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I think the economy meter in the car is a bunch of hogwash it keeps telling me I'm averaging five plus miles per kilowatt but when I calculate based on kilowatts left from 18.5 starting and miles used I usually end up around 4.5 to 4.7 max.

I could be off since I don't have too much opportunity to test this as I do a lot of opportunistic charging and it's very difficult to get an accurate reading of how many kilowatts I'm putting in verse taking out.
 
nerys said:
I think the economy meter in the car is a bunch of hogwash it keeps telling me I'm averaging five plus miles per kilowatt but when I calculate based on kilowatts left from 18.5 starting and miles used I usually end up around 4.5 to 4.7 max.

I could be off since I don't have too much opportunity to test this as I do a lot of opportunistic charging and it's very difficult to get an accurate reading of how many kilowatts I'm putting in verse taking out.

yep, get the same error which leads me to thinking the dash ONLY considers what the motor is using to get you down the road and accessories are not included. now, I tried to test this but to be honest with ya, no discernible data to report other than to say that climate controls DO affect the miles/kwh number so not as cut and dried as I hoped it would be.
 
nerys said:
I think the economy meter in the car is a bunch of hogwash it keeps telling me I'm averaging five plus miles per kilowatt but when I calculate based on kilowatts left from 18.5 starting and miles used I usually end up around 4.5 to 4.7 max.

I could be off since I don't have too much opportunity to test this as I do a lot of opportunistic charging and it's very difficult to get an accurate reading of how many kilowatts I'm putting in verse taking out.
I get the impression that Nissan is mathematically challenged. From 100-80% or so I find the dash efficiency is optimistic, like they are trying to fudge for the reduced regen to avoid complaints or something. Carwings disagrees with the dash, the GOM deserves a darwin award, non-linear charge and capacity bars, regen circles that are often telling a different story than the Energy Usage pie chart, and bizarro efficiency reading. Honestly I think they took every number and ran it through a filter to make a cartoonish caricature of the reading to show to the driver.
 
it does in fact seem like that.

and when the battery is low is "runs out" faster than reality and then if you keep going it slows down and "catches up" with itself (so it might say 6 miles left you go 2 miles and it still says 6 miles left)

I wish it would just give me a solid linear reliable value.

if pushing it I just use leaf spyi and use kwh remaining as my guide (just remember 0 is .5kwh NOT 0kwh !! the battery will hard disconnect at around .5kwh :)
 
nerys said:
it does in fact seem like that.

and when the battery is low is "runs out" faster than reality and then if you keep going it slows down and "catches up" with itself (so it might say 6 miles left you go 2 miles and it still says 6 miles left)

I wish it would just give me a solid linear reliable value.

if pushing it I just use leaf spyi and use kwh remaining as my guide (just remember 0 is .5kwh NOT 0kwh !! the battery will hard disconnect at around .5kwh :)

The GOM run down "catches up" is probably due in part to the natural intelligent user response to being so low, driving better. A big part of this is forced on Nissan by our society that demands money back on major car investments for little things that bother them and the fear of being stranded. No one is going to sue Nissan for a car that their program said could do 6 miles but actually went 8 but they will sue and ask for a full refund on a now used car when it said 8 and went 7.5 and claim that Nissan endangered their family by leaving them on the side of the road .5 miles from where they thought they could go. Also the GOM especially at those low numbers is designed to make you search for a charging spot within the range given, it has to be extra cautious because even a short hill at a low battery SOC can make the difference between getting there and not. At full range a hill can never go on for 84 miles so they can make the assumption based on a tighter avg consumption.

It would be impossible to give a solid linear reliable value since no human can drive that way, no wind will ever blow that way and no road will ever be level in that way. I personally like the way the spark ev does it with a high/low and current use GOM and future cars should be programed with topographical information to give more accurate GOM when a destination is put in the GPS. I've heard the BMW active hybrid will do this when in cruise control to calculate if the electric assist should be boosted to maintain speed up a hill or give it more gas and or downshift.
 
Brenthasty said:
4.6 m/kwh @ 62 mph in my aeromodded leaf.

See my other thread describing the grille block, solid disc hubcaps, and tire cheek aero deflectors.

BRENTHASTY- are you averaging 4.6m/kwh? If so, does this mean you are able to drive 100 miles per charge and still have about a 10 mile reserve?? If this is so, I am very interested in what 'aeromodds' you've done and anything else you are doing to help out your mileage.

I pick up my Leaf this upcoming weekend. I was under the assumption that a Leaf should be able to push 100 miles per charge with routine EV tricks of the trade being implemented, such as drafting, regen, minimize climate control, etc. I've been sadly informed that my 100 mile marker is an improbability...


Angel
 
Yes, I have seen up to 105 mi per charge available from this aeromodded 2012 leaf.

Just today's stats:

Aeromodded Nissan Leaf pulling a 3 point tractor scraper box on a utility trailer. Getting 3.6 mi/kwh 122 mpg @60 mph over a 100 mile average.

Leaf pulling a empty utility trailer. Getting 4.1 mi/kwh 138 mpge @60 mph over a 100 mile average.

Aeromoded nissan leaf gets 162 mpg with improved aerodynamics increased range. http://fireplacefurnaces.blogspot.com/2015/02/aeromod-nissan-leaf-improved.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
sklancha said:
Brenthasty said:
4.6 m/kwh @ 62 mph in my aeromodded leaf.

See my other thread describing the grille block, solid disc hubcaps, and tire cheek aero deflectors.

BRENTHASTY- are you averaging 4.6m/kwh? If so, does this mean you are able to drive 100 miles per charge and still have about a 10 mile reserve?? If this is so, I am very interested in what 'aeromodds' you've done and anything else you are doing to help out your mileage.

I pick up my Leaf this upcoming weekend. I was under the assumption that a Leaf should be able to push 100 miles per charge with routine EV tricks of the trade being implemented, such as drafting, regen, minimize climate control, etc. I've been sadly informed that my 100 mile marker is an improbability...


Angel


With lightweight wheel and tire combo with high psi (15in 31lb total, Nokian winters at 51PSI cold) today I was able to get 4.9 miles/kWh using the climate control (heat pump) and temps around 40F with highway speeds around 60 mph. In the summer on the stock 16s 5.25 with highway trips just under 60 mph and 6.25 keeping to side roads wasn't too hard. Drafting works, regen is up for debate here so I know this will get comments back. Try to use it as little as possible, coast if possible and only use regen when you know you'll have to stop no matter what.

I never got around to the grill block before the temp got too cold for me to go out and try it and I'll be adding the mud flaps to the front (off the car now) when it gets warm enough to work on the car outside.
 
Did some research on What the LeafStat says, what the On-board GOM says, what Carwings says, and the real beef - The utility meter says

Goal: Determine the real usage that I pay for on my bill that is attributable to the Leaf and its Charging equipment.

Problem: Had about 300 kwh unaccounted between Carwings (and spreadsheet) from my Utility bill typical usage for Feb 2015 and past Febuary's

Solution #1: Test the charging equipment at the utility meter in a timed isolated fashion and see what impacts before and after the designed test. The test was to measure 1 kWh at the meter solely attributable to the AV EVSE-RS on 2 hot wires that are at 122.7 volts as I type this post test message. Before the test take measurements of Leaf both GOM, and Carwings, and LeafStat/OBDII wifi.

Start Points (max GIDs is 292):
House base watts with only small fixed usage device on = 84 watts
Meter reading kWh 29,159
Reported Air Temp = 50F
GOM = 76 miles
GIDS = 199
LeafStat kWh = 15.42
SOC = 69.69
SOH = 97.14
HX = 98.77
Ahr = 64.36
BatteryTemp=51F

Steps:
1. Turned off all circuit breakers down to a whole house wattage of 84 watts
2. Took the readings above
3. Turned on the kill switch to the EVSE and then plugged to car - not charging. Measured standby at 2-3 watts
4. Started Cell phone timer when charging was initiated on EVSE and light when on.
5. Observed wattage on internal CurrentCost house wattage meter at 5,590 watts
6. Stood outside the house at the ComEd utility meter and waited for the kWh to jump to 29160 - at 3 min 1 sec it did - hit lap on phone timer now in 1 kWh hour test.
7. Estimated 1 kWh at 9 min 9 seconds for a true 6,600 watts that are specified on the unit. True time was 9 min 4 sec - approx give or take 2 seconds.
8. ran over to the car 20 seconds later and stopped the charger and pulled the kill switch to off.
9. Took post test measurements as follows:

Stop Points :
Meter reading kWh 29,161 Delta of 1 kWh plus 3 min and 4 seconds (kWh Usage to be extrapolated)
Reported Air Temp = 50F
GOM = 82 (Delta: 82-76 = 6 miles)
GIDS = 215 (Delta: 215-199 = 16 GIDS)
LeafStat kWh = 19.66 (Delta: 19.66-15.42 = 4.24 kWh)
SOC = 74.58 (Delta: 74.58-69.69 = 4.89%)
SOH = 97.14 Delta=None
HX = 98.77 Delta=None
Ahr = 64.36 Delta=None
BattTemp=52.3 (Delta: 52.3-51 = 1.3F)

Calculations:
At house meter watts for the charger from HH:MM:SS: 00:03:04 to 00:12:05 - 00:09:04 computes to:
3,600 / 544 seconds = 6,618 watts total less Base house of 84 watts = net Charge watts = 6,534

Add 3 min 4 second interval charge to the batteries to get a kWh meter start point of 29160:
.334 kWh (6,534 watts * 184 seconds / 3,600 seconds / 1,000 watts)

total charge to Leaf batteries per the House meter = 1.0 + .334 = 1.334 kWh - This is what I paid for!!

What shows up on the post report is:
GIDS LeafStat @ 80 watts each? Delta: 16 * 80 comes to 1.28 kWh
SOC LeafStat Delta 4.89% times 24kw comes to 1.1736 kWh
LeafGOM delta 6 miles for Leaf computer average of 3.5 miles/kWh would be a GOM kWh = 1.71 kWh - (Guess O' watts)

If I throw out the 1.71 and average the first two - I get 1.227 kWh

Actual at the house within reason is 1.334 or higher since it comes on its hardest initially.

Conclusion:
Efficiency percentage in this 12 min charge test is: 1.334 - 1.227 = .107 divided by 1.334 = 8% loss or 92% made it to the batteries.

The Threads requirements:
Inception to date: Miles = 1,884 Carwings kWh = 533 Average 3.38 miles/kWh
Average electrical cost per kWh - Time of Use (TOU) customer - Total bill average rate is 0.12 - night time average = 0.08
Carwings Cost per mile is 533 * 0.12 / 1,884 = 3.4 cents per mile - TOU = 2.3 cents
True cost per mile is 533/.92 *.12 / 1,884 = 3.7 cents per mile - TOU = 2.5 cents
 
Getting 5.5 miles per kWh on the efficiency gauge with city driving. This seems to be 0.6 too high based on odometer readings versus battery level indicator changes. GOM seems to be pretty close on our 2015 S.

So the car's range is 4.9 x 21.3= 104 miles for the last full charge matching GOM. The usable capacity is a guess at this point.

Wall= 4.9 x .78 (120 volt EVSE)= 3.8 miles/kWh. Better than 2.9!
 
If you have a Leaf S, then the odometer is probably reading ~2.3% too high (at least). The tire size on the S is smaller outside diameter.

So this affects the dash efficiency rating, and if you are able to measure the charge at the wall, you will need to calibrate the miles driven to see the actual efficiency.
 
NeilBlanchard said:
If you have a Leaf S, then the odometer is probably reading ~2.3% too high (at least). The tire size on the S is smaller outside diameter.

So this affects the dash efficiency rating, and if you are able to measure the charge at the wall, you will need to calibrate the miles driven to see the actual efficiency.

It depends upon tire pressure. The odometer in my 2011 was accurate with its 16-inch tires inflated to 44 psi (my normal pressure), but slightly optimistic with lower pressures. With 44 psi in the 17-inch tires on my 2015, the odometer indicates slightly less than actual distance traveled.

The miles/kWh display on the dash and navigation unit is/was ridiculously inflated on both cars compared to true wall-to-wheels measurements. The wall-to-wheels efficiency is about 75% of what the dash displays.

Gerry
 
Higher pressure has a very small effect on the OD of the tire. It cannot change the OD beyond the spec OD, though, and the 16" tires used on the S are ~2.3% smaller than the 17" tires used on the other models. I know because I checked the odometer accuracy on my Leaf S two different ways - comparing it to my GPS and to Google Maps.

In the past, with other cars, I have used the measured mileage on some limited access highways - and all three methods are very, very close. I have kept fuel logs for over 7 years now, and I have recalibrated for several different sets of tires, in various states of tread depth.

I think there are folks here on the forum who have tracked the difference between the dash display and the actual charge at ~14-15%, which is in line with typical wall-to-wheels efficiency for many EV's. I have measured the wall-to-wheel number vs the dash on my e-Golf and it is ~15%. On the Leaf, I had too short distance, and it was higher.
 
Long term MPGe results at high speeds and high loads, nearly 50% better than stock with a few simple aerodynamic improvements.

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It's ideal weather lately for driving the Leaf. No AC or heating is needed. Efficiency lately is 6.0 miles/kWh in the car and 4.65 at the wall. We are still charging with 120V and it's app. 60 foot run of 14 AWG from the basement breaker up through two house receptacles and then into the garage. The sockets are all new and tight, but 77.5% efficiency at the wall is poor. We will install 240V wiring soon and hopefully get it up to 91% wall efficiency. 184 MPGe would be outstanding, but 157 city is good too!

The Leaf is perfect for our local needs. Average speed for city and neighborhood driving is 22 MPH. Tires are inflated to 40 PSI.
 
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