Better battery range?

2018 SL here.
I have been driving to a particular destination 3 times per week, and each time I use 13% of the battery each way. 26% round trip.
Recently, I have now been using only 10% each way. 20% round trip.
I know we drive differently, but I really have kept it pretty constant. I use cruise control and the e-pedal on the trip.
Is it possible that as the battery life wears in, I could be getting better battery range?

Maybe, but I would bet on a higher battery temperature being the cause. I assume a cold battery can hold fewer Ah's than one at 'normal' temps and if the SOC reading relied on this it would act as described.

The other possibility is that you are becoming a better Leaf driver.

goldbrick said:

Maybe, but I would bet on a higher battery temperature being the cause. I assume a cold battery can hold fewer Ah's than one at 'normal' temps and if the SOC reading relied on this it would act as described.

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Also hotter air is less dense, and air resistance is the primary energy consumer at road speeds.

All good points......maybe I am becoming a better Leaf driver, I do use the e-pedal more now.
Perhaps it is the temperature, things warming up here.

Baltneu said:

All good points......maybe I am becoming a better Leaf driver, I do use the e-pedal more now.
Perhaps it is the temperature, things warming up here.

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It's all of them. Even as my 2013 was starting to lose range the first couple of years, I was still driving farther with less effort, as I learned the ins and out of driving a BEV.

I agree it's everything mentioned. But my guess is that it's primarily the transition from winter to spring (i.e. warmer temperatures) , which results in more miles/kWh.

I have pretty consistent usage, back and forth to work. On a monthly basis I record my miles/kWh, and I see a pretty significant change as the seasons change:

Jul - 7.2
Aug - 7.1
Sep - 6.9
Oct - 6.5
Nov - 5.6
Dec - 5.1
Jan - 4.9
Feb - 5.1
Mar - 5.5
Apr - 6.3

Ron

oz10k said:

I agree it's everything mentioned. But my guess is that it's primarily the transition from winter to spring (i.e. warmer temperatures) , which results in more miles/kWh.

I have pretty consistent usage, back and forth to work. On a monthly basis I record my miles/kWh, and I see a pretty significant change as the seasons change:

Jul - 7.2
Aug - 7.1
Sep - 6.9
Oct - 6.5
Nov - 5.6
Dec - 5.1
Jan - 4.9
Feb - 5.1
Mar - 5.5
Apr - 6.3

Ron

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What car do you drive? I average like 3.8 (no heat/AC) in my Leaf during the warmer weather. Clearly, I'm doing something wrong. (Or I'm having too much fun!)

Even driving conservatively, I can't break 5.2 or so.

I averaged about 3.8 in my old Leaf as well. 4.2 tops. Now it's more like 3.6 to 5.5.

Lothsahn said:

What car do you drive? I average like 3.8 (no heat/AC) in my Leaf during the warmer weather. Clearly, I'm doing something wrong. (Or I'm having too much fun!)

Even driving conservatively, I can't break 5.2 or so.

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Too much fun, or too high of speed.

I usually get 3.x in the winter, and 4.x in the summer. I've driven for range a few times, and you would like to:

1) 2 bubbles of acceleration maximum
2) keep it under 35MPH. Maybe under 30MPH
.
3) neutral throttle as much as you can.
4) Regenerate if you need to sop
5) Friction braking as little as possible.
6) Flat or very gently sloping roads.
7) 44 psi tires.

I've gotten 7 mkWh for a trip. Averaging 7.1 for a month? I couldn't do that. Too many hills most of the places I go.

If I could drive all my miles on the flats near the coast, I might be able to get up to 4.5 or 4.6 m/kwh. Unfortunately I drive up and down a mountain every day and get 3.8 m/kwh most of the time. I suppose that if I lived in town, only used the surface streets, and kept my speed below 35 mph, 5.5 M/kwh might be possible. Of course it would take all fun out of driving.

WetEV said:

Too much fun, or too high of speed.

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1) 2 bubbles of acceleration maximum - Usually 5 or 6. When I'm trying for 5+ mi/kWh, 2-3.
2) keep it under 35MPH. Maybe under 30MPH - 35-45 city, 60-70 highway
3) neutral throttle as much as you can. - Yes
4) Regenerate if you need to sop - Yes
5) Friction braking as little as possible. - Yes
6) Flat or very gently sloping roads. - It's Missouri, not Kansas. Hillcountry galore.
7) 44 psi tires. - Yes

So basically, I'm doing it all wrong. In any case, the range meets my needs x2 (with the new battery), so I suppose it doesn't really matter.

2 bubbles of acceleration? Wow, you are a patient person. I try to limit myself to 4 but about once a day I need to merge to highway traffic or something and that won't cut it. Otherwise, 4 is fine for starts from red-lights, etc. I'm normally around 4.5 - 5.0 mi/kWh but much of my driving is in town or at 55mph.

I've got a 2015 S, just under 25,000 miles, still with 12 bars. I drive about 500 miles per month in the Chicago suburbs, my average speed is just under 25 mph.

I generally accelerate at 2 - 3 bubbles and I always use B mode. Tire pressure is 40 psi.

I rarely use the friction brakes, As much as traffic allows I let B mode slow me down for red lights and I put it in neutral when stopped.

It's a great car for me, I'm very happy with it!

Ron

In South East TX, I have experience quite a "cycle" in Ahrs from seasonal temp changes - and noticed that similar driving (without any heat or A/C) that the miles/kwh avg. does go up in spring/summer and down in the fall/winter:



Already up to over 54.5 Ahrs and expect further increases.

The latest graph: