Driving efficiency improvement of my LEAF over time
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I was pleased I was able to cover the same number of miles in my LEAF as I did my previous vehicle a Chevy Malibu. Proving that an electric vehicle can replace a gasoline vehicle for almost all of ones miles. The 13,000 miles I covered in one year pales in comparison to some high mileage drivers in LEAF’s

One high mileage LEAF owner is Steve Marsh from Washington State. In his first year of ownership he exceeded 40,000 miles!! I have watched with interest on CarWings how each month Mr Marsh drove the most miles each month compared to any other LEAF driver in the world.

CarWings is a Nissan vehicle scoreboard, which tracks the driving habits of those willing to sign up for the service. Seeing ones own entries on the scoreboard provides for a competitive element to owning a  LEAF and makes you aware of how your driving habits effect the vehicles efficiency.  This type of system is commonly referred to as ‘Gamification’, i.e. making a game out of a normal daily activity. The official terminology is Vehicle Telematics.

High Mileage LEAF Drivers
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I thought 40,000 miles per year was extreme for an electric vehicle, however during July of this year another driver in the Netherlands did 50% more miles than Mr Marsh. If that driver were to continue driving those distances they will be on track for 60,000 miles per year! The Netherlands has a very good fast charge electric vehicle network established already, I assume that the Netherlands driver took advantage of quick chargers to achieve these kinds of miles. A 240v charger would take 13 hours of charging in addition to 5 hours of driving each day to achieve such  a high number of miles.

Interestingly this latest driver has not recorded a single journey or mile for the month of August, so Mr Marsh is likely to be the highest mileage LEAF driver again this month.