1st LEAF sighting UC, CA, this one needed to flow w/ traffic

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wcanl

Active member
Joined
Mar 6, 2011
Messages
25
No trolling here, no flaming, I owned Prius for couple years.

I saw my first LEAF on the road Monday night. It was hella cool and all, gave driver thumbs up twice. He had dealer plates on car so it was very new.

He was in a freeway entry and exit lane which is right by Union Landing center in Union City. IIRC, he just stayed in the entry/ exit lane and never entered the freeway. Seems he was doing under 40 MPH and it was a little awkward getting behind him to exit.

Please spread the word around - that I hope EVs don't get any special attention from being too slow by certain drivers. I'm not saying for sure this guy was impeding traffic, but definitely want to avoid that in EV's or it will just give another excuse for general public to dislike EV's.

Thanks.
 
I do agree that if all the Leafs on the road happen to be the slowest, then it'll end up casting an image of EV's or their drivers in general.

Though I do think that the slower driving style is often a characteristic of new Leaf drivers who are getting to know their car and finding the optimal driving style that will yield efficiency.

I used to drive very conservatively until I realized how much range I have left on a typical day of driving, and from that point on I started driving more and more aggressively. Of course, that's coming from a speed demon who don't represent most of the driver here but I'm sure that few of us here are oblivious on the fact that driving too slow or too fast on a freeway is obstructive.

I personally hope that by the time each Leaf get their license plates, they'd be helping show off the Leaf's punchy acceleration and good handling capabilities from time to time. ;)

-Derek
 
wcanl said:
Please spread the word around - as you drive EV's around, just blend in with the traffic, please.

I agree when entering a freeway, a driver should get up to minimum freeway speed as they merge into traffic. However, I disagree about blending in with traffic on streets in the city, which I'm mostly going to be traveling on. I'm a hypermiler and I'm not going to be 'going with the flow'/'blending in' when that means exceeding the speed limit, which 90% of the cars do. Countless times cars zoom by me above the speed limit and then hit their brake lights for the stoplight. I, on the other hand, do not need to stop, and easily pass those cars through the green light while obtaining super high mileage. I have to drive my wife's Corolla right now, and I've achieved over 50 mpg on a six mile city trip. It's really easy to get in the 40s mpg range in city driving. If you choose to drive like an idiot (speeding to stoplights) as a lot of drivers I see do, be my guest, but please don't try to tell others how to drive.
 
Don't worry wcanl, we've had our leaf since May 5th and have averaged around 60 miles per charge. We accomplish this by dusting all of the other cars when the light turns green and worrying about getting speeding tickets on the freeway. We do this for between 35 and 65 miles per day.
 
Yeah I don't drive like that and I don't think it's typical of EV drivers. However, I see lots of ICE drivers, including hybrids :) driving this way so, what can you do? Let's just all try to be patient out there with one another.
 
Ya, if your really trying to stretch the highway miles then that's how it can be. ECO mode, slow spool-up, etc. Done it twice for trips up to Santa Monica. You are the "pilot in command" so call all the shots needed to get the trip done. It's all good.
 
LEAFfan said:
wcanl said:
Please spread the word around - as you drive EV's around, just blend in with the traffic, please.

I agree when entering a freeway, a driver should get up to minimum freeway speed as they merge into traffic. However, I disagree about blending in with traffic on streets in the city, which I'm mostly going to be traveling on. I'm a hypermiler and I'm not going to be 'going with the flow'/'blending in' when that means exceeding the speed limit, which 90% of the cars do. Countless times cars zoom by me above the speed limit and then hit their brake lights for the stoplight. I, on the other hand, do not need to stop, and easily pass those cars through the green light while obtaining super high mileage. I have to drive my wife's Corolla right now, and I've achieved over 50 mpg on a six mile city trip. It's really easy to get in the 40s mpg range in city driving. If you choose to drive like an idiot (speeding to stoplights) as a lot of drivers I see do, be my guest, but please don't try to tell others how to drive.

If other LEAF drivers get out and drive the way this person was driving, they won't need me to tell them how to drive, or diss them online. I think he would be better off practicing in an industrial park away from traffic for a while.

This LEAF was in the exit lane of the freeway which has dashed line on its left. I might have been able to get in front of him, but there wasn't much room. I had to slow down quite a bit, from about 55 to 40 MPH to get behind him. Good thing there wasn't a car behind me.

Very slow drivers impeding traffic can lead to accidents.
 
Ya, if your really trying to stretch the highway miles then that's how it can be. ECO mode, slow spool-up, etc.
Is there any evidence to suggest that "slow spool-up" really helps economy?
It's certainly not true in the Prius, which rewards assertive launches and gradual stops.

So long as you're not taxing the motor beyond ideal efficiency, I can't see any difference between starting normally and starting very gradually, to the frustration of the cars behind you.

Predicting stops and gently (regenerative) braking seems to be key, as does low highway speed in general. Beyond that, I'm not so sure. ECO mode doesn't seem to do anything you can't do yourself in D anyway.
 
Yes, one ought to go with the flow of traffic whenever possible, for the sake of safety and consideration for others. If that's not enough reason, let's not reinforce that old stereotype of electric cars as slow. The Leaf has plenty of speed and power.

But on the other hand, let's also consider that someone on a long trip would want to take it slow in order to maximize their range.

Here's what I really can't understand though - you say this was on a freeway exit lane. Well, people are *supposed to* slow down on a freeway exit lane!
 
I normally use cruise control on the freeway, and leave it active until the exit lane leaves the freeway, at which point I hit the lever (Prius) or button (LEAF) to disengage it. Several freeway exits I frequently use are of the sort that lead to a stop light for a left turn, and with the Prius I slow gradually, foot still not touching the accelerator, until it's time to brake as I approach the light or line of cars waiting there. But with the LEAF in ECO mode the regen is much stronger, and I have to moderate it with my foot on the go pedal to get the proper deceleration. It took me a while to get the knack of that; perhaps that is what the new driver was still learning.

Ray

OT minor complaint: Why is the cruise control cancel switch so far from the rim of the steering wheel?

Edit: No, wait, I just reread the first post. This was a cross-merge exit. OP was exiting, the other LEAF was entering. Definitely not a good place to impede traffic flow.
 
was the driver exiting or entering the freeway?

i dont drive my Leaf at less than about 58 mph (speed limit is 60) and usually have it at 62 mph which is my standard speed on the Prius as well. have been doing that for 7 years.

when i first started doing it in my 2004 Prius package 1 waaay back then, gas was $2.10 and i was alone. now, about 25-30% of people on the freeways drive exactly like me. its easy to flow with traffic at 60 mph here. i am no longer driving alone

as for town. i will drive within 2 mph of the speed limit in traffic on single lane roads all the time. when alone, i attempt to maximize performance to take advantage of small inclines and declines. regen is unavoidable but should be as much as you possibly can which may include varying my speed on a 35 mph road from about 32 to 44 mph (i do this on my morning commute and the speeds are pretty constant)
 
DaveinOlyWA said:
as for town. i will drive within 2 mph of the speed limit in traffic on single lane roads all the time. when alone, i attempt to maximize performance to take advantage of small inclines and declines. regen is unavoidable but should be as much as you possibly can which may include varying my speed on a 35 mph road from about 32 to 44 mph (i do this on my morning commute and the speeds are pretty constant)

I've been doing this also-driving by the energy consumption rather than the speedometer to maximize efficiency. On the longest leg of my drive home, 90 miles from Davis CA to Chico, and inexperienced with range (got there with 2 bars and many miles to spare) I was probably annoying some other drivers with my low and variable speed.

But since then, I'm becoming convinced that brake regen is efficient enough that maybe it's not really so neccessary to avoid it.

On my first 80% charge test, where the road was so steep I had to use a lot of regen:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2265&start=150

I got, what I consider a very respectable 52 miles, on a 14.77 L1 recharge.

BTW, do I remember correctly that you now have the EVSE L2 upgrade?

Please post efficiency estimates, compared to L1, when you get them.
 
have Phil's EVSE 2.88 kwh mod but have not used it yet. moving in a few weeks and should have it setup at new house. but will be unable to track usage on 240 so will only be guessing really.
 
johnr said:
Yes, one ought to go with the flow of traffic whenever possible, for the sake of safety and consideration for others. If that's not enough reason, let's not reinforce that old stereotype of electric cars as slow. The Leaf has plenty of speed and power.

But on the other hand, let's also consider that someone on a long trip would want to take it slow in order to maximize their range.

Here's what I really can't understand though - you say this was on a freeway exit lane. Well, people are *supposed to* slow down on a freeway exit lane!

IIRC, he wasn't on the freeway, just drove down the lane under 40 MPH. When trying to exit at 50 MPH, it was tough to get in behind him. Luckily it wasn't busy behind me.
 
DaveinOlyWA said:
was the driver exiting or entering the freeway?

i dont drive my Leaf at less than about 58 mph (speed limit is 60) and usually have it at 62 mph which is my standard speed on the Prius as well. have been doing that for 7 years.

when i first started doing it in my 2004 Prius package 1 waaay back then, gas was $2.10 and i was alone. now, about 25-30% of people on the freeways drive exactly like me. its easy to flow with traffic at 60 mph here. i am no longer driving alone

as for town. i will drive within 2 mph of the speed limit in traffic on single lane roads all the time. when alone, i attempt to maximize performance to take advantage of small inclines and declines. regen is unavoidable but should be as much as you possibly can which may include varying my speed on a 35 mph road from about 32 to 44 mph (i do this on my morning commute and the speeds are pretty constant)

IIRC he was never on the freeway. He just drove the lane about 40 MPH, which made it tough for me to exit. Dual entry / exit lane maybe 1/8th mile long or 1000 ft.
 
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