Cruise Control fyi

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Ohmie

Active member
Joined
Dec 29, 2010
Messages
41
Most of my commute consists of many uncluttered freeway miles. In my old Honda Accord, I used cruise control to maximize mileage. Worked great. I love cruise control! And cruise control on the LEAF is very well conceived. Better than the Accord, Fords, and GM cars I've driven. The steering wheel buttons are very intuitive and the info on the screen is crisp and clear.

BUT!

Cruise control in the LEAF does NOT improve range! In fact, it reduces it by quite a lot, perhaps as much or more than climate control! I didn't realize this and have been getting pretty poor range!

My commute is short enough that I can still use cruise control and get by. However, to maximize efficiency, cruise control is not recommended! Cheers!
 
Ohmie said:
Most of my commute consists of many uncluttered freeway miles. In my old Honda Accord, I used cruise control to maximize mileage. Worked great. I love cruise control! And cruise control on the LEAF is very well conceived. Better than the Accord, Fords, and GM cars I've driven. The steering wheel buttons are very intuitive and the info on the screen is crisp and clear.

BUT!

Cruise control in the LEAF does NOT improve range! In fact, it reduces it by quite a lot, perhaps as much or more than climate control! I didn't realize this and have been getting pretty poor range!

My commute is short enough that I can still use cruise control and get by. However, to maximize efficiency, cruise control is not recommended! Cheers!
Click to expand...

when I bought my Prius, I thought about patenting an 'eco cruise control' (variable) and then selling it to toyota. Yeah, bottom line, keeping a consistent speed is rough on mileage when compared to the skilled foot of a hypermiler (or even your average, reasonably savvy driver) :)
 
kolmstead said:
Hmm.. maybe I'd better rethink cruise on my 83 mile trip Saturday. I, too, love cruise control, but not if it's going to cost me range on this trip. I doubt there's any penalty on flat roads, but I can see how it'd hurt going uphill.

-Karl
Click to expand...

Phew! No question! I'm glad I posted this! I may have saved your trip! I estimate that using cruise control at modest freeway speeds (~60mph) in eco mode, with moderate hills (mostly flat) and no climate control, range for the LEAF is 75 miles, 80 max. Based on my experience, you wouldn't make it.

Problem with driving without cruise control (for me, anyway) is that I find myself driving WAY faster! The car is so tight and stiff, I can't feel much of a difference between 55mph and 85mph (except things are passing by more quickly!). It is such a great car, feels very smooth and secure at all speeds.
 
sdbonez said:
bottom line, keeping a consistent speed is rough on mileage when compared to the skilled foot of a hypermiler (or even your average, reasonably savvy driver) :)
Click to expand...

In the hills, yes of course. But on completely flat roads at highway speeds? Mmnh... no, I don't think so...
 
sdbonez said:
when I bought my Prius, I thought about patenting an 'eco cruise control' (variable) and then selling it to toyota. Yeah, bottom line, keeping a consistent speed is rough on mileage when compared to the skilled foot of a hypermiler (or even your average, reasonably savvy driver) :)
Click to expand...

I can't speak for Priuses or LEAFs, but my 2000 Honda Civic GX sure gets much better mileage using the cruise. On a 28 mile, mostly hwy trip, I obtained 51.3 mpg. I've never been able to reach that before without cruise and I'll challenge any GX to top it! :mrgreen:
 
Ohmie said:
Cruise control in the LEAF does NOT improve range! In fact, it reduces it by quite a lot, perhaps as much or more than climate control! I didn't realize this and have been getting pretty poor range!
Click to expand...
I am really curious how you came to this conclusion.
 
Spies said:
Ohmie said:
Cruise control in the LEAF does NOT improve range! In fact, it reduces it by quite a lot, perhaps as much or more than climate control! I didn't realize this and have been getting pretty poor range!
Click to expand...
I am really curious how you came to this conclusion.
Click to expand...
+1!
 
Spies said:
Ohmie said:
Cruise control in the LEAF does NOT improve range! In fact, it reduces it by quite a lot, perhaps as much or more than climate control! I didn't realize this and have been getting pretty poor range!
Click to expand...
I am really curious how you came to this conclusion.
Click to expand...

I talked with the LEAF salesperson tonight and this is what said. He said that cruise control limits range significantly. I'm sorry I didn't source my info from the start. He volunteered this information. He explained that this problem wasn't due to forcing high speeds up hills (as cruise controls do, wasting energy), it was for some other reason. I.e., the cruise control system itself is a bit of an energy hog.

Admittedly, I haven't yet tested this idea on the roads. But it immediately resonated with me because cruise control is the only 'feature' I've been using on the highway and the range has at times, been surprisingly poor (accounting for moderate speed). I hadn't been able to account for my relatively poor range and efficiency values. So when he told me this, I thought, "aHA! That's it!"

I'll definitely be experimenting with it from now on... Now that we have two hypotheses, one of which would be quite surprising if true, it is time to apply the scientific method!

What is the energy consumption people are getting at 65mph on flat roads?
 
Sorry, but I don't believe the guy knows what he is talking about!

Ohmie said:
I talked with the LEAF salesperson tonight and this is what said. He said that cruise control limits range significantly. I'm sorry I didn't source my info from the start. He volunteered this information. He explained that this problem wasn't due to forcing high speeds up hills (as cruise controls do, wasting energy), it was for some other reason. I.e., the cruise control system itself is a bit of an energy hog.
Click to expand...
 
Yes, I disagree too. I've been using cruise control at every opportunity and have been getting very respectable results @ 65mph - it's not been at all difficult to maintain an average energy economy of 4mpkWh.

Now, could I do better with the CC off? Quite possibly, and one thing in particular I don't like is the way CC brings the car up to speed again after being on the brakes - it does so quite quickly, so there is definitely energy to be saved there.
 
I'm having a hard time believing that the CC is an energy hog. For one thing, it's electronic, no mechanical actuator. And since the LEAF monitors current draw, you would know instantly if a big load were added; your calculated range would drop like a rock as soon as you engaged CC. Nobody has seen that. So, upon consideration, I think CC will be on for all but the most demanding parts of my trip.

-Karl
 
kolmstead said:
I'm having a hard time believing that the CC is an energy hog. For one thing, it's electronic, no mechanical actuator. And since the LEAF monitors current draw, you would know instantly if a big load were added; your calculated range would drop like a rock as soon as you engaged CC. Nobody has seen that. So, upon consideration, I think CC will be on for all but the most demanding parts of my trip.

-Karl
Click to expand...


This is funny, the CC unit does not use enough energy to even be concerned about. What cruise control does is that when there are slight inclines it used more power than an efficient driver to compensate for speed. Pedal position is key in an EV which is why they made the silly ECO mode position. The cruise is not intelligent enough to know when to compensate more or less for power savings. On flat ground this is negligible to none but on even slight inclines or head winds of grades a experienced driver can do much better. The key is a driver that knows how to drive efficiently, having a more accurate kw meter helps one to do this. It is not a tool to drive more efficiently and who needs cruse on an EV, it's not like ones foot hours from holding it in one spot for hours. I see people using it on busy freeways which is silly and inefficient and more of a toy.
 
EVDRIVER said:
The key is a driver that knows how to drive efficiently, having a more accurate kw meter helps one to do this.
Click to expand...

The "bubbles" (or whatever you want to call them) aren't a bad indicator:

Center "bubble" = cool.
+1 for acceleration = doing great
+2 for acceleration = uh, oh...watch out buddy
+3 for acceleration = hmmmm
+4 for acceleration = :eek:

If you're cruising (and I don't mean cruise control cruising) on anything more than the center bubble....then you're completely unsuited to EV ownership. :lol:
 
mwalsh said:
EVDRIVER said:
The key is a driver that knows how to drive efficiently, having a more accurate kw meter helps one to do this.
Click to expand...

The "bubbles" (or whatever you want to call them) aren't a bad indicator:

Center "bubble" = cool.
+1 for acceleration = doing great
+2 for acceleration = uh, oh...watch out buddy
+3 for acceleration = hmmmm
+4 for acceleration = :eek:

If you're cruising (and I don't mean cruise control cruising) on anything more than the center bubble....then you're completely unsuited to EV ownership. :lol:
Click to expand...

So, you should be able to see the cruise control being too aggressive by watching the bubbles, right? Has anyone seen this?

Also, what I'm curious about is: are people seeing the computer estimate range differently upon turning on the CC, or actually getting less range when they use it?

Lastly, does the CC behave differently when ECO mode is engaged?
 

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