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I drive mostly freeway to work and as I leave very early, 7am, the is no traffic. I stay in far right hand lane and drive 55-60MPH and am usually behind a school bus, tractor trailer or some other slow car. I am getting about 114 miles per charge. My office is almost 30 miles from home and my gauge says I have 85 miles left by the time I get to work. I have carpool stickers but the only time I use them is when there is a bad accident and traffic stopped or extremely slow.
I now enjoy the drive to work, being able to take my time, listening to my XM radio. Life is good.
 
I am glad it works for you but many don't feel comfortable (or safe) driving like that. And it perpetuates the myth for many that EVs are just glorified Golf Carts...
 
TomT said:
I am glad it works for you but many don't feel comfortable (or safe) driving like that. And it perpetuates the myth for many that EVs are just glorified Golf Carts...
I only drive at that speed when safe and behind someone else who is driving a gas engine. I don't putz in my Leaf as to cause an accident or make someone mad at me for going to slow. I certainly understand your point about that. There are times I drive at 65-70MPH. That is why I stay out of the carpool lane as most drivers are going 85MPH. I found that out with my first Prius when I had carpool stickers back then.
As for perpetuating the myth that EV's are glorified Golf Cars, I don't care what others think. If I did, I would not be driving an EV in the first place. I also don't see anything wrong with that characterization. A Tesla is just a super doper glorified highly over priced golf cart. There is no shame in that to me. I take no offense. My friends are really quite in awe and kinda jealous they don't own an EV. If people do have that mentality then they don't understand the EV or appreciate it and don't deserve to own one.
As I said earlier, I feel much more comfortable and safe driving the way I do. How many times have you seen someone cut another driver off by trying to beat the clock, rather get ahead of everyone else or by switching lanes 3 or 4 times in front of you. How safe do you feel? I think we ALL need to slow down not only driving but our lifestyles. I used to get so angry at other but now hardly even notice. I am sure my blood pressure is way down- at least the time I am driving.
I wonder how the rest of your EV drivers feel about this. Have you seen any change in your driving habits or mentality?
 
I agree with your driving style and safe, calm attitude. I drive the same way and don't get too upset about idiots.

My gasser is a 1995 Mazda Protege, 5 spd. manual with pretty low gearing. It has taught me to drive at 60-65 MPH on the highways/interstates over the last 20 years to maximize MPG (40-42) and minimize engine noise. It really should have a 6th gear. Oh well, it keeps going strong. I remember driving in the 80s when it was 55 everywhere to save oil. How times have changed.

My wife is a good driver but has that New Jersey attitude (family originally from there). The other day she was driving the Leaf at the speed limit or 5 over (50 MPH) in the left lane of a divided 2 lane highway preparing to enter a short left turn lane at a traffic light/intersection. Some jerk that was tailgating her quickly passed on the right and then got in front of her and flipped her off. She flipped him back. Unfortunately for him he was looking in his mirrors to see her response and didn't notice the light just ahead had turned red. Hard stop, smoking tires, and he had to go into the left turn lane to avoid a collision with the car ahead. I'm sure he wet his pants.

I believe Leaf owners are way better than average drivers. I know the insurance rates on this new car say so!
 
My very best to date is 120.7 miles on one charge non highway: http://youtu.be/qGy2NHEw090" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
Today I drove to a nearby city to visit a friend, as I often do. It was 87F out, so I had the A/C set to 74F, the modes in Eco/B, and the fan alternating between the second and third speeds. I just had the "summer" tires mounted (non-LRR Goodyear Eagle L/S), and inflated to 42psi). I hadn't reset the Eco meter, which ended at 4.4, but since I drove about 24 miles on 24% charge, I guess I was on track for the 100 mile club. Not bad for having the A/C on the whole trip, and for not babying the accelerator. This was, of course, the perfect kind of route for an EV, very flat and with the speed limits 30-45MPH.
 
my best single charge mileage as of this morning is 112.3. At 106 miles there were no more battery bars left, and by the time I got to work we still have not entered the turtle mode, what ever that is. I have made numerous 100+ miles in my car, I do drive a lot on the highway, however I try to keep the speed below 62.

All but 10 of the 112 miles were on an open two lane scenic roads. It was a gorgeous drive.
 
Just happened today; my results kinda shocked me (in a good way :). My '12 Leaf w/12 bars and nearing 22k mi. Left home with a full charge, returned with LBW and 1 bar/5mi on GOM. Overcast, in the low-80s, no big elevation changes, and traveled a total of 81.4mi. Big majority of the trip was interstate driving at 55-65mph, windows up with A/C on (72 degrees), on surface streets no A/C and windows down. Always in ECO mode, with the dash showing an average of 4.7 mi/kWh. I kept my speed constant on the interstate, and stayed in the right lane behind a work truck (not tailgating). Only used cruise for a few miles (set at 60).

I bought used and have only had her for a few weeks. I am thrilled (and relieved) that I can drive her just like my former ICE cars. Up until today I was getting from full to VLBW (dashes) in around 70-75mi, with little or no A/C. Last night I checked the tire pressure, all 4 were 34-35psi. Bumped them all up to 40psi then came home and charged overnight. I have also noticed that my GOM is mostly accurate, especially on the lower end. When I was 35mi away from home according to the NAV, for example, the GOM read 40mi. That 5mi 'cushion' between my mileage home and the GOM remained fairly constant for the entire trip (within 1mi).
 
114.4 miles - my best, and first, 100% to turtle mode test. Mix of driving between easy driving, and 55 to 60 mph two lane highway driving. No heating or A/C. Over the course of 5 days total. Temps in low 50's to upper 80's. Average miles/kwh was over 6.0, not sure exactly though, didn't reset either of those meters. Bought the '13 SV in April, now has about 16,500 miles, all 12 bars left and around 87-88ish% capacity. Hoping it stays like that for a while. I usually only charge to 80%. Low battery to turtle took forever, so hopefully that will help ease how many miles it claims I will get on an 80% charge, before it hits 20%. In the past I've always only been able to go about 50 miles between an 80 to 20% charge, so hoping once it's done charging to 80% tonight that the range will be "updated".
 
My best was today in the 2011 Leaf -- 34.5 miles and pulling into the charger with the display reading "---".
I have a 2011 Leaf showing 7 capacity bars. It gets just under 3.00 miles per kilowatt hour, based on the JuiceBox measurements.
I normally start feeling stressed after about 30 miles, and often have to charge a bit ( https://www.plugshare.com/ helps ) before getting through errands. Most trips are relatively flat, San Francisco Bay Area, mild climate, climate control off.

The vehicle meets my needs, for a City based glorified golf cart.
 
brycenesbitt said:
My best was today in the 2011 Leaf -- 34.5 miles and pulling into the charger with the display reading "---".
I have a 2011 Leaf showing 7 capacity bars. It gets just under 3.00 miles per kilowatt hour, based on the JuiceBox measurements.
I normally start feeling stressed after about 30 miles, and often have to charge a bit ( https://www.plugshare.com/ helps ) before getting through errands. Most trips are relatively flat, San Francisco Bay Area, mild climate, climate control off.

The vehicle meets my needs, for a City based glorified golf cart.

Nice !

If you connect an OBD2 adapter and use the LEAFSpy app you will probably find a fair amount of energy still available in the battery below " --- "
 
Nice job.

I don't want to rub it in, but tried a full speed test with AC today with the S+ and EV01s. Used 485 gids or ~39.5 kWh to cover the 174 miles (though oddly the remaining kWh shows higher at the end then what was reported used by LeafSpy.) 2.8 gids/mile isn't bad at the speeds driven.

https://youtu.be/MhxXQCVqsMk
 
Hey Doug, were you driving 70-75 mph indicated the whole time? Any traffic, slow downs, back roads? How hard were you trying hypermiling wise? That’s probably 65-70 mph actual. And assuming ~55 kWh useable on a 2019 Leaf Plus battery with 91-92% SOH, then your highway range at those speeds and in those conditions would be 4.4 mi/kWh x 55 kWh = 242 miles. Pretty extraordinary for a Leaf Plus.
 
There was a mile of local driving on either side (I was driving to Wisconsin to buy a spare tire for the Leaf).
As you come into Milwaukee bypass, speed limit drops to 55 for the last 5 miles, so I had to keep it to 65 to prevent tickets. Growing up in Wisconsin, you learn Illinois drivers are favorites for getting tickets.

Not too much of any construction in between though. It being 93 and super humid I believe was a key factor, and that measurably lowers the air resistance.

I am sporting EV01 rims, which cut 20lbs off of the stock 16" rims and 40lbs off of the stock 17" rims.

The AC was using post the start up cycle about 600 watts per Leaf Spy. So over the 2 1/2 to 3 hours of driving Say about 1.5 kWh. I did pulse it on the way ho.e as cabin was quite chilly. The thermostat on the S+ doesn't really work, so even setting the temp to 88 is still very very cold.

Again this is just one test. Prior to moving to the EV01s, the stock rims on an 85F day with no AC would have yielded me about 4.1.

Whe. I can find a day where I would not be shirking my family responsibilities, I would like to try Chicago to St. Louis on a single charge.

I know the EV world has moved on from the Leaf, but if done right, is still a very capable car.
 
Excellent. Thanks for that context. In my 2019 SV+ with 92% SOH I average around 4 miles/kWh in hot summer weather going 70 mph indicated (about 65 mph actual). I actually just did a 290 mile drive using 69.85 kWh which at 55 kWh useable means a highway range in ideal summer conditions of 228. Call it 215 since the first 30 miles or so was 65 mph indicated (60 actual). Charging time was 40 minutes at a 50 Kw EVGo because we had to stop and charge when the battery was only down to 45% SOC, but theoretically I could have cut that down to 25 minutes if I had driven down to around 10% SOC before plugging in. The Leaf Plus still is and always be a “road trip car” only if the people road tripping are nerds, but it’s not a bad tool if you drive less than 300 miles in one day. Reliable 100 kW Chademo would probably expand that to 400 mile days, although I just tested a 100 kw EVGo charger in 86 F ambient temps after the car had been sitting for 24 hours. Charging from 14-87% SOC absolutely toasted the battery, adding three whole battery bars just from the charging session. So I would actually worry that driving ~175 highway miles in the summer and then charging on a 100 kw plug might make the car rapid gate on the very first charge.
 
On my 13 at 10 bars I can barely get 5 trips to work, 87 miles total , but I have to drive conservatively, no AC , only in the summer feather the throttle up hill. I've done it a lot last year but this year is almost a challenge. I'm sure I could go 3 more miles so 90 miles is about max.
 
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