Any LEAF owners out there with a 10 mi non freeway commute?

We have heard from many long distance commuters. Are there any LEAF owners out there that have approximately a 10 mi round trip non-freeway commute that are willing to share there experience or impressions? Charging strategies?

I can chime in here. During the work week I drive about 8-15 miles per day.. just on city streets. I'm pretty lucky that my job is so close to home. So I set my timer to charge only to 80% and to start around 11:30pm.

I find that I can go all week without charging up. I am averaging around 4.8miles/Kwh. Not too bad. I usually drive in eco mode. By Friday night I am usually down to around 30 or 40 miles left. I will charge up on Friday night so that on the weekend we can do any errands or activities with the LEAF and be ready to go. So just more proof how great the LEAF can work and how little you have to change your normal routine. Actually the best change in my routine is not having to go to the gas station on my way home from work.

Life is good!

-Peter

We're a little higher than that (in a couple of ways). Round-trip commute is about 20 miles, but have been averaging 30-35 miles/day with side trips. On top of that is 2000-3000' of elevation gain/loss per day. We're also running climate control, as the temps have been in the 35 F to 45 F range. Average is slowly creeping up, last Carwings report had us at 4.2 mi/KWh. ECO mode is usually on going downhill, usually off going uphill.

With all that, we're plugging in every night, recharging to the 80% level. Recharge times have been in the 2.5 to 3 hour range. We could probably get away with charging every other night, and we may do that once we've had the car for a while.

P.S. Even with a 10-mile one-way commute, we've been taking the freeway for about half the distance. Going to try 100% city streets this week to see if it makes a difference.

prberg said:

I can chime in here. During the work week I drive about 8-15 miles per day.. just on city streets. I'm pretty lucky that my job is so close to home. So I set my timer to charge only to 80% and to start around 11:30pm.

I find that I can go all week without charging up. I am averaging around 4.8miles/Kwh. Not too bad. I usually drive in eco mode. By Friday night I am usually down to around 30 or 40 miles left. I will charge up on Friday night so that on the weekend we can do any errands or activities with the LEAF and be ready to go. So just more proof how great the LEAF can work and how little you have to change your normal routine. Actually the best change in my routine is not having to go to the gas station on my way home from work.

Life is good!

-Peter

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Glad to hear that. My commute is 8 miles and this May my workplace is moving only 2 miles away. (My co-workers say I should get a Segway instead of a Leaf.) I'm hoping to charge once a week or less.

I have a 12.5 miles one way commute. I can either take almost all freeway or city streets. Freeway is about 10 minutes faster, but really burns up battery. Even if I go slower (55 mph) on the freeway, it takes much more battery because no regen.

City streets give great miles/kwh and give me lots more "trees" on the LEAF. My commute is during off-hours, so I also find it more relaxing because I don't get the "hurry up" feeling from other drivers on the freeway.

I started out taking the freeway to work for a week, then switched to city streets. Now I pretty much always take city streets unless I'm in a hurry.

I charge to 80% every night and often find that at the beginning of the next day I'm showing over 100 miles available to drive -- even at the 80% charge. (But, if I then take the freeway and turn on the heater, this drops like a stone to the 70-80 mile range.)

The LEAF is pushing me towards a different driving style and that is making me take city streets more often.

Same experience as above.

My commute is 10 miles each way mostly freeway - but since I don't have carpool stickers yet - that can be 40 minutes in traffic so I have taken an alternate 13-14 mile city street route as well.

On all city streets, I get about 9 miles per bar or better. 85-95 miles on an 80% charge. In bad freeway traffic, it is almost as good. When the freeway is clear and I can drive 65 - that drops to 60-65 miles on an 80% charge. This is radio and sometimes lights on, no HVAC, windows closed, 1 passenger.

I charge every day to 80% starting at 12:20AM. I get the all-finished text around 2:00.

prberg said:

I can chime in here. During the work week I drive about 8-15 miles per day.. just on city streets. I'm pretty lucky that my job is so close to home. So I set my timer to charge only to 80% and to start around 11:30pm.

I find that I can go all week without charging up. I am averaging around 4.8miles/Kwh. Not too bad. I usually drive in eco mode. By Friday night I am usually down to around 30 or 40 miles left. I will charge up on Friday night so that on the weekend we can do any errands or activities with the LEAF and be ready to go. So just more proof how great the LEAF can work and how little you have to change your normal routine. Actually the best change in my routine is not having to go to the gas station on my way home from work.

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Interesting. I may do that as well - but keep the SOC between 50% and 80% during weekday and charge to 100% for the weekend. So, may be 2 or 3 charges a week, depending on my weekend trips.

Friday : 100%
Sunday : 80%
Wednesday : 80%

I too will be in this exact situation. ~11 miles round-trip, all city streets. But I don't have my car yet. Supposed to get it by Feb. 17th, so I'll post back sometime after that.

I also have a 18.4 mile rt commute but I want a full charge as much as possible to be prepared for any side trips. Now I am doing 110 charging so it takes a lot longer to recharge.

For example had several errands to do saturday. Drove 53 miles and plugged in around 7 pm well the car was not up to 100% by 5:30 the next morning for my commute. .granted don't need much but I don't want to play catch ip as the Leaf will be our primary transportation and we frequently do unplanned trips for food fun and whatever

This is all great information. I appreciate everyone taking the time to post all of this.

Thank you.

Theoretically, would it not be better to charge every night with Lithium batteries? I know this has been discussed in painful detail in other threads...but I do seam to recall it is always better to make many small charges than fewer larger ones.

LeafinThePark said:

Theoretically, would it not be better to charge every night with Lithium batteries? I know this has been discussed in painful detail in other threads...but I do seam to recall it is always better to make many small charges than fewer larger ones.

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Not if you are not going below 50% or 60%/.

Here are a couple car-wings screenshots for your reviewing pleasure.

First one is an exact commute to P.O. Box, then to work in the morning, and a return to home in the evening:


Second had an extra trip to the store after work, and I obviously was a little heavy-footed on the accelerator compared with the first one, or possibly more climate control (still in the 30's and 40's here):


Enjoy!

Great info, all.

I've been thinking my 20 mi r/t commute would be well-suited to the Leaf, and your experiences confirm it. I do "asymetrical routing" -- I take surface streets to work, when the I-5 is clogged up, and drive home via freeway--which is usually stop-and-go for the first few miles. I figure for those rare times when the freeway opens up enough that I can actually go over 55, I'll just go with it and enjoy!

Now, if the car would just get here... :shock:

PDXLeafer said:

and I obviously was a little heavy-footed on the accelerator compared with the first one, or possibly more climate control (still in the 30's and 40's here):

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The driving style detail in Carwings will break out the consumption into climate ("other"), regen, and juice from the pack to the traction motor, so you should be able to determine whether it was the heater or your inner Andretti being unleashed.

wsbca said:

PDXLeafer said:

and I obviously was a little heavy-footed on the accelerator compared with the first one, or possibly more climate control (still in the 30's and 40's here):

Click to expand...

The driving style detail in Carwings will break out the consumption into climate ("other"), regen, and juice from the pack to the traction motor, so you should be able to determine whether it was the heater or your inner Andretti being unleashed.

Click to expand...

Ah, so I can! Under the 'My Driving Style' I get the following additional info:


Thanks!

PDXLeafer said:

Ah, so I can! Under the 'My Driving Style' I get the following additional info:

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Does this match what the car shows in history ? People have reported carwings being too optimistic ...