How does spirited driving affect range in the Leaf?

[dgpcolorado]

I have read elsewhere in this forum that if you floor it ECO will give you the same acceleration as D. Not that I know, but that is what I read and my experience, as I drive in D, seems to confirm.

Yes, the 80 kW maximum power is easily available in Eco. I find that using Eco makes controlling speed easier but the power is all there if needed. And, of course, the A pedal regen is greatly increased in Eco, so it is best for descending steep hills.

 

[EVDRIVER]

Well, for the first 20 feet or so at least. :lol:

It's not a sports car by any means, but the Leaf is plenty fast off the line.

That's about it. Mix in some speed perception :lol:

 

[SanDust]

That's about it. Mix in some speed perception :lol:

Funny you should mention this. This morning at my first red light there were three cars going West at the head of the line of traffic (I was headed South). A black Leaf, a BMW, and some other car. When their light turned green the Leaf dusted the other two. I just smiled -- happens all the time.

 

[EatsShootsandLeafs]

That's about it. Mix in some speed perception :lol:

Funny you should mention this. This morning at my first red light there were three cars going West at the head of the line of traffic (I was headed South). A black Leaf, a BMW, and some other car. When their light turned green the Leaf dusted the other two. I just smiled -- happens all the time.

That is always how I drive. Once I can get a few miles into the car and figure out a baseline for my regular driving I'll revert back to regular scheduled programming

 

[Drivesolo]

It's always good to hear car owners expressing their love and appreciation of their cars. But a reality check is required here. You do realize that you can not claim that you "dusted" someone off the line if the other driver(s) are not aware that you are attempting to challenge him, right? If you really go up against someone, you'll see that you may have the advantage up to about the 60' but that's pretty much where it ends when up against a marginally fast car. My pickup truck (which is nothing special) is faster than my Leaf over a distance of about 200'.

Back in January, I took a Leaf down from 12 bars to 1 bar (6 miles on the GOM) in just 38 miles w/ my attempt at the most spirited driving I was able to get away with. In auto-X I observed it consuming 1.1 kW/mile. It would be capable consuming more but there is no way of completely disabling the electronic nannies that take effect after hard braking and cornering. Hopefully the Nismo Leaf will have some type of Sport Mode.

 

[Nubo]

It's always good to hear car owners expressing their love and appreciation of their cars. But a reality check is required here. You do realize that you can not claim that you "dusted" someone off the line if the other driver(s) are not aware that you are attempting to challenge him, right? If you really go up against someone, you'll see that you may have the advantage up to about the 60' but that's pretty much where it ends when up against a marginally fast car. My pickup truck (which is nothing special) is faster than my Leaf over a distance of about 200'. ...

I've been side by side some folks who were clearly meaning to out-accelerate my LEAF. On nearby road there is a spot where it narrows from 2 lanes to 1 shortly after an intersection. People abuse this when they don't feel like queueing at the light, and will slingshot. I've surprised a number of them; in fact none have been able to quite out-accelerate me before the chokepoint. But for those who are either 2dumb or 2dangerous enough to either not realize or not care that it isn't going to work, I do back off to avoid danger.

I don't kid myself that the LEAF is the fastest car off the line, by any means. But it is a lot faster than most people expect. They maybe dismissing it to the point where they are not really pushing their car hard until they get that little surprise.

 

[SanDust]

You do realize that you can not claim that you "dusted" someone off the line if the other driver(s) are not aware that you are attempting to challenge him, right?

You're completely missing the point. If you drive the Leaf you don't have to try to beat people off the line. It just happens. ICE vehicles don't like to move from a stop and, depending on the terrain, the gearing is usually not well suited. EVs come off a stop without any such reluctance.

But speaking of trying, FYI I've has several BMWs pull up behind me and then swing into the next lane, with the obvious and sole purpose of beating me to the on ramp to the freeway. When this happens I just smile because it isn't going to happen. They are always slower off the line and they won't have enough runway. Perhaps they could if they were professional drivers and willing to stomp the gas and brakes at the same time, but that's not the real world.

 

[dandrewk]

It's not only off the line that the Leaf is faster, it's at freeway speeds too. Say you're in a lane that suddenly slows to 45 mph. Aggravating. Suddenly, magic happens and a lane clears up next to you. You change lanes. The Leaf accelerates and closes that gap up to freeway speeds faster than any car I've driven. Instant torque cannot be beaten. In those circumstances, the only thing faster I've driven is a motorcycle.

 

[GRA]

It's not only off the line that the Leaf is faster, it's at freeway speeds too. Say you're in a lane that suddenly slows to 45 mph. Aggravating. Suddenly, magic happens and a lane clears up next to you. You change lanes. The Leaf accelerates and closes that gap up to freeway speeds faster than any car I've driven. Instant torque cannot be beaten. In those circumstances, the only thing faster I've driven is a motorcycle.

This seems highly unlikely, as performance tests by car mags routinely show BEVs falling behind their ICE and even HEV competition, as the torque has usually peaked well before freeway speeds, the max. power isn't that high, and the single-speed tranny doesn't help. See e.g. the 45-65 passing times in this test:

Numbers in Secs. for Volt/Leaf/Prius

PASSING, 45-65 MPH 4.8 / 5.6 / 5.5

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/alternative/1108_2011_chevrolet_volt_vs_2011_nissan_leaf_vs_2011_toyota_prius_comparison/viewall.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For comparison's sake, here's the Motor Trend test numbers for the 2012 Chevy Cruze Eco:

PASSING, 45-65 MPH 4.5

I don't doubt that EVs FEEL like they accelerate fast, and they undoubtedly are fast in the 'who can get across the intersection first' drag race owing to their good 0-20 acceleration, but every test I've seen shows them coming up short on 0-30 and higher speed accel times compared to the competition. Unless you're talking about a Tesla or similar.

 

[TomT]

Did it occur to you that, perhaps, the others were more mature and simply didn't try? I assure you that, if I want to, my BMW will dust any Leafs out there from a standing start without even raising a sweat doing so...

That's about it. Mix in some speed perception :lol:

Funny you should mention this. This morning at my first red light there were three cars going West at the head of the line of traffic (I was headed South). A black Leaf, a BMW, and some other car. When their light turned green the Leaf dusted the other two. I just smiled -- happens all the time.

 

[EatsShootsandLeafs]

The Leaf is quite quick right off the line--for a ~10 second 0-60 car, but it is still a 10 second 0-60 car. Its acceleration drops off fast. My other car is a V6 sedan and it will easily kill the leaf at all speeds.

Would be fun if a Leaf could have a beefed up electric motor and store extra charge in a capacitor for one-off blasts of speed; if you think you will be going quickly within the next few min you hit a button and it precharges, so that when you call on the thing now you've got 300+ lbs torque

 

[surfingslovak]

You might want to check out this post. Oh, and this one too.

 

[BIGneutrino]

I'm an extremely spirited driver in my LEAF. Spirited driving doesn't affect my range nearly as much as high speed or even rain for that matter. Drive it like you stole it. If I were worried about range, I would rather gun it from every stop light and keep it under 50MPH than accelerate slowly and maintain a steady speed of 70MPH.

Spirited here as well - on the drive home. But on the morning commute to work, I do it ECO... I'm groggy, in NO hurry to get to the office... etc etc

But on the way home, NEVER do ECO mode... love the fast acceleration from the stop light and buzzing by all the other cars... so peppy the LEAF is!

My driving style, too--lazy to work and haul it home!