newbie range questions

There should be a button for ECO. I think mine is on my steering wheel. If the display shows 'ECO' you are in that mode.

I've learned not to look in my rear view mirror. Then when I pull up to them at the next red light I like to think maybe they learned something but that is probably wishful thinking....

Given what Stella describes as her driving style, I'd say that the heater is the main culprit for her modest range, followed by the soft tires. The third thing that really robs range in a Leaf is driving faster than 60MPH. Despite the car's Aero looks, it just doesn't slide through the air well, and the lower the highway speed the better. Don't be a Rolling Roadblock, but when you can take secondary roads rather than a freeway, that will save range.

I'm being mindful to just straight up leave the heater off. I imagine aux isnt a huge issue. I ride mostly off freeway, top speeds of 45. I would say tires, then just unfamiliarity of driving the car. I really love the shape of the gen ones. Its such a unique shape, love the bug headlights.

There's no eco button on mine. I suppose I'll always be driving eco which is fine. People in this area like being either too fast or too slow, there's no inbetween I swear. The roads are mostly flat, some little hills.

There's no eco button on mine.

Click to expand...

I've never driven a Leaf S, but since you have the Eco mode being displayed, I suspect that if there is no button, then to shift between D-Eco and D you use the shifter. Later Leafs have "B" (braking) mode accessed by shifting into the D slot twice (same to disengage Eco) but I think the early Leaf S uses that to shift between D and Eco. Look at the shifter, and see how "D" is labeled - if there is something like "D/Eco" labeled there.

Anyone who knows this definitely, please chime in. I used to know it, but it's gone now.

It is D/eco, but I couldnt figure out how to shift it. I figure again its in eco with the dash showing eco next to what gear its in.

Also tires seemed to help immensely, even on just the short trek home from the charger.

It is D/eco, but I couldnt figure out how to shift it.

Click to expand...

Just repeat the final motion of shifting into D: pull the shifter only just out of D, then put it right back in. I'm glad to hear the tires were causing a lot of the low range issue. Now I'm off to bed, before the first rays of the rising sun vaporize me.

Hi! I am new at this so looking for an expert to explain the following. I have a 2015 Leaf so rated for 84 miles or 135 kms. Going to work and back is economical i.e around an average of 8.8 kms/kwh. If the usable battery is 21.3 kw/h (my research suggested from 21.3 to 22.4, not sure which one is the right one so I assume the worst case scenario at 21.3) shouldn't I be able to get close to 187 kms (21.3 x 8.8)? The best I could do was 126 kms with 7% left on the battery. Speaking of the battery, the car has 72 000 kms, it shows 100% after a full charge and I have the 12 bars. A full charge level 2 from 20% to 100% is 3 hours and 20 mins. If the battery shows 100% with 12 bars, why am I doing only 126kms at 8.8 kms/kwh? Could it be because when it shows 7%, it is actually way more? Thank you for your reply.

There are several answers here. Yes, there is a built-in reserve, so the SOC display doesn't show all of the available capacity. Next, really high efficiency numbers - say, above 5 km per kwh, tend to not be achievable over long trips, even when it looks like they should. Last, the numbers you are getting are actually very good for a 24kwh Leaf. You just have to accept that when taking a long trip, 126km is pretty much your range limit.