I'm sure you're all familiar with the debate over which is better - driving with the windows up and the AC on, or the windows down and the AC off. My understanding is that it really depends on the car, the speed, and the conditions.
I was wondering if the instrumentation on the Leaf is precise enough that one could test this on their own without any additional gadgets. The thought I had was this: Find a flat, straight stretch of road that you can go whatever range of speeds you want to test. Set the cruise control to a speed and run whichever test you want to run (Windows Up, Windows Up AC On, Windows Down). Go back to the beginning of the stretch, and repeat for the other tests. You could then go down or up in speeds for additional data points.
I see that the Energy Usage screen does give the current (hah) kW draw, but the information is given in an "analog" format instead of a straight digital display. This makes it trickier, but I would imagine one could still get a good idea of what their windows up/down point was.
So would this work? Is the information given to the driver granular enough for this test to work? Would the instant miles/kWh gauge work better for this? I am (hopefully) getting my car in April, but until then I have to rely on the kindness of strangers for these kind of things
I was wondering if the instrumentation on the Leaf is precise enough that one could test this on their own without any additional gadgets. The thought I had was this: Find a flat, straight stretch of road that you can go whatever range of speeds you want to test. Set the cruise control to a speed and run whichever test you want to run (Windows Up, Windows Up AC On, Windows Down). Go back to the beginning of the stretch, and repeat for the other tests. You could then go down or up in speeds for additional data points.
I see that the Energy Usage screen does give the current (hah) kW draw, but the information is given in an "analog" format instead of a straight digital display. This makes it trickier, but I would imagine one could still get a good idea of what their windows up/down point was.
So would this work? Is the information given to the driver granular enough for this test to work? Would the instant miles/kWh gauge work better for this? I am (hopefully) getting my car in April, but until then I have to rely on the kindness of strangers for these kind of things