On 04/25/13 05:48 PM, Peri Hartman wrote:
Marion, what you say sounds reasonable. However, there's a big difference
between your wife's commute and NYC driving. I think mine is closer -
residential at 20mph and arterials at 30mph. Average speed (including
waiting at stop lights) about 10mph. Yes, I bicycle a lot for shorter
trips.
At 40-45 mph, I notice that I get much better efficiency, but there are only
a three or four routes like that in Seattle city limits.
When you have a chance, try checking your performance in downtown Portland,
say on Burnside and around the Pearl district. Anywhere with a lot of stop
and go every block. I'm curious if you will experience the same results I
have.
I see what you mean; We experience that kind of traffic even out in the
'burbs (e.g. downtown Beaverton) during rush hour times. There's not a lot of
opportunity for regen in the Leaf below 10-15mph, even when you invoke it via
the brake pedal. Fortunately, my wife is usually able to flex her work hours
to make her drive avoid the worst of the mess.
By the way, you can get a more accurate kwh reading on the info panel. Tap
info, then energy usage.
Yes, I'm always going to that display, I wish I knew how to make it the
default at startup. But I really don't feel comfortable watching that
center-console display closely while driving in traffic, so I've mentally
translated those kwh numbers onto the rather lame bubble-meter, which is in
prime real estate behind the steering wheel.
Our sales person seemed very knowledgeable, and he recommended aiming to go no
higher than the 20kw range during acceleration when you want to drive
efficiently. I find that using that amount of "throttle" when moving away
from a stop light is actually slightly quicker than the average driver around
me, so you don't feel like you're hypermiling or otherwise getting in the way
of traffic.
Regards,
Marion
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