A couple of newbie suggestions for Nissan Leaf...

Can I, or has anyone suggested to Nissan Leaf division to change the estimated driving range meter to 'battery charge' percentage value? It seems to me that that is really what those bars are indicating. Instead saying 100 miles, which is dependent on soo many variable, just have it say, for example, 89% battery charge.

And I have another suggestion, why not have a program on the in-dash monitor that could determine predicted battery usage based on variables entered. A user could enter certain variables, such as start and end destination points or estimated miles to be driven, anticipated driving speed, and use of climate control. Additional advanced features can be entered for even more precise calculations, such as temperature, # of passengers or estimated carrying load weight, elevation, wind, etc. Battery degradation would automatically be included based on current overall millage. Then the program would calculate how much battery would be used, and how much would be left. Additionally, it could then calculate battery usage based on alternative variables, such as decreased speed, eco mode, and elimination of climate control.

The whole estimated driving range is often inaccurate, and it seems from reading many other's post, frustrating. Why not avoid this and just go with battery charge percentage? Sure the adjustment from GoM (guess-o-meter) to battery charge percentage might take some getting used to, but at least it would be more accurate, and useful if the had a program that I described to work inconjunction with.

All this has been suggested hundreds of times before... You'll find it discussed in numerous threads already on the forum.

tjbrinson said:

Can I, or has anyone suggested to Nissan Leaf division to change the estimated driving range meter to 'battery charge' percentage value? It seems to me that that is really what those bars are indicating. Instead saying 100 miles, which is dependent on soo many variable, just have it say, for example, 89% battery charge.

And I have another suggestion, why not have a program on the in-dash monitor that could determine predicted battery usage based on variables entered.

Click to expand...

Hundreds of times? Wow, maybe we should make an online petition. Might get their attention.

tjbrinson said:

Hundreds of times? Wow, maybe we should make an online petition. Might get their attention.

Click to expand...

Nissan's well aware of the request for a % SoC indicator as a choice instead of the GOM/DTE we have now. There were also a bunch of other suggestions for future improvements of the GOM, some of which would require a lot of work. Slides below will give you an idea of what asked.

This was a hot button topic at the recent (incredible) Mountain View, CA meeting where 100+ Leaf fans, the Leaf's Chief Vehicle Engineer (Kadota-san), Mark Perry, a bunch of Nissan engineers from Japan and very senior Nissan folks were there. (I was there too, but I don't own a Leaf yet.)

Some of the slides that were shown to Nissan (and given to them) are up at to http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=156524#p156524" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

You can read thru the rest of that thread for an idea of what went on.

Thanks. Wish I could have been there.