Testing, testing, 107...

Leafers wanna know:
How far does it really go?
I've heard that question more than once. The answer of course is "It Depends!"

One thing I've picked up on is how much range you give up to go faster.
After a couple highway tests I've come up with the following yardstick/example:
72 mph is 25% faster than 58 mph.
However, when you actually measure you find that 72 mph costs 50% more energy than 58 mph.
And in fact, the 107 mile EPA spec range Leaf only goes around 65-70 miles at 75 mph, and that's on a good day!

I have a somewhat standard bi-weekly jaunt that ends up being 105-109 miles, depending on how much running around I do up there. Very little elevation gain/loss. ~40 mi. of freeway, 20 mi. of secondary and about 10 miles of 'local'. It's consistent enough that it should make a good test of the effects of hot and cold and speed and wind. With any luck I'll be back to edit this as things unfold over the winter. Right now we're working the summer 'baseline.'

It would sure look like this is the perfect assignment for a car with an EPA rated 107 mile range.
Except "There's like 'reality' dude!" and reality is maybe not so kind as nicely controlled EPA tests. Which is why I made sure there were several charge stations along the route.  In the real world you can't run the pack down to zero, both for the pack longevity and to avoid tow-trucks. You kinda have to plan to have at least 10 miles of range left over at the end.
Add that to the fact that the Battery Management System (BMS) won't let you charge all the way to a 'real 100% or let you discharge it to Zero. There's roughly one KiloWatt-hour (KWh) left at each end and that ten miles is another ~3 KWh, so now our 30 KWh pack has something like 25-26KWh usable.

You don't see a MPG display on an electric car, Duh. There is no Gallons to be 'per' of. Instead you see KWh per 100 km elsewhere and usually Miles per KWh in the U.S. That 107 mile EPA range translates into roughly 3.8 miles/KWh, of course that's with me getting home just as it reaches zero. In the real world we'll have to hit more like 4.2 miles/KWh to hit the goals.

From a couple extended tests of 30 miles or so, I know that at a constant 58 mph in 80-85 deg.F temps and no significant prevailing wind, tires at 46 psi and no AC use I can consistently hit 5 miles/KWh. Since we have 100 miles that could be covered at a constant 58, it should take 100/5 or 20 KWh to do that part of the trip. Let's assume the 10 miles of slower running around in town is similarly efficient. That's another two 5's or 2 KWh. Total of 22. Hey, this could actually work!
...according to like math and science and estimates n'stuff...

"So hey, why would you want to go that slow?"
On this example trip it takes about 12 min. additional (6 min each way) to drive 60 instead of 70-72 mph on the freeway section. It costs about 18-20 min, to get off the road and get a fast charge. If the trip can be completed on one charge you can save 5 min. or so overall by driving slower. Counter-intuitive much?

09/03/17
Start: 100% charge, 91 deg.F
          108 miles traveled. mostly at 62 mph with some AC use.
End: 18 miles of range showing, 10% of the battery remaining. 4.4 miles/KWh

So in this case a pretty good match with theory, and implies that it could have gone 125 miles.
[Since I know I can get it to 6 miles/KWh at around 45 mph, I'm pretty sure 160 miles is possible. Too bad I don't have that much patience.]