First road trip in the Leaf SL PLus

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EVDean

Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2021
Messages
24
Location
Pinehurst, NC
We took a drive to Wilmington this past weekend for a visit with family. Drove at 60 - 70 MPH with cruise control on about 80% of the time, climate control AC set at 72 F. Averaged around 3.5 kWh per mile. Two charge stops plus a level 1 plug in while we were parked for the day.

A couple of things to critique. First, the steering wheel position. The newer model Leaf has a telescoping steering column, mine does not. It would be nice to have a bit more leg room for my long legged six foot frame and still be able to comfortably reach steering wheel.
Second, the hard plastic section that my knee hits on the center console. This is a thing I experience on many cars. On a long distance drive that point loaded hard plastic against my knee joint gets annoying. I plan on adding some high density foam in some manner in the near future. I have a couple non invasive ideas for that.

Overall I'm quite pleased with the car. :cool:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/uo6fiah7pfc[/youtube]
 
Have you heard of https://abetterrouteplanner.com/ ?

If you haven't done so, get a OBD2 Bluetooth adapter and Leafspy. I think on the Plus, once the Leaf says the battery is below 50%, it'll be a little more. So when it says you have 20% left, you actually have closer to 30%. This is what Leafspy will show you and other info too. Leafspy Lite is free and Pro is $15.
 
Triggerhappy007 said:
Have you heard of https://abetterrouteplanner.com/ ?

If you haven't done so, get a OBD2 Bluetooth adapter and Leafspy. I think on the Plus, once the Leaf says the battery is below 50%, it'll be a little more. So when it says you have 20% left, you actually have closer to 30%. This is what Leafspy will show you and other info too. Leafspy Lite is free and Pro is $15.

Tried Leafspy. Doesn't work on my version of Android. I own an auto repair shop so I can connect my Autel scan tool and get a battery charge level from the same OBD PID as Leafspy would. Might have to try that for comparison to the readout on the screen.
 
EVDean said:
On a long distance drive that point loaded hard plastic against my knee joint gets annoying. I plan on adding some high density foam in some manner in the near future. I have a couple non invasive ideas for that.

Overall I'm quite pleased with the car. :cool:

I was going to put this in the Tips section, but I think it would be helpful for you right now because I know exactly what you mean. I'll make a more detailed post about it later, but basically, go to Walmart (or equivalent Auto store, etc.), buy a big, fluffy seat-belt cover that you can wrap around a seat-belt with the Velcro connector. Fold it over the side and you can wedge it up near the top in the hidden gap. That will keep it from falling off when you get up out of the car. Now you can rest your knee on something soft and cheap, makes a world a difference on long trips. :D

pBrMHFv.jpg
 
Interesting trip. Not knowing what your charge options were makes it hard to comment but stopping to charge with 65% SOC is something I would only do for a few minutes due to personal need. You got all that range so use it. As far as using the GOM to estimate how "close" you were; that is something that emphasizes the value of LEAF Spy. You say it didn't work with your phone? or was it the OBD?

I also did a bit of a trip as well tracking the relationship between LEAF Spy and the dash.

https://daveinolywa.blogspot.com/2020/06/e-plus-summer-range-test.html
 
[/quote]

I was going to put this in the Tips section, but I think it would be helpful for you right now because I know exactly what you mean. I'll make a more detailed post about it later, but basically, go to Walmart (or equivalent Auto store, etc.), buy a big, fluffy seat-belt cover that you can wrap around a seat-belt with the Velcro connector. Fold it over the side and you can wedge it up near the top in the hidden gap. That will keep it from falling off when you get up out of the car. Now you can rest your knee on something soft and cheap, makes a world a difference on long trips. :D

[/quote]

Excellent tip! Thanks.
 
DaveinOlyWA said:
Interesting trip. Not knowing what your charge options were makes it hard to comment but stopping to charge with 65% SOC is something I would only do for a few minutes due to personal need. You got all that range so use it. As far as using the GOM to estimate how "close" you were; that is something that emphasizes the value of LEAF Spy. You say it didn't work with your phone? or was it the OBD?

I also did a bit of a trip as well tracking the relationship between LEAF Spy and the dash.

https://daveinolywa.blogspot.com/2020/06/e-plus-summer-range-test.html

VERY limited options so I would rather err to the side of caution.
 
EVDean said:
DaveinOlyWA said:
Interesting trip. Not knowing what your charge options were makes it hard to comment but stopping to charge with 65% SOC is something I would only do for a few minutes due to personal need. You got all that range so use it. As far as using the GOM to estimate how "close" you were; that is something that emphasizes the value of LEAF Spy. You say it didn't work with your phone? or was it the OBD?

I also did a bit of a trip as well tracking the relationship between LEAF Spy and the dash.

https://daveinolywa.blogspot.com/2020/06/e-plus-summer-range-test.html

VERY limited options so I would rather err to the side of caution.

Ahh, ok. Hopefully Biden's push will eliminate the all too common areas of the country that have charging options of one...or else...
 
I just made a mini you tube video testing my S+ on a 90 mile round trip on a warm summer day..no hvac at 90 km/hr (58mph on the cruise control). The EV01+ wheels certainly feel like they help. At 55mph, my SV+ would have only scene 4.3-4.4 tops on the same journey.

My gom was amazing by the end, though tough to drive so slow in 70-75mph traffic.

https://youtu.be/b4K4qLD7Pcc
 
DougWantsALeaf said:
I just made a mini you tube video testing my S+ on a 90 mile round trip on a warm summer day..no hvac at 90 km/hr (58mph on the cruise control). The EV01+ wheels certainly feel like they help. At 55mph, my SV+ would have only scene 4.3-4.4 tops on the same journey.

My gom was amazing by the end, though tough to drive so slow in 70-75mph traffic.
Very nice! I have read a little bit here about the EV01+ wheels but hadn't seen much in the way of testing before & after. So going from 4.4x to +5.x is actually a nice chunk of range on a long trip or a great way to negate the efficiency loss of running the climate control without affecting the total stock range. Seems to be a lot of ways to improve the Leaf range, little by little. It's too bad Nissan doesn't just bundle them all up into the next model and make it standard. What EV company wouldn't benefit from advertising increased range?
 
I will say that the run exceeded my expectations. I am not sure I have ever seen my gom that high, except when I got it.

Admittedly, no hvac, so take that into consideration. A worthy sacrifice for science. Also I had about a mile in either side after the freeway, so that might have added a tenth. 14.8 kWh for driving 92 miles or so, implies that on 55 usable kWh suggests 330 miles. I am eager to try a flatter run. Down state to see if I could do Skokie to St. Louis in one charge. That would be cool.

I had been anecdotally seeing earlier in the year (and cooler temps) seeing around 5 for some runs around 60mph (on the dash), but always without cruise amd was never sure if I was letting my speed slip. This was my first try with cruise control. It actually was pretty stable with very few spikes, rarely over 2 bars of power. (I did have to hit the brakes once for slow traffic on the way home).

Anyway, it's just one datapoint.
 
It's interesting that the wheel design can save so much, especially at such lower speeds than say trying to compare trips at +70 mph where air friction is really eating up power. The more test you do, the more you can be certain that it is a permanent range and efficiency boost. Tesla does it for a reason and it's less crazy than people think when you really do some comparison test.

DougWantsALeaf said:
I will say that the run exceeded my expectations. I am not sure I have ever seen my gom that high, except when I got it.

Admittedly, no hvac, so take that into consideration. A worthy sacrifice for science. Also I had about a mile in either side after the freeway, so that might have added a tenth. 14.8 kWh for driving 92 miles or so, implies that on 55 usable kWh suggests 330 miles. I am eager to try a flatter run. Down state to see if I could do Skokie to St. Louis in one charge. That would be cool.

I had been anecdotally seeing earlier in the year (and cooler temps) seeing around 5 for some runs around 60mph (on the dash), but always without cruise amd was never sure if I was letting my speed slip. This was my first try with cruise control. It actually was pretty stable with very few spikes, rarely over 2 bars of power. (I did have to hit the brakes once for slow traffic on the way home).

Anyway, it's just one datapoint.
 
Right...my curiosity is whether 80% of the efficiency difference between Leaf, Niro, M3 is in the rims themselves. Yes drag coefficient has, yes power train efficiency helps...but how much.

The rims collective are 40lbs lighter than the stock 17" rims, which I have to imagine help a healthy amount.

The secondary added benefit is reduced heat load on the battery. The temps on the battery never go more than 1 or 2 degrees above ambient.

I may be driving the Leaf to Baltimore this summer, which will require at least 2 very long QC stops (or 3-4 shorter stops) so qamt.to see if the temps manage better for a 700+ mile day or not. Guessing they will.
 
Yeah, once they get a place in the USA open so I can buy, I might actually pull the trigger since my Leaf is so new. Why not enjoy extra range and *style* to boot? ;)
 
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