Pre-EV driving habits carried over to the LEAF

[philipscoggins]

Anybody else find themselves doing things that are no longer relevant?

When cruising and I push the "gear shift" forward, to put my LEAF into neutral, I cannot stop from first taking my foot off the accelerator to instinctively not run up the RPMs when it goes into neutral! :lol:


Philip

 

[RonDawg]

While I'm sure I'll wear the selector knob out faster by doing this, I find myself "downshifting" into D for more acceleration, and "upshifting" into ECO for better fuel economy and for added "engine braking" on downhill stretches.

 

[leafedbehind]

Yep -- +1 to both!

 

[planet4ever]

While I'm sure I'll wear the selector knob out faster by doing this, I find myself "downshifting" into D for more acceleration, and "upshifting" into ECO for better fuel economy and for added "engine braking" on downhill stretches.

Gee, I've always thought of it as downshifting into ECO for more "engine braking" and upshifting into D for highway cruising. I assume you know that you don't really get more acceleration in D; you just have to push the pedal closer to the floor to get the same in ECO. Pedal to the metal gives the same either way. So why do I use D on the freeway? Because I want gentler slowing when I take my foot off the pedal or (more often in my case) disengage the cruise control.

Ray

 

[Ingineer]

Ray is correct, if you mash it all the way, the acceleration is exactly the same. It just "feels" different.

Don't worry about wearing out the shifter though, it's a hall-effect device, so there are no contacts to wear out or get dirty (except for the park button).

-Phil

 

[KillaWhat]

Ray is correct, if you mash it all the way, the acceleration is exactly the same. It just "feels" different.


-Phil

I swear my "accelerator" is actually harder to push down in Eco mode? Am I crazy?

And yes, after years of shifting my TDI's, I play with that "shifter" knob like a worry bead.

 

[philipscoggins]

Thanks for the shifter info Phil, I've wondered how much wear I was putting on it shifting around.

Philip

 

[Nubo]

Occasionally I'll catch myself giving the car a moment to "warm up". :lol:

 

[RonDawg]

While I'm sure I'll wear the selector knob out faster by doing this, I find myself "downshifting" into D for more acceleration, and "upshifting" into ECO for better fuel economy and for added "engine braking" on downhill stretches.

Gee, I've always thought of it as downshifting into ECO for more "engine braking" and upshifting into D for highway cruising. I assume you know that you don't really get more acceleration in D; you just have to push the pedal closer to the floor to get the same in ECO. Pedal to the metal gives the same either way. So why do I use D on the freeway? Because I want gentler slowing when I take my foot off the pedal or (more often in my case) disengage the cruise control.

Even with my mere six weeks of Leaf ownership (lessee-ship?) I'm aware that "D" mode doesn't make the car any faster, it just makes the throttle pedal more sensitive. I find it more convenient to momentarily shift into "D" than to press the pedal further down when I want a burst of acceleration.

 

[Ingineer]

The accelerator pedal in the Leaf, as well as almost any other car built recently, is simply a spring hooked to a variable resistor, hall-effect, optical encoder, etc. There is no force feedback mechanism, it's a dumb old spring! In Eco they change the mapping to be a more linear and long torque curve, whereas in D, it's non-linear and artificially weighted toward acceleration. In truth, you don't need to press as hard simply because you aren't compressing the spring as far, but if you floor it in either mode, it feels exactly the same, and the Leaf performs exactly the same.

-Phil

 

[TomT]

After two years, I find that I almost never use D. I much prefer the more granular acceleration control and increased regen of Eco, along with the one pedal modulation of acceleration and braking.

 

[Nubo]

Sometimes out of habit I will open the garage door before starting the car.

 

[kubel]

I instinctively lift my foot from the accelerator when shifting from D to ECO, as if I'm driving a stick. :lol:

 

[Publius]

I instinctively lift my foot from the accelerator when shifting from D to ECO, as if I'm driving a stick. :lol:

I do that, too. I feel like I'm going to break something if I don't. I wonder if I'll catch myself doing the reverse, though, when I occasionally drive an ICE car after years of driving my LEAF. That could end badly.

 

[philipscoggins]

Yeah, an ice car probably wouldn't think too highly of putting it in reverse when you want to coast!

Philip

 

[dgpcolorado]

I don't really have any old habits that carried over to the LEAF but I do have some LEAF habits that carry over to my ICE car. When I first went back to the old car I had some trouble starting it and shifting properly and learned to consciously think "clutch, neutral, start", something that was completely automatic before, after 40 years of driving manual transmission cars.

Now the only problem I have is that I always get in the ICE car with the key in my pocket and have to fish it out to put in the ignition.

 

[planet4ever]

No such problems switching between the LEAF and our Prius. I continue to suspect that Nissan made a number of design decisions on the LEAF specifically to match the Prius, thinking that Prius drivers would be prime candidates to move to an all-electric car. The one big difference is that I rarely use "B" on the Prius and I often use "ECO" on the LEAF. Well, OK, there are two other things: When I get into the Prius I automatically reach low, rather than high, for the power button. And I keep trying to find the shift lever down on the console storage unit cover.

Ray

 

[RonDawg]

Now the only problem I have is that I always get in the ICE car with the key in my pocket and have to fish it out to put in the ignition.

I do the same thing, and I often don't realize it until after I've put my seatbelt on, which I then have to take off.