Cruise Control fyi

[kolmstead]

Ohmie, I appreciate your post. If you hadn't posted the fyi, I would have locked on CC for the whole trip, regardless of hills. Now I know to watch the bubblemeter and modify my driving accordingly. I probably gained ten miles of range just from the info in this discussion, which you started. And I liked your 'crow' follow-on.

One and a half hours before I start the trip! Should see my LEAF for the first time around 11 am PST today. Should get home around 3 pm, unless I pushed the LEAF too far.

-Karl

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Ohmie, I appreciate your post. If you hadn't posted the fyi, I would have locked on CC for the whole trip, regardless of hills. Now I know to watch the bubblemeter and modify my driving accordingly. I probably gained ten miles of range just from the info in this discussion, which you started. And I liked your 'crow' follow-on.

One and a half hours before I start the trip! Should see my LEAF for the first time around 11 am PST today. Should get home around 3 pm, unless I pushed the LEAF too far.

-Karl

WTG !! have fun! i am within 4 days of getting mine. still holding out hope that my dealer will call and tell me to come get mine TODAY!!

 

[kolmstead]

Pretty good chance of that, Dave. My dashboard says Jan 20, and the car came in Jan 12. We're brothers; you have the next s/n after mine.

-Karl

 

[Jimmydreams]

I'm still learning... this is a complicated vehicle. I appreciate the discussion, thanks especially to mwalsh and kolmstead. Sorry for misleading folks, this wasn't my intention! Cheers.

LOL! We are all learning as we go. Me, I've learned that my suppositions about what SOC percentages are encompassed by the bars on the dash and in the OP are incorrect. Any of that crow left? :lol:

Sorry, Mike, I ate the rest of it over in the Turtle-mode thread!!
:lol:

 

[garygid]

kolmstead ... can you hear me yet?
How did it go?

Calling into the distance: "Wheeeerrrrreeee aaaarrrrreee yooooouuuuu?"

Oh, I see in anither thread, YOU MADE IT home!
Congratulations !!!!

 

[Jimmydreams]

kolmstead ... can you hear me yet?
How did it go?

Calling into the distance: "Wheeeerrrrreeee aaaarrrrreee yooooouuuuu?"

He made it, Gary.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=2099&start=360

:mrgreen:

 

[mwalsh]

FYI, I tried to drive home from HB today WITHOUT using CC. It was VERY difficult to keep the speed down to 65mph. The natural "zone" to be driving in seems (for me at least) to be sort of in the 67-70mph range.

 

[Jimmydreams]

FYI, I tried to drive home from HB today WITHOUT using CC. It was VERY difficult to keep the speed down to 65mph. The natural "zone" to be driving in seems (for me at least) to be sort of in the 67-70mph range.

I never said it was EASY, Mike!!! :lol:

(or, fun for that matter, but when you need the range, you do what ya gotta do.)

 

[kolmstead]

Thanks for asking, Gary. Yup, I made it, with a little juice left over. The lady was talking to me, though. Didn't dip into REALLY LOW, just low battery. See if this takes you to the blog entry I made this evening. If it doesn't, I'll post the whole works here. As I said in the blog, I ran CC the whole way, at 55 mph and no climate control.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/blog.php?u=631

-Karl

 

[garygid]

Yes, your b-log (whatever the "b" is?) is GREAT.
Happy Thanks, Gary
(charge over here sometime!)

 

[Ohmie]

Thanks for asking, Gary. Yup, I made it, with a little juice left over. The lady was talking to me, though. Didn't dip into REALLY LOW, just low battery. See if this takes you to the blog entry I made this evening. If it doesn't, I'll post the whole works here. As I said in the blog, I ran CC the whole way, at 55 mph and no climate control.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/blog.php?u=631

-Karl

Nice work! Glad you made it! Isn't it a great car?! Enjoy!

 

[pkeys]

Interesting thread. Never did like CC anyway, so it seems like I can avoid it on this car too.

 

[bdgotoh]

I have a separate cruise control question. I have a Prius and Camry Hybrid and I'm waiting for my Leaf to come in April (supposedly).

Both of my hybrids aren't very good at maintaining the set speed when going downhill. With an ICE or a hybrid using engine compression to slow the car, how does the Leaf slow itself down? Is there enough regen to slow the car on a steep hill, say coming down from a mountain pass? Does the cc automatically apply the brakes?

 

[planet4ever]

I think it's clear there is not enough regen unless you use ECO mode. That's really the same story with the Prius - there is only enough regen if you put it in "B" mode. The catch with the Prius is that "B" mode turns off cruise control. Apparently ECO mode does not turn of cruise control in the LEAF. (I'm really anxious to get mine so I can confirm that.)

Ray

 

[Gonewild]

Planet - Skywagan and I have tested CC and ECO and it works just fine. I will be using it daily.

 

[ttweed]

With an ICE or a hybrid using engine compression to slow the car, how does the Leaf slow itself down? Is there enough regen to slow the car on a steep hill, say coming down from a mountain pass? Does the cc automatically apply the brakes?

This is an interesting question. Wouldn't it be possible for the CC software to increase regen on downhill stretches to provide the necessary braking, thus increasing total efficiency? When I drove a Tesla, the regen effect on throttle lift was far in excess of any compression braking I have ever experienced in an ICE car, and much heavier than what I experienced on my short Leaf drive, even in Eco mode. Seems like this would be an ideal way to decrease speed on heavy descents while saving your brakes and increasing range by adding charge back to the battery pack. Does the Leaf do this? Are there downsides to this strategy?

TT

 

[garygid]

The amount of Regen in the LEAF, even in ECO mode is unlikely to be sufficient for "steeper" grades. Even "B" in my 2010 Prius is insufficient for really steep hills.

Although there is no substantial reason (that I can think of) that a car with electronically-controlled braking (or Regen-Braking) could not brake "sufficiently" in CC mode, I think we have yet to see that feature fully implemented.

 

[DaveEV]

I think it's clear there is not enough regen unless you use ECO mode. That's really the same story with the Prius - there is only enough regen if you put it in "B" mode. The catch with the Prius is that "B" mode turns off cruise control. Apparently ECO mode does not turn of cruise control in the LEAF. (I'm really anxious to get mine so I can confirm that.)

Right, but the Prius increases regen more when you hit he brakes and only applies the friction brakes when they are needed.

Presumably the Leaf does the same but no one seems to know exactly how the regen and friction brakes are blended on the brake pedal. One would hope that friction brakes would not engage until regen is maxed out at 30 kW. It's easy to feel this on the Prius as the transition from regen to friction is easily felt in some conditions.

I don't see any technical reason why using the brake pedal would not be able to get you 30kW of regen without using any friction.

ttweed - the reason the Tesla has such strong regen off the throttle is that it doesn't have any blending of regen/friction brakes on the brake pedal. When you hit the brake pedal you are engaging the friction brakes.

 

[EVDRIVER]

Too bad 50KW of regen on the LEAF is missing.

 

[ttweed]

I think it's clear there is not enough regen unless you use ECO mode.

ttweed - the reason the Tesla has such strong regen off the throttle is that it doesn't have any blending of regen/friction brakes on the brake pedal.

I definitely felt the Leaf could use more regen braking when I drove it--even using Eco mode it wasn't anywhere near as strong as the Tesla's. It felt like the Tesla could go down a very steep grade, like the Grapevine, without using very much friction brake at all. This "decel on throttle lift" quality does make modulation of the "go pedal" quite a different experience than driving an ICE car, and I suppose that is why the Nissan engineers chose not to maximize the regen force on trailing throttle. They wanted to make the car seem like a "normal" driving experience to people who have driven nothing but ICE cars their whole lives. I think they achieved that, as I thought the regen feeling in Eco mode was very similar to the decel of a high compression engine in a light sportscar. I do hope, though, that they maximized regen under initial brake application at least, so as to save the brake pads as much work as possible and generate the maximum possible charge while the car is slowing. That would be the ideal "mass market" solution, I suppose--not shocking first time EV'ers and forcing people to relearn ingrained driving habits, but I wouldn't mind learning exactly how the system works so as to maximize the regen. Is applying very light brake pressure on a downhill the best thing to do to maximize the benefit, then? Is this covered in the owner's manual? Can you feel it in the Leaf the same way you can in the Prius, or is there any way to tell from the instrumentation how hard the regen is working?

TT