New leaf owner

[Garrisonm]

Hello all,

Just purchased a 2012 leaf with roughly 20k miles on it. We absolutely love it and are trying to see what type of mileage we get. So first off fully charged we are only getting a 73 mile estimated range. Is this normal? I hearing people getting more then this.



Also we drove about a 35 mile trip today and when we arrived we only had about 10 miles estimated left. Please give me your feedback if this is normal or what to do. Thank you

 

[Stoaty]

Estimated range is called the Guess-o-meter. Most here don't pay any attention to it. Actual range depends on speed, ambient temperature and use of the heater.

Suggestions:

1) Get Leaf Spy so you know how much energy you have left (link to info in my signature) or the LeafDD (my personal favorite)
2) Use Tony Williams Range chart: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=4295" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

Glad you like it. Welcome to EVs. Is your range normal? As Stoaty said, it depends.

First, please list your location. I'm guessing you live somewhere cold and are using heat a lot.

Second, search the forum more. What you're experiencing is common, and you have to relearn how to drive.

70 miles in summer, 40 in winter with heat, in a 2012 at 20k with battery degradation is not unusual.

Find places to charge on http://www.plugshare.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[loomis2]

Over time you will learn to trust the battery percentage meter rather than the distance-to-empty meter. Traveling with the heater/defroster on and traveling +65 mph on the highway will use up the battery much faster than driving on a 70 degree day on a 40 mph road. Much faster. Still, this morning on a full charge I drove an hour round trip on the highway with a lot of hills in an ice storm and made it home. I was just under 10% when I got home, but the important thing is I got home.

If you start at a full charge and have less than 50% battery when you reach your destination you may have trouble getting back. I had 58% when I arrived this morning so I was confident I would be fine getting home, and I was.

 

[Deleted member 9549]

If you purchased a used LEAF with that many miles, depending on where it was used, it could have significant battery degredation, reducing its capacity. Need to get a means to measure its capacity. Then learn its limits.

 

[LeftieBiker]

That range is quite normal for your circumstances. You can inflate the tires to 40-42psi and get a little more, but it seems like you are already driving it in an economical manner. Don't expect more than 75 miles if any highway driving is involved.

 

[cwerdna]

First, please list your location. I'm guessing you live somewhere cold and are using heat a lot.

Yep. OP, can you update your location info via User Control Panel (near top) > Profile (left side)? That way, we don't need to ask in future posts/threads or do sleuthing to deduce it.

Estimated range is called the Guess-o-meter. Most here don't pay any attention to it. Actual range depends on speed, ambient temperature and use of the heater.

Suggestions:

1) Get Leaf Spy so you know how much energy you have left (link to info in my signature) or the LeafDD (my personal favorite)
2) Use Tony Williams Range chart: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=4295" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yep. The GOM is crap and not particularly helpful as it cannot predict the future. It doesn't know if you will drive slow, fast, uphill, downhill, run the (power hungry) heater, etc.

 

[Garrisonm]

My battery guage (white bars) on right side have all 12 bars. Just recharged it overnight and once again I have 73 miles max on the "guess meter"?

 

[beachfitrob]

When it is warmer you will see more range. I'm in Texas and I've seen 90+ so far on a 10 bar battery. But I've only had it since Jan 2, 2014.

A couple of small and easy things I did were LED lights for the license plate, cargo, interior, and front parking lights. The license and front parking are 20 watts so that saves a little for the stereo. Plus they look nice since my Leaf is silver.

If you don't have the factory heated seats, this:

http://rcbullock.blogspot.com/2014/01/nissan-leaf-range-increase-add-heated.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Wagan was ok, but the Amazon Basics one was better:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...eASIN=B005EJGSQ2&linkCode=as2&tag=roblog02-20

It has a Low and High, the other you had to plug in and out to turn off or on. No thanks.

The Amazon Basics one will cook you in Texas, sometimes even on low with outside temps in the 40s. It's a HUGE power savings. It costs about $20. They are out of stock now, but that's what they cost give or take a few bucks. I guess it was popular!

 

[keydiver]

My battery guage (white bars) on right side have all 12 bars. Just recharged it overnight and once again I have 73 miles max on the "guess meter"?

Even if you still have all 12 capacity bars, your battery could have as much as 14% degradation. If the car has always been in the Maryland area, hopefully you don't have that much, since hotter climates are having the most issues. In South Florida, my 2012 is at 19% degradation in 23,000 miles. The guess-o-meter bases its guesstimate on your recent driving/consumption history. If you drive mostly on the beltway at 70 mph with the heater blasting, its going to give you a lower reading, but still not necessarily accurate. The 2013's have a more accurate meter, which can also be switched to show SOC (state-of-charge), which is more useful. As others have suggested, if you have an Android device with Bluetooth its well worth buying an OBDII adapter compatible with the LeafScan App, so you can accurately see your capacity and SOC.

 

[epirali]

My battery guage (white bars) on right side have all 12 bars. Just recharged it overnight and once again I have 73 miles max on the "guess meter"?

Even if you still have all 12 capacity bars, your battery could have as much as 14% degradation. If the car has always been in the Maryland area, hopefully you don't have that much, since hotter climates are having the most issues. In South Florida, my 2012 is at 19% degradation in 23,000 miles. The guess-o-meter bases its guesstimate on your recent driving/consumption history. If you drive mostly on the beltway at 70 mph with the heater blasting, its going to give you a lower reading, but still not necessarily accurate. The 2013's have a more accurate meter, which can also be switched to show SOC (state-of-charge), which is more useful. As others have suggested, if you have an Android device with Bluetooth its well worth buying an OBDII adapter compatible with the LeafScan App, so you can accurately see your capacity and SOC.

This may have been noted before, but specially in the winter be sure to pre-heat your can while still plugged in to minimize battery use from heat during your trips. This will definitely help with range if you need it.

 

[LeftieBiker]

This may have been noted before, but specially in the winter be sure to pre-heat your can while still plugged in to minimize battery use from heat during your trips. This will definitely help with range if you need it.

And when you've warmed your butt, make sure the car is preheated as well. ;-)

 

[Garrisonm]

Okay took a small trip to the store tonight. About 35 miles round trip. When I got home the GOM was at 8 miles to go. Preheated the car while charger plugged in and only ran the defrost when needed. Why am I getting still getting horrible mileage. Still confused. I figure it should be better then this and I was driving in Eco mode for most of the time. And once again flip illy charged the GOM was 73 miles?

 

[cwerdna]

^^^
Please answer http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=275421#p275421" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; in this thread.

I'd imagine you now realize why we call it the GOM.

 

[Garrisonm]

Ok, here's my a stab on the questions. I'm going to edit my 1st post to point to this one, w/the current questions.

- Where are you? Conowingo, md
- Where are you traveling to? Via what route? Oxford, pa. Via route 1

If unwilling to answer the above, you'll need to tell us the distances and whether there's any net elevation change (Google Earth can help you with that. See http://priuschat.com/forums/freds-house" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... oints.html.).

- How fast are you driving? What % is city vs. highway? 40mph route 1
- What is your miles/kWh reading on the dash? (on the black and white display) Is it reset for every trip? If not, please do so. N/a
- How full are you charging to? 100 percent
- How are you "determining" your range? Examples: driving down to some value on the GOM (guess-o-meter aka virtually worthless "distance to empty" display), driving down to a certain # of "fuel bars", driving to LBW (Low Battery Warning), VLBW (Very Low Battery Warning) or turtle, driving down to a certain # of gids, driving down to a certain % SoC value ('13+ Leaf only) N/a
- How many temperature bars (left side) are shown at the start of the drive and during? 4
- What are your cold tire pressures? Have to check
- Can this experience be reliably repeated? Yes
- After how many months of ownership did you first experience the range loss?
- Outside air temps when this is happening? 15 degrees
- How are you using the heater/AC system? Defrost only
- Did you buy the vehicle new or used and when? (month and year is enough) What model year is it? Used, 2012
- How many capacity bars have you lost? They're the thin bars on the very right of wiki/index.php? None
- Any changes to car from stock (different tires, bike rack, Texas cattle horns, roof rack, flags, etc)? No
- (If you have a gid meter) Gid count at 100% charge? Date and outside temp when taken?
Don't have one

 

[TomT]

You can lose as much as 15% and still have all the capacity bars... The first goes away at about 15% degradation and the rest at 6.25% each.

My battery guage (white bars) on right side have all 12 bars. Just recharged it overnight and once again I have 73 miles max on the "guess meter"?

 

[epirali]

Okay took a small trip to the store tonight. About 35 miles round trip. When I got home the GOM was at 8 miles to go. Preheated the car while charger plugged in and only ran the defrost when needed. Why am I getting still getting horrible mileage. Still confused. I figure it should be better then this and I was driving in Eco mode for most of the time. And once again flip illy charged the GOM was 73 miles?

Ok right now it's pretty cold here, so on a full charge may get 50-65 miles as:

1) battery capacity is worse in the cold,

2) car heat will draw a bit and

3) cold air really increases air drag resistance.

Having said all the it still seems to low a range. Did you drive on freeways and at fast speed? Aggressively?

Try reporting/recording charge percent and trip mileage to get a better sense of range.

 

[Leaf1]

Make sure your climate control is truly off when you want it off.

 

[BArrowLeaf]

I have 2 items that you could use that has been recommended.

1. I have a new EVSE upgrade (16 Amp) OEM brick with 120 volt adapter and the carrying case. It has been checked out but never used because it was my backup but never needed it. My original unit EVSE upgrde never failed. $600.00 plus $20.00 for shipping.
2. I have a Leaf Dash Display (LeafDD) to read the gids that has been discussed. $60.00 plus $15.00 shipping.

I upgraded to a Tesla Model S85 and have sold my 2011 Nissan Leaf.

 

[cwerdna]

1) battery capacity is worse in the cold,

2) car heat will draw a bit and

3) cold air really increases air drag resistance.
...
Try reporting/recording charge percent and trip mileage to get a better sense of range.

Yep on 1 and 3, but I suspect 1 is a bigger contributor.

As for 2, OP has a '12 which has slow to heat power hungry heater. '13+ Leaf SV and SL have a more efficient hybrid heater w/heat pump. I hear the '13+ Leaf S heater also heats MUCH faster.

As for charge %, again, OP has a '12. It has *NO* % SoC indicator. It was a new feature on the '13+ Leafs. All he's got is the crap GOM, the 12 not very granular "fuel bars" on the right and the time estimtes to charge in hh:mm. Some have used the time estimate to sorta get more granular SoC than the 12 fuel bars. I can't find that thread now.

Also, he has no dedicated heater on/off button (also new on '13). From what understand, the '11 and '12 Leaf has some quirky heater behavior where it can unnecessarily eat up energy. I don't know the details but there is a fix at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=6751" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Hopefully an '11 or '12 owner can chime in.

I suspect the OP when using defrost either used auto or some temp above 60 F, causing the heater to run.