B mode is interesting

[dndrich]

I have just spent one week with my new Leaf. I just love the car. I've put about 300 miles on it.

Anyway, I have been playing with various modes just to see how they feel and how they affect range. Now, this is just anecdotal testing, but there you are. I don't need much range in my day to day driving anyway, as a big day for me is 40 miles.

First, I have driven some in Eco mode. I just don't like it. Sure, if I were going a long ways, perhaps it would help me get there and not run out of electrons, but the car just feels sluggish. So, I usually go in D mode. I am a smooth driver, and do not speed, even in my gas cars. So, over the past week I have had no problem maintaining 4 kW/mile or more while using the fantastic climate control. I coast to a stop as I used to do in my gas cars, and then brake. Very nice.

Today I decided to try B mode while driving mixed driving today. I did some highway and city in my errands. I found B mode to be really great. It is kind of like having an older sports car with a high compression engine. You can still coast, but when you take your foot of the pedal the engine brake kicks in and really regenerates well. I get to the light or stop sign nicely. It really boosted my kW/m to almost 5 today on a moderately hot day with climate control, and yet the car remained very fun to drive. I may go that route for a while. Those of you with 2011-12 don't have that mode. It is very different than eco mode. Really interesting programming they did with it.

 

[TomT]

It's basically Eco mode with more regen... At least that is how it feels to me compared to my 2011.

 

[dndrich]

It's basically Eco mode with more regen... At least that is how it feels to me compared to my 2011.

Sure doesn't feel that way to me. The acceleration and other drive parameters are the same as D. Eco doesn't feel that way to me at all. No, it just feels like the regen is higher, but the rest is the same.

 

[TomT]

OK, think of it as D with more regen if you like, but the regen in Eco is considerably stronger than in D so I don't think it is a relevant comparison. I prefer Eco since I can much more accurately feather the point between regen and power. and the amount of regen... Eco with B level Regen would be perfect in my opinion.

It's basically Eco mode with more regen... At least that is how it feels to me compared to my 2011.

Sure doesn't feel that way to me. The acceleration and other drive parameters are the same as D. Eco doesn't feel that way to me at all. No, it just feels like the regen is higher, but the rest is the same.

 

[dndrich]

OK, think of it as D with more regen if you like, but the regen in Eco is considerably stronger than in D so I don't think it is a relevant comparison. I prefer Eco since I can much more accurately feather the point between regen and power. and the amount of regen... Eco with B level Regen would be perfect in my opinion.

It's basically Eco mode with more regen... At least that is how it feels to me compared to my 2011.

Sure doesn't feel that way to me. The acceleration and other drive parameters are the same as D. Eco doesn't feel that way to me at all. No, it just feels like the regen is higher, but the rest is the same.

I didn't try it, but I think you can be in eco and B also.

 

[lion]

Yep, I drive in B and ECO all the time. That said, I do agree that driving in ECO is starting to feel sluggish, especially if you have to deal with hills or hit 55mph zones. You basically have to push the pedal twice as hard in ECO in order to get the same speed in D.

 

[TomT]

I fail to see why that is a negative. You don't have to push it any harder, just further... The spring is fairly linear. The exact same performance is there, just deeper in to the pedal. I like the ability to be able to control and modulate everything with just one pedal.

Yep, I drive in B and ECO all the time. That said, I do agree that driving in ECO is starting to feel sluggish, especially if you have to deal with hills or hit 55mph zones. You basically have to push the pedal twice as hard in ECO in order to get the same speed in D.

 

[apvbguy]

I do not like B mode at all, I take my foot off the accelerator often and B mode regen is too grabby, it is like a severe downshift in a gasser and makes for a very jerky ride.
I only use B mode when I want a fast slow down other wise a long coast in d eco mode seems to work
better for me

 

[Deleted member 9549]

I haven't tried D, but have used B and Eco.

Eco does nothing other than remapping the throttle. It just makes it so you have to press the pedal farther for the same amount of power. I can do that just as easy myself.

B mode is similar to L on the Volt or the default mode in the Tesla where its single pedal driving. As you reduce power with the throttle, it reduces to zero power then as you lift more, starts adding some regen. It generally makes it easier to drive with one pedal and encourages you to take advantage of regen rather than stomp on the brakes and lose the energy.

 

[LEAFfan]

I haven't tried D, but have used B and Eco.

Eco does nothing other than remapping the throttle. It just makes it so you have to press the pedal farther for the same amount of power. I can do that just as easy myself.

B mode is similar to L on the Volt or the default mode in the Tesla where its single pedal driving. As you reduce power with the throttle, it reduces to zero power then as you lift more, starts adding some regen. It generally makes it easier to drive with one pedal and encourages you to take advantage of regen rather than stomp on the brakes and lose the energy.

Actually, ECO reduces energy used and thereby increases efficiency.

 

[lion]

I'm getting the same, if not better 4.6 miles per kWh in D as I am in ECO, so I'm not seeing a difference. B mode is great, as long as you understand you want to avoid regeneration at all cost (so you have to push the accelerator in order to get as close to the Neutral position as possible, which might be counter-intuitive sometimes) so you can coast as far as possible when slowing down.

Having to really push the pedal in ECO when going uphill trying to go from 0 to 55MPH feels like a real drag in this car, which is what made me experiment with D mode again. Still a fan of ECO, but do use D in the right scenarios.

 

[ggulik]

I kind like B mode as well, I do mostly stop and go city driving so it's nice to lift off the accelerator and come to a slow stop. It would be nice to somehow set that to be the default instead of D for those who prefer it.

 

[lion]

I felt the same way, but since my wife drives the car as well, and doesn't really care for this feature, so for me personally, it's probably for the better it doesn't do this.

I wish the car would adjust all these settings depending on which intelligent key turned on the car. Imagine having it adjust the mirrors, ECO/B settings, and all the other good stuff. Other cars in this price range do this, Nissan could have easily implemented this, outside of tracking mirror positioning, it's all done via software.

 

[Nubo]

Now I'm confused. Is Eco different in the new models compared to the old? Some of the descriptions here make it sound like they kept the Eco throttle-mapping but moved the higher regen separately to the "B" mode?

 

[davewill]

I'm getting the same, if not better 4.6 miles per kWh in D as I am in ECO, so I'm not seeing a difference. ...

On the 2011/12s, ECO does three things. Adds more regen without using the brake pedal, remaps the accelerator pedal response, and throttles the climate control so it uses less power, at least at peak. If you are careful with the accelerator and braking, and don't use the climate control much, you won't see a difference.

 

[dndrich]

I haven't tried D, but have used B and Eco.

Eco does nothing other than remapping the throttle. It just makes it so you have to press the pedal farther for the same amount of power. I can do that just as easy myself.

B mode is similar to L on the Volt or the default mode in the Tesla where its single pedal driving. As you reduce power with the throttle, it reduces to zero power then as you lift more, starts adding some regen. It generally makes it easier to drive with one pedal and encourages you to take advantage of regen rather than stomp on the brakes and lose the energy.

That is an apt description of B mode. It is like 1 pedal driving. You get the advantage of D with the smooth pickup with the nice slowing at stops. Eco also reduces the climate control. B does not affect that.