cruise control energy usage

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janvanhoudt

New member
Joined
Apr 27, 2017
Messages
1
Hi All,

I am a proud owner of a Nissan Leaf since about a month and I am very pleased with the car!

One thing I noticed though, is that setting cruise control to a fixed speed (say 70km/h) seems to use more energy than manually driving at that constant speed (used energy meter loses a few stripes when driving with cruise control).

Is this normal? I would expect the cruise control to be able to drive more efficient than myself?
 
Cruise can be more efficient on level highway, but in most other conditions it uses more power, because it won't let the car slow more than 1-2MPH on uphills, and it accelerates the car faster than a mindful driver.
 
Thats one reason I don't care that my S Leaf doesn't have cruise. As Leftie said when going up a hill cruise will literally FLOOR the car trying to maintain speed, something that you might not do if driving with the pedal. On a flat road cruise can help if you tend to speed, keeping you at an overall lower speed that you might if driving by pedal but if your good at not speeding and let the car slow down a bit on uphills, your better driving by foot.
 
LeftieBiker said:
Cruise can be more efficient on level highway, but in most other conditions it uses more power, because it won't let the car slow more than 1-2MPH on uphills, and it accelerates the car faster than a mindful driver.

Nissan should tweak the Cruise Control software with energy efficiency in mind....accelerate the car a bit slower like a mindful driver...let the car slow down a bit more like 2-5mph on uphills.

Cruise Control can be programmed to have 2 behaviors...ECO mode..non-ECO mode tied right with the ECO button..

Yes, Cruise Control on a typical drive in a Leaf ends up consuming more energy than manual mindful driving...
 
VitaminJ said:
A mindful driver + cruise control will result in even better efficiency!
True, when I've used cruise in the past I'd generally cancel the cruise and speed up a little before a larger hill then gradually lose speed as I ascend and finally at the top of the hill resume the cruise. I'd also leave cruise on for descents where I might tend to speed, that is unless a big hill is coming right up in which again I'd gain speed going into the next ascent and gradually lose it again.
Personally, I'd LOVE a programmable or smart cruise where you could program in things like maximum power, accept if speed drops below a particular value, at which time the motor could give more power and possibly if the car dropped below say the minimum speed limit the car could give full motor power. When I hear the term "adaptive cruise control" I think of my wish but I believe thats just to slow the car down if it gets too near the car ahead of you, not what I'd want :(
 
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