friendnumber1 said:I have to say that I am disappointed. I realize that I was not a single occupant, and that I didn’t drive 55 (I didn’t go 70 either) and 280 is somewhat hilly, but 80 miles does not seem like an unreasonable expectation. Then there is the stress. Since getting the Leaf, my daughter has been telling my wife that her car is old, and how much she likes my car. Driving the last 10 miles she wanted my wife to hold her hand and was saying how she hated daddy’s car. I hope getting to steer it for that block or so, may have improved her spirits.
Clippy said:Since driving my Leaf home last Thursday, it's been driven 21 miles. While I don't regret buying it (because I have yet to start the A/C), stories such as your make me realize that this vehicle is best suited for urban, city streets or open country, back roads driving. I had made that decision prior to reading your post, but this just reinforces it. I currently show 87 miles in ECO range and I'm taking a 50 mile R/T tomorrow. I plan to use back roads only. Which, in any part of urban California can be either extremely time consuming, life threatening or an unpleasant combination of both.
I agree, I've improved my efficiency a little at a time through experience. One thing I do when I have a long trip (80 miles+) planned is to start off ultra conservative. I'll keep the mph down (hide behind the semi's stunt) and not run the CC. But as I'm getting closer to my destination, if I've calculated I've got a comfortable charge remaining, then the CC comes on and the speeds increase.bowthom said:Hello,
My longest run was 76 miles. I purposely took the flattest shortest route but even then 50% of it was at 55 mph, the return trip was at night with occasional defrost to clear the windows, 40* raining & 4 people in the car. I arrived home with 3 bars and 18 miles est. range. After the experience I realized I could have done better, timed the lights for less stop and go. I'm still learning the methods of this new paradigm. My wife just wants to drive it "normal" and her hand smacks her forehead when I mention why I'm driving the route and the way I am. I routinely use 40% less power on the same errand (like taking my mother in law home) staying off the freeway and driving easy, takes me longer though.
friendnumber1 said:Yeah clippy, don't panic. Just keep your speed down, keep it in Eco, and hell, why not charge it up overnight for that matter before your trip?
Clippy said:Oh, no panic here. And I believe that charging when you are at more than 60% charge is a violation of that thick "Battery" agreement I was forced to sign and a copy of which I was not provided.
friendnumber1 said:Why do people infer, and then say imply?
Perhaps these people only read the headlines.
I think it was pretty clear that you fully expected the LEAF to make it 80 miles on the freeway at speeds between 60-65 mph on rolling hills with room to spare. Instead you ended up short a couple blocks short.friendnumber1 said:I never said or implied that the car was at fault. At most, I said that I was disappointed. That describes my feelings about the situation.
I do think it was a good reminder of how one should plan their trips. Definitely even 30 minutes of L1 would have gotten you all the way home - but realistically you needed ~3 hours of L1 or ~1 hour of L2 to make it comfortably driving the same way. Or you needed to keep speeds down to 60 mph max. Not necessarily easiest thing to do comfortably on the 280.friendnumber1 said:I posted this to inform others, and perhaps to caution them to be prepared, or informed, or whatever.
After 2,600 San Diego climate miles (January 4th through today) at 90+% on the freeway, I can say... for freeway driving at 68 mph... do not plan on more than 70 miles range. 65 is a better number to plan on to eliminate the range anxiety. In the rain with wipers and headlights?... a bit less.friendnumber1 said:I now have a firm figure on my expected driving range from a 100% charge, and that figure is not 100 miles, not 90 miles, and not even 80 miles.
Stoaty said:What surprises me about this experience (not unique to our friend, by the way) is how many people treat the 100 mile range as some kind of magic number.
green01 said:Your experience does cause me to think twice about completing my Leaf purchase.
The lesson learned is that a typical drive in the Bay Area can easily exceed the Leaf's range.
Do I really want to deal with the inconvenience of needing to judge the distance of each daily drive? A few level 3 charging stations scattered around the Bay Area would deal with the range anxiety I'm feeling.
Thanks for the sobering reminder.
You wont get an argument from me. The simple fact is the 24 kwh battery pack is not sufficient for many real word trips one might expect it to be able to handle. I wont be doing much freeway driving in my LEAF so 24 kwh is fine for my needs but it's becoming apparent that the limited range of the pack is becoming an issue for many. Nissan really needs to work on lowering battery costs to the point they can offer a 35 to 40 kwh pack for the same price as the 24 kwh battery. Most drivers will accept a range of 100 miles if that car has an actual 100 miles of freeway range at freeway speeds. If anything is going to keep EV's from becoming adopted on a mass scale it will be current ranges of the more affordable cars such as the LEAF and Ford Focus,It should be the auto makers top priority to bring battery costs down and increase pack sizes and I think in 3 to 5 years we will see battery costs cut in half. The future looks bright for EV's but us early adopters will be dealing with some of the issues of expensive batteries balanced with keeping a car affordable.friendnumber1 said:This is long, I know, but bear with me.
I now have a firm figure on my expected driving range from a 100% charge, and that figure is not 100 miles, not 90 miles, and not even 80 miles. I offer this account for the benefit of other drivers. Please don’t reply to offer use of your charging dock, or point out that Boardwalk Nissan has them, or provide any other helpful hints. If you want to flame me, go ahead, I can’t stop you. I am writing this purely to share my experience with other LEAF owners. I am happy to answer polite inquiries.
Last night, I tried to take my family (wife and two small kids, well below 500 pounds total payload including the car seat) on an 80 mile round trip from San Francisco to Los Altos and back. Leaving the house, the dashboard estimated our driving range at 112, and this figure steadily decreased as we headed uphill towards, then along 280. I have about 600 miles on the car, and I have experienced the variable nature of the expected range as you go up and down hills, so I expected my cushion to return after passing 92 or so and heading down towards Los Altos. I kept it in ECO, used the fan, but not A/C and we listened satellite radio, and some from my Ipod. I mostly kept the speed between 60 and 65 on the way down. I did not use cruise control.
Once we arrived in Los Altos, we expected to stay a couple hours so I tried to trickle-charge since our expected range at that point was only 42 miles. Unfortunately, that was first time that I used it, and the plug I used was not grounded properly. It wasn’t until about 20 minutes before we left that I read the manual and then changed outlets. So we only got a negligible bit of extra juice for the ride home.
For the trip back, our friends followed us, and we drove between 55 and 65 for the most part, with no heating or air. We did listen to the radio. Some ways after 92, we were asked if we wanted to search for charging stations, and as we passed the 380 interchange, we got the message that we had an extremely low battery and should look for a charging station immediately. But the range was very close to the distance to our house so we kept going. In Daly City we opted to get off the freeway for safety reasons. The route we chose had negligible effect on distance traveled. Near Lake Merced, our expected range hit the three dashes, and as we approached Great Highway we went into turtle mode.
I suppose if you drive 5 miles an hour, turtle mode might last a while but as it was, it only lasted about a mile for us. We ran out of juice about two blocks from our house. I have read on this board some speculate that you can shut off the car and then restart it and get some short distance of “extra” range. This was not my experience. I was able to get the car into neutral, and my Wife and I pushed the car home with my 8 year old steering. I am very glad that I purchased a 25 foot cord as it allowed me to charge the car with it just into the drive way, and 30 minutes later I could pull it into the garage.
Drove the car to work this morning and it seems none the worse for wear.
I have to say that I am disappointed. I realize that I was not a single occupant, and that I didn’t drive 55 (I didn’t go 70 either) and 280 is somewhat hilly, but 80 miles does not seem like an unreasonable expectation. Then there is the stress. Since getting the Leaf, my daughter has been telling my wife that her car is old, and how much she likes my car. Driving the last 10 miles she wanted my wife to hold her hand and was saying how she hated daddy’s car. I hope getting to steer it for that block or so, may have improved her spirits.
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