Cold Weather LEAF's

I am curious about cold weather performance of the LEAF. I currently live in SoCal but my job may take me to Utah in the near future.

What range should be expect with or without the cold weather package? Does anyone know when it will be available and if it will be in all markets?

I am assuming that weight-wise it would do fine in snow but would the low-resistance tires be horrible?

What other issues should I be aware of?

Regarding cold-weather performance, so far, so good:




This afternoon my wife and I drove up to about 7,200' on a nearby road, hiked up to Keller Peak (> 7,800'), and enjoyed awesome views of ice-coated pines and manzanitas backdropped by snow-covered peaks that rise to over 11,000'. Temperatures were in the upper 20s, substantially below average for May even at this altitude. I don't have enough data to quantify the the amount of range lost to the cold, but it doesn't seem all that bad. We hardly used the heater at all, though we did need the defogger. My wife and I are not at all bothered by driving around in a cold cabin, since we're usually dressed for it anyway.

We haven't yet had the opportunity to drive on snow, but I don't anticipate it will be too much of an issue.

Thanks

Nissan announced all the 2012 Leafs will come standard with a cold weather package. That model should go on sale in another few weeks.

A necessity here in Minnesota but really the furthest thing from my mind right now. Record 84º dew point and an air temp of 97º made for a "feel-like" day of 116º. So muggy outside all the exterior windows in our building were fogged up.

I suspect that the battery has enough thermal mass that you would have to be at that temperature for an extended time for it to really have any effect. And the upper 20s is really not very cold in the overall battery scheme anyway. The factory battery heater does not even kick in until well below that temperature.

abasile said:

This afternoon my wife and I drove up to about 7,200' on a nearby road, hiked up to Keller Peak (> 7,800'), and enjoyed awesome views of ice-coated pines and manzanitas backdropped by snow-covered peaks that rise to over 11,000'. Temperatures were in the upper 20s, substantially below average for May even at this altitude. I don't have enough data to quantify the the amount of range lost to the cold, but it doesn't seem all that bad.

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mogur said:

I suspect that the battery has enough thermal mass that you would have to be at that temperature for an extended time for it to really have any effect.

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It had been relatively cold for a few days, and we park outside. Our battery temperature gauge was continuously at four bars.

With temperatures in the 30s and 40s, we do notice a significant drop in range, though not nearly enough to affect the usability of the car for driving around our local mountain communities. Doing a trip down the mountain (lots of regen) might warm the battery a little. It's only when we are down the mountain where it's warmer that we need more range.

I should say that the San Bernardino Mountain communities don't get all that cold in the winter. Temperatures usually do not drop below 20° here. It is rare for temperatures to drop below the teens. Thus, I don't see the Cold Weather Package as a necessity for us. If we were in Minnesota, it would be a must-have.

Wow! 7200 feet! What elevation did you start out at? How far a distance? I'm curious how many miles/KWH you traveled over the coarse of elevation...

jteeny said:

Wow! 7200 feet! What elevation did you start out at? How far a distance? I'm curious how many miles/KWH you traveled over the coarse of elevation...

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7200 feet is no big deal when your home elevation is 6100 feet, as is the case for us. We were probably only about 6 miles from home, not enough driving for any real data gathering. However, on 38 mile round-trip drives from our house to Big Bear Lake and around the lake, we noticed that with outside temperatures close to 40, we lost roughly an extra bar or two of charge, compared to the same drive in warmer weather.

For more details on some of our mountain driving in the LEAF, check out: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=3512

out of curiosity, does anyone know if the cold weather package can be added to the 2011?
g

GaslessInSeattle said:

out of curiosity, does anyone know if the cold weather package can be added to the 2011?
g

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It was an option you could order during the last couple of months, but I haven't heard of any of it being available to add on later. The only part of it that would be easy to add would be the heated seats, and those can be got from third parties.

Here is link to the Grand Opening at Stevens Pass Ski Resort charging station in Washington State-temp that day was in the low 40's: http://www.plugincenter.net/2011/06/06/stevens-pass-opens-first-electric-car-charging-stations-on-u-s-route-2/

My LEAF had no problems making the trek--58.5 miles all up hill and arrived with 15 percent SOC remaining of the original 100 percent. 55 mph on cruise control all the way.

Was very happy with performance of the vehicle.