We are now into our sixth month of owning an electric vehicle...a 2012 Nissan LEAF. It was understandable that the switch from a gas car (Ford Focus) to an electric vehicle was going to require a change in driving habits. What we never anticipated, though, was how fun EV ownership can be!
With that being said, making the LEAF our primary family-hauler does require some effort. The '12 LEAF is rated at 73 miles of range by the E.P.A. What we've realized, though, is that an EV's range is not an absolute number. Many factors affect the range, and this is what led to a blog to share the stories. There are endless opportunities to learn something about the car and its range capabilities, and it's always fun to share the pain and pleasure of these excursions.
For today's adventure, Sabrina and I are setting out to find out what the range of the LEAF currently is...from full charge to the Very Low Battery warning. You can see that we're bundled up; we will not be using the heater on this trip. Yes, it's only 42 degrees outside. And yes, the heater zaps a lot of energy. So, let's bundle up!
We made it back home! Here's the data:
ReplyDeleteMiles Traveled: 84.3
Average Speed: 44.8 m.p.h.
Energy Efficiency: 4.8 m/kWh
Total Travel Time: 1hr. 51m.
*LEAF owners: This was from 100% to VLB (not Turtle)
VLB happens at 24 GID or 8.5% of original capacity or 8 % of pack capacity. you had 16 GID to turtle which usually occurs at 8 GID. if we assume 275 GID to start (will be 275 to 280 for you probably. a full undegraded pack will be 281) then you used 251 GID to travel 84.3 miles which is about 3 GID per mile which means you had about 5.3 miles left before turtle. now this is dependent upon how you drive that last 5 miles as always.
ReplyDeletea GID is a term coined in honor of the guy Gary Giddings who put together the first monitor to track the SOC of the battery pack. each GID is 80 watt hours so if you have 281-8= 273 GID or 21.8 Kwh.
now, keep in mind, the meter on the LEAF is likely measuring power to the wheels and DOES NOT take into consideration heat losses from the battery as the power is used which probably accounts for your discrepancy.
either way, 89 miles more or less is a great accomplishment for Winter driving!
Thank you for that analysis, Dave! At about the halfway point of remaining battery charge, it did cross my mind for a few minutes that I could hit the back roads and likely see 100 miles on a winter trip. However, the plan was to do an out-and-back...driving from Lake Stevens-->almost Bow Hill (well north of Burlington)-->south Everett-->and back north to Lake Stevens, was great. We actually hit VLB just as we were turning into our neighborhood--I'd like to say I planned it that way.
ReplyDeleteAmbient temp was 41* to 42* the whole trip; five battery temp bars from start to finish.
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