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Post by Phoebe on Jan 6, 2013 4:18:57 GMT 11
I drive in Eco Mode all the time. The only time I go into Drive is to go round a tricky roundabout near Maitland Hospital, where I feel the need for the extra acceleration if I have to rush to get into roundabout traffic. As soon as I am through the roundabout I go back into Eco Mode, because the extra range is worth the loss of power. What do others do ?
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Post by leafboi on Jan 6, 2013 10:03:03 GMT 11
I'm an Eco mode fan also.
I always used Eco in my Prius too.
The D modes in both cars are very powerful, feels like they promote noon driving. Lol
But D in the LEAF is great when you want to be reminded of the real power we have.
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Post by Phoebe on Jan 6, 2013 11:46:50 GMT 11
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Post by Jim Hare on Jan 6, 2013 18:41:46 GMT 11
I use eco mode by default. Somehow feel guilty if I use drive! I love drive when I need the power, to get out of a potentially dangerous situation or just want to overtake. Also love drive when I show others the car. As soon as someone jokes about electrics not being powerful I pin them to the seat! That shuts them up quickly...
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Post by Brian on Jan 7, 2013 0:28:52 GMT 11
The salesman told me that in Eco mode, if you ' tramp it ' and put the pedal to the metal in a hurry, the system over rides Eco and you get the maximum acceleration that you would get in Drive.
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Post by Phoebe on Jan 7, 2013 6:08:07 GMT 11
Someone told me that, too and it reminded me of our 1948 Studebaker, which kinda did the opposite, it would go into overdrive an extra high gear and you could go into overdrive in any forward gear, by stamping the accelerator to the floor. This is the first time I've come across a car where stamping the accelerator to the floor has any specific effect ;D
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Post by Jim Hare on Jan 7, 2013 7:51:17 GMT 11
It does, but there feels like there's a delay, like it's switching back before it can start moving.
I find drive mode is very responsive, like it just can't wait to get permission to go!
Again, I only go into drive when demonstrating the car or I truly need the power.
Phoebe, love the story about the Studebaker!
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Post by Phoebe on Jan 7, 2013 9:28:57 GMT 11
Don't remember a delay on the Studebaker, which was the car I learned to drive in In the Leaf I don't bother with all that I just press D without taking my foot off the accelerator or pushing it to the floor and I feel an instant surge of power without any noticeable delay, so for me that is the quickest way of getting more power in a hurry.
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Post by Jim Hare on Jan 7, 2013 17:09:43 GMT 11
Yes, I do exactly the same.
I was referring to idea that The LEAF switches to drive from Eco when you stomp the accelerator.
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Post by Phoebe on Nov 14, 2014 23:14:17 GMT 11
I use Eco mode all the time. I try and avoid Motorways and Freeways because driving at 110kmh even in Eco mode drains your battery very fast. Optimum speed is about 75 kph but that doesn't feel safe when trucks nearly run up the back of you at 110kph. How much up hill is there in the 77kms from the dealer to your home and how much of it is 110kph. If you did 77km up hill at 110kph you could be out of charge by the end. You'd also want to avoid using the air conditioner in those circumstances.
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Post by Feng on Nov 14, 2014 23:19:29 GMT 11
Hi Jennie,
Eco mode won't make much difference on the highway since you'll be driving at a near constant speed. It only helps when you're in stop/start traffic by dampening the throttle response and increasing brake regen. If you've got the air conditioner running it'll help reduce the power consumption though.
I usually hover around 90-100km/h depending on if it's uphills or downhills. There's a menu option on the display which shows how much power you're using instantaneously: Hit the Zero Emissions button on the bottom right and choose Energy Information. It's interesting to see the energy consumption, it's not always obvious how much you're using. Just keep your eyes on the road when using it. Speaking from recent experience!
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jennie
EV Enthusiast
Posts: 40
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Post by jennie on Nov 14, 2014 23:37:02 GMT 11
Hi Phoebe. I normally don't use AC in my current car as I prefer driving with the windows down. Besides, being basically a life-long tightwad, I always had at the back of my mind if it was ever so unbearably hot that I had to turn on the AC for a few minutes, it would be affecting my petrol consumption.
I agree with you about the trucks - I hate highway driving because of them, and going too slow is scary when they are right up your backside. I try to follow slow-moving trucks if possible, so that something large is setting the pace, and I'm not the one pissing off drivers behind me.
I am picking up the Leaf from Seymour Nissan, and the Hume Highway most of the way home is fairly flat. Once I get it home, it will mostly be short trips around town, with the odd trip to the next town which is 30kms away.
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Post by caskings on Nov 14, 2014 23:41:33 GMT 11
There is a definite difference in range between 100-110km/h and 80. If I've had a long day of driving about and it's marginal that I'll make it home (30 kms on the motorway at 100 km/h) I'll keep in the slow lane and stay at 80 km/h.
However even with highway speeds and the A/C blasting, 77km on a full charge is well within the Leaf's capability. Unless I'm planning more than 110 km on a charge I don't worry about my driving speed or A/C settings etc.
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jennie
EV Enthusiast
Posts: 40
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Post by jennie on Nov 14, 2014 23:47:18 GMT 11
Hi Feng. I have read on this board and on review articles how Leaf drivers monitor how much power they are using based on how they are driving at that moment, but I expect I will be too overwhelmed during my first drive to truly understand all the data on the display. However, I take your point about the benefits of Eco mode being negligable on highway driving at constant speed without the benefit of stop/start brake regeneration. I'll try both Eco and D modes and see what the display tells me (if I can figure it out before I start driving - I am hoping the salesman will have got a crash course on what to show the customer upon delivering an EV).
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jennie
EV Enthusiast
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Post by jennie on Nov 14, 2014 23:53:38 GMT 11
Hi caskings. Thanks for the reassurance about 77kms being within the Leaf's capability with highway driving. Once I get the Leaf home and get used to its capabilities, I should lose some of this neurotic anxiety.
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Post by caskings on Nov 15, 2014 1:56:54 GMT 11
Happy to help. I found that I got progressively more confident in judging the distance I could go over time. With 90% of that coming in the first two weeks. Looking back to early on in my ownership there were at least two times where I stopped for a short top up charge on the way home, where if that happened now I would have slowed down a bit and kept going.
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Post by Jim Hare on Nov 15, 2014 11:05:00 GMT 11
Hi Jennie. You will have absolutely no problem at all getting home, even if you average 100km/h. Just make sure you are fully charged before leaving, feel free to use a bit of A/C from time to time if it's hot, and enjoy the ride!
The absolute worst case scenario you should expect is over 100km so unless you're planning some major side trips, just enjoy the ride!
As an example, after our first LEAF meet up, I drove home on a 90% charge. The trip was 82km and I still had about 15% charge when I got home. I went 100km/h on the freeway and it was quite hilly.
So enjoy the ride with confidence and have fun!
Jim
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Post by jacky on Nov 15, 2014 11:28:08 GMT 11
I am still trawling through all the posts on this board to get tips on how to get the best out of the Leaf in anticipation of picking up my vehicle on Monday (was supposed to pick it up tomorrow but it's been delayed, partly because the Nissan dealer I am getting it from is not certified and the salesman readily admits he knows nothing about the Leaf - I believe he is working with the sister dealership in Melbourne to ensure everything is OK for delivery). Since the first adventure is to get the Leaf home which is 77kms from the dealer, which is supposedly well within the range of a charged battery, I would like to know what experienced Leaf owners suggest: 1. Do you use Eco mode for highway driving? 2. If a battery drains more quickly the faster you drive, what speed would you maintain on a highway which has a 110km speed limit? Any advice would be much appreciated. Its not related to ECO mode but I think it is worth to mention it to you that your dealer may not aware of setting up CARWINGS for you. The dealer needs to create a CARWINGS account for you and needs to hook up the LEAF to some equipments to activate the car (bring it out from delivery mode). Since your dealer isn't an official LEAF dealer, they may not have the equipment and the knowledge to activate it in their facility. Worst come to worst, you may have to bring the car back to Melbourne to active it if they forgot to bring it out from delivery mode. This may be a big trouble as you are so far away from Melbourne. If they didn't create the CARWINGS account, you can call Nissan to set it up over the phone. But Nissan have to access your LEAF physically to activate it. My dealer is an official LEAF dealer and they didn't aware of CARWINGS. Therefore, there is a possibility that yours didn't aware of it as well. I would suggest you to call the dealer ASAP and make sure the car is/will be activated.
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Post by Jim Hare on Nov 15, 2014 14:07:05 GMT 11
Excellent point Jacky! You may also want to email Dean, who is head of all things LEAF for Nissan, in advance and maybe he can get in contact with the dealer to ensure everything goes smoothly.
Dean Despotovski <dean_despotovski@nissan.com.au>
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Post by jacky on Nov 15, 2014 15:38:38 GMT 11
Excellent point Jacky! You may also want to email Dean, who is head of all things LEAF for Nissan, in advance and maybe he can get in contact with the dealer to ensure everything goes smoothly. Dean Despotovski <dean_despotovski@nissan.com.au> I found that Dean may miss some emails. Here is Nissan's phone number 1800 LEAF EV (5323 38) in case you need immediate attentions.
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jennie
EV Enthusiast
Posts: 40
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Post by jennie on Nov 15, 2014 20:52:23 GMT 11
Hi Jim and Jacky. Thank you for your advice about getting Carwings activated. It is on my list of things to go through with the dealer (this board has alerted me to SO many things of which I otherwise would not have been aware). However, I did not know that Nissan needs to have physical access to the car for the activation process. I spoke to Seymour Nissan today to remind them to plug it in so that I have a full charge on Monday when I pick it up (since they don't have a fast charger - they confirmed they have a 15amp outlet, so I asked them to use that), and to go through a few other things, and they said that as they were not a certified Leaf dealer, Werribee Nissan would be booking the sale and was advising Seymour on the pre-delivery processes. As the car is sitting in Seymour's yard, I guess they will have to call Nissan Australia to get it sorted out for me before I take the vehicle home. I will call them before I leave for Seymour to check if they have done it.
However, I have read the old posts in the Carwings threads, and whilst I will certainly want access to Carwings initially if only to muck around on it to see what info you can get from it, I have a few questions:
1. it appears that this facility is often offline for days at a time. 2. is it true that you only get it for free for a certain period, after which you are slugged for a subscription fee? (not sure where I read this) 3. as a hardcore privacy advocate/conspiracy theorist/person who is generally suspicious of how large corporations use data, I am a little uncomfortable about sending data to Nissan about how my car is used, where I drive etc even though it is ostensibly so they can collect this data worldwide to analyse how they can supposedly make future improvements. I always suspect the collection about customer data and habits is really stored so they can put together profiles to void warranties if the need arises. That's why I don't have any loyalty cards and the like. 4. Phoebe posted a while ago that she doesn't use Carwings, and from reading all her posts, I consider her to be very knowledgable and practical.
Hey Jim, you might want to move this to the Carwings thread.
Thanks for reading all this. Jennie
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Post by Phoebe on Nov 15, 2014 21:29:38 GMT 11
Jennie i don't use Carwings because I couldn't get it to work, I was given 2 different passwords and neither worked so I gave up as I wasn't particularly keen fro Nissan to know what I am doing anyway. I don't know what I am missing out on but I am happy with what I do know, that is enough.
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Eco Mode
Nov 15, 2014 21:58:36 GMT 11
via mobile
Post by Jim Hare on Nov 15, 2014 21:58:36 GMT 11
Hey Jennie,
Carvings is free for the first three years so you may as well have a play with it and let it lapse. It's also good to receive updates on charging stations, realtime traffic info and some other bits.
I plan to let mine lapse when it comes up, but I think others on the forum like it and use it a lot.
It does go down from time to time but I think most of the time it's okay.
I would certainly go to the trouble of getting it set up properly so you can judge for yourself.
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Post by dholms on Nov 16, 2014 23:36:32 GMT 11
Just to go back a few posts about sitting on 100 KM/HR, does going 110 make that much of a difference to the total range? If I was to get mine, I'll be doing frequent drives up the sunshine coast which has speeds up to 110KM/HR.
As the trip I'll most often make 94KM one way and don't really like doing 10km/hr below the speed limit...
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Post by Phoebe on Nov 17, 2014 5:39:25 GMT 11
Yes it does. Actually it starts dropping off after about 75kph, and drops off more rapidly as you increase your speed. I avoid Freeways and Motorways, as far as possible, for that reason.
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Post by Jim Hare on Nov 17, 2014 11:20:51 GMT 11
You just need to determine how far you are going and what your charge options are before setting off. If you're only going 50KM up the coast and 50KM back you'll have no problem doing 110kph if you are fully charged.
If you need to drive 120km + in a single session then you need to plan carefully and be as efficient as you can.
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Post by jacky on Nov 17, 2014 12:19:30 GMT 11
I drive to work for 60km roundtrip everyday. Most of it is on 100km/h freeway. I drove as fast as possible within the legal limit as I knew I had more than enough range.
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Post by lesmando24 on Nov 17, 2014 12:38:07 GMT 11
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2014 10:27:44 GMT 11
I concur have been driving like a electro hoon the past week due to the Veefil DC fast charger @ UWA mainly trying to drain the pack sufficiently below 80%. previously had been driving like Grandma i.e. 81 - 90kmh on 100kmh Mitchell Freeway. but now try to do a constant 100kmh only thing is that the GOM estimates range at 80km while at these higher speeds vs 100km I get to UWA 31km, 73% charge. somehow imiev only charges to 96% 5 mins to get to 80% then 37mins to get to 96% perhaps I should use the AC on max and drive with the windows down for added drag it is almost like Jeremy Clarkson trying to use as much fuel in the diesel Jag on the economy run to Blackpool www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x-type-14/top-gear-jaguar-xj-2-7tdvi-9285/to be really crazy, should have the heater 4kW, AC on max, headlights on, highbeam, drop tyre pressures to 36 PSI (40 at the mo), max audio playing a DVD.
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Post by dholms on Nov 21, 2014 0:24:32 GMT 11
I have yet to pull the trigger on a Leaf as it just seems that there are many factors that contribute to driving a Leaf. I'm aware that only I can know how I'll use my car, but on the odd occasion that something comes up that is 80kms away and having to drive 10kms under the limit in order to make it to my destination is a bit concerning. Now I know that would change if those chargers were to be installed, but I still have to drive to one on the way or outta the way I wish it was easier! I wish there were as many quick charges in Aus as there is in Japan
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