How much mileage are you getting in this cold weather ?

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

ashp

Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2012
Messages
10
How much mileage are you getting in this cold weather with heater on in colorado?
I am getting less than 40 miles on with full charged battery with heater on, heated seats on,steering wheel heating on my new 2012 Nissan leaf , I have driven 400 miles by now. Most of the driving is in Evening awhen tempratue is around 12 to 30 F.
I very qucikly loose the bars.
 
Sounds normal with those options on.

Pre-heat the car when it's plugged in then turn off the heat and just have the heated seats and steering wheel going for the trip. That'll boost the range a good amount.
 
I have been seeing a range of about 70+ miles in recent weeks (to Very Low Battery Warning). It was a bit more last winter. However, I rarely use the heater when stretching the range, just preheating while plugged-in and the steering wheel heater. I also charge in a garage that doesn't drop much below freezing, which helps. When driving short distances—40 miles or less—I don't worry about heater use, although I usually don't need it because I am dressed for winter. My dash mileage for December was 4.4 miles/kWh and mileage measured from the wall was 3.69 miles/kWh.

My speeds top out at 60 mph and most of my driving is at slower speeds, albeit with large elevation changes of 2300 feet on my long trips. If you are blasting along at freeway speeds with the heater running you might see less range than I do—speed is a big range killer, as is the heater.

As cdub said above, if you aren't preheating while plugged-in, you are taking an unnecessary hit to the range.
 
I'm in the slightly chilly area if NH (-1F this morning). I've found that my winter consumption is about twice that of summer. (2 bars summer commute vs 4 bars with full heat etc).
 
<-- Cleveland, Ohio ... ambient temps in the teens and 20s lately... and I'd say each "bar" on the dashboard seems to go away after about 5 miles of driving. This is just a rough estimate... but with the heat on 68-deg-F auto, and heated seats on ... and around-town driving, we're seeing about that. Today's drive into work (about 12 miles) knocked off 3-bars and the CARWINGS website said 75% left when I checked it at work at lunch time..... so based on that, 50-60 miles on a full charge perhaps....
 
I also live in New Hampshire. I travel to my parents house which is about 40 miles away from my house. Half the miles are highway miles (travel at 55 mph) and other miles are on secondary highways(35 to 45 mph). With a full charge and temperatures between 25 and 30 degrees, I have between 30 to 35 miles remaining when I arrive at my parents house. I preheat my Leaf and drive in eco mode. I keep the heat on about half the time. If I feel cold I will put my the Leaf in drive an turn on the heat for about 5 minutes and them put back to eco drive.



Mark
 
40 miles "seems" a bit low but that depends. here lately its in the low 30's high 20's (bit colder than normal but we get this kind of weather at least a few weeks every Winter) but still getting 50+ miles easily with heat.

Now, I just did a 77 mile trip a few days ago and made it ok but it was minimal heat (did have to toggle defrost quite a bit due to rainy weather) and normally the additional rolling resistance from wet pavements normally cuts me down into the high 60's but the rain was pretty light (half snow at times actually)

I have a heated jacket which does wonders and aftermarket heated seat. only drawback is cold feet and hands but i take turns putting one hand in pocket so not too bad.

now, if we pencil it out. in cold weather you will not have as much power available. for me, it seems to be around 17 Kwh. now if you run the heat for an hour you might use up 4 kwh if its very cold leaving you around 13 Kwh to drive on. leave 2 Kwh as a "stress reliever" and with the 11 remaining at 4 miles/kwh (your gauge will read less due to heat use) that is 44 miles... so ya, it can be that low
 
evening temperatures are in the mid 40s here in SC and Im getting 4.3 miles/kWh on the navi screen. the effective range is around 75-80 miles to VLB from 100%
 
Shaka said:
Today's drive into work (about 12 miles) knocked off 3-bars and the CARWINGS website said 75% left when I checked it at work at lunch time..... so based on that, 50-60 miles on a full charge perhaps....
That 75% on the website is silliness. It doesn't mean you have 75% of your battery capacity; only that you have 75% of your charge bars. i.e. it is saying that you have 9 of your 12 bars left, which you already knew.

Actually, though, it's about right at that charge level. If you look at Tony's chart you will see that 9 bars represents somewhere between 71% and 78% charged. Where things go bonkers is down at low charge levels. If the website says "17%" that means you have 2 bars showing, and Tony's chart says that two bars is really somewhere between 26% and 31% charged.

Note that the only numbers you will ever see on that web page are 0, 8, 17, 25, 33, 42, 50, 58, 67, 75, 83, 92, and 100. It's really just a fraction masquerading as a percentage.

Ray
 
planet4ever said:
Note that the only numbers you will ever see on that web page are 0, 8, 17, 25, 33, 42, 50, 58, 67, 75, 83, 92, and 100. It's really just a fraction masquerading as a percentage. Ray

Ray, thanks for the info. That makes sense, as we've only had the car ~2 weeks but I had noted a lot of "same %" showing up online as I'm still new to it all and checking the carwings site often for "fun" ... so needless to say, that clears things up a bit. I also realize that when driving, if you're not watching the gauge like a hawk, especially in this cold weather, then I don't know if I am at the top or bottom of that particular block. So the ranges only get that much worse... do I have one mile left before I drop off the next bar (1/12th) or...???

If only they had just given us a real percentage number... I'd actually RATHER have that versus how many miles to empty, since we all know that number is equally as silly. None the less, to the OP's question, my drive round-trip to work yesterday was about 25 miles and I had ~half my bars left... so I would still say 50 miles give or take with constant heat on (68deg in my case) seems about right. Can't wait till spring time and better range!
 
Shaka said:
to the OP's question, my drive round-trip to work yesterday was about 25 miles and I had ~half my bars left... so I would still say 50 miles give or take with constant heat on (68deg in my case) seems about right. Can't wait till spring time and better range!
I have good news and bad news for you. Referring again to Tony's chart, if you have 6 bars showing then your battery is more than half full. It's about half full when you drop to 5 bars. That's the good news. The bad news is that many people have an empty tank phobia, and never want to take the battery below the "Low Battery Warning". Some are even convinced that the last two charge bars are "red", and that it is evil to drop to two bars or less. If you are in either of those camps, then at 6 bars you have less than half of the energy that you are willing to use left in the battery.

Personally I have only a mild form of that phobia. I don't mind going below "LBW", and in fact have done it an average of about once a week in the 20 months I've had the car. I don't, however, like going below "VLBW" (Very Low Battery), at which point the GuessOMeter number disappears and is replaced by three dashes. So Tony's chart tells me that "half full" relative to my comfort range is when the sixth bar is "half used up". (I hasten to add that I have gone below VLBW a number of times, and don't panic when that happens, but I do believe it can shorten the battery's life.)

By the way, 6 bars is easy to spot at a glance. It is when the top of the "electron pump" picture is even with the top of the first bar that is lit up.

Ray
 
I am quoting this from disclosure documents from Nissan that I had signed

Winter, urban stop-and-go, trafiic jam: 62 miles
------------------------------------------------------

Speed Avergae 15 mph
Temprature 14 degrees
Climate control On


If I go by less than 40 miles I am getting than this car is of limited use.
preheating is no a solution every time nor preheating solves the entire problem in such winter.
I can only preheat once at home that too if I know in advance when I am going out exactly.
I can not preheat the car while coming back as there is virtually little charging infrastructure avaliable
Wearing heated jacket and other winter clothes is also a workaround not a solution by desgin


Bottom line for cold weather

1) Nissan leaf will go much less limited distance than what is claimed in real world if heating is used while driving the car
2) Do not use heater



We still love our leaf.....
 
ashp said:
How much mileage are you getting in this cold weather with heater on in colorado?
I am getting less than 40 miles on with full charged battery with heater on, heated seats on,steering wheel heating on my new 2012 Nissan leaf , I have driven 400 miles by now. Most of the driving is in Evening awhen tempratue is around 12 to 30 F.
I very qucikly loose the bars.

I drive from Castle Rock to DTC daily... about 40 miles all freeway. It uses ~ 2 bars going to work and ~3 bars coming back ( uphill ). I usually only charge to 80%. It is parked in a garage and I preheat on really cold days.

I don't use the heat much but it seems when I do that it uses another 2-3. The lowest I've gotten to was 2 bars.

I would not have any fear of uses the heat (in ECO mode) with my commute. (with the 80% charge)
 
AndyLL said:
I drive from Castle Rock to DTC daily... about 40 miles all freeway. It uses ~ 2 bars going to work and ~3 bars coming back ( uphill ). I usually only charge to 80%. It is parked in a garage and I preheat on really cold days.
Surely, 40 miles must be the round trip distance, right?

Eight miles per bar at freeway speed in a Colorado winter sounds phenomenal to me. What is your average miles per kWh for the trip?

Bill
 
ebill3 said:
AndyLL said:
I drive from Castle Rock to DTC daily... about 40 miles all freeway. It uses ~ 2 bars going to work and ~3 bars coming back ( uphill ). I usually only charge to 80%. It is parked in a garage and I preheat on really cold days.
Surely, 40 miles must be the round trip distance, right?

Eight miles per bar at freeway speed in a Colorado winter sounds phenomenal to me. What is your average miles per kWh for the trip?

Bill

That is round trip.

With no heat I get around 4.7 going into to work. Going home it's harder to tell since my driving style and use of heat depends on how low I am. Without heat it's around 3.7

It's probably closer to 3 coming in and 4 going home... the bar always drops after turning off the car.

Today I had a 80% charge. I drove 20 miles in and around 5 at lunch... all with the heat at 70.

I'm at 5 bars so I used 5 so far. If I use heat it'll get as low as its ever gotten.
 
ashp said:
I am quoting this from disclosure documents from Nissan that I had signed

Winter, urban stop-and-go, trafiic jam: 62 miles
------------------------------------------------------

Speed Avergae 15 mph
Temprature 14 degrees
Climate control On


If I go by less than 40 miles I am getting than this car is of limited use.
preheating is no a solution every time nor preheating solves the entire problem in such winter.
I can only preheat once at home that too if I know in advance when I am going out exactly.
I can not preheat the car while coming back as there is virtually little charging infrastructure avaliable
Wearing heated jacket and other winter clothes is also a workaround not a solution by desgin


Bottom line for cold weather

1) Nissan leaf will go much less limited distance than what is claimed in real world if heating is used while driving the car
2) Do not use heater



We still love our leaf.....


And are you going 15mph to get that 40? The parameters of their claim include that speed. Winter or not I get 5/KwH or thereabouts at really slow speeds - although I am admittedly sparing with cabin heat.
 
I'm doing 55 miles per day with an 80% initial charge and a 5-hour trickle charge while at work. If I had to guess that would probably be equal to about 45 or 50 miles per 100% charge. I'm usually around 2.5 to 2.9 miles per kWh.

Conditions: High rolling resistance winter tires and heavy steel wheels. 15-30F. Heater (auto, 75F, feels like 55F), heated steering wheel, and heated seat on hi running non-stop. Eco mode. 45-60MPH. Spirited driving. Lights on during return trip. Playing MP3's from USB usually. Small draw from cigarette lighter powering dashcam while car is running. Pre-heat in the morning, but not before the return trip unless I'm plugged in all day.

The decrease in range due to the drop in temperatures is pretty linear down until the lower teens. At that point and down into the single digits, I noticed a SIGNIFICANT decrease in range compared to upper 20's. I'm not sure if that's because the heater has to work overtime to keep the cabin warm, or if there's something going on in the battery, or both.
 
planet4ever said:
Shaka said:
to the OP's question, my drive round-trip to work yesterday was about 25 miles and I had ~half my bars left... so I would still say 50 miles give or take with constant heat on (68deg in my case) seems about right. Can't wait till spring time and better range!
I have good news and bad news for you. Referring again to Tony's chart, if you have 6 bars showing then your battery is more than half full. It's about half full when you drop to 5 bars. That's the good news. The bad news is that many people have an empty tank phobia, and never want to take the battery below the "Low Battery Warning". Some are even convinced that the last two charge bars are "red", and that it is evil to drop to two bars or less. If you are in either of those camps, then at 6 bars you have less than half of the energy that you are willing to use left in the battery.

Personally I have only a mild form of that phobia. I don't mind going below "LBW", and in fact have done it an average of about once a week in the 20 months I've had the car. I don't, however, like going below "VLBW" (Very Low Battery), at which point the GuessOMeter number disappears and is replaced by three dashes. So Tony's chart tells me that "half full" relative to my comfort range is when the sixth bar is "half used up". (I hasten to add that I have gone below VLBW a number of times, and don't panic when that happens, but I do believe it can shorten the battery's life.)

By the way, 6 bars is easy to spot at a glance. It is when the top of the "electron pump" picture is even with the top of the first bar that is lit up.

Ray
Ray, I don't think not wishing to go below LBW @ approx. 20% remaining is a 'phobia', although many people, myself inclluded, would consider that a minimum reserve for unexpected situations. However, one thing that all batteries share is that they degrade more rapidly the deeper they're discharged. Unfortunately, we lack both price and cycle degradation info from Nissan to determine where the sweet spot is with the Leaf's battery. In the typical deep cycle off-grid AE systems I used to design, with flooded lead acid batteries the best economy was usually achieved by designing a system for regular cycling to no more than 50% DoD. Gel-cells generally were more cost effective at shallower DoDs, given the higher cost of the cells and their different cycle lifes. Ni-Cads or NiFes were different yet again.

Batteries are generally rated for cycle life at 80% DoD, but that doesn't mean that's the best way to treat them. The shallower you cycle them (the old sintered plate Ni-Cads with memory effect aside), the longer they'll last. Li-ions are apparently different than other chemistries I've worked with in that they don't like to be charged to 100% and left there, but I've seen no indications that the 'shallower DoD = slower degradation' rule doesn't apply to them; every degradation chart I've seen says that it does, and the degradation curves aren't linear, they're exponential. So, doubling the DoD from 40 to 80% doesn't result in half the cycle life, it's a lot less, and the deeper the DoD the steeper the curve.
 
I drove 45 miles today. 40 on freeway with an elevation change of 1000ft each way. 5 was just running around at lunch.

I was charged to 80%. I ran the heater at 70 degrees the whole time including 1/2 hour while I sat in the car and ate lunch.

Battery Temp was 3 bars in the morning and 4 when I drove home.

I still had 2 bars left when I got home.

I did charge about 2 hours on a L1 at work... it added a bar.

So I used 9 bars.

Quite honestly I don't feel the need to use the heater in the morning. I pre-heat and use the heated steering wheel and seat. When its in the low teens I tend to turn it on to 65 degrees once it gets cool in the car.

Going home I'll use it more if I have the charge but I keep it between 60-65.
 
Back
Top