Anyone else out there constantly shifting between modes

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hackdroot

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 15, 2017
Messages
93
Location
East Bay Area, CA
After months of ownership, I think I've settled into my driving routine by now. I regularly shift between modes throughout my drives. On commute days, although I have a good buffer for my drive, I still try to get the most out of my drive as far as economy and range, so mode changing is rampant. But even on days where I know I have plenty of battery, I still use ECO and 'B' for slowing down since it's more beneficial for preserving the brakes and providing a bit of regen.

Driving around all the time in B isn't a situation I find myself in a lot since it acts like an anchor dragging behind the car and reduces the coasting in D which would be more economical in many situations.

My wife was in the car with me the other day and asked why I was shifting so much. I simply hadn't noticed the habit before so I was curious if others had adapted this driving style as well. I commuted with a manual transmission ICE for a LONG time, so I suppose it's not too foreign to me to shift constantly.
 
I don't constantly shift between modes, but use Eco / B primarily in town. (I rarely get to drive the Leaf on the highway... this is the wife's and daughter's commuter.)

I think regular Eco / D on the highway makes more sense, so as not to lose too much speed when lifting off the accelerator.

One comical thing is seeing my teenage son go back to the ICE minivan and really hit the gas... by mistake... since the Eco mode tends to hold back the Leaf, much unlike the van :lol:
 
I shift a lot too, and I also coast in neutral on downhills (when below 50mph, otherwise regen) and when approaching red lights in light traffic. I find B mode annoys other drivers when approaching lights, but the Leaf coasts really well so using N doesn't seem to bother other drivers.

Like you, even when I've got lots of battery left, I tend to conserve energy - I find the shifting fun. I only use B mode when actively braking, love your anchor analogy!

I don't baby the car though, I still love putting my foot down from time to time - the instant torque is so fun!
 
I double shift basically every time I get in my '12 Leaf, reason being is every time I turn if off the damn thing turns off ECO :x My '13 seems to have gotten that right, ECO sticks and on both my '12 and '13S ECO and B are kind of integrated, IOW you can't have one without the other. Now my mothers '13SL has separate buttons, one for ECO that remembers even after power down and the B mode which like my '12 you have to double shift every time to turn back on.
Truthfully on my mothers '13 I probably wouldn't engage B all the time due of the excessive drag, I could keep ECO on all the time though. B on her SL is similar to B on our Prius, rather aggressive and I'd really only use when going down a long hill or getting off the freeway.
I do occasionally play with putting my '13 in Neutral on one particular stretch of local road I use several times/week. Getting up to 35(5 mph over posted) I'm able to coast for over a mile. Speed drops to about 30 near the top of a hill, hits 40 at the bottom of the hill, gets back up to 35 at the top of that hill and is finally down back to 30 where I turn off that road. Cool to be able to coast over a mile, I'd never make it in ECO, in fact I'd probably not even make it to the top of my first hill, I've tried turning ECO off and leaving it in gear but even then I'd probably be down to 20 at the top of that first hill.....and have people on my ass once I dropped to near 30 :lol: Neutral on our Leafs really coast a long way!
 
I used D mode with 2011 and use B mode almost exclusively with 2015. The only time I use ECO is when driving to the airport if I am renting an econobox at the destination (to get used to the mild accelerator pedal response). I also want maximum performance from the HVAC system and ECO supposedly reduces HVAC energy consumption slightly. I once drove the 2011 for a whole month using ECO when climate control needs were minimal and was unable to measure a difference in actual energy consumption.
 
Shifting twice is required unfortunately in the leaf when going from neutral to drive when hyper milling if you want to slow down quickly it will not go into B mode without a double shift.
I wish it had adjustable paddle type regen.
Wish list.
Note: I usually keep in ecco B highway or other.
 
I keep it in B mode all the time with ECO off since it doesn't really provide me any benefits and I like the accelerator mapping better. If I want to coast I just let off the accelerator a bit and keep the "dots" balanced in the middle so I'm not really draining or regening by much.
 
pmc said:
One comical thing is seeing my teenage son go back to the ICE minivan and really hit the gas... by mistake... since the Eco mode tends to hold back the Leaf, much unlike the van :lol:

i think what is happening is he is pressing the go pedal and it lags so you put more on and more and then you pushing it too much and you take off with a chirp. I do it all the time when I rent a car for a day. the EV just goes instantly when you press, yeah, the ECO mode means you press down further but ICEs are so slow to respond that you think " this hunk of junk ain't moving, better give it some more gas" and then you hit the road like a loon.

i shift into ECO as I start and I stay there. I'm ok with the pedal mapping it has. If I want to get up and go, it will. it's just a gentler pedal and I like it. I have a 2012 SL. My wife's 2015S has the B mode and she uses that and drives the car with the go pedal mostly. lifting to slow and holding to drift and the obvious down to go.
 
sdbmania said:
I don't shift a lot. Usually I use eco mode and B mode, but when I go on the freeway I turn off eco so that I can keep up with traffic.
You can't keep up with traffic in ECO? I get the same max kw on full pedal in normal as I do in ECO. The mapping is just non linear in ECO, less on 0-50% pedal and it catches up near the end. I like a smooth acceleration progress. I'm not a hard gas, hard brakes, rinse and repeat that most US drivers do.

I can understand though that you don't need as much pedal movement in normal compared to ECO but the max power is the same so full pedal seems to match for me, maybe I'm wrong?
 
I shift into N by bumping it into R (as long as I am going faster than 7MPH - below that, it would go into REVERSE!), and then back into D / B when I need to accelerate or slow down with regen. I wish that regen on the brake pedal worked while in neutral, though.

Coasting is more efficient, and I hope that Nissan makes this the default.
 
I mostly drive in B mode without ECO and have found I am most efficient with that combo. I tried ECO for a couple weeks and saw a little decrease to my miles per KW. Plus, I simply don't like the throttle mapping at all. I tried D mode but thought I was loosing out of some regenerative braking. I was not sure if shifting between D and B or neutral often while driving would cause issues or not but I guess I will give it a try. I do feel like if you are good with your right foot, it is pretty easy to coast in B mode by applying enough throttle that you are not using power or in the regenerative area.
 
I pretty much just drive my 2016 in ECO, and sometimes add in B mode for long downgrades or heavy traffic. ECO does a nice job of smoothing out the tip-in on the accelerator pedal, especially for someone like me with size 13 feet. With non-ECO mode, the tip-in is quicker, and I find my leg is working more to not press the pedal in so far while cruising along. It could be my imagination, but I think ECO applies increased damping to the mid-pedal position, smoothing out power over uneven roads, though at the expense of some instantaneous reposponse unless you floor it.

That being said, sometimes I switch out of ECO just for a change. It's always a passenger-pleaser to pop out of ECO while accelerating or climbing a gentle grade - the torque change is instantaneous and throws you back into the seat a bit.
 
My experiences have changed over time. When I first got my LEAF in Feb2012 (MY2012), I was glued to this forum looking for tips, techniques, hints, tricks and whatnot to extend my range and preserve my battery. As such, I drove in ECO mode constantly. Never a hypermiler (I rarely got over 3.8mi/kWh), I always left the car in ECO and didn't even know how to get it in Neutral. Over the years, however, and after lots of learning, I gave all that up. I now drive the car pretty much like my ICE car, i.e., in Drive, HVAC set to a comfortable temperature, and a callous disregard for all the habits I adopted early in my LEAF experience. I have to say, I like my LEAF much more this way.

I do make use of the 80% charging on MY2012, I do have a battery tender on my still-original 12v battery, and I only use the LEAF for short, around town, trips. In no way would the LEAF be my primary vehicle with its limited and decreasing range, but it is great, if expensive, local transportation. Since I own it, I'll continue to use it in this mode until the Bolt, Model3, LEAF2, or other competition is available and delivers multi-hundred miles of range. [Bolt not due for availability in NC until September or so, haven't seen one in the wild yet.]

As an early adopter, I knew there would be risks, though I admit I was unprepared for the truly stunning depreciation, and my own desire for more range. I had bought into the marketing hype about most people needing about 40 commute miles per day and at the time that worked for me. Now, I see the declining range for a presumed (again, at the time) 100-mile vehicle pretty awful.

All that said, I do enjoy my 2012 LEAF, love the low maintenance costs, hate the $130 EV annual registration fee in NC, still abhor the nag message onscreen for EVERY start (I just disregard it altogether now), love the remote HVAC pre-heat/pre-cool, actually like the non-leather seating in my SL, and find the vehicle a terrific ride for short trips in town.
 
DuncanCunningham said:
sdbmania said:
I don't shift a lot. Usually I use eco mode and B mode, but when I go on the freeway I turn off eco so that I can keep up with traffic.
You can't keep up with traffic in ECO? I get the same max kw on full pedal in normal as I do in ECO. The mapping is just non linear in ECO, less on 0-50% pedal and it catches up near the end. I like a smooth acceleration progress. I'm not a hard gas, hard brakes, rinse and repeat that most US drivers do.

I can understand though that you don't need as much pedal movement in normal compared to ECO but the max power is the same so full pedal seems to match for me, maybe I'm wrong?

Well, it's just easier having the acceleration I think. I assumed there was less of it in eco even when you press it all the way down. I can't compare since I haven't tried doing that in normal mode. I have tried not using eco and I think it's possible to get good range without it, but it's a great feature when I'm tired and not focused on efficiency.
 
I think we all like to play with the different controls on any tech device... When I just got mine, I calculated my mileage on the different modes, and such... Overall, I have found all of that as a waste of time and mental work.

Look, the electricity for the car (I am tired of writing "Leaf" on this site) is almost free to begin with. So, I feel the extra work and worry of putting the car into neutral to coast is the biggest offender of my senses.. I drive in the more gentle ECO mode, which still gives the acceleration when you hit the gas hard. Drive in D all the time... Unless you are in 5mph bumper to bumper traffic or going down a mountain road for long stretches, use B....

I don't know if people notice this, but you don't really need B because when you hit the brakes, you are often doing full regen anyway.....
 
SalisburySam said:
My experiences have changed over time. When I first got my LEAF in Feb2012 (MY2012), I was glued to this forum looking for tips, techniques, hints, tricks and whatnot to extend my range and preserve my battery. As such, I drove in ECO mode constantly. Never a hypermiler (I rarely got over 3.8mi/kWh), I always left the car in ECO and didn't even know how to get it in Neutral. Over the years, however, and after lots of learning, I gave all that up. I now drive the car pretty much like my ICE car, i.e., in Drive, HVAC set to a comfortable temperature, and a callous disregard for all the habits I adopted early in my LEAF experience. I have to say, I like my LEAF much more this way.

I do make use of the 80% charging on MY2012, I do have a battery tender on my still-original 12v battery, and I only use the LEAF for short, around town, trips. In no way would the LEAF be my primary vehicle with its limited and decreasing range, but it is great, if expensive, local transportation. Since I own it, I'll continue to use it in this mode until the Bolt, Model3, LEAF2, or other competition is available and delivers multi-hundred miles of range. [Bolt not due for availability in NC until September or so, haven't seen one in the wild yet.]

As an early adopter, I knew there would be risks, though I admit I was unprepared for the truly stunning depreciation, and my own desire for more range. I had bought into the marketing hype about most people needing about 40 commute miles per day and at the time that worked for me. Now, I see the declining range for a presumed (again, at the time) 100-mile vehicle pretty awful.

All that said, I do enjoy my 2012 LEAF, love the low maintenance costs, hate the $130 EV annual registration fee in NC, still abhor the nag message onscreen for EVERY start (I just disregard it altogether now), love the remote HVAC pre-heat/pre-cool, actually like the non-leather seating in my SL, and find the vehicle a terrific ride for short trips in town.

I drive almost exclusively in B mode. Driving in B mode just feels more intuitive. As to the Bolt, they are available in Raleigh. We've had our Bolt for two months now (purchased in Cary NC), and we're an all in on EVs (no ICE cars in our house). One road trip in the Bolt to Myrtle Beach, and everything was ok. One quick charger available on our route was broken, but we adjusted and everything was ok. Ditto on the pre-heat and cool. Again, for most trips, the current version of the LEAF does just fine.
 
mrp10000 said:
As to the Bolt, they are available in Raleigh. We've had our Bolt for two months now (purchased in Cary NC), and we're an all in on EVs (no ICE cars in our house).
Thanks mrp10000 for the local Bolt info. Appears my dealer is a bit behind the curve on this one.
 
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