New Nissan Leaf efficiency

Dand88 · 15-01-2019 1:49am #1

New leaf40 driver, any tips or info on most efficient way to drive ? Right now I'm using, eco on, drive mode b and heater on at 17'c fan speed 2. Is the heater better on auto or just with a preset heat and fan speed selected, my daily commute is 180kms 80% motorway and have been driving with cruise control on at 100kmh, Would 110 or 120kmh make a huge difference, haven't tried it yet will test more when back in work in a couple of days. Thanks any info would be great

Calahonda52 · 15-01-2019 8:24am

Wind resistance is the issue at higher speeds, especially with the Leaf, so yes it will eat into the battery.
For example, in my petrol Toyota , 100kms/h is about 3,000 rpm, 125 is close to 4,000

Gumbo · 15-01-2019 10:21am

Dand88 wrote: »

New leaf40 driver, any tips or info on most efficient way to drive ? Right now I'm using, eco on, drive mode b and heater on at 17'c fan speed 2. Is the heater better on auto or just with a preset heat and fan speed selected, my daily commute is 180kms 80% motorway and have been driving with cruise control on at 100kmh, Would 110 or 120kmh make a huge difference, haven't tried it yet will test more when back in work in a couple of days. Thanks any info would be great

Makes no difference what temp the heater is set to, once it’s on, it’s on and the heat pump is engaged.

The jump from 100 to 120 on the motorway will see your range drop significantly. If you are on the limit of the range best to stick to 100kmph.

Gile_na_gile · 15-01-2019 10:54am

Dand88 wrote: »

New leaf40 driver, any tips or info on most efficient way to drive ? Right now I'm using, eco on, drive mode b and heater on at 17'c fan speed 2. Is the heater better on auto or just with a preset heat and fan speed selected, my daily commute is 180kms 80% motorway and have been driving with cruise control on at 100kmh, Would 110 or 120kmh make a huge difference, haven't tried it yet will test more when back in work in a couple of days. Thanks any info would be great

Sorry, I have no info to add as waiting on L40, but would love to know how the commute goes in terms of range left after a 180km journey, which seems at the limits of what an L40 can do safely in the winter (albeit not very cold, not particularly windy or wet at moment).

KCross · 15-01-2019 12:04pm

Dand88 wrote: »

New leaf40 driver, any tips or info on most efficient way to drive ? Right now I'm using, eco on, drive mode b and heater on at 17'c fan speed 2. Is the heater better on auto or just with a preset heat and fan speed selected, my daily commute is 180kms 80% motorway and have been driving with cruise control on at 100kmh, Would 110 or 120kmh make a huge difference, haven't tried it yet will test more when back in work in a couple of days. Thanks any info would be great

With 80% being motorway there is very little you can do to affect efficiency other than adjust speed. Heater, eco mode, b mode etc wont matter nearly as much as the speed.

So, once you are comfortable with the range of the car in various conditions I'd drive it whatever way you feel gets you there in comfort without cutting it fine on range and forget about efficiency... life is too short and electricity too cheap for that!

You are saving a haluva amount of money on diesel with that commute!

Dand88 · 15-01-2019 3:15pm

KCross wrote: »

With 80% being motorway there is very little you can do to affect efficiency other than adjust speed. Heater, eco mode, b mode etc wont matter nearly as much as the speed.

So, once you are comfortable with the range of the car in various conditions I'd drive it whatever way you feel gets you there in comfort without cutting it fine on range and forget about efficiency... life is too short and electricity too cheap for that!

You are saving a haluva amount of money on diesel with that commute!

Thanks all for the info yes at 100kmh I make it to work and back from 100% with 22ish left, and yes savings are brilliant to tip of off I can charge in work for free

KCross · 15-01-2019 3:19pm

Dand88 wrote: »

Thanks all for the info yes at 100kmh I make it to work and back from 100% with 22ish left, and yes savings are brilliant to tip of off I can charge in work for free

In that case why are you driving at 100kmh/h at all? Its a motorway, let it rip!

Pkiernan · 15-01-2019 3:20pm

Dand88 wrote: »

Thanks all for the info yes at 100kmh I make it to work and back from 100% with 22ish left, and yes savings are brilliant to tip of off I can charge in work for free

Bump up your speed to 110 for a week and see how it affects your range.

Calahonda52 · 15-01-2019 3:26pm

Pkiernan wrote: »

Bump up your speed to 110 for a week and see how it affects your range.

Or if the route is fairly flat, top up to full at work and drive home at 120 real, maybe 132 on dash and see whats left.
Do same at 110.
This approach means you are not doing a round trip at 120 real, and discover that work charger is not available for some reason..

Soarer · 15-01-2019 4:26pm

If you can charge at work, why are you worried about the L40's efficiency?

You only have to do 90kms before charging again at work, so drive on!

Unless it's actually 180kms each way?!

15-01-2019 5:30pm

Yep if you can get there and back with 22 % left then drive a bit faster and use heat, having EV doesn't mean you need to turn down the heat.

Ask work to install charge point or let you use extension lead.

Most likely all work places say no and health and safety is a fantastic company way of telling you to get lost but tell them there are tax incentives for installing charge points, give them the number of a few installers.

The natural reaction for facilities in a company is when they see you coming they hold the hand up straight away and say, "whatever it is the answer is NO"

Usually the only way they react to anything if it's to do with health and safety.

I was lucky and there are several charge points on campus and my 142 Km commute is mostly free except when I really put the boot down, I may need to charge for an hour or two max.

n97 mini · 15-01-2019 5:44pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Ask work to install charge point or let you use extension lead.

->

Dand88 wrote: »

I can charge in work for free

Dand88 · 15-01-2019 11:09pm

Soarer wrote: »

If you can charge at work, why are you worried about the L40's efficiency?

You only have to do 90kms before charging again at work, so drive on!

Unless it's actually 180kms each way?!

Because my plan was and is to only charge in work which cuts the monthly price of the car in half, so with that in mind I drive at 100kmh and leave work and get back the next day with 20ish percent left but with colder weather and rain wipers on etc I fear that 20% will drop and just want to see is there a better way I could be driving to use less juice

Soarer · 15-01-2019 11:49pm

Dand88 wrote: »

Because my plan was and is to only charge in work which cuts the monthly price of the car in half, so with that in mind I drive at 100kmh and leave work and get back the next day with 20ish percent left but with colder weather and rain wipers on etc I fear that 20% will drop and just want to see is there a better way I could be driving to use less juice

Maybe top up a small bit at home every evening? It'd cost you less than a euro on the standard rate to more than cover you.

mikep · 16-01-2019 10:13am

Hi Dan88

have you a charge point at work or are you using a granny cable?

Thinking of investing in one of these myself with a 160 km commute, 90% M8

Dand88 · 16-01-2019 10:25am

mikep wrote: »

Hi Dan88

have you a charge point at work or are you using a granny cable?

Thinking of investing in one of these myself with a 160 km commute, 90% M8

Hi Mike, I have a zappi charger installed at home which I rarely use o my on my days off and there's 7kw chargers at work which I use every shift in work and that supplies enough range to get me home and back to work to charge again

Dand88 · 16-01-2019 10:26am

Dand88 wrote: »

Hi Mike, I have a zappi charger installed at home which I rarely use o my on my days off and there's 7kw chargers at work which I use every shift in work and that supplies enough range to get me home and back to work to charge again

Also to add the 40kw leaf gets me to and from work starting with 100% left with 20-24% depending on whether conditions so it's great free to run the car

16-01-2019 12:59pm

Dand88 wrote: »

Also to add the 40kw leaf gets me to and from work starting with 100% left with 20-24% depending on whether conditions so it's great free to run the car

Didn't realise you already had work charging.

Where do you work , roughly ?

Anyway, if you got home and work charging man then put the boot down, driving slower and turning the heat to 17 Degrees is absolute insanity considering how cheap it is to drive.

I have the 33 Kwh i3 and can make it comfortably to and from work at 100 Km/h with heat at 23 Degrees , could get there with 10-20% left, can do it a bit faster sometimes.

If I put the boot down, past 110 Km/h I would need to charge a little bit at home and if I drive 130-140 I might need an hour or two, (3 - 6 Kwh ) that's about 15 cent worth of electricity or 17 - 34 cent at day rate, so there's no point driving efficiently or turning the heat down to uncomfortable levels, that's mad.

The whole beauty of having EV driving is the fact you don't have to "save fuel"

ewj1978 · 17-01-2019 10:09am

Hi Dand88, looks like you're planning to run the car free so as to cover the cost of buying it.
If that's your plan and you don't ever want to charge it at home keep the speed at 100. The L40 is no more efficient than the L30 and going over 100kmh will severely impact the range(especially in cold weather).

I did the same when I had my leaf. Tried to charge only in work. Its great.. until you need to use the car outside your work routine, then you charge at home.
I did 40000kms in my first year. Would have cost me ~€950 at standard rate at home. With charging in work the car probably only cost me a quarter of that. So say ~€250. Pretty sure ~€250 won't break your bank.

Zenith74 · 17-01-2019 11:13am

ewj1978 wrote: »

The L40 is no more efficient than the L30

I was curious about this the other day actually. The L24/30 have a co-efficient of drag of 0.32Cd, Nissan got it down to 0.28Cd for the L40. For reference the electron sipping Ioniq is 0.26Cd. Now the frontal area of the car also plays a part, but it would seem that the L40 should be at least marginally more efficient than the L24/30.

What would be great would be to put a Leaf and an Ioniq on a dyno and measure the power consumption, which would tell us if its the drivertrain or the aerodynamics that makes the Leaf that bit less efficient. Also wondering if the L62, due to its higher power output (because of larger battery or more powerful motor?), will require less power to keep it at higher speeds (if drivetrain losses are the big issue).

17-01-2019 11:33am

Seriously though it's so cheap why would anyone think about efficiency for the sake of maybe an hours charge at home on night or even day rate electricity.

7.6 or 17 cent worth of electricity for maybe driving 120 Km/h and 22 Deg C heat instead of 100 Km/h and 17 Deg Heat, it's just crazy really.

Over a 5 day work week that would cost a measly 36 cent for anyone working 9-5 Mon-Fri using night rate electricity using roughly 3 Kwh per charge.

2 Hrs charge double that again or 1.80 for 2 hrs charge at home at night rate for 6 Kwh worth of electricity per night.

Over a 48 week work "year" that would cost 86 Euro's

over 3 years that would cost 259 Euro's.

Again I ask, why the hell would you worry about efficiency at those costs ?

This is all assuming a 3.5 Kw home charge point was installed. If a 7 Kw charger is installed then all that's needed might be a 30 min charge to 1 hr at 6.6 Kw.

OP has roughly 20% left by the time he gets to work so he should use it or just charge at home for an hour for peace of mind.

kennethsmyth · 17-01-2019 2:22pm

Hi I'm in the process of testing the L40 in our current temps at various speeds. So far this is what I have based on 36km on each speed (18km out 18km back same section of motorway).

There will be differences depending on your topography but this is mine so far. Below base on 36000wh usable of the 40kwh (theres probably 37.5kwh available)

Speed is as per speedo so actual would be approx 95% of that.

120kmh = 220wh/km = 164kms available - @11c windy - 80% = 131kms
110kmh = 190wh/km = 189kms available - @10c windy - 80% = 152kms
100kmh = 175wh/km = 206kms available - @10c windy - 80% = 165kms
90kmh = 152wh/km = 237kms available - @9c normal - 80% = 189kms

I have given the 100% available kms and 80% to show what distances are reasonable to go prior to charging.

Note these are my experiences which I have made notes on and may not be what yours are especially if you dont agree with the 18km each way method (it suits my daily journey, havent time for full tests).

Hope its of use.

Gile_na_gile · 17-01-2019 2:50pm

kennethsmyth wrote: »

Hi I'm in the process of testing the L40 in our current temps at various speeds. So far this is what I have based on 36km on each speed (18km out 18km back same section of motorway).

Great data, which will be interesting to compare with summer temps and also extremes in temperature like -5 to 2 deg Celsius. I was surprised when I found this video, in which Sinéad McCann of Carsireland got to Newcastle West from Dublin in one charge (232km), but that was around 100% to about 2% (close to zero, she said) with temperatures from last summer, so around 20 deg Celsius. Speed on motorway averaging at 105 km/h, probably slowing to end (and turning off AC, radio, closing windows, etc.).

kennethsmyth · 17-01-2019 3:52pm

Gile_na_gile wrote: »

Great data, which will be interesting to compare with summer temps and also extremes in temperature like -5 to 2 deg Celsius. I was surprised when I found this video, in which Sinéad McCann of Carsireland got to Newcastle West from Dublin in one charge (232km), but that was around 100% to about 2% (close to zero, she said) with temperatures from last summer, so around 20 deg Celsius. Speed on motorway averaging at 105 km/h, probably slowing to end (and turning off AC, radio, closing windows, etc.).

Yes summer will be better again, I'm really doing these tests as in June I will be going to cork from dublin with a roof rack with two bikes on roof, so I also have data as to how that will affect distance and what level speed I need to maintain to catch the ferry! Will releases those in a grid when I get more data and confirm all efficiencies at the various speeds more than once or twice.

KCross · 17-01-2019 3:58pm

kennethsmyth wrote: »

Hi I'm in the process of testing the L40 in our current temps at various speeds. So far this is what I have based on 36km on each speed (18km out 18km back same section of motorway).

There will be differences depending on your topography but this is mine so far. Below base on 36000wh usable of the 40kwh (theres probably 37.5kwh available)

Speed is as per speedo so actual would be approx 95% of that.

120kmh = 220wh/km = 164kms available - @11c windy - 80% = 131kms
110kmh = 190wh/km = 189kms available - @10c windy - 80% = 152kms
100kmh = 175wh/km = 206kms available - @10c windy - 80% = 165kms
90kmh = 152wh/km = 237kms available - @9c normal - 80% = 189kms

I have given the 100% available kms and 80% to show what distances are reasonable to go prior to charging.

Note these are my experiences which I have made notes on and may not be what yours are especially if you dont agree with the 18km each way method (it suits my daily journey, havent time for full tests).

Hope its of use.

Is that data got by resetting a trip counter on the dash?
It would be interesting to see how closely they match with the actuals in LeafSpy.

The figures do look about right though, probably a bit pessimistic if anything.

kennethsmyth · 17-01-2019 5:49pm

Data is taken by resetting trip computer approx 2 mins after propilot is engaged at the speed, but using both computers so that i also have an average one to compare total vs each trip there and back.

The values are purposely conservative and rounded up very slightly to ensure an amount of reasonability for your average user.

I need to do this as my trip to cork will be very specific in time vs speed vs charge stops vs charging speed.

I have leaf spy but I have found the trip computer good enough for what we are doing, also note I use essentially 36kwh as available battery when in fact its probably 37.4kwh - again for conservative spec

17-01-2019 6:02pm

The 24 Kwh used to say 20% battery when in fact there was 27% left.

I found this out from Leafspy and was good to know, does anyone know what's actually left in the 40 Kwh at 20% ?

kennethsmyth · 17-01-2019 6:13pm

Deleted User wrote: »

The 24 Kwh used to say 20% battery when in fact there was 27% left.

I found this out from Leafspy and was good to know, does anyone know what's actually left in the 40 Kwh at 20% ?

Same thing happens in 40kwh leaf however 100% probably = approx 96%/97% so a cross over occurs on the percentages as they drop.

I was purposely sticking with efficiency rating of wh/km and the available kwh of usable battery so that I could be consistent. The % is unfortunately not consistent.

Dand88 · 18-01-2019 10:45pm

All apologies for late reply have been put of the country, great information there thank you, t
The range to get to and from work is not really down to price as I realise for me to top up it would cost next to nothing, it's more searching on Google that has pushed me towards trying to get to and from on one charge, read on being I have read charge cycles and just topping up is not good for the battery but I also read 20 to 80% charge is best to be honest my head is fried with all the worries of battery state of health I had my last car from new and just traded it in a 2007 with 340k kms and was hoping this would serve me the same but with what I am reading online I will be luck to get 6-7 years with decent battery soh, I had no worries I done all the calculations etc but only since I picked up the car have I start searching about battery soh and there's so many different opinions and what to do and not to do to take care of the battery it's just all a lot to take in when I am used to just checking for a t belt change everything 60k

19-01-2019 2:45pm

Dand88 wrote: »

All apologies for late reply have been put of the country, great information there thank you, t
The range to get to and from work is not really down to price as I realise for me to top up it would cost next to nothing, it's more searching on Google that has pushed me towards trying to get to and from on one charge, read on being I have read charge cycles and just topping up is not good for the battery but I also read 20 to 80% charge is best to be honest my head is fried with all the worries of battery state of health I had my last car from new and just traded it in a 2007 with 340k kms and was hoping this would serve me the same but with what I am reading online I will be luck to get 6-7 years with decent battery soh, I had no worries I done all the calculations etc but only since I picked up the car have I start searching about battery soh and there's so many different opinions and what to do and not to do to take care of the battery it's just all a lot to take in when I am used to just checking for a t belt change everything 60k

Just drive it, don't worry about it , use all the charge when you need it.

One of the most important things I would say and this is really all you got to remember , when not using the car don't "frequently" as in, don't make it a habit, to leave it above 80% for more than a few days or less than about 20%.

If going away and not using it leave it at about 50% charge and that's it.

Heat is also a concern when fast charging but if not fast charging frequently and getting it hot to the point it slows down charging I wouldn't worry about it.

Charge and use as needed and forget it.

New Nissan Leaf efficiency

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