What does this dashboard pic tell me?

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oimamalion

Member
Joined
May 19, 2022
Messages
7
I'm shopping for a used Leaf. I'm leaning toward a 2016 with the 30kwh battery. This pic is from one with a 24kwh, but I'd like to know going forward what a pic like this one can tell me. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

https://imgur.com/a/RZy9n7w
 
Hi Leftie! I have read your post about buying a used Leaf and found it very helpful. Since this would be my first EV purchase, I literally have no idea what any of those things mean? The 70%, the 44 miles, the bars next to that. I know thanks to you that I would want to use LeafSpy to really figure out range, but am curious if anything here should deter me from investigating further. I need to be able to drive 50 miles one way, charge, and return home in order for it to be of use to me. I do live in Iowa, so we have cold weather. I would likely drive my gas car in the winter when necessary due to range. I want to eventually buy an EV truck, but I am looking for an entry-level car to see how it goes for us before spending the $$.
 
Ok, then! Off we go, into the wonderful world of the Leaf's dashboard display. I may have to cut my post short, but I'm sure that others will fill in any blanks.

* The percentage display in the approximate center is a representation of remaining battery charge. 100% is a full charge, and 10% means "Recharge very soon!" (There are also audio warnings for Low Battery, and Very Low Battery.)

* The long bars on the left show the battery pack temperature, or more accurately, an average of all of the temp sensors located there, displayed in inconvenient 12 bar format. Basically, you want to try for more than 0 bars, and fewer than 8 of them.

* The similar long bars on the right are a not very helpful representation of remaining charge. The percentage display is what you want to watch. The tiny, separate bars at the very ends of the Fuel bars are the "Capacity bars," and they show remaining battery capacity. Those are not liner, though: the top one represents about 15%, while the middle bars represent about 6% each. The bottom two bars I'm not sure of - I seem to recall that at least one of them is also worth 15%.

* The range estimator ("Miles") is nearly worthless. It bases its estimated range mainly on your previous few minutes of driving, which is not usually helpful. It is nicknamed the "Guess O Meter" for that reason.

* Up top there are a bunch of warning (aka "Idiot") lights, in the form of icons. There is also a Master Warning light that simply indicates that one or more of the other lights are lit.
 
Will anything here give any inkling as to current battery capacity? I'm guessing not if the range estimator is not accurate. I'm just not sure what to look for or ask, considering I will likely have to travel couple of hours to see any in person or have it shipped. Also, thank you so much for being so helpful.
 
The little bar segments at the ends of the larger charge level bars show the capacity, in a coarse way. The 12th (also called the first, because it's the first to "drop") bar represents 15% of capacity, so when 11 little bars are showing, that means that the car has less than 85% of capacity remaining. For a more accurate reading, you need LeafSpy Pro and a diagnostic port reader like the one in my signature. The other problem with the capacity bars is that they can be reset back to 12 showing, using a Nissan diagnostic tool.
 
Continuing Lefty's tour of the dash components (intervening posts now).

* Then there are the Bubbles. Just one bubble, where it is shown in the photo, means little to no power to/from the motor. As you accelerate, you get more and more bubbles to the right. As you take your foot off the accelerator pedal, you get fewer and fewer bubbles. If you get down to one bubble, you are coasting. If you keep letting off the accelerator or use the brake, you get bubbles to the left of zero; these are "regen" (regeneration) bubbles. The more of these (up to 4), the more power is going onto the battery, slowing down the car. If you brake hard enough, you will run out of regen, and the mechanical brakes blend in (not shown on the dash, sadly).

* You will notice that the bubbles have double circles around them. Under some circumstances, these can reduce to single circles. This is starting to get a little advanced, so to avoid confusing you, I'll just mention that it's possible, and that single circles are not desirable.

* At the bottom is the odometer, and one of two trip meters (A and B). These are completely standard.

* At bottom left is a "gear indicator"; it can be in Park, Drive, and ECO. Perhaps also neutral, I forget, but neutral is rarely used. ECO is like Drive, but the pedal is less aggressive and air conditioning/heating is tamed, for longer battery life. Some models may have a B "gear", for more aggressive regenerative braking. The "gears" are all electronic; there is no shifting (variable ratio) transmission as such.

* Not all the icons are bad. In particular, the green car with a double ended arrow under it means the car is "ready". This is an EV term, meaning that the high voltage battery has passed tests, and is available for driving, air conditioning/heating, and charging the auxiliary (12V) battery.

The battery health meter (extreme right) in the photo is showing 11 bars, out of a possible 12 bars. This is about expected for 40k miles on the odometer. But you will be aware from Lefty's "need to know" post that it's possible to artificially boost this readout.

Not exactly on the dash, but near it, is the start button. If you've driven a Toyota Prius or similar, it's exactly the same.
 
Thank you both. This is a 2016, but is the 24kwh. It appears it would serve my purposes IF the capacity is accurate. I'm really hoping to find a 30kwh, but I'm also trying to stay under $15K. I've only been looking for a couple of days, but I can see that I'm asking a lot.
 
This was alluded to, but it's worth repeating without reservation: I would not buy any used Leaf without a detailed LeafSpy Pro reading (things like Ahr/SOH/#charges/etc). The dash readings are too generic and (more importantly) can be influenced by driving and other (nefarious) actions.
 
Indeed. If for some reason LeafSpy Pro won't or can't be used, then a range test is in order. Basically, it consists of resetting the trip odometer, driving until either 10% or 20% of the charge (according to the dash % charge indicator) has been used, and then multiplying the number of miles driven by either 10 (10%) or 5 (20%). The resulting number is the car's approximate range in miles. Make sure that about half the miles driven (or whatever fraction represents your typical driving conditions) are on the highway, traveling at the speed you normally use on the highway.
 
I can only count 9 bars on the right side. What am I doing wrong? And I am counting 6 bars on the left side. Is that correct? And what does the 44 on the right side mean?
 
There are two "arcs" of LED lights on the right side, you are looking at the inner arc, which represents the current state of charge. To the outside/right of that arc is a second arc, which represents the state of health.

The 44 is the estimated range, calculated by the car. When people mention the "GOM" (guess-o-meter), they are referring to that value.

The arc of lights on the left represents the current battery pack temperature.
 
oimamalion said:
I'm shopping for a used Leaf. I'm leaning toward a 2016 with the 30kwh battery. This pic is from one with a 24kwh, but I'd like to know going forward what a pic like this one can tell me. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

https://imgur.com/a/RZy9n7w

It's a Gen 1 Leaf, it has 11 out of 12 bars of capacity, but only has 44 miles of range left at 70% charge?
If this is from a dealership, the BMS has been reset to lie about the battery capacity because the numbers don't add up.
If this is from a person selling it, they must have driven at +90 MPH for about a dozen miles before bringing it to you. :lol:
 
knightmb said:
oimamalion said:
I'm shopping for a used Leaf. I'm leaning toward a 2016 with the 30kwh battery. This pic is from one with a 24kwh, but I'd like to know going forward what a pic like this one can tell me. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

https://imgur.com/a/RZy9n7w
If this is from a person selling it, they must have driven at +90 MPH for about a dozen miles before bringing it to you. :lol:
It's also possible it has a stuck brake rotor/s. When my front rotors stuck partially on, on my 13' I had atrocious range, and there was lots of heat emanating from behind the rims. Stuck rotors can cost in excess of $500 to fix so it's something to look at.
To see if this is the case one should drive on the flat or uphill and try not to touch the brake pedal, if after a couple of miles there is lots of heat coming from behind the rim, if you put your finger in that area be careful to not burn your finger, you probably have a stuck rotor.
 
Or, just put the car in neutral down a slight downhill grade. If it comes to a stop, the brakes are likely dragging excessively.
 
alozzy said:
There are two "arcs" of LED lights on the right side, you are looking at the inner arc, which represents the current state of charge. To the outside/right of that arc is a second arc, which represents the state of health.

The 44 is the estimated range, calculated by the car. When people mention the "GOM" (guess-o-meter), they are referring to that value.

The arc of lights on the left represents the current battery pack temperature.

Ok, so the outside arc is 10 white and 2 red and this one is down one white mark suggesting about 8.5% degradation? The inner right arc is the counterpart to an ICE car fuel gauge? With only 44 miles at 70% that suggests a max range of a little over 60%? This is maybe an old model when they had much smaller battery packs? On the heat arc is that the optimal operating level and if not what is the ideal number of bars? When using a fast CHAdeMO connection to avoid overheating the batteries what is the maximum level of the left arc to safely charge? Lots of questions I know but this seems to be the wealth of knowledge.
 
No, there are 9 white bars and 2 red ones within the outside arc, so it's an 11 capacity bar LEAF. Without LeafSpy, you can't get more exact about the state of health (SOH) - It's anywhere between 85% (very unlikely) and 78% SOH (more likely).

The guess-o-meter (44 miles) can be pretty much ignored, as it can be a poor indicator of remaining range, depending on how it was most recently driven and under what conditions. If you have any faith in the GOM, then yes, 44 miles/.7 is approximately 60 miles full range. That wouldn't be far off for an average 11 bar LEAF.

Re-read LeftBiker's newbie buying guide, as most of the answers for the multitude of questions you have asked are in there...
 
alozzy said:
Re-read LeftBiker's newbie buying guide, as most of the answers for the multitude of questions you have asked are in there...

I'm probably blind but not finding it right off. Where do I find it? Thanks.
 
https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=26662

WetEV also has something similar, can't seem to find that right now though...
 
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