lpickup
Well-known member
Has Nissan (or someone else) done this already?
I read a lot of posts from people (prior to making a decision to order/buy a LEAF) that log their daily car trips in an attempt to determine whether their driving patterns would be LEAF friendly or not.
It seems to me like a smartphone app would be able to easily do this for them, kind of like those apps that runners and bicyclists use to log their workouts.
When the user got into their vehicle they could hit the "DRIVE" button and based on their sampled speed, the app could calculate approximate power usage. When they got out of their vehicle, they could hit the "STOP" button, or, if they are at a place that is known to have (or will have) charging stations (like their home for instance) they could hit a "CHARGE" button and then click whether it is an L1, L2 or L3 charging station and the simulated battery would recharge during this time. I know this doesn't take into account things like use of climate control system and the effect of regenerative braking, but it's at least as accurate as what people are doing today. And I suppose even those items could be simulated by looking up the temperature (for climate control), time (for headlight usage) and applying statistics for regenerative braking usage.
The app could then give a readout on their driving power usage and give them a GREEN or RED indication based on whether they were within the estimated range of the LEAF.
I know many people considering a LEAF would be interested in such an app, and it would be a great marketing tool for others as well. Make it into a game of sorts and have the user input (or look up) current MPG, current gas and electricity prices in the area and actually calculate savings if the user was already driving a LEAF and post the results to Facebook.
I read a lot of posts from people (prior to making a decision to order/buy a LEAF) that log their daily car trips in an attempt to determine whether their driving patterns would be LEAF friendly or not.
It seems to me like a smartphone app would be able to easily do this for them, kind of like those apps that runners and bicyclists use to log their workouts.
When the user got into their vehicle they could hit the "DRIVE" button and based on their sampled speed, the app could calculate approximate power usage. When they got out of their vehicle, they could hit the "STOP" button, or, if they are at a place that is known to have (or will have) charging stations (like their home for instance) they could hit a "CHARGE" button and then click whether it is an L1, L2 or L3 charging station and the simulated battery would recharge during this time. I know this doesn't take into account things like use of climate control system and the effect of regenerative braking, but it's at least as accurate as what people are doing today. And I suppose even those items could be simulated by looking up the temperature (for climate control), time (for headlight usage) and applying statistics for regenerative braking usage.
The app could then give a readout on their driving power usage and give them a GREEN or RED indication based on whether they were within the estimated range of the LEAF.
I know many people considering a LEAF would be interested in such an app, and it would be a great marketing tool for others as well. Make it into a game of sorts and have the user input (or look up) current MPG, current gas and electricity prices in the area and actually calculate savings if the user was already driving a LEAF and post the results to Facebook.