fingermouseirl said:
Range question for you guys. I have a new 40kwh 2022 Leaf and my maximum range I've had in the two months of ownership was around 180km (Ireland). City/town driving for the most part so 50kmph max, with a short school run and to the shops, with eco mode and epedal on. With the colder weather this week here in Ireland (-2c to 4c), I've had a max of 140km range on a full charge. It seems on the lower end of what's expected, even being very frugal with climate control. Tyre pressure is showing 33psi/230kpa in the mornings.
I've read so many forum posts and Facebook group posts where people are getting upwards of 210km range even with colder weather. Is my Leaf unusual in its range or would 140 - 160km max range be common?
There are a couple of things that will help. First, your tyre pressure. If you look at the side-walls on those tyres, they should have a max PSI / kPa listed. If they max at 44 PSI / 300 kPa, then consider raising them to at least 40 PSI / 275 kPa. If the tyres max at around 50 PSI / 345 kPa, you have some more room for air, try to keep them at 44 PSI / 303 kpA instead. This benefits low speed driving the most (under 55 mph / 88 kph). The next step is check what kind of tyres you have. If they are LRR (low rolling resistance) this will be a big help with higher air pressure. If they are just run-of-the-mill tyres, then the higher air pressure will still help, just not as much. If they are high-grip sport tyres, well the higher pressure will help a little, every bit counts. :lol:
Next is maximizing your climate control. A lot of people just flip on the auto mode and set the temperature (my wife is like that) and it does work fine, but if you are more into manually controlling your cabin temperature, you can actually save quite a bit of energy by just manually setting the fan speed to a lower amount, cycle the cabin air instead of using fresh air (because it takes more energy to heat up fresh air), and setting the temperature a little lower to make you comfortable that you aren't choking on cold air, but that the seat warmer or steering wheel heater can make up for some of the heating as they use a lot less power.
Finally, driving style. If you do a lot of city driving like myself, I try to use maximize regen settings to save energy and my brake pads at the same time. :lol: If you have more a long country road, very little traffic kind of drive, then just trying to keep the speed limit with gentle acceleration and braking goes a long way towards range. If you want to play stop-light champion (which is always tempting in an EV and instant torque), that also eats into the range.
