The first thing you need to learn about your Leaf's instrumentation, is to completely ignore the Distance To Empty number. The best thing you can say about it is that it is inaccurate. For a DTE meter, there are two important numbers (and they are equally important): How far can the car go under the current conditions and how far can the car go under ideal conditions. The single DTE number on the Leaf has no relationship to either number. Learn to ignore it.
Next, note that the state of charge meter is not linear. Learn how far you can go under ideal conditions on the last two or three bars. When I lose the third to last bar (two left), I know I can go about 25 miles under ideal conditions. In the 21 months (~23,000 miles) I have owned my Leaf, I have had to rely on this about 10 times. I can get 25 miles and that hasn't changed as the car and battery pack aged. Driving the same way I have never gotten more than six miles on the 12th bar (full charge); I can only get four or five now. The estimated time to charge at 120V is a little more reasonable indicator than the state of charge bars. This too is a bit non linear. I drive 12 miles to work and it shows 4 hours to 80%. Most days I stop at the gym for a few hours before work. This also takes 4 hours to 80%. When I power up after my workout and drive 1/2 mile to work, it shows 4.5 hours to 80%. When I come out to my car at lunch it shows another half hour loss. For some reason they add half an hour to this number each time the car is powered up. While it takes 4 hours to 80% for me to drive the 12 miles to work, I can make the trip home and back and back home on 8 more hours. So even with this, it is necessary to apply a non-linear function to see how far the car can go. On mine, the low battery warning comes on at 15 hours to 80% and I have driven as far as 19 hours. By this point the DTE number has shut off making it just as useless as when it is on. The important thing to note is that while the instrumentation when the car is fully charged (to 80% or 100%) has changed a bit over the last 21 months, the performance at the bottom as remained constant. That is a comforting thought. While my total range is a bit less than it was originally, the range near at the bottom has remained constant. If I'm less than 25 miles from home with more than two bars showing, I know I'm good. Also note that other people report slightly different behavior. It is important to know the characteristics of your car. Ed On May 6, 2013, at 4:13 PM, David Rees wrote: > On Mon, May 6, 2013 at 3:28 PM, Steve Powers <[email protected]> wrote: >> I wouldn't do it unless you plan to run the battery completely flat which >> we all know shortens its life. When my car was new (1200 miles on it), I >> drove it about 63 miles at 55 MPH. I started with a full charge and had 17 >> miles left when I got home. > > 17 miles DTE doesn't say much, but with 17 miles DTE you probably had > 2-3 bars showing and about 30% capacity left. > > At 55 mph it should be easy to get at least 80 miles/charge if not > more while leaving a comfortable buffer, so I have to wonder if > there's something that affected your efficiency. > >> a 2013 which has slightly larger battery > > The 2013 has the exact same battery as the earlier LEAFs. They will do > 80-84 miles before turtle mode kicks in at 65 mph indicated when new. > > When you get to the first low battery warning, you have about 17% > capacity remaining, generally good for at least 12 miles before > turtle. The DTE indicator will typically read about 8-9 miles at this > point. When the very low battery warning kicks in (dash will read 3-4 > miles and then switch to ---) you have about 8% capacity remaining and > good for another 4-5 miles. > > See this range chart for help: > http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=101293 > > Note that the speeds listed are pessimistic - more people will get > about 4.0 mi/kWh at 65 mph as long as the route is flat, no wind and > temperatures are moderate. > > -Dave > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA > (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) > > _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
