Who is driving 2013 Leaf? EPA range is 75 miles!!!

[Phatcat73]

Drove home today, same 51 mile commute (11 suburbs + 40 freeway). Starting SOC 88%, in light rain, however temp dropped 10 deg throughout the day from my morning commute = 33 deg.

This time I went through 70% battery life (ended at 18) vs my morning commute consuming around 51%.

What was different?

I drove it like I stole it! 10 miles into my drive: Eco off, heater set to 68, seat warmer and steering wheel turned on, with speeds into 70s.

Life is good in the Leaf. My range anxiety is diminishing...

 

[TonyWilliams]

Drove home today, same 51 mile commute (11 suburbs + 40 freeway). Starting GOM 88%,

Glad you're happy with the car. The "GOM" is not the Dash SOC%... that's actually quite accurate!!! The GOM is the numerical miles "guess" on the fuel gauge.

 

[edatoakrun]

Drove home today, same 51 mile commute (11 suburbs + 40 freeway)...
Life is good in the Leaf. My range anxiety is diminishing...

And your dreaded range anxiety should be entirely gone, very soon.

Once you learn the maximum range of your '13, and how variables in driving speed, your use of regen, temperature when charging, and temperature when driving, all effect your available miles, there is really no range uncertainty in driving a LEAF to be anxious about.

And if the total range of the '13s is improved as much the EPA range estimates suggest, I expect you should be able to knock off your 102 mile commute regularly in warmer weather, on a single charge, whenever you wish, simply by replacing some of those freeway miles with some driven at lower speeds.

Driving slower will add some time to your commute, so you will, of course, still want to do some interim charging for your regular commute.

But IMO, just the experience of using a light-foot on the accelerator/decelerator pedal as a range extender to make multiple 100+ mile runs, really gives the LEAF driver lot of confidence in, and understanding of, the LEAFs range capabilities.

 

[LEAFfan]

Ed, using regen has little effect on miles or m/kW h. Coasting will increase both.

 

[edatoakrun]

Ed, using regen has little effect on miles or m/kW h. Coasting will increase both.

Your statement contradicts itself.

"Coasting", whether in N or D or ECO, is by definition, avoiding regenerative braking .

And of course, whenever you are able maintain an efficient near-constant speed without using regen, your will increase your m/kWh, and your total range, in comparison with less-efficient driving with higher regen use.

However, if you use excessive atmospheric friction braking to reduce speed, instead of regen braking, you will certainly reduce both your m/kwh, and range per charge.

 

[LEAFfan]

Ed, you cannot be serious! You knew what I meant. If I knew you were going to be so picky, I would have spelled it out for you. Coasting in Neutral or feathering the pedal for neutral is MUCH better for range than just using regen. I hope you can now comprehend my meaning.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Ed, using regen has little effect on miles or m/kW h. Coasting will increase both.

Your statement contradicts itself.

"Coasting", whether in N or D or ECO, is by definition, avoiding regenerative braking .

And of course, whenever you are able maintain an efficient near-constant speed without using regen, your will increase your m/kWh, and your total range, in comparison with less-efficient driving with higher regen use.

However, if you use excessive atmospheric friction braking to reduce speed, instead of regen braking, you will certainly reduce both your m/kwh, and range per charge.

ok, Ed the sky is blue and the Sun is yellow... get the point?

 

[LEAFer]

Drove home today, same 51 mile commute (11 suburbs + 40 freeway). Starting GOM 88%, in light rain, however temp dropped 10 deg throughout the day from my morning commute = 33 deg.

This time I went through 60% battery life (ended at 18) vs my morning commute ...

You mean you "went through" 70% ? Or did you start at 78% (not 88%) ?? Or did it end at 28% ???

 

[Phatcat73]

Drove home today, same 51 mile commute (11 suburbs + 40 freeway). Starting GOM 88%, in light rain, however temp dropped 10 deg throughout the day from my morning commute = 33 deg.

This time I went through 60% battery life (ended at 18) vs my morning commute ...

You mean you "went through" 70% ? Or did you start at 78% (not 88%) ?? Or did it end at 28% ???

You got me. I went through 70% SOC. Ouch! But it was a lot of fun!

 

[TonyWilliams]

I went through 70% SOC. Ouch! But it was a lot of fun!

That's fun to do... I had the Rav4 at speeds "well in excess of the speed limit" the other day for about 100 miles, with plenty of reserve.

I don't know if you've seen our little drive we did on Friday with the 2013 LEAF, getting about 81 miles of range at 65mph on the freeway with no heater. Good luck getting to 100 miles!

 

[vrwl]

No document about range was signed or even presented to me when I purchased my car. It would be nice everyone would stop these blanket "everyone signed the document" statements. Not everyone signed one and as time goes on, you'll find that more and more people HAVEN'T signed one.

same here, never signed any range document

Really? So neither of you signed a four-page "LEAF CUSTOMER DISCLOSURE FORM"? This is the first time I have ever heard such a report. I wonder if they did that only for 2011 cars.

Ray

Really. My car was pre-owned by Hertz for 8 months, Hertz sold it to Toyota at auction with 60 miles on it and I purchased it from Toyota a month later. No forms signed whatsoever. I have a 2011 LEAF SL model. And as more and more pre-owned LEAFs hit the market, you're going to find more and more owners who haven't "signed the documents". Oh, and Hertz didn't sign the documents either.... found an empty, unsigned set of the documents in the glove box a few days after I bought the car.

 

[cwerdna]

^^^
Your Nissan Leaf passed thru Toyota?

 

[vrwl]

^^^
Your Nissan Leaf passed thru Toyota?

Yep, and they were clueless about the car when I bought it from them. Heh, my loan is through Toyota Motor Credit Corp too. They matched the special interest rate my bank was giving for car loans that month.

 

[cwerdna]

Bizarre. Sounds like Hertz didn't get many renters and maybe Toyota used it for some sort of competitive analysis/benchmarking.

Weird re: the loan too.

Side story: I won a week long test drive of a Lexus HS 250h long ago (was part of a promo). The car I picked up from the dealer was to be used a service loaner. It was brand new and had <30 miles on it, maybe even <15. The owner of the car on the paperwork was some crazy sounding Japanese bank (not Toyota) and not I name I was familiar with (e.g. not Mizuho, UFJ, etc.).

I asked the service writer the deal about the car, promo, ownership, etc. Basically, he said that because I won and picked his dealer, that dealer was allocated an extra car by Toyota/Lexus as a service loaner. The dealers lease the loaner cars. At the end of the lease, the dealer buys them and sells them as used cars. So, it seemed like a win for the dealer too.

 

[vrwl]

Bizarre. Sounds like Hertz didn't get many renters and maybe Toyota used it for some sort of competitive analysis/benchmarking.

Yeah, with only 60 miles on the car after 8 months, it appeared that no one was interested in renting it around here.

 

[LEAFfan]

I went through 70% SOC. Ouch! But it was a lot of fun!

That's fun to do... I had the Rav4 at speeds "well in excess of the speed limit" the other day for about 100 miles, with plenty of reserve.

I don't know if you've seen our little drive we did on Friday with the 2013 LEAF, getting about 81 miles of range at 65mph on the freeway with no heater. Good luck getting to 100 miles!

If he drives 55 (57 on speedo), instead of 65 (68 on speedo) he may get 100 miles. IIRC, driving 55 (57 on speedo) with a '11-'12 wasn't possible to go 100 miles. 4.8-5.0m/kW h would do it.

 

[Phatcat73]

Drove South on the following route this AM, 58.5 miles per trip meter:
http://goo.gl/maps/VhOQS" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wind NW 15mph, garage temp 43 deg, outdoor 23 deg, 4 battery bars, heater on, seat on, radio and headlights on, eco on. cruise set at 65 mph, according to GPS phone 61 mph.

Start SOC 100%
Start GOM 95

End SOC 18%
End GOM 16

On Monday I did much better with the following route however under slower speeds with no heat and 1/2 the wind speed heading SW
http://goo.gl/maps/zJCE2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Aside from the usual constraints, I suspect the wind playing a major part this morning.

 

[bradbissell]

Did you happen to look at the energy display to see how much energy the heater was using? Hoping someone out there with a '13 will chime in on how efficient the new heater really is.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Drove South on the following route this AM, 58.5 miles per trip meter:
http://goo.gl/maps/VhOQS" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wind NW 15mph, garage temp 43 deg, outdoor 23 deg, 4 battery bars, heater on, seat on, radio and headlights on, eco on. cruise set at 65 mph, according to GPS phone 61 mph.

Start SOC 100%
Start GOM 95

End SOC 18%
End GOM 16

On Monday I did much better with the following route however under slower speeds with no heat and 1/2 the wind speed heading SW
http://goo.gl/maps/zJCE2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Aside from the usual constraints, I suspect the wind playing a major part this morning.

most of your winter trips are well beyond what i could achieve at a MUCH slower speed WITHOUT heat

 

[Phatcat73]

Thanks. IMO, EPA's 75 mile range is very conservative.