dry canyon. All rural highway paved roads. Roads were dry (high desert, no snow). We have studless snow tires on the car, which seem to reduce range by about 10 percent.

So I drove 55mph the whole way home, in ECO mode, cruise control on, and I did not use Climate Control until the last 4 miles when I just couldn't take the cold any longer! I got the Low Battery warning with 6 miles left on the dash (one mile from home), and when I pulled into the garage I had 5 miles remaining. So I used (36 - 5 = ) 31 miles to go a distance of 22 miles.

We've got over 6000 miles on our Leaf now.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

now that temps are back to normal in the mid 40's the long commute of 64 miles is no longer such a nail biter. makes a huge difference.

i am planning on setting up another range test. remember, got 93.7 with temps in 20s-30s on city driving "about" 66 miles on highway. be interesting to see the difference.

 

[Caracalover]

For Xmas, we... ...a perfectly routine and mellow trip, without any anxiety this time, and the Leaf performed exactly as expected.

Happy holidays to all of you out there in Leaf land!
TT

NIce story, and I could tell of similiar experience. Looking forward to an electric New Year!

 

[N1ghtrider]

111 miles today with 5.9 m/kwh. It was all city streets at 65-75 degrees, no a/c. I will post a picture of the odometer if someone can walk me through how to post it (I am a computer idiot).

 

[kinggeorge13]

Canada finally getting some Leafs in past couple months. I signed up in 1st wave in British Columbia back in September and was first private owner in Langley to get one (I'm pretty sure). Took home my Leaf December 23, 2011. Red. 2012 model SL. Daily commute is 100-118km round trip (62 - 73 miles). Driven it a couple times now and back home with 2 - 3 bars to spare. 90% highway at 90 km/hour (55mph). Preheat the car 10 - 15 minutes while still plugged in and using car seat heaters and cycling on window air/defog only as needed. When rainy cold (4 - 6 celsius aka 39 - 43F), need more fan/air conditioning than when dry outside. If I keep the fan on low on window full time and heat turned fully down, it just keeps ahead of the window fogging...........but I do keep turning it off. Gotta say, somewhere on this site are multiple messages about NOT using ECO mode full time when driving and instead put efforts into slow/steady acceleration and preparing for controlled/easy slowing/stopping rather than hitting brakes hard. When I originally was using ECO mode all the time, I did often find myself falling short of where I wanted to stop (lights/traffic/stop signs, etc) and then had to waste power moving up more. Driving carefully in Drive mode and using ECO when using it to help you slow/down stop or on a long hill that's steep enought where ECO mode does not actually slow you down, works best. I'm getting much farther ranges than when I was in ECO mode all the time. Someone also said you could forego ECO mode completely and just use the brakes gently (using the regen braking rather than the actual disc calipers) for the same effect and I would strongly agree with that. And yeah, use the chart that posters on this board have developed based on speed/State-of-charge for figuring distance. The guess-o-meter on the dash is very often wrong and you have to remember is based on the last X or XX minutes of driving rather than what you will now be driving next. Range anxiety? Not if you understand the car and how the ranges work. You can drive it LOT's and just purely enjoy driving by those gas stations every day. Every single day. Love my Leaf!

 

[N1ghtrider]

 

[sfosri]

I've been driving my Nissan Leaf since July 2011. My average is only 3.8 Kw/h. When I leave my home with the car fully charged it shows a range anywhere between 80-105 (I guess it depends on how I drove the previous day). By the time I hit the highway even if the car showed 100 miles it will drop to 80 and once I hit highway speeds (here in Sacramento its 70+ or you risk getting run off the road).

My commute is 22 miles and by the time I reach work it says I have anywhere between 56-65 miles left. Its about the same whether I use eco mode or regular mode (give or take a few miles). When I get home I usually have anywhere between 22-30 miles.

I have driven over 80 miles with 10 miles to spare when I picked up the car from the dealer...however I was driving an average of 50-60 miles all the way.

There were two times when the car told me I did not have enough battery to reach my destination, but if I went slower and took city streets I was usually able to get home. The interesting thing I noticed is that after it shows 5 miles left the indicator goes blank and the turtle mode never came on. I guess I was able to get home before the turtle mode.

We could really use the DC fast chargers and its surprising why the Nissan Dealers in the USA don't have them..I noticed the UK dealers seem to have them.

I don't have a 220 volt charger at home and I use the Nissan supplied 110V charger.

 

[N1ghtrider]

Third 100+ mile distance on a single charge in first 750 miles total on the Leaf.

 

[santamonicajane]

my experience is almost identical to this. i feel that 80 miles is really about 60 mi in real world driving and 100 is about 80. when i first got my car in april, a 100% charge gave 100 mi range, and an 80 % charge gave about 80 miles. and the bar graph on the right reflected this. now the # readout may say 64 but the bars are at 80.