Spoofing Carwings

I don't spend a lot of time looking at Carwings anymore. I drive pretty much the same routine every day, so there isn't a lot of room for improvement. I get anywhere from 3.5 to 5 miles/kWh. I'm gradually slipping off the 'top 100' list, as are most of us. I'm still puzzled by the folks I see getting 8 miles/kWh. I can't imagine how they do it, unless they never exceed 20 mph.

But I got to thinking about how some folks might manipulate the system, and I suspect that it would be pretty easy. I have my account set up to upload my trip information to Carwings when I start the car for the next trip. There is no option to send the info when you shut the car down, which would be my preference, but you can have it uploaded every half hour, hour, or whatever.

So, the last trip's info doesn't get sent until I restart the car. And from what we've read, it won't get sent if you fail to press the "I agree" button that pops up when you shift to drive. If I don't give authorization, does that trip info gets lost when I restart the car for the next trip? If so, I could filter out any data that I didn't want Carwings to see. For instance, I could drive to the top of a big hill, shut the car off, restart the car, and refuse to send that data to Carwings. Then I could coast down the hill, turn off the car, restart it, and upload the high mileage data.

It wouldn't be too tough to spot this manipulation; my 1000 miles per month might drop to 100 miles/mo, but I could be the Carwings king! Eight miles/kWh? Child's play. I could probably do 100.

-Karl

I think people who are getting high numbers are probably city dwellers in Japan who drive in the neighbourhood at low speeds and no heat ....

Perhaps more to the point, it sounds like carwings has no real utility to most consumers.

Googler said:

Perhaps more to the point, it sounds like carwings has no real utility to most consumers.

Click to expand...

It would be useful if it were accurate. I'm collecting info to file a bug report.

Googler said:

Perhaps more to the point, it sounds like carwings has no real utility to most consumers.

Click to expand...

Can it just be turned off? I mean turn off the whole screen of the center console. I think I would only want it on to use the navigation.
And I only need the navigation once or twice a month max.

Other main CARWINGS problems:

It can Start a car charging, but not Stop it.

It (maybe) does not give a "Charging Interrupted" message.

It heats or cools only to 77 degrees, not to a user-set temperature.

It does not (yet) provide any charge-station locations.

When it does show locations, it might not show available times, fees, status, or number/types of plugs/sockets.

garygid said:

It heats or cools only to 77 degrees, not to a user-set temperature.

Click to expand...

I didn't realize that, I just figured it would use whatever the climate control was set to. Though I did think it felt kinda warm in the car in the mornings... So much of their materials say we can set the temp, so hopefully that's coming!

garygid said:

Other main CARWINGS problems:

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None of these are what Nissan shows in carwings. I'm only talking about driving and efficiency related data.

That is what I thought, so that is why I added the "OTHER Problems" list.

Googler said:

Perhaps more to the point, it sounds like carwings has no real utility to most consumers.

Click to expand...

I don't think efficiency rankings are the main purpose of CARWINGS. It's a basic telematic system that allows owners to remotely:

-check state of battery charge
-start charging
-check when battery charge will complete
-see estimated driving range
-turn on or off the climate control system

Many drivers will find these functions very useful. I think you are trying to say that the eco-driving rankings compiled via CARWINGS is not helpful to you.

CARWINGS is also intended to provide the LEAF driver with "accurate" information about charging facilities ... initially at least locations and types (L2/QC).

So far there are NO reported errors in ANY of the provided charge-station location information ... because there is NO information yet, even though LEAFS have been "on the road" for almost 3 months!

evnow said:

I think people who are getting high numbers are probably city dwellers in Japan who drive in the neighbourhood at low speeds and no heat ....

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Well, I have hit accept every morning and I live in Phoenix... driving surface streets for this month so far I am in 1st place for miles/kWH for March. Of course the month is not even 1/4 over so I could lose my top spot easily. I just wanted to see how high I could get. I run speeds of 45-47 mph and get stopped at traffic lights every 2-3 miles or so. Keep in mind that i have been driving EVs for many years along with hybrids... your results may vary. These numbers for miles/kWH are still bogus... my dash is currently stating a 5.0 miles/kWH average.

Congratulations Skywagon! Can you post a screen shot showing your Platinum Trophy? :mrgreen:

i cant stop charging, but i get text alerts when my Leaf is done charging or has been unplugged. now its coming in as a premium message from 79161. now if you have text alerts enabled its not uncommon for premium messages to be blocked. there is a huge issue with unrequested charges of 9.99 a month from these types of vendors.

now, i have not done this yet, but i now have enough data to crunch and will be trying to determine how Carwings gets its numbers. i suspect their MPK does not include power consumed by accessories.

but we shall see. i hope to get this done today, but we shall see. babysitting a 4 year old does now always all me to plan anything