I Beat EPA's 2.9 Miles/KWh : Report Your Monthly Mileage

[Samaran]

Update on my reported m/kwh since the end of last year.

Interestingly, the apparent "gauge error" which seems to have increasingly inflated my dash and Carwings m/kWh numbers in previous years, seems to have largely (if not entirely?) stabilized this year.

I should also mention that since May 2013 I have begun using higher tire pressures, up to ~49 psi (except during range tests) as opposed to the ~43 psi for my first two years of LEAF ownership, which I believe may increase my efficiency by ~2% to ~3% overall, in my driving conditions.

[NeilBlanchard]

Nissan installed new software in our car recently, and the dash display does seem to have been made more accurate.

[powersurge]

I have a 2015 S. I get in general driving on Long Island (mostly flat) about 4.5 miles per KW. On the highway at 53 mph (nothing on) I get 5-5.5 miles per KW. When I use the heat (69 Degrees, two bars blower), It goes down to 3.5-4.0 miles per KW on the highway.

PS - I have been reading a few of the postings, and as a newcomer to this forum, I must say... OMG!! I cannot believe the microscopic calculations that some people have made of their cars and their driving! People, please, our cars are soo cheap to run, and we can charge for free on public charging stations. Who cares about the difference in some wheel diameters, etc. I bet none of us has ever worried this much of how much gas we were using?

All I care about is that I reset the mileage computer when I start my trip and that I continue to get a consistent "overall miles" per KW on my daily trip. When that number changes, I will look into a possible problem.

[dgpcolorado]

I have a 2015 S. I get in general driving on Long Island (mostly flat) about 4.5 miles per KW. On the highway at 53 mph (nothing on) I get 5-5.5 miles per KW. When I use the heat (69 Degrees, two bars blower), It goes down to 3.5-4.0 miles per KW on the highway.

PS - I have been reading a few of the postings, and as a newcomer to this forum, I must say... OMG!! I cannot believe the microscopic calculations that some people have made of their cars and their driving! People, please, our cars are soo cheap to run, and we can charge for free on public charging stations. Who cares about the difference in some wheel diameters, etc. I bet none of us has ever worried this much of how much gas we were using?

When your "tank" contains the equivalent of a gallon of gas, or thereabouts, small differences in efficiency can make a significant difference in range and the overall utility of the car. If your daily driving is well below the range of the car, then there is little reason to care about efficiency, save for avoiding the unnecessary waste of energy. One thing you can do to improve the mileage efficiency and tire wear is to keep the tires at 40 psi at least; I generally use 42 and others go higher (but cold weather in recent days likely has my tire pressure lower than that). The 36 psi recommended by Nissan is too low.

All I care about is that I reset the mileage computer when I start my trip and that I continue to get a consistent "overall miles" per KW on my daily trip. When that number changes, I will look into a possible problem.

That number will change as the weather gets colder or you have to deal with snow and wind. The range of the LEAF is significantly reduced by very cold weather and sloppy driving conditions, as well as running the heater, as you know. If your range isn't limiting — as mine is — it isn't a big deal.

[Beefjerkie]

Since I got the car in Dec 15, I been slowly figuring out the eco game with my LEAF. I do not have Leaf Pro stats, but just from the stats of the LEAF.

Started off in Dec with 3.7 miles/kWh (LEAF is too fun to drive!)
Jan - 4.0
Feb - 4.3

In my recent week, I been getting 5.6. I decided to just have the battery as the display and follow the little meter around the tree, and since then, I been getting higher numbers.

Since I only able to charge on L1, bigger the number is better for me!

[jjgilham]

I've attached a plot of my miles per kWh for my 2013 SV. I drive about 1400 miles a month (40 mile round trip commute + errands). I have a meter on my L2 EVSE and I manually add any infrastructure charging kWh on a monthly basis. The plot in blue is "from the wall" and the red plot is from Carwings (which also matches the car +- .1 mile/kWh).

Using the car or carwings I get 4.0 in the middle of winter and 5.0 in the summer and from the wall I get 3.4 in winter and 4.5 in summer. There is a pretty strong correlation with the season. Efficiency does not seem to vary with age. I have had not yet lost a bar and I have about 38K miles and 2.5 years. The Pacific Northwest is an ideal climate for EVs.

[Beefjerkie]

I hope I can stick the landing at the end of the month!

[rosier9]

What a difference a resistance heater can make...

Based on what my Leaf dashboard says I'm down to 2.7 mi/kWh from 4.0 this summer. This is with the heater cranked and aggressive driving so I'm not complaining. Just a data point.

[jonathanfields4ever]

Just hit 3800mi today and I’m sitting at 5.1mi/kWh. That’s driving with e-Pedal/Eco as well, so I think I could pull that up by using the weakest regen settings.

I only drive on the highway two days a week, but I pretty consistently get 4.9mi/kWh on those days. Today I drove only in the city and hit 6.1mi/kWh according to the Nissan EV app. Went just over 56mi and only used 24% of the pack. I was really rather proud of myself.

One point I must mention is that Japanese speed limits are lower than those in the states as roads are much narrower. Residential areas are about 20mph, and major streets can be anywhere between about 30mph and 50mph. The speed limit on the highway is typically 50, but most people drive 60 or above as they’re aren’t a lot of police out and about. I like to drive 70 because that’s where the cruise control maxes out.

Edit: After looking through the thread a bit more, I see people are using wall numbers. I don’t actually know mine because we have solar at the house and I just don’t pay any attention. But even if we assume 20% for charging overhead and precool/heat, I’m sitting pretty at just over 4mi/kWh.

[SageBrush]

Our LEAF meanders between 4.9 miles/kWh in the winter to 5.4 in the summer. Annual average is ~ 5.2