Hi,
I'm new to the forum, although we've had our 2011 Nissan Leaf SV for about a year now.
We just towed the Leaf 1000 miles to our primary residence, which is located at 4000' elevation, and about 10 miles from our nearest town (which is 600' elevation). We installed the 220V charger in our home, and everything works fine. But here is the interesting question. We usually end up leaving the mountains (home) with a full charge. We then descend 10 miles of fairly steep gradient down to town, with no engine braking (regen) to assist. Basically, I think we are putting a lot of wear on the brakes. For all our gas cars we gear down so we don't have to brake so much . . . but the Leaf doesn't really do that (except for regen) so I have to ride the brakes to town.
I'm not sure really what to do. I set up 80% charging, but (a) regenerative braking doesn't work all that great, for me at least, at 80% charge, (b) with 80% charge it doesn't slow you down very much, and (c) then I arrive in in town without much more charge than I left with. And we definitely need the charge to get home...
So I guess my question is whether I'm completely abusing the brakes and should be concerned? Or whether I should just have them periodically checked for wear? Thoughts? Is there an alert when the brake pads get worn down?
Thanks in advance!
Brian
I'm new to the forum, although we've had our 2011 Nissan Leaf SV for about a year now.
We just towed the Leaf 1000 miles to our primary residence, which is located at 4000' elevation, and about 10 miles from our nearest town (which is 600' elevation). We installed the 220V charger in our home, and everything works fine. But here is the interesting question. We usually end up leaving the mountains (home) with a full charge. We then descend 10 miles of fairly steep gradient down to town, with no engine braking (regen) to assist. Basically, I think we are putting a lot of wear on the brakes. For all our gas cars we gear down so we don't have to brake so much . . . but the Leaf doesn't really do that (except for regen) so I have to ride the brakes to town.
I'm not sure really what to do. I set up 80% charging, but (a) regenerative braking doesn't work all that great, for me at least, at 80% charge, (b) with 80% charge it doesn't slow you down very much, and (c) then I arrive in in town without much more charge than I left with. And we definitely need the charge to get home...
So I guess my question is whether I'm completely abusing the brakes and should be concerned? Or whether I should just have them periodically checked for wear? Thoughts? Is there an alert when the brake pads get worn down?
Thanks in advance!
Brian