LEAFfan
Well-known member
+1! Very well said.
lencap said:Greetings - I'm a new owner, just over 28 hours! My prior two cars were both Toyota Prius models. On those cars the "B" mode is for electronic braking. The idea was that using this mode recharges the battery by capturing energy that would ordinarily be lost. Think about going downhill, which was the primary use of the "B" mode. Over the many years of driving the car I used the B mode as some have suggested to drain speed from the car, typically when coming to a stop, but I never used it as a primary driving mode. The reason, at least on the Prius, was that the B mode was far less efficient when you needed to apply power. The amount of energy going into the battery, which was visible on the Prius display, rose very minimally when in B mode and power was being applied - the net effect was less energy propelling the car. It clearly showed that the net energy generated by applying power and remaining in B mode was less that would be provided by just driving in D mode.
I don't know the design of the Leaf, but I would think it is similar - use the B mode to drain off energy when not under power, but if power is called for, rely upon D mode.
The Nissan website suggests that the B mode is an energy recapture design, with the ability to fully monitor on the energy display: http://www.nissanusa.com/electric-cars/leaf/versions-specs/version.sl.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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