Dashboard display suggestions

drive slowly, accelerate moderately and you will grow some trees.. get on the hwy and speed at 55 and you will kill them. You abuse your Leaf everytime you get on the hwy.

having a display that shows "braking" action would be nice. a dial indicator which shows regen on the left, friction braking on the right

Well, I better sell it now then since I can't get most anywhere I need to go without doing so! :lol:

Herm said:

drive slowly, accelerate moderately and you will grow some trees.. get on the hwy and speed at 55 and you will kill them. You abuse your Leaf everytime you get on the hwy.

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TomT said:

Well, I better sell it now then since I can't get most anywhere I need to go without doing so! :lol:

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All they have in your town are highways?.. no low speed roads?

Does a golf cart need all that?

Ok, that's way to simplistic, but I agree with OP and commentators on the less then informative display.

The display seems to be a textbook case of "feature creep", getting full of ideas that end up cluttering the display.
It is the same energy flow indicators you see in a Prius (for instance), just looks different.

What is the most important information in an EV?
Speed (both MPH & KmPH) and Energy Left (excluding the indicator lights for motor problem, low tire, etc).
Everything else is pretty much distraction and waste of space.

Consider the ease and intuitive use of iPhone and iPad.
How would Steve Jobs design the dash?

Consider also a key part of EV's is ease of use, less maintenance. A major point of EV is being simpler then IC cars.


Nissan has some nice ideas and are good to have, but the presentation is stale.

HoustonFlier said:

... What is the most important information in an EV?
Speed (both MPH & KmPH) and Energy Left (excluding the indicator lights for motor problem, low tire, etc).
Everything else is pretty much distraction and waste of space. ...

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I'd suggest that "burn rate" of your "fuel" is important -- miles per kWH. BUT, neither the instantaneous rate, nor the long-term rate are sufficient to really help you while you're underway. What is needed are more intermediate periods, such as 1 minute and 5 minute moving averages, etc... In this way you could, for example, change your speed on a highway drive, and get a decent idea of the impact. Following the instantaneous rate as it bounces between 2 and 8 due to wind gusts, hills or brief spots of coasting or acceleration, just doesn't cut it, nor does your rate since you started the car.

I would suggest a small line graph with those 2 moving averages over a given timeframe. This would be way more useful and informative to me than eco trees.

Nubo said:

HoustonFlier said:

... What is the most important information in an EV?
Speed (both MPH & KmPH) and Energy Left (excluding the indicator lights for motor problem, low tire, etc).
Everything else is pretty much distraction and waste of space. ...

Click to expand...

I'd suggest that "burn rate" of your "fuel" is important -- miles per kWH. BUT, neither the instantaneous rate, nor the long-term rate are sufficient to really help you while you're underway. What is needed are more intermediate periods, such as 1 minute and 5 minute moving averages, etc... In this way you could, for example, change your speed on a highway drive, and get a decent idea of the impact. Following the instantaneous rate as it bounces between 2 and 8 due to wind gusts, hills or brief spots of coasting or acceleration, just doesn't cut it, nor does your rate since you started the car.

I would suggest a small line graph with those 2 moving averages over a given timeframe. This would be way more useful and informative to me than eco trees.

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Does my gas guzzling car have a "burn rate"?
No.

I use two meters, fuel in tank, and miles driven.
On average I do about 325 miles for full tank. More if highway, less if city, but for certain when I am about 300 miles, need to get gas soon (started that habit after my old car fuel gauge stopped working).

As you said, it is all an estimate, and the only estimate that counts is when you down to last, say, 15% of energy. Will you make the fuel... I mean recharge station?

HoustonFlier said:

...Does my gas guzzling car have a "burn rate"?
No. ...

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But some ICE cars do have MPG readouts, and they can be very helpful if your goal is to maximize efficiency.

davewill said:

HoustonFlier said:

...Does my gas guzzling car have a "burn rate"?
No. ...

Click to expand...

But some ICE cars do have MPG readouts, and they can be very helpful if your goal is to maximize efficiency.

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Maximize efficiency by efficient driving habits, not a gauge on a dash.
Their is a peak cruising efficiency in a car that should be posted in all cars (45~55 MPH for most IC).
Do about EV's, maybe around 25~30 MPH?

The reason for IC having better better peak cruising efficiency is by transmission gearing. If no transmission then motor is better. For example aircraft do not have transmission, so the more power the engine, more fuel is used on an increasing scale.

HoustonFlier said:

Does my gas guzzling car have a "burn rate"?
No.

I use two meters, fuel in tank, and miles driven.
On average I do about 325 miles for full tank. More if highway, less if city, but for certain when I am about 300 miles, need to get gas soon (started that habit after my old car fuel gauge stopped working).

As you said, it is all an estimate, and the only estimate that counts is when you down to last, say, 15% of energy. Will you make the fuel... I mean recharge station?

Click to expand...

Two very different regimes. Your gas-guzzler has much longer range and, though expensive and otherwise problematic, refueling is quick and widely available. Your gas-guzzler is also relatively insensitive to changes in driving style and conditions because it's already throwing away 80% of the energy it's provided, regardless. A happy-go-lucky style combined with a monotonous range behavior, is a workable approach.

The LEAF has a small "tank", refueling stations are not omnipresent and refueling takes much longer. It is far more sensitive to driving style and conditions. Being able to confidently avoid a lengthy fuel stop is a big dividend.

HoustonFlier said:

Maximize efficiency by efficient driving habits, not a gauge on a dash.

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Sure, as a general approach and if ultimate efficiency is your goal.


But for a specific trip, it can easily come down to a decision on whether a somewhat longer(slower) travel will help you avoid an even longer recharge stop. That is, just how efficient do I need to be on this particular trip? Pre-planning can take care of a lot of this but a useful real-time feedback would be helpful for many (not all). The ECO trees may be real-time but give no units information that you can do math with.

If you want a simple display get an iMiev.. people will laugh at you

Yes, bright complexity is part of the appeal.

No one would laugh if the iMiev had a 36kWh pack

Nubo said:

HoustonFlier said:

Does my gas guzzling car have a "burn rate"?
No.

I use two meters, fuel in tank, and miles driven.
On average I do about 325 miles for full tank. More if highway, less if city, but for certain when I am about 300 miles, need to get gas soon (started that habit after my old car fuel gauge stopped working).

As you said, it is all an estimate, and the only estimate that counts is when you down to last, say, 15% of energy. Will you make the fuel... I mean recharge station?

Click to expand...

Two very different regimes. Your gas-guzzler has much longer range and (though expensive and otherwise problematic) refueling is quick and widely available. Your gas-guzzler is also relatively insensitive to changes in driving style and conditions because it's already throwing away 80% of the energy it's provided, regardless.

The LEAF has a small "tank", refueling stations are not omnipresent and refueling takes much longer. It is far more sensitive to driving style and conditions. Being able to confidently avoid a lengthy fuel stop is a big dividend.

Click to expand...

Of course, but I can do just as good with my entire dash off as I can with "burn rate".
It is easy to judge speed to about +/- 5mph of actual, and after a while to about +/- 1 MPH.

With EV, slower the acceleration or decel the better, and slower you go the better (to point).


EDIT.....
I was interrupted and cant remember what my threat was about... I think above comments completely irrelevant then, LOL :roll:

I understand the range differs more on EV then IC

Nubo said:

But for a specific trip, it can easily come down to a decision on whether a somewhat longer(slower) travel will help you avoid an even longer recharge stop. That is, just how efficient do I need to be on this particular trip? Pre-planning can take care of a lot of this but a useful real-time feedback would be helpful for many (not all). The ECO trees may be real-time but give no units information that you can do math with.

Click to expand...

This I completely agree with.
Perhaps a comparison range of ALL systems ON (with 10% reserve), vs all systems OFF on the dash will be the most helpful.
Is the range is know, then it can give you a change of success %.
Also, with known range and charge, it can suggest turning off items, like radio, A/C, other items, to maximize range.