How accurate is the "fuel" guage when charged to 80%

[chris17660]

Hi everyone. I just got my Leaf a few days ago and already I have a mystery. I've been able to get 4 - 4.5 miles/kWh on my trips. Today was the first day I had the Leaf charged to 80% (vs. 100%) and indeed Carwings showed 10 out of 12 bars in the morning. My wife took the Leaf to the gym and when she got back, CarWings reported only 7 our of 12 bars! She used 3 bars to make a 11 mile round trip. She told me that she did not put the car in ECO mode and had the A/C on. However, it was a relatively cool day in San Diego so I cannot imagine there would be such a drastic difference.

Assuming 2kWh / bar x 3 bars = 6 kWh for 11 miles that would mean 1.83 miles/kWh! Is that even possible? I asked her if there was a possibility that she left the Leaf on for an hour while she worked out and she said no. She's driven a Prius for years so I really doubt she forgot to turn the car off.

I'm waiting to see what CarWings reports as energy used and distance travelled. There seems to be a one day delay on the web site for the reports.

 

[surfingslovak]

I'm waiting to see what CarWings reports as energy used and distance travelled. There seems to be a one day delay on the web site for the reports.

Hi Chris, congrats on your Leaf! Very valid question. The bars are somewhat fluidly defined, but perhaps you will find them to be each worth about 1.5kWh. There is quite a bit of hidden reserve on each end of the capacity gauge, especially at the bottom. Please have a look at this thread with Tony's excellent chart:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=4295&start=230" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[91040]

Also, with an 80% charge, the 10th bar is not completely full.

 

[thankyouOB]

you should quiz her harder. she probably took a side trip to somewhere she doesnt want to tell you about.
and her gym bag is pretty heavy.

 

[garygid]

Charging to 80% gets the 10th Bar just barely over 50% full,
so the starting point might be just 9.5 Bars.

On turning the LEAF ON again to check the "end" Bars, the display showing
7 Bars might really be 7.49 Bars, just not enough to light up the 8th Bar.

So, according to what we "know" about the Bars display,
the trip could have used just 2.01 Bars.

And, it is 2.01 of about 13.5 bars, so only about 15% of the e-fuel.

Does that fit better?

 

[chris17660]

you should quiz her harder. she probably took a side trip to somewhere she doesnt want to tell you about.
and her gym bag is pretty heavy.

I already threatened her with the "Data is being uploaded to CarWings web site any minute. Anything you want to confess now?". She threatened back with "I'm going back to driving the Prius"....

Since the Blink charger reported the charge to replenish (back to 80%) her trip cost $0.42 and I believe it can be done in half the energy, I told her she owed me $0.21. This is fun

 

[gbarry42]

Actually, you are on to something. When I start to go crazy over what the power consumption was, the best mediator seems to be the Blink, and looking at how many kW-h you had to put in to charge it back up. If you don't have that number (since it gives a running total) you can do almost as well with charge time, or even the cost (if you do it when the rate is the same).

By the way, the worst mediator by a wide margin is Carwings.

 

[garygid]

Wise Old Guy says, "Do not risk Discord (or Divorce) over things less important than 19¢".

However, adjusted for 100 years of inflation, it is now ... about 20 to 100 times higher (approximately).

 

[chris17660]

I just realized that I already have the answer I'm looking for: $0.42 / $0.138 per kWh = 3.04 kWh charged. Assuming 100% efficiency of charge and 11 mile trip = 3.6 miles/kWh. It is likely even better than that since we know energy is wasted during charging. Given she was not using ECO mode it inline with my 4-4.5 miles/kWh in ECO mode.

Lesson here? Don't annoy the wife. Especially when I ask her to adopt new technology all the time. First it was no VCR, use Tivo then no Tivo use Microsoft Media Center. Now I'm asking her to stop using the Harmony IR Remote and use the iPad to control everything via WIFI. The list goes on and on so I won't bore you guys.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Hi everyone. I just got my Leaf a few days ago.....
I'm waiting to see what CarWings reports as energy used and distance traveled. There seems to be a one day delay on the web site for the reports.

Congrats, and welcome to the LEAF community. CarWings has many, many issues, so while it may be fun to play with, please recognize that the data is not accurate.

The miles reported are several percentages high, compared to the distance that Google maps, or even the onboard LEAF navigation reports. The economy is grossly high (the miles/kWh). Your dash may report 4.0 miles/kWh, but CarWings will say 5.4 (or some other grossly inaccurate data).

The reported fuel level is divided into 12 chunks, so the resolution is poor. For instance, CarWings will report that an 80% charge is 83%, since 10 fuel bars of the 12 available is 83.33333%. When you get to 8 fuel bars, it will report 66%.

Anyhoo, as suggested, take a peak at the range chart that I penciled, and see if that doesn't help understand range.

Uber Range Chart

 

[wsbca]

3.04 kWh charged....3.6 miles/kWh

That's a normal or bit better than normal wall to wheels rate. We get 3-3.6 depending on terrain and speed.

 

[waitingforaleaf]

Congrats, and welcome to the LEAF community. CarWings has many, many issues, so while it may be fun to play with, please recognize that the data is not accurate.

The miles reported are several percentages high, compared to the distance that Google maps, or even the onboard LEAF navigation reports. The economy is grossly high (the miles/kWh). Your dash may report 4.0 miles/kWh, but CarWings will say 5.4 (or some other grossly inaccurate data).

Actually, Nissan has issued a recent service update (I believe in August) specifically aimed at fixing the telematics (aka Carwings). I have a vehicle delivered at the end of August, and my Carwings number matches closely with the dash number (within .1 miles/kWh). Since the updates are optional at the moment and can only be done at the dealer, it may explain my rather low Carwings ranking

 

[TonyWilliams]

Actually, Nissan has issued a recent service update (I believe in August) specifically aimed at fixing the telematics (aka Carwings). I have a vehicle delivered at the end of August, and my Carwings number matches closely with the dash number (within .1 miles/kWh).

Yes, I should have mentioned the possibility of the firmware update, or "Technical Service Bulletin" update.

 

[waitingforaleaf]

She told me that she did not put the car in ECO mode and had the A/C on. However, it was a relatively cool day in San Diego so I cannot imagine there would be such a drastic difference.

Oh one thing I've noticed is that the Leaf does a weird balancing act with the A/C and the heater to get it to the set temperature if you have climate control on Automatic. In fact, if you set the desired temperature higher when the Leaf outside temperature sensor is off (in my car, it generally reads the outside temp as much lower than it actually is), I actually found the car using more power (I presume to heat the outside air for introduction into the interior) than if I had set the temperature lower and have it set for recirculation.

For me, optimal energy savings is achieved by setting the cabin temp to 72 with A/C on and recirculating or having the climate control off entirely (once the inside has cooled down). Will have to see how this changes once the temperature starts to drop for the winter (though the SF Bay Area isn't really cold compared to the rest of the nation).

 

[chris17660]

Congrats, and welcome to the LEAF community. CarWings has many, many issues, so while it may be fun to play with, please recognize that the data is not accurate.

The miles reported are several percentages high, compared to the distance that Google maps, or even the onboard LEAF navigation reports. The economy is grossly high (the miles/kWh). Your dash may report 4.0 miles/kWh, but CarWings will say 5.4 (or some other grossly inaccurate data).

Actually, Nissan has issued a recent service update (I believe in August) specifically aimed at fixing the telematics (aka Carwings). I have a vehicle delivered at the end of August, and my Carwings number matches closely with the dash number (within .1 miles/kWh). Since the updates are optional at the moment and can only be done at the dealer, it may explain my rather low Carwings ranking

I just got my Leaf on 9/28 and have very little data. However, the two days worth of data seem very accurate in regards to distance travelled. I love the tech in my Prius. It was one of the main reasons why I went from a Porsche Boxster to a Prius but the Prius pales against Leaf with the addition of Carwings.