Fan only on low impact of -5miles?

I like to have a little air circulating but don't need heat or AC most times. On the Mini-E we saw barely any impact with AC and none with fan.

The Leaf no matter what setting I have tried reduces 5 miles off estimate if I just tick up the fan one notch. It says "Gain +5 miles by turning off climate control". I tried putting temp down to max and make sure AC is off.

I am not sure if I am not understanding the interface and some power sucking climate control is running or is it another weird thing in the mileage estimator.

This is why I really prefer a % SOC for these things. Then I could do my commute an really know the impact of everything. I need to experiment a lot more and see.

Anyone else have some experience on this?

EVNation said:

I like to have a little air circulating but don't need heat or AC most times. On the Mini-E we saw barely any impact with AC and none with fan.

The Leaf no matter what setting I have tried reduces 5 miles off estimate if I just tick up the fan one notch. It says "Gain +5 miles by turning off climate control". I tried putting temp down to max and make sure AC is off.

I am not sure if I am not understanding the interface and some power sucking climate control is running or is it another weird thing in the mileage estimator.

This is why I really prefer a % SOC for these things. Then I could do my commute an really know the impact of everything. I need to experiment a lot more and see.

Anyone else have some experience on this?

Click to expand...

I left the climate control on for my drive in to work this evening. I noticed it changed from "-5 miles of range" down to "-2 miles of range". It all depends on how hard the climate control is working at that moment. If your interior is hot, it'll work harder to cool it down. Once it's cool, it takes less energy to keep it cool, and thus the changes in mileage numbers.

EVNation said:

I like to have a little air circulating but don't need heat or AC most times. On the Mini-E we saw barely any impact with AC and none with fan.

The Leaf no matter what setting I have tried reduces 5 miles off estimate if I just tick up the fan one notch. It says "Gain +5 miles by turning off climate control". I tried putting temp down to max and make sure AC is off.

I am not sure if I am not understanding the interface and some power sucking climate control is running or is it another weird thing in the mileage estimator.

This is why I really prefer a % SOC for these things. Then I could do my commute an really know the impact of everything. I need to experiment a lot more and see.

Anyone else have some experience on this?

Click to expand...

That sounds wrong, the consumption on the cabin fan should not even register on low as it is minimal. Perhaps it's a silly generic number as soon as the fan is on? Yes, you are right that SOC and real-time consumption will show this in real time. Is there no kw number under climate control?

Some cars will turn on the A/C regardless, as long as the fan is on. I've been told this is to help prevent window fogging. My present car does this for all settings except when using the dash vents only. Any other selection invokes the AC whether you want it or not.

Nubo said:

Some cars will turn on the A/C regardless, as long as the fan is on. I've been told this is to help prevent window fogging. My present car does this for all settings except when using the dash vents only. Any other selection invokes the AC whether you want it or not.

Click to expand...

You must be kidding. AC compressors always cycle even when on but what silly car design forces the AC on on all fan settings? I have owned quite a few cars and never did one do that. So this means you have NO separate AC switch on your car, only a fan control switch that decides on its own. That must be an American car

Nubo said:

Some cars will turn on the A/C regardless, as long as the fan is on. I've been told this is to help prevent window fogging. My present car does this for all settings except when using the dash vents only. Any other selection invokes the AC whether you want it or not.

Click to expand...

Yeah I'm not believing this either. Every car I've ever seen only forces the AC on (and only some cars force it on) when you put the vent selector on the defroster (or a setting that mixes the defroster with another vent)



Keep in mind that the fan is a constant draw that doesn't change (for a particular setting). So the fan on low in bumper to bumper traffic would make a different change in range than at 50mph. The change in range distance for any constant draw is completely dependent on how fast you are driving. Thus I assume the range estimate is just that, an estimate based on your previous driving conditions.

Is the climate set to manual & not auto ?

Yes, I can turn off AC, and make sure defrost is not on. Set it to outside air or recirculate. Turn off fan manually. I don't see a way to explicitly turn off heating. But when you turn the fan up one notch (AC light does not come on), I get the -5 hit. Hit the climate "off" button in the center of console by AC and the fan goes off also then +5.

It sounded wrong to me also so I am likely doing something like leaving heater on. There is not a MAX COLD like Prius lowest temp is 60 I think. So not sure if that is the issue.

Time to read the manual....

EVNation said:

Time to read the manual....

Click to expand...

Yes, I thought the way to change auto to manual was cumbersome.

turbo2ltr said:

Keep in mind that the fan is a constant draw that doesn't change (for a particular setting). So the fan on low in bumper to bumper traffic would make a different change in range than at 50mph.

Click to expand...

While I agree with that assessment, I feel you've got it completely backwards: Constant drains become less significant with higher speeds, not more.



That chart makes a lot of bad assumptions, but the overall shape is pretty accurate. Constant drains like Climate Control really kill your low-speed distance. At highway speeds the air resistance dwarf the other loads, reducing their impact.
=Smidge=

Smidge204 said:

At highway speeds the air resistance dwarf the other loads, reducing their impact.

Click to expand...

More importantly, total time the constant draw is used is less at higher speeds (since the battery will be depleted faster).

EVDRIVER said:

Nubo said:

Some cars will turn on the A/C regardless, as long as the fan is on. I've been told this is to help prevent window fogging. My present car does this for all settings except when using the dash vents only. Any other selection invokes the AC whether you want it or not.

Click to expand...

You must be kidding. AC compressors always cycle even when on but what silly car design forces the AC on on all fan settings? I have owned quite a few cars and never did one do that. So this means you have NO separate AC switch on your car, only a fan control switch that decides on its own. That must be an American car

Click to expand...

My car is a Mazda RX-8. The AC compressor clutch will cycle whenever the airflow setting is set to something other than "full face" mode. There is a separate AC switch, but nevertheless, the AC is activated on all other modes even if you want heat.

I'd advise opening the hood and observing for a few minutes to see if the AC clutch does in fact engage. If it does, that explains the hit in the range calculations.

Nubo said:

I'd advise opening the hood and observing for a few minutes to see if the AC clutch does in fact engage. If it does, that explains the hit in the range calculations.

Click to expand...

My knowledge of cars is close to zero - but I don't think Leaf has an AC clutch.

evnow said:

My knowledge of cars is close to zero - but I don't think Leaf has an AC clutch.

Click to expand...

Nope. The AC is driven by electricity (like Prius and some other hybrids) - it should be a variable speed compressor so there is no cycling involved. It will simply adjust it's speed to meet demand.

evnow said:

Nubo said:

I'd advise opening the hood and observing for a few minutes to see if the AC clutch does in fact engage. If it does, that explains the hit in the range calculations.

Click to expand...

My knowledge of cars is close to zero - but I don't think Leaf has an AC clutch.

Click to expand...

No, that's for an ICE, its a direct drive electric AC so no need. The clutch is to relieve the load from the ICE motor when not needed as a parasitic load.

Yes, because as a proportion it is less and the time the load on is shorter. Another argument for TOTAL KW in real time because it shows the relative truth you illustrate. In addition, the FAN inside on low likely draws about 2-4 amps max at 12V yielding about 48 watts, that is not going to take squat off your range at any speed. The multiple consumption gauges are a nice to have feature but total KW of the entire pack load tells the accurate and real story as to how different actions impact the total relative range. This is something one can see and evaluate in real-time with absolute certainty. I'm not an efficiency nut but I may sound like it, quite the opposite, but what I have learned from building and owning advanced EVs is that there are a few measurements that really reveal and teach, SOC, and real-time kw consumption. It's an instant lesson in what's happening, the latter REALLY teaches one how to drive efficiently and how variations in habits change impact range

You can tell if the AC turns on by checking the energy usage screen. The fan by itself couldn't be more than 50 watts, but if the AC is running you'd be seeing several hundred watts or more.

If you're going slowly, any constant use of energy (the fan, for example) would be a much higher proportion of the vehicle's energy usage per mile.

To get a 5 mile reduction, you would need to use up about 1kWh during your trip.

So, at 60 mph, driving for 1.5 hours, you would to be using about 0.7 kW (700 watts) steady drain to "lose" the 5 miles.

But, driving at 30 mph for 3 hours, a drain of just 350 watts (0.35 kW) would use up the same energy.

garygid said:

To get a 5 mile reduction, you would need to use up about 1kWh during your trip.

So, at 60 mph, driving for 1.5 hours, you would to be using about 0.7 kW (700 watts) steady drain to "lose" the 5 miles.

But, driving at 30 mph for 3 hours, a drain of just 350 watts (0.35 kW) would use up the same energy.

Click to expand...

So the fan could do it, but only at an average speed of around 5 or 10 mph.

Yes, at 50 or so watts, the fan would need to run for about 21 hours ... a loooong-duration drive.