The LEAF's top speed is...

[GeekEV]

...not what you'd think. Nissan says "up to 90mph", but I'm here to tell you it's actually 94!

Yes, a quick searched turned up a few posts mentioning 94mph, but those were from last summer before the car was actually available. Some were speculating that was a downhill speed. It's not. I (briefly) had it up to 94 on flat terrain...

[planet4ever]

So of course you confirmed that by turning around and hitting 94 in the opposite direction as well, right? Thus eliminating any slight incline, wind effect, or gravitational anomalies. Or had the first run drained the battery too far?

Ray

[Smidge204]

This guy got his up to 97.6MPH (157KPH)



Although speedometers almost always read higher than actual speed, since they will never be perfectly calibrated and they error on the side of caution; It is law in many places that they can not read LOW. Ultimately they can be as much as 10% out of whack, so if someone told me Nissan electronically limits actual speed to 90MPH I'd believe it regardless of what the speedometer says.
=Smidge=

[garygid]

Any car's indicated speed (designed to DISPLAY high) needs to be checked against a simple handheld GPS's speed (almost always quite accurate).

Also, cars often have an internal version of "true speed", usually "visible" by reading the CAN buss data.

[BruinLEAFer]

Is speed data reported to Nissan via CARWINGS?

[GeekEV]

So of course you confirmed that by turning around and hitting 94 in the opposite direction as well, right? Thus eliminating any slight incline, wind effect, or gravitational anomalies. Or had the first run drained the battery too far?

Ok, it wasn't a certified world record run, granted...

Any car's indicated speed (designed to DISPLAY high) needs to be checked against a simple handheld GPS's speed (almost always quite accurate).

That I can do. Next chance I get...

[derkraut]

So....when you are going 94 (or 97) mph, and it suddenly switches to "turtle", I wonder how far it would take you before it stops altogether? (assuming level terrain, no wind, ambient temp of 60deg, no extra passengers or cargo aboard, etc, etc. Jeeeeeesh!!!

[evnow]

Ultimately they can be as much as 10% out of whack, so if someone told me Nissan electronically limits actual speed to 90MPH I'd believe it regardless of what the speedometer says.
=Smidge=

If Nissan can accurately electronically limit the speed to 90 mph, why can't they show the speed accurately ?

[GeekEV]

Um, that I won't test. Interesting question though.

[garygid]

Due to tire pressure, temperature, etc. it is difficult (without GPS) to determine the car's speed accurately, but they can assume nominal conditions and that usually gives them an internal-use true speed value that is "close" enough.

However, due to most international "conventions" for cars, the auto maker is not allowed to DISPLAY a speed value that is "too low". So, it is standard to display a value that is 2% or 3% higher than the internal "true speed" value.