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mwalsh

Well-known member
Leaf Supporting Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2010
Messages
9,781
Location
Garden Grove, CA
It seems that it's taking 33% of the battery pack to drive the 30 miles either to or from my office (no climate, no ECO). So it's time to change it up a bit, and I'd like you to tell me what experiment I should try next to see it's effect on SOC:

Increasing the speed from 65mph to 70mph.
Using ECO mode the entire trip.
Using ECO mode as an assist to deceleration/braking.

Top answer from the first two will be the one I try next going in, which is mostly freeway speed. The ECO braking I'll try coming home, since I can't get anything better than slow-and-go in that direction.
 
1. 70 mph please.

2. Does ECO mode increase the amount of Regen you get when using the brake, or does it just increase the "feet-off" Regen strength. Perhaps see that best by displaying the Power-Usage screen as you video your drive.
 
Yes I'd like to see 70mph for as much the same distant to your work (if possible for the round trip too) to compare. Thanks mwalsh.
 
I can't seem to catch a break on the traffic coming home, so I don't think both at freeway speeds is doable until the next time I have to work on a weekend (which only happens a couple of times a year).

I will catch what ECO mode does on video for Gary, but then I'm hanging my photo and video clogs up, at least while in motion - it really is more of a distraction to the business of driving than I should be allowing myself.
 
garygid said:
2. Does ECO mode increase the amount of Regen you get when using the brake, or does it just increase the "feet-off" Regen strength. Perhaps see that best by displaying the Power-Usage screen as you video your drive.

Gary...

It seems to increase regen on braking a bit, but I'll look for that specifically later today. ECO does increase regen with 'feet off' the gas pedal.

One thing I've found somewhat convenient is on the highway, in ECO, foot-off the gas causes more regen than I typically want. A light feather of the gas (let's say 80% 'off) will still allow regen but much lighter. The feathering isn't hard to find because you can feel it in the regen braking of the car, plus you can watch it on the energy screen. It allows a much easier coast down hills with a regen-controlled speed vs the more dramatic regen causing too much of a speed reduction.
 
I am finding that the regen in Eco definitely kicks in much stronger with just the right brake action when stopping. Watching the regen meter as a guide, it is a real goldilocks thing. Not too heavy or not too light. When going from speed to a stop, if I am too heavy, I lose momentum without increasing the meter and you can feel the brakes grabbing more. But too light and the regen doesn't kick in as strong.

There is a sweet spot where you apply brakes somewhat firm at first and feather it as you cruise to a stop to max the regen capture. I plan on watching Carwings over my commute (which is all neighborhood with lots of stops) to tune this.

Not as easy as the Mini-E where you would just use regen to stop and knew you were capturing all you could.
 
When doing experiments, it would be good if addition to monitoring SOC which is very granular (12 bars) to also reset the total kWh meter on the center console before you start the trip and record the total kWh at the end of the trip. This will give much more accurate information about your energy consumption.
 
I'd try 75mph... since you're near, why not taking a bigger step?

What's the speedway limit, altough ?

Here, in Europe, is mostly 120Kmh, about 74,4 Mph... and there is a 10% error margin...

Greetings.
 
Jimmydreams said:
It seems to increase regen on braking a bit, but I'll look for that specifically later today. ECO does increase regen with 'feet off' the gas pedal.

One thing I've found somewhat convenient is on the highway, in ECO, foot-off the gas causes more regen than I typically want. A light feather of the gas (let's say 80% 'off) will still allow regen but much lighter. The feathering isn't hard to find because you can feel it in the regen braking of the car, plus you can watch it on the energy screen. It allows a much easier coast down hills with a regen-controlled speed vs the more dramatic regen causing too much of a speed reduction.
Don't jinx it :) we don't want those gas gremlins creeping back in there somewhere ;)
 
Well my data is corrupt today due to slow-and-go traffic for about a third of my drive. But it didn't look massively promising during the time I was able to drive 70mph - the car was sucking down energy bars to the tune of 4.5-5 miles per bar, compared to 6.8-7+ miles per bar yesterday at 65mph. Average energy consumption was in the low 3mpkWh range, compared to a pretty even 4 per at 65mph.

I'll let you draw your own conclusions from that, but for a compromise where you get decent energy consumption at a reasonable speed I think I'd just as soon drive at 65mph, thank you very much.
 
I would like to know about range driving 55 MPH on Freeway, using Eco mode, no climate control. That's what I need to know for a trip from West LA to Claremont (100 miles round trip) that I make most weekends. Will I need to charge in Claremont, or can I make the whole trip without charging any? The quoted range from Nissan only includes with climate control on, which won't apply for me most of the year.

I would also be interested in how the range changes if one slows to 50 MPH (doable on L.A. freeways if one stays in the right lane).
 
Stoaty said:
I would like to know about range driving 55 MPH on Freeway, using Eco mode, no climate control. That's what I need to know for a trip from West LA to Claremont (100 miles round trip) that I make most weekends. Will I need to charge in Claremont, or can I make the whole trip without charging any? The quoted range from Nissan only includes with climate control on, which won't apply for me most of the year.

I would also be interested in how the range changes if one slows to 50 MPH (doable on L.A. freeways if one stays in the right lane).

You're on your own for that one Bro....I wouldn't dare drive that slowly on the freeway.
 
Maybe this has been answered but I have not seen it.

Does Leaf allow the driver to power brake? That is does it apply full power as you hold the brake peddle and go peddle down?

Also Leaf has some creep like a gasoline automatic with feet off both peddles.... does the "creep" power seem to continue to apply with the brake peddle depessed such as as a stop light?
 
mwalsh said:
Stoaty said:
I would like to know about range driving 55 MPH on Freeway, using Eco mode, no climate control. That's what I need to know for a trip from West LA to Claremont (100 miles round trip) that I make most weekends. Will I need to charge in Claremont, or can I make the whole trip without charging any? The quoted range from Nissan only includes with climate control on, which won't apply for me most of the year.

I would also be interested in how the range changes if one slows to 50 MPH (doable on L.A. freeways if one stays in the right lane).

You're on your own for that one Bro....I wouldn't dare drive that slowly on the freeway.

Thank you so much for all your posts about your experience with your Leaf mwalsh.

Based on your experience what's your advice to do 90 miles with one charge and no Highway, just secondary roads, max speed 56 miles ?

Thank you
 
smkettner said:
Does Leaf allow the driver to power brake? That is does it apply full power as you hold the brake peddle and go peddle down?

Also Leaf has some creep like a gasoline automatic with feet off both peddles.... does the "creep" power seem to continue to apply with the brake peddle depessed such as as a stop light?
When the brake pedal is depressed, the input from the accelerator is completely ignored (think "Toyota-gate"). I'm pretty sure that if the brake pedal is lightly depressed there is no "creep" feeling at all and the car will "creep" only once the brake pedal is completely released (if I remember correctly).
 
ruimegas said:
Based on your experience what's your advice to do 90 miles with one charge and no Highway, just secondary roads, max speed 56 miles ?

Thank you

I'm not seeing a massive amount of difference in consumption at any highway speed up to 65mph (clearly though, 70mph is a very different story), and I'm routinely coming in at 66% discharged for my 61 miles with an "apparent" 25 to 30 miles left. So 85-90 miles on a charge (where the terrain is relatively flat) should (IMO) be doable without paying much attention to speed, and that would be without ECO (though also without Climate Control). Stoaty's 100 miles might be pushing it for me though.

You understand though that it's all conjecture until it's actually tried, right? And never more than here, it's important to note...."your mileage may vary"! :)
 
Does ECO mode ever light the brake lights on strong regen?

If you're doing 65 and lift off completely, I imagine you're going to be slowing down much faster than rolling traffic. No brake light?
I mean, it lights at the slightest touch of the brake pedal, with even less slowing force. Hmm.
 
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