I find all the discussion, calculations, and personal systems for estimating range fascinating and informative, but I recently discovered the best range estimate is already provided by Nissan... It's the white range circle on the Nav display!
Bear with me here. After much data gathering and observation. I've proven to my satisfaction that the following are true:
1. The only thing that really matters is how many miles you actually travel for each bar shown on the battery gauge.
2. Obviously the number of miles you get per bar varies, but you can reset the trip odo's to keep track.
3. The car is keeping track of this and uses an averaging algorithm to drive the inner white range circle display.
4. This "white circle" display is the REAL range you will get despite the other 'optimistic' figure displayed in the cluster.
So here's the deal. That 'optimistic' number on the cluster is really nothing more that what MIGHT happen and it appears on the Nav range display as the outer "gray" circle. It is the "best case" scenario whereas the inner white circle range on the NAV display is the minimum range as predicted by the ACTUAL miles you are getting per bar. In my experience it is the inner range bar that is highly accurate and easy to use and track!
Check it out for yourself and let me know if what I have observed holds true!
Bear with me here. After much data gathering and observation. I've proven to my satisfaction that the following are true:
1. The only thing that really matters is how many miles you actually travel for each bar shown on the battery gauge.
2. Obviously the number of miles you get per bar varies, but you can reset the trip odo's to keep track.
3. The car is keeping track of this and uses an averaging algorithm to drive the inner white range circle display.
4. This "white circle" display is the REAL range you will get despite the other 'optimistic' figure displayed in the cluster.
So here's the deal. That 'optimistic' number on the cluster is really nothing more that what MIGHT happen and it appears on the Nav range display as the outer "gray" circle. It is the "best case" scenario whereas the inner white circle range on the NAV display is the minimum range as predicted by the ACTUAL miles you are getting per bar. In my experience it is the inner range bar that is highly accurate and easy to use and track!
Check it out for yourself and let me know if what I have observed holds true!