knightmb
Well-known member
Rather than keep hijacking this topic https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=25076 I am starting a new one to focus on the benefits that I have noticed with my Reduction Gear Oil change (both my 2013 and 2020 Leaf). All of this is anecdotal evidence because I don't exactly have a lab or team of interns to help me record large amounts of data
But... I do have a lot of "trips" that I drive that are the same distance, same time of day, as part of my job. So it's real easy to let Nissan do the heavy lifting for data collection and just compare before and after oil changes efficiency for the trips.
For example, I have a route from Merchant A to Customer B that is always the same distance, same time of day. So before and after my gear oil change, I can notice a difference in efficiency that the vehicle itself is recording. What is special about this route? It has no stop signs, no stop lights, very little traffic, speed limit is 70 MPH. It's very easy to start the route, turn on cruise control, reach the end and I know the vehicle did a consistent speed all the way regardless of how steep the hill climb was or how far down the other side of a hill it does regen to maintain the speed. The numbers from the Nissan website reflect that, up until the gear oil change it was easy to predict what miles / kWh I would get on that trip. So anything more or less means something has made a difference. It could be the weather, maybe I got stuck behind someone slow and was drafting the whole way, I wasn't running the heat or AC, etc. Luckily, this month of April has made it not necessary to run heat nor AC, so it helps to keep these data points pretty consistent to follow.
25.1 miles 3.6 miles/kWh
25.1 miles 3.6 miles/kWh
25.1 miles 3.6 miles/kWh
25.1 miles 3.6 miles/kWh
25.1 miles 3.9 miles/kWh <- Gear Oil Change
So while I could post up pages and pages of data like this, you can read some of that in the other topic, I would rather get to my conclusion of what I am seeing rather than giving up endless pages of copy/paste data from the Nissan website.
For reference, I used this in my Reduction Gear Oil Change: https://www.valvoline.com/our-products/automatic-transmission-products/ulv
When driving +70 MPH, it seems my trips are 0.3 miles/kWh better. I don't have many that take me on the interstate for high speed driving, so that is about the best I could see with the data I have.
When it comes to trips that are 55 MPH and under, I see an average benefit of 0.5 miles/kWh better. I have a lot of those to compare before and after the gear oil change.
The GOM in any Nissan Leaf is famous for being very optimistic about range when fully charged, we even joke about it a lot, but it does give one a way to see if the vehicle itself thinks it is getting better or worse range. When I first bought my Leaf, the GOM would show about the 220 miles range, which I was fine with since I knew the EPA rating for it was 215 miles at best. I knew it would be guessing high, I came from a 2013 Leaf and expected as much. Ever since my Reduction Gear Oil change though, the GOM has been going higher and higher for the last couple of weeks. I know I'm not somehow driving better or that I am getting magic tail winds at every trip, so something was helping the Leaf range and the even itself knew it. Finally today, the highest GOM range I've ever seen. My weekly driving average is usually about 3.9 miles/kWh and has been that way for a long time. It appears now that my weekly average has been boosted to 4.4 miles/kWh, which was surprising since I have been using the AC on a few hot days.
I know I said it in the other topic, I wasn't going to give the ULV fluid much credit, but now it is hard to deny that it is making a fairly descent gain on range for me and my driving style. How do those numbers translate into actual range you might ask?
If @ 70 MPH, my old efficiency driving was 3.6 and the ULV gear oil bumps that up to 3.9, that is an extra 17 miles of range at high speed if I want to drive the EV from 100% to 0% SOC. Not amazing, but if you are trying to reach a charge station at good speed with good climate control going and just not worrying about it, that 17 extra miles could be a good confidence booster.
My under 55 MPH trips, that 0.5 boost nets me +28 extra miles (100% to 0% SOC). The slower my average drive speed, the more miles I gain from the efficiency boost and that is probably why my GOM is guessing so dang high!
But... I do have a lot of "trips" that I drive that are the same distance, same time of day, as part of my job. So it's real easy to let Nissan do the heavy lifting for data collection and just compare before and after oil changes efficiency for the trips.
For example, I have a route from Merchant A to Customer B that is always the same distance, same time of day. So before and after my gear oil change, I can notice a difference in efficiency that the vehicle itself is recording. What is special about this route? It has no stop signs, no stop lights, very little traffic, speed limit is 70 MPH. It's very easy to start the route, turn on cruise control, reach the end and I know the vehicle did a consistent speed all the way regardless of how steep the hill climb was or how far down the other side of a hill it does regen to maintain the speed. The numbers from the Nissan website reflect that, up until the gear oil change it was easy to predict what miles / kWh I would get on that trip. So anything more or less means something has made a difference. It could be the weather, maybe I got stuck behind someone slow and was drafting the whole way, I wasn't running the heat or AC, etc. Luckily, this month of April has made it not necessary to run heat nor AC, so it helps to keep these data points pretty consistent to follow.
25.1 miles 3.6 miles/kWh
25.1 miles 3.6 miles/kWh
25.1 miles 3.6 miles/kWh
25.1 miles 3.6 miles/kWh
25.1 miles 3.9 miles/kWh <- Gear Oil Change
So while I could post up pages and pages of data like this, you can read some of that in the other topic, I would rather get to my conclusion of what I am seeing rather than giving up endless pages of copy/paste data from the Nissan website.
For reference, I used this in my Reduction Gear Oil Change: https://www.valvoline.com/our-products/automatic-transmission-products/ulv
When driving +70 MPH, it seems my trips are 0.3 miles/kWh better. I don't have many that take me on the interstate for high speed driving, so that is about the best I could see with the data I have.
When it comes to trips that are 55 MPH and under, I see an average benefit of 0.5 miles/kWh better. I have a lot of those to compare before and after the gear oil change.
The GOM in any Nissan Leaf is famous for being very optimistic about range when fully charged, we even joke about it a lot, but it does give one a way to see if the vehicle itself thinks it is getting better or worse range. When I first bought my Leaf, the GOM would show about the 220 miles range, which I was fine with since I knew the EPA rating for it was 215 miles at best. I knew it would be guessing high, I came from a 2013 Leaf and expected as much. Ever since my Reduction Gear Oil change though, the GOM has been going higher and higher for the last couple of weeks. I know I'm not somehow driving better or that I am getting magic tail winds at every trip, so something was helping the Leaf range and the even itself knew it. Finally today, the highest GOM range I've ever seen. My weekly driving average is usually about 3.9 miles/kWh and has been that way for a long time. It appears now that my weekly average has been boosted to 4.4 miles/kWh, which was surprising since I have been using the AC on a few hot days.
I know I said it in the other topic, I wasn't going to give the ULV fluid much credit, but now it is hard to deny that it is making a fairly descent gain on range for me and my driving style. How do those numbers translate into actual range you might ask?
If @ 70 MPH, my old efficiency driving was 3.6 and the ULV gear oil bumps that up to 3.9, that is an extra 17 miles of range at high speed if I want to drive the EV from 100% to 0% SOC. Not amazing, but if you are trying to reach a charge station at good speed with good climate control going and just not worrying about it, that 17 extra miles could be a good confidence booster.
My under 55 MPH trips, that 0.5 boost nets me +28 extra miles (100% to 0% SOC). The slower my average drive speed, the more miles I gain from the efficiency boost and that is probably why my GOM is guessing so dang high!