Nissan LEAF SL Plus 70MPH Highway Range Test

[@douglasalanthompson]

Good job, appreciate the test. A couple notes. 1. Obviously moving tires up to 42-44psi helps as you noted. 2. Driving with cruise control on costs you a few miles as it regens off excess speed vs. Rolling down. 3. I have done a couple tests with our SV+ and the odometer under reports by a couple percent. I dont't know if based on your route if you can verify that. 4. Offer still stands if you would like our S+ to range test. I have a poorly done short video showing the 5-6 differences in the cars which provides the differences in range (10-15% at 70mph).

[@skateguy50]

Great video just did my longest trip with my 2022 leaf plus. My first 6,000 miles I almost never used a fast charger and averaged 3.4 m/kWh. I did a 400 mile drive stayed a few days and 400 miles back and drove slower than my normal setting cruise to 65 max and averaged 3.8 m/kWh for the trip. I did my home level 2 to 100% the night before going and left a few hours later. Did 160 miles and rapid charged for an hour, drove about 100 more miles and topped off at a rapid charger for about 30 minutes, this one the battery was hotter and charging was around 30kw but got enough to finish the remaining 140 miles. Then when at location left it the next day at a free level 2 charger to get back up.

[@hawaiidispenser]

This is a wonderful car. Powerful, fun to drive.

[@modulonatic]

Awesome video. Definitely getting some Tesla Bjørn vibes from your video :D

[@dh-1399]

I understand why the lack of a TMS is brought up anytime a LEAF review is done but honestly I feel like people are doing a lot of disservice to what Nissan has accomplished with these cells. Just stop and think for a second that Nissan has spent the last 10 years perfecting a cell and chemistry design that truly is heat tolerant and does not require the added cost or complexity of a cooling system. Just look at the youtube videos of people stabbing these cells with a screw driver and setting them on fire with almost no reaction at all compared to "other" cells that will become violently explosive if exposed to a fraction of those same conditions.

[@pioneer7777777]

Funny if you look at the wikipedia page for EV fires, the Nissan LEAF has one entry that occurred while in motion, from 500,000 vehicles sold worldwide over a decade. Tesla has multiples every year, from S to X to 3, many at stand still or while charging. Chevy Bolts, Hyundai Kona's, etc all having fires. Not the trusty old LEAF though!

[@GavinScrimgeour]

Excellent road test. Brilliantly video.

[@toddm6999]

For price quality and battery, nothing better than a Leaf 🍃 .I bought a 2024 SV Plus and only charge at home.

[@MoapaManuel]

Would you recommend for 100 mile round trip home work back home commuter?

[@markjeepingful]

Thanks for this awesome test!! I live 53 miles from home to work that’s 106 miles!

[@Prodigious1One]

Really good to know the possible range of the 62kWh Leaf on the highway. Maybe it could get 200 miles or more in city driving since EVs perform better in the city than on the highway? You're really smart to use the tesla to J1772 converter! I never thought to buy one. I'll look at prices.

[@MrKeke2502]

When you reach 0% on the dashboard, there's still 9.5% of battery on the Leaf. You should have used LeafSpy to verify the real percentage. Same behaviour on the Mitsubishi i-MiEV

[@a.joseph4233]

@General Smedley Butler So what's the ODB11 connector...sorry am a newbie

[@marksman48]

I wonder how much range would improve in the S plus with smaller tires driving 60mph instead of 70.

[@abbaby555]

Great road test 👍 I wondered just how well the leaf would do

[@ronblack9092]

I think for this demo that charging it after a 200 mile run would have been helpful to see how long and at what speed it would charge. Everyone complains about lack of thermal management so how about showing us?

[@a.joseph4233]

What would be the disadvantage of an air cooled batter pack? Thanks

[@conrado800]

Loses range over time (more battery degradation)

[@skateguy50]

Also from what I read it will hold the higher heat state longer from using the a fats charger. Basically if you road trip and start with a full battery and drive 150 miles and rapid charge and go another 150 miles you can’t get another rapid charge without risk of over heating the pack. I believe it warns you me limits your speed and such so realistically even if you map out rapid chargers on route your total day range should max be twice your highway range then plan to have your hotel or destination have a level 2 charger to slow charge it up over night.

[@jimbo2629]

Looking at the comments I am surprised at the range expected. My 59kw Leaf tells me I could get 260 miles when fully charged. I haven’t done more than 160 miles round trip without charging but it does seem to accurately represent the available mileage. Here in the uk on a long motorway journey I would keep in the slow lane doing 60mph most of the time.

[@pioneer7777777]

Funny if you look at the wikipedia page for EV fires, the Nissan LEAF has one entry that occurred while in motion, from 500,000 vehicles sold worldwide over a decade. Tesla has multiples every year, from S to X to 3, many at stand still or while charging. Chevy Bolts, Hyundai Kona's, etc all having fires. Not the trusty old LEAF though!

[@Abcdefghijk920]

Good to know! Thank you!

[@Gump23]

Do you have a link for the charger adaptor you have ? We don't have many leaf chargers where I'm located we have tesla's and the other ones

[@pioneer7777777]

Funny to call following a truck an "unfair advantage" when that's what I do very often in my leaf. Helps a ton in the real world at high speeds. Would be interesting to see that test since you can fairly reliably do that on most highways because of the prevalence of enormous trucks and SUV's. Is it an extra 25 miles? 50? Would be cool to know.

[@beastbee0118]

When you reach 0% you actually have about 5-10 miles left

[@caolkyle]

When you do this, which cruise distance do you use? I tried the middle setting but felt too far back but using the closest setting felt bad also by being too close where the truck couldn't even see my car

[@joevdenne1930]

I live 80 miles from my work on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Wonder if this car would make the round trip here in North Carolina in the winters? How much do the headlights drain the battery?

[@Averagegunenthusiast]

For me 200 miles at 80mph with the ac on is the ideal range and 15 minutes to get another 200 miles. I do think the charge time is too much for most people who take road trips, I think standardized quick change batteries would be a good idea.

[@thecollinzboy]

The 15 minute wait time you listed is under ideal circumstances what if there’s a line at the charge station? Then you could be waiting 40 mins to an hour this is why gas stations and gas guzzlers are leagues ahead of electric

[@dennisbird5901]

The 2020 Leaf Plus is on deep discount at many dealers. Would you still recommend it with other EV's coming around the corner in 2021?

[@Alexriga]

I really enjoy it because of 160 kW engine and fast acceleration. Most of those other EV's have 100 kW engine and more like 9 sec 0..60 Mwh. Leaf has 6.9 sec and 160 kW. So it is sporty :) I suggest to take a test drive of all cars which interest you to decide..

[@vn9393]

What is the adapter you use to charge at the end? Is that universal to use if I can't find a Chademo station?

[@mychevysparkevdidntcatchfi1489]

At 70 MPH test, SparkEV was 4.1 mi/kWh (with 2 ppl + AC), and my personal test was 4.4 mi/kWh (1 + no AC). Leaf shows in this video 3.5 mi/kWh (1 + AC), NewsCouomb showed about 3.4 mi/kWh with Bolt. Do you have table of the results, both range and efficiency?

[@andrewm255]

How much difference would it make to drive it in B mode not D

[@alanb.4660]

none! other videos have proved this. Plus in B mode your brake lights don't come on until you press the brake pedal. Dangerous for one pedal driving? Maybe?

[@BobbyGreen87]

So with the charging adapter can you use a Tesla fast charger and still get good charging speeds?

[@ericdesjardins9664]

you have a consumption of 17.7 kw per 100. then 62kw/17.7X100=350km. why did you only do 311km 193mille?

[@tonyperone3242]

It looks like you could do some longer road trips of 400 miles or more depending on the charging stations along the way. From Memphis to New Orleans most of the fast chargers are Tesla while there are plenty of level 2 chargers. I suppose a level 2 could be used but that would add to the down time.

[@davidsupertramp]

Lots of time...

[@JimBob1937]

If the EPA rating of that Leaf is similar to the 2023 Leaf SV Plus, then you were pretty right on the range estimated. The EPA rating is 109 MPGe for 212 mile range which has an assumed city/highway mix. 121 MPGe city and 98 MPGe highway rated. So let's do some math: 212 miles/109 miles per gallon equivalent = 1.945 gallons of gas equivalent for that 212 mile range quote, which is just shocking and should illustrate the efficiency of EVs. From here you can calculate your range given the specific city/highway MPGe: Pure city driving expected range: 1.945 * 121 = 235.35 miles Pure highway driving expected range: 1.945 * 98 = 190.61 miles Of course, their MPGe can't predict individual driver style/behavior, so there will be some variance.

[@ericdesjardins9664]

I have SV plus 2023 and i do 16,5kw per 100km and i finish 315km The battery is 60kw 60/16,5X 100= 363km and i have never done the 363 km and never been close to 342 km as nissan says Why? the real capacity is really 60 kw or much less for 2023?

[@JimBob1937]

@@ericdesjardins9664 , I've actually gotten up to 230 miles (370km) as measured by a trip meter. Granted, this is me attempting to drive very efficiently. If I'm not paying attention I drop back to 210 miles or so. First, I believe the usable battery capacity is 56kWh or so. They reserve some to avoid deep charging/discharging, which helps a lot with the life of the battery. Second, the battery percentage indicator I was told lies to you. I think in an effort to keep people from riding too close to the edge of the battery charge and getting stranded, they have it progressively shave off some percentage that they show you on the dashboard. I've driven a few miles past the 0% indicator... I didn't push it too far though for obvious reasons, haha. Lastly, and this gets a bit more complex, it depends on your driving behavior. Energy consumption in transport isn't necessarily linear. The figure you're quoting is an average, but you can achieve the same average with a steady transport efficiency as well as with a fluctuating one. Hence, if your efficiency fluctuates a lot during that average calculation, you could be using more energy than if you were achieving that same efficiency calculation steadily throughout that entire 100km run.

[@ericdesjardins9664]

@@JimBob1937 I've been doing 16.5 kw to 100 for several months and I've never exceeded 315 km. mostly I do 280km I don't find that normal. Nissan recently replaced a faulty cell module. My Leaf 2023 has only 15000km. I am very disappointed

[@JimBob1937]

@@ericdesjardins9664 , if I am understanding you, you are saying you are spending 16.5kWh to go 100km, correct? Sorry, I am only familiar with miles/kWh, so if I do the math correctly, you're hitting 16.5kWh per 62.1371 miles. So that would be 3.78 miles/kWh. If this is in warmer weather I'd say you're driving somewhat inefficiently then. I am driving 90% highway and still am getting 4.1-4.2 miles/kWh. During winter though with low temperatures I was getting 3.3 miles/kWh. For tips I'd say almost always drive in eco mode, even if it's less fun. I slightly fill my tires over the pressure recommended (40 PSI, not sure what unit you use) compared to the recommended 36 PSI, taking into account thermal expansion and the max tire pressure allowed. This decreases rolling friction and gives you a few extra percentage points of efficiency. Understand that your car has regenerative braking, so you'll want to let the car slowly come to a stop if you can. This allows your car to get back more energy that otherwise is lost by braking. If you hard brake, you're just turning that energy into heat. And yeah, weak cells can happen in any battery since a lot are wired in series. Glad you got it fixed under warranty though. I think it's like an 8 year/100,000 mile warranty?

[@JimBob1937]

@@ericdesjardins9664 , I'm just giving you these tips as I had a similar reaction as a new EV owner. At first I struggled to hit 2.9 miles/kWh, then as I got used to driving an EV I hit 3.3, then 3.8, then 4.1 and so on. I'd recommend keeping the display on your current km/kWh efficiency so you can understand what driving behaviors cause you to lower your rating. Plus keep track of your regenerative braking meter when braking so you can get feedback when you're maximizing it. All sounds annoying but it becomes second nature after a while. Now if I just blindly drive without monitoring the statistics I still achieve a good efficiency rating and my range exceeds the quoted range by Nissan.

[@mustafanaji6591]

GREAT NISSAN.

[@skepticalmechanic]

What year is it?

[@robadr13]

As an interesting addition to your 70mph range test, a Canadian owner recently did a range test with a combination of highway and around town driving, In average 21C (70F) weather with no a/c, he drove 450 km (280 miles), versus the official range rating of 363 km (225 miles). Overall efficiency was 12.9 kWh / 100km (about 5 miles/kWh), versus the posted efficiency of 20.8 kWh / 100km (about 3 miles/kWh). These were clearly ideal conditions, but it's good to realize that in many situations the posted range can be significantly exceeded. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qF6Zh5qKidifY9E

[@mikehub6664]

The regen on these cars nowadays is impressive and in city driving it captures most of the kenetic energy braking if you drive it effectively.

[@canocano5480]

Is the battery inter changeable with older model leaf’s

[@furorentonori5838]

Yes some companies do it

[@xaviercruz5328]

Great car but I’m 6’5 I don’t fit in the driver seat so sad cus it would be an ev car I would consider buying

[@Gunsforfreedom]

Nice RS

[@GrotrianSeiler]

Very fair review of range, imo. If it only goes 193mi on a full charge, why do they advertise 226mi? That could get people in trouble. Might going 65mph extended the range much?

[@futbol1972]

Yeap. That r sucks getting only 193miles out of claimed 226?

[@Hogtown1986]

@@futbol1972 The rated range for the SV and SL is 215. Losing 10-15% of rated range at highway speeds is normal in any EV.

[@rkgsd]

Looks like you're at least 6 feet tall and you look cramped with knees almost touching the dash.

[@Dotion-j1v]

i love ev :)

[@skepticalmechanic]

Chevy bolt and Kona have liquid cooled battery….

[@JEP-Tech]

Why, in 2022 would Nissan still be using an air cooled battery? No way that battery isn't going to have serious degradation issues like their old Leafs had. These Japanese autos are really disappointing me.

[@danielamon]

very nice but u should say in km/h and in km for europian viewers. anyways this car is so nice.

[@nihongobenkyoshimasu3190]

It woud be more valuable to compare the range and charging speed to other EVs.

[@fullyelectric]

I take it you are not a fan of the Leaf lol..

[@OutofSpecMotoring]

I am! Just not for hot climates

[@fullyelectric]

Out of Spec Motoring very good, any idea when the Leaf will be liquid cool? BTW real nice quick range test.. more please!

[@Domenick_Y]

@@fullyelectric Unless they decide to create a completely new LEAF, it's unlikely to see liquid cooling. The Nissan Ariya, a crossover and their next all-electric offering, will have liquid cooling.

[@MHdollrevievs]

@@fullyelectric According to what I have seen in Nissan future releases for EVs 2020 is the last year for the Leaf.

[@billh4301]

@@MHdollrevievs Definitely made for 2021. I have had all 3 versions and never overheated batteries.

[@danielroden9424]

reeee turn off climate control you monster! reeee

[@robjohnson8662]

What is needed is a plain jane ev without all the bullshit tech that is useless and breaks that tesla and all the other too expensive ev's use. Nissan with a little foresight and some reengineering for the charging standard and a liquid cooled battery.