Your top tips and tricks for new LEAF owners

[JasonT]

Two tips and tricks:
- This was mentioned in another thread, but if you're a hypermiler and want to quickly go into "N" just flip into "R". As long as you're going 8mph or faster the car will beep and switch to "N". My experiments have shown that this is faster than holding to the left and waiting for "N" to happen.

- I am rather embarrassed that it took me a while to figure this one out so I am posting this to save other people the trouble. To close the rear hatch you don't need to try to get a grip on the metal - there's a "handle" inside on the plastic on the right side. Using that you'll get better leverage and leave less finger prints.

 

[billhoke]

Love the idea for the charge port light! (See page 5 on this topic, above)

I just got mine installed as suggested (putting the magnet sticker on the light rather than the charger door). It works great!

I added one little modification: a flap of white tape on the light housing to serve as a visor just above the light, so that it wouldn't blind me and so that the light would reflect down on to the outlets a little better.

 

[jcesare]

Just discovered that my charging locations were not being added automatically because the setting was turned off. Go to Settings > Other Settings to turn it on.

 

[sfosri]

I admit I am one of those that does not like to read the manual...but I did force myself to watch the DVD and I am glad I did..it has a lot of tips that I never knew. I would recommend that the DVD should be watched first....many of the tips on this thread are in the DVD.

 

[highcountryrider]

I've already read all the manuals except the Owners Manual, and am nearly through
that. I don't even have my LEAF yet.

 

[surfingslovak]

 

[LEAFfan]

I, on the other hand, like to cruise with the neutral power dot, but rarely use the freeways. So if the speed limit is 45, I just take it to 46 (if traffic is behind me), push down quickly on the CC switch, and it goes into neutral at 45. This allows me to hit 6+m/Kwh and 8+m/bar.

You keep on saying this - but you know that the bubbles have some hysteresis in them (like the battery bars do) so what you're doing is all in your head?

If you look at the energy monitor screen on the console, you'll see that you end up with the same power consumption regardless of how you get to 45 mph.

You missed the point. It isn't about getting to the speed, but about increasing the m/kW h when I drive in neutral. If you are trying to say that the neutral bubble uses more energy or the same as the first bubble, then it is all in YOUR head, because it is easy to see the lower energy consumption with the console power screen.

 

[kevin672]

I, on the other hand, like to cruise with the neutral power dot, but rarely use the freeways. So if the speed limit is 45, I just take it to 46 (if traffic is behind me), push down quickly on the CC switch, and it goes into neutral at 45. This allows me to hit 6+m/Kwh and 8+m/bar.

You keep on saying this - but you know that the bubbles have some hysteresis in them (like the battery bars do) so what you're doing is all in your head?

If you look at the energy monitor screen on the console, you'll see that you end up with the same power consumption regardless of how you get to 45 mph.

You missed the point. It isn't about getting to the speed, but about increasing the m/kW h when I drive in neutral. If you are trying to say that the neutral bubble uses more energy or the same as the first bubble, then it is all in YOUR head, because it is easy to see the lower energy consumption with the console power screen.

No, what he is accurately saying is it doesn't matter how you get to 45mph, you're going to use the same amount of energy to maintain 45mph. By your logic, you could accelerate to 50, click down on the cruise control 5 times and you'll get some regen, then drive forever generating your own electricity. The fact that you're at 46 and slow down 1mph is no different than if you're at 44 and accelerate 1mph, once the car reaches 45mph it's going to consume the same amount energy to stay at 45mph. In that few seconds you're slowing from 46 to 45 you'll see the neutral instead of 1st bubble, but once you reach 45 you'll "cruise" at the same energy as if you had accelerated from 44 to 45. Your miles per kilowatt would actually be slightly better if you just stayed at 45 instead of going to 46 and slowing, but the difference is so minimal the LEAF can't calculate it.

 

[planet4ever]

In that few seconds you're slowing from 46 to 45 you'll see the neutral instead of 1st bubble, but once you reach 45 you'll "cruise" at the same energy as if you had accelerated from 44 to 45. Your miles per kilowatt would actually be slightly better if you just stayed at 45 instead of going to 46 and slowing, but the difference is so minimal the LEAF can't calculate it.

The only problem with your theory is that nobody, but nobody, reports getting dash m/kWh readings as high as LEAFfan does. So I have to believe that whatever he is doing is better than anything the rest of us think is "right".

Ray

 

[TomT]

This falls under the same heading as those pilots who believe you can cruise more efficiently in an airplane "on the step" by accelerating to slightly above cruising speed and then pulling back the power to settle back in to the desired speed: There is simply no tangible evidence that this works and it flys in the face of all physics.

In that few seconds you're slowing from 46 to 45 you'll see the neutral instead of 1st bubble, but once you reach 45 you'll "cruise" at the same energy as if you had accelerated from 44 to 45. Your miles per kilowatt would actually be slightly better if you just stayed at 45 instead of going to 46 and slowing, but the difference is so minimal the LEAF can't calculate it.

 

[TickTock]

Make sure you wait at least one full second after turning on the power and flipping the drive selector to D or R. If you are too hasty, it will put you in N instead. A little unsettling when you release the brake to squeeze the accelerator and it drifts the opposite way you expected.

 

[TonyWilliams]

This falls under the same heading as those pilots who believe you can cruise more efficiently in an airplane "on the step" by accelerating to slightly above cruising speed and then pulling back the power to settle back in to the desired speed:

Yes, it does sound similar.

If you accelerate to 46, you've already used more power than accelerating to 45, and increased both rolling resistance and aerodynamic drag at the higher speed.

Slowing down with regen does not produce the power consumed to get there. That's a fact.

In a step by step, the distance driven at 46mph is driven at a higher energy consumption rate than 45mph. That's also a fact. If the regen is even as high as 80% (very, very doubtful), if one mile were driven at the higher speed, then the difference between the two speeds is 0.207kWh minus 0.2045kWh equals 0.0025 kWh of additional energy consumed at the higher speed. To regen at 80% would recover 0.002kWh, leaving 0.0005kWh of excess energy consumed over just accelerating to 45mph.

mph           40       45      46      47      48       49       50
kWh/mile    .192    .2045    .207    .2095    .212    .2145    .217

 

[Venk]

Here is my tip after owning it for a week

If you are charging at work set the timer to charge from when you want it to start charging at home to when you leave work. We have ours set for 12:30 AM to 7:00 PM to 80% charge. This way you don't have to worry about the pressing the charging timer off button at work and you can charge to 80% all the time. Before we did this, first try forgot to press the timer off button so no charge, second try pressed the timer off button and charged to 100%, third try after changing the timer went perfect.

 

[foobert]

For those with kids needing car seats, I thought I'd share that, yes, you can fit 3 seats in the back:

The seats are Radian80SL by Sunshine Kids. They are about the narrowest seat we've found that feature 5-point harness, front or rear facing, and should take your kids all the way to sitting w/o any booster (rated to 80 pounds and 53 inches tall). The latch system works like a champ and they cinch down nicely.

Do note, the fit is very tight and there is zero space to spare.

 

[jkirkebo]

Here is a tip for determining how much the speedometer overreads:

The avg.speed function in the trip computer displays correct speed :!:
So it you want to see how much the speedo is off, use cruise control to hold the car at a steady speed then reset the avg.speed. After a few seconds you can read out the correct speed in the avg.speed display. It reads identical to my Garmin GPS.

 

[Volusiano]

Here is my tip after owning it for a week

If you are charging at work set the timer to charge from when you want it to start charging at home to when you leave work. We have ours set for 12:30 AM to 7:00 PM to 80% charge. This way you don't have to worry about the pressing the charging timer off button at work and you can charge to 80% all the time. Before we did this, first try forgot to press the timer off button so no charge, second try pressed the timer off button and charged to 100%, third try after changing the timer went perfect.

Why 12:30am to 7pm? This will not allow you to charge at home between 7pm to 12:30am. Why not just 12am to 12am at 80%? That was you can charge any time to 80%, even at home between 7pm to 12:30am.

 

[curtegg]

Those kid seats look to comfy :lol:

 

[ml194152]

Why 12:30am to 7pm?

Because in order to minimize the load on the grid, you want to avoid charging at times when the grid is being heavily used. People get home after 5pm and start turning on electical devices like AC/heat.