So, owners what range are you getting ?

[IBELEAF]

I don't understand how some people get really good results in freeway driving and some others don't assuming 60 mph speed. In my case hwy driving just burning through range.

 

[csriram45]

Today I started with 80%. I drove about 70 miles if not more before the Leaf was parked. Got the warning with 8 miles estimate left and entered my garage with 6. SOC bar was last bar. So technically that means a range of 87.5 on 100% charge which seems like right considering I was driving on freeway most of the times. Speed was 55 - 60.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

I don't understand how some people get really good results in freeway driving and some others don't assuming 60 mph speed. In my case hwy driving just burning through range.

i am the same way. we simply need warmer weather!. for instance, yesterday. trip to Centralia, temps in lower to mid 50's. some side trips, so drove 64.1 miles. returned with estimated 9 miles left (updated flash). so estimate of about 75 miles.

last week, same trip. 61.9 miles, estimated range left 21 miles temps near 70. (before flash)

maybe the flash played a part, maybe it didnt. but i believe the near 20º temp diff was the culprit

 

[bowthom]

Hello,
I agree temperature has to have some effect (those dang laws of physics) BUT.......... I have been tracking the car's performance for a couple of months now and have many examples of my standard commute even at colder temps. I usually use 4.8 to 5.2 kWh (blink 5.5 to 6.0 kWh). Sometimes it's 3 SOC bars round trip but mostly 4. Today 3 bars went away fast just on the way in, I kinda expected the 4th to go away too but it hung in there. We'll see what the kWh ends up to be after I get home tonight.

ON EDIT:
Carwings = 2.4 kWh inbound, 9.6 miles | lost 3 SOC bars (8 AM more traffic)
Carwings = 2.1 kWh outbound, 10.1 miles | lost 1 SOC bar (9:30 PM light traffic)
Blink = 4.9 kWh, odometer = 20.1 miles | wall to wheels = 4.1 m/kWh
Range calc = 84 to 60 miles inbound
Range calc = 60 to 64 miles outbound (yes you read it correctly, by the time I was 3/4 of the way home my range est had increased to 67 miles then counted down to 64)

My power usage is typical of my commutes BUT 2.4 kWh = 3 SOC bars on the inbound trip???????
The outbound leg 2.1 kWh = 1 SOC bar.
When you look at the average it is not statistically significant, only the SOC gauge is abnormal.

Unlike the Multnomah Falls trip where the power usage was 17% higher than carwings reported. On that trip the SOC was 5.6 m/bar and was NOT statistically significant but the power usage was.

DAMN, all I want is something to look at that gives me accurate info to base trip planning on. :x :roll:

 

[Bassman]

Driving style has a lot of impact. My commute is 63 miles one way downhill to work and uphill back home. I charge to 100% at home (at night) and at work (Ingineers Modified L1/L2). I initially get to work with 21 to 24 miles on the range display with two bars showing and get home with 8 miles showing and one bar (8% SOC) - driving at 55 mph for about 53 miles and 10 miles at 40mph. Yesterday I drove to work at 60 instead of 55. Arrived at work with 10 miles showing and one bar. I took almost an hour longer to charge to 100%. On the way back, I kept it at 55 and sometimes 50 mph (when nobody was behind me) and arrived at home with 17 miles and two full bars (17% SOC). When I get in the car at work after it charges to 100%, the range reads 98 to 101 miles. When I get in the car in the morning at home after charging to 100%, it indicates abou 81 miles of range (due to the uphill commute home). So just a 5 mph change can make big diiference and the type of driving - a flat drive good - a hilly drive not as good, but doable.

 

[RSLion]

Starting SOC : 100%
Range (till battery low) :76mi
Range (till turtle) :80mi
Driving : ECO mode - 80% freeway driving at 64mph (cruise control), 20% street up to max 50mph
Climate : Temp 55-65F, no A/C or heater used

 

[AndY1]

Hi!

I've been a Vectrix owner for 2.5 years, driving every day to work and back. My trip to work and back is 23kms, which consumes aprox. 30% of the battery gauge capacity, so I'm charging and driving between 70%-40% SOC (charging up to 70% SOC and discharging down to 40%) and it's pretty consistent. On the days I know, I'll need more range I charge fully, but even if I don't, I still have 40% of battery gauge left (when the battery gauge is empty, the NiMH battery is still 20% full) for side trips and errands.

I'm wondering about the drivers, who barely make it today (reading this thread) with charging to 100%, when their battery is still new, their drive to work and back, that the battery pack will lose some capacity in a year or two, and that they won't be able to make the same trip anymore?

My 2.5 years of Vectrix ownership has taught me, that in order to be safe and have absolutely no range anxiety, when purchasing an electric vehicle, your usual daily trip, without an opportunity charging, should only consume 50% to 60% SOC and no more. You have to have some spare SOC left or you're just asking for trouble.
What if there's an accident on the road in the middle of the summer or winter?
What if you have heavy headwind on your way? Only 10km/h of headwind, when driving at 100km/h(62mph) means a lot of more power (21%)!
Are you ready to drive without an A/C or heating?

I really don't want to spoil your fun of electric vehicles, because I enjoy driving my Vectrix every day and I can't wait to get a Leaf, but that's the reality some Vectrix riders had to learn the hard way.

 

[bowthom]

Hello,
I'm posting the differences that the update possibly made. My std commute is only ~20 miles so no range anxiety here about it's intended purpose. I have lots of data for that commute under varying conditions so I have a pretty good baseline. I'm just taking trips to see how it performs and what I notice about the gauge metrics, calculations and range. It's been a little disconcerting and I need lots of data to get my head around it, especially when I see a BIG shift in the data.

Let's see........ null hypothesis, probability factor............

 

[bowthom]

Here is the exact thing I'm talking about. I drive pretty conservatively but the SOC fell like a stone today. Started off with an 83% charge although when I turned the car on it only showed 9 SOC bars. That's ~4.3 miles/SOC bar!!! or 1.3 kWh/SOC bar :roll: 50% freeway @ 55 mph the rest @ 35 mph on surface streets w/ wipers of course, all eco mode.

 

[ERG4ALL]

If 12 bars equals 24 kWh, then each bar should be 2 kWh. Then 9 bars would be 18 kWh. If as the display shows you were at 3.9 miles per kWh, then the range (driven plus indicated remaining) should be about 70 miles total, not 49. Looks like the dealer should check it out.

 

[palmermd]

I'd make sure the heater was not left on by accident. It happened to me once. I was not paying attention to the climate control and saw my SOC dropping like a rock. By the time I realized it was the heater I'd lost 15 or more miles of range. I might pull the fuse to the heater to keep it from turning on because I really don't need it, and if it comes on by accident it really sucks the life out of the battery.

 

[Jimmydreams]

I'd make sure the heater was not left on by accident. It happened to me once. I was not paying attention to the climate control and saw my SOC dropping like a rock. By the time I realized it was the heater I'd lost 15 or more miles of range. I might pull the fuse to the heater to keep it from turning on because I really don't need it, and if it comes on by accident it really sucks the life out of the battery.

The Leaf should turn on with climate control OFF every time, if you ask me. I've driven part of the day and not realized CC was on...annoying to think of the wasted energy.

Now...once L1 and L2 charging stations become prolific, it won't matter as much......

 

[LEAFer]

The Leaf should turn on with climate control OFF every time, if you ask me. I've driven part of the day and not realized CC was on...annoying to think of the wasted energy.

GREAT idea ! Nissan ... are you listening ?!

(Tesla Roadster does this, except that the fan speed setting remains at the level it was before power-off. All else (recirculate, heat, cool (=A/C), heated seats) turns OFF at power-off.)

 

[IBELEAF]

Here is the exact thing I'm talking about. I drive pretty conservatively but the SOC fell like a stone today. Started off with an 83% charge although when I turned the car on it only showed 9 SOC bars. That's ~4.3 miles/SOC bar!!! :roll: 50% freeway @ 55 mph the rest @ 35 mph on surface streets w/ wipers of course, all eco mode.

We don't have all the details from your description, but temperature outside and a lot of hills can do this to you. A few pages back I posted similar results of the range drop. I find my range dropping like a rock on a freeway if I am going up the hill.

 

[bowthom]

Hello,
Here are the trip stats:
1. 2.6 miles, all flat, no CC, 35 mph stop & go 3 times, lost 1 SOC bar
2 6.5 miles, all flat, no CC, 35 mph, stop & go 6 times, lost 1 SOC bar
3 8.2 miles, 50% freeway @ 55 mph one small overpass hill, the rest flat 35 mph surface streets, Lost 2 SOC bars.
4 & 5 .7 miles, flat, 25 mph, no CC
6 7.7 miles, 50% freeway @ 55 mph, the rest flat 35 mph surface streets, Lost 2 SOC bars, no CC
7 8.1 miles, 50% freeway @ 55 mph one small overpass hill, the rest flat 25 mph surface streets, Lost 2 SOC bars. Light CC fan on low, < 1 kW load (cycled on/off as needed).

Oh yeah, all of it in ECO mode with the wipers on, of course.

Carwings = 10.6 kWh & 34.1 miles = 3.2 m/kWh but only 4.3 miles/SOC bar = 1.3 kWh/SOC bar.

ON EDIT: temp was 55* during the first leg and 48* for the last.
According to carwings "kWh consumed" includes accessories. Traction motor = 8.8 kwh, Acc = 1.9 kWh
So 34.1m/8.8 kWh = 3.9 m/kWh, that's how CW figures it. The dash & display exclude the accessories.

 

[IBELEAF]

What was temperature outside?

Btw, I got similar horrible results on a cold, rainy day with freeway driving:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=620&start=620

 

[bowthom]

Another thing I've been thinking about is the behavior of the "instant" efficiency readout. It has been suggested that the reason it hangs at the maximum after stopping is because the system calculates using the regen energy first. If that premiss is true then the "consumed" figure in carwings already has regen compensated for. There would be no need to subtract it again.

Just pondering............

 

[bsavall]

I hate to bring this up, but how does an owner determine if they got a bad battery? Did Nissan have a bad batch of batteries and some of us got the lemons? Could the large discrepancy between different owners be less about driving habits, and more about quality control issues with the batteries? How would we know? If an ICE has a faulty transmission or other issue, owners complain and at some point there may be a recall issued when there are enough complaints. We keep a log in our car of every trip and how much range we should have versus what we actually get. I am documenting EVERYTHING, as a precaution.

I am VERY concerned (disillusioned) about the purported range of the LEAF. It has been very mild in San Diego since we got our LEAF, so climate control has not been used. Like others have posted, we have had several experiences where the range has plummeted for no apparent reason.

We charge are LEAF to 80% most nights, and in the AM, the car says the range is 75-78 miles (80-83 in eco mode) and we reset the odometer each morning. Yesterday, I drove to work, went out to lunch and back and drove home, all in eco mode; theoretically I have ~80 miles range in eco mode. I did about 60% freeway driving (65 MPH) and 40% surface streets. When I got home, the odometer showed 53 miles driven and the range gauge indicated 5 miles remaining.

In summary, with 53 miles driven + 5 miles remaining, my actual range was ~ 58 miles on an 80% charge. This is 22 miles (31%) less 83 miles estimated range in eco mode. No climate control, no lights, not a windy day, etc. Though what really bothers me is that I reset the average kwh gauge, and it showed that I got 4.3 miles / kwh. What??? How can that be? Since I still had 8 miles left that means that I should have used ~75% of the full battery capacity (or ~18 kwh) for 53 miles. so 53 / 18 = 2.9 miles / kwh. What is going on here???

We had another instance two weeks ago where we left our house in San Diego with ~71 mile range and drove out to Poway, a trip of 19 miles one way. However, our range gauge went from 71 miles remaining when we left to 20 miles remaining when we got to Poway. In other words, we drove 19 miles and the range went down 51 miles. Fortunately Poway Nissan was close by so we could charge up while we ate lunch or else we would not have made it home.

Does anyone else share my concerns about battery quality and if so, how do we address it?

Thanks,

 

[DarkStar]

In summary, with 53 miles driven + 5 miles remaining, my actual range was ~ 58 miles on an 80% charge. This is 22 miles (31%) less 83 miles estimated range in eco mode. No climate control, no lights, not a windy day, etc. Though what really bothers me is that I reset the average kwh gauge, and it showed that I got 4.3 miles / kwh. What??? How can that be? Since I still had 8 miles left that means that I should have used ~75% of the full battery capacity (or ~18 kwh) for 53 miles. so 53 / 18 = 2.9 miles / kwh. What is going on here???

It's the freeway driving. Unless you are good enough to keep your accelerator between one "dot" and "two" dots for 99% of that freeway driving, you'll experience a faster drop-off of range. Remember that the optimized speed for the Leaf is 38 MPH.

I'm getting better at driving on the freeway though. When I started out, I had roughly 100 miles of range, drove 20 miles on the freeway, and ended with 70 miles remaining. The same 20 miles on side-streets and I ended up with about 78-80 miles remaining. After practicing some hyper-mile skills, I can do the freeway trip and end up with right around 75 miles remaining (though it took 6 weeks of practice).

 

[ERG4ALL]

I'm wondering if part of the problem may be that as you approach home you are on surface streets doing 45 mph or less for a few miles. The range meter seems to be heavily bias towards your most recent driving style. Thus, in the AM you get a high reading and then get on the freeway at 65 mph, get terrible mileage. I've noticed a great deal of difference between going 60 mph and 65 mph. 65 mph consumes 17% more energy than 60. And 65 mph consumes 108% more energy than 45 mph. Thus, if you end the trip with 45 mph speeds the range meter could be way off if the majority of your driving is at 65 mph.