Leaf menu

I have been a very happy FFE owner for about a week now. My one real issue with the car is that I would like to know how much charge is left in the battery. I have read posts saying that there is a "leaf" menu that gives this information. I was hoping someone could give me detailed instructions for accessing the menu, I can't seem to find it.

Thank you in advance, I am really enjoying the car.

On the center screen (where the cellphone, radio, hvac, and navigation displays are) there are buttons on the bottom of that screen. One of those buttons looks like some leaves--tap it and you'll go to the "leaf menu".

If you only have 3 buttons on the bottom of that screen ('i', home, and the gear) then you have older software and need to take your car into the dealer to get it updated ASAP.

Thank you very much, I am really enjoying the car, but not knowing how much battery is left was really bothering me. We started on a 30 mile trip this past weekend and the GOM (as you folks call it) said I have 50 miles. We got about a mile from our house and were down to 32. We turned around and took out our other car with the ICE.

What part of the country are you in? Were you running with heat or cool turned on? Freeway? All of these will affect the GOM.

You'll also want to turn on the "enhanced trip meter" on the left dash display. This will show you how much electricity is consumed (I'll typically reset a trip meter on a full charge then you can glance at the trip and figure out how much battery is left as well--since there is about 18kWh of battery usable and the trip meter will show kWh used).

joejoe2 said:

Thank you very much, I am really enjoying the car, but not knowing how much battery is left was really bothering me. We started on a 30 mile trip this past weekend and the GOM (as you folks call it) said I have 50 miles. We got about a mile from our house and were down to 32. We turned around and took out our other car with the ICE.

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It takes a while to get used to it and figure out what ranges will work with your situation. The information here really helps with reducing anxiety but does not replace experience. After a while you will have a good idea of what your car will do for the driving you do. Then your own 'GOM' will be more accurate than the onboard one. You'll know what you can do to get around and how to maximize milage when it is important to do, such as pushing the range. Enjoy your FFE!

joejoe2 said:

We got about a mile from our house and were down to 32.

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You really need to learn how to use the navigation system when taking a trip of significant length. Don't just "eyeball" the GOM, check the distance on Google maps, and then "hope" you make it.

If you engage the navigation system, it will constantly estimate if you can reach the destination and provide you feedback in the form of the "surplus" number. If the surplus is getting small, you simply slow down, or turn off the climate control, etc. until it stabilizes or goes back up. As long as the terrain is pretty flat, the GOM/surplus feedback will really help you manage the energy usage to reach your destination. It can work really well.

All the Leaf screen is going to tell you is the percent of charge in the battery. Unless you already happen to know the percentage of charge a particular trip takes (by having done it a few times), using the navigation and surplus feedback is going to work better, IMO.

Thank you for the feedback. I am in the DC area, this is one of the few EVs we can actually buy here (although from what I can tell I got the only one that was available at the time). I didn't consider the FFE until we had the big price cut . It turned out to be about 8K cheaper than the Volt, which I was close to buying. I enjoy driving the car but there is a lot more to learn about it than i had anticipated.

Shameless plug: Check out my blog:
http://jamiegeek.myevblog.com/
On the right is a list of helpful posts describing various features of the car. You may find some helpful...

For instance, this one, describes a bunch of tips for My Ford Touch:
http://jamiegeek.myevblog.com/2013/09/30/some-tips-and-tricks-for-focus-electric-and-my-ford-touch-drivers/

WattsUp said:

joejoe2 said:

We got about a mile from our house and were down to 32.

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You really need to learn how to use the navigation system when taking a trip of significant length. Don't just "eyeball" the GOM, check the distance on Google maps, and then "hope" you make it.

If you engage the navigation system, it will constantly estimate if you can reach the destination and provide you feedback in the form of the "surplus" number. If the surplus is getting small, you simply slow down, or turn off the climate control, etc. until it stabilizes or goes back up. As long as the terrain is pretty flat, the GOM/surplus feedback will really help you manage the energy usage to reach your destination. It can work really well.

All the Leaf screen is going to tell you is the percent of charge in the battery. Unless you already happen to know the percentage of charge a particular trip takes (by having done it a few times), using the navigation and surplus feedback is going to work better, IMO.

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I agree. Use of the GPS Nav is essential with a limited range EV. Ford has actually done of good job of integration.

Program in your entire route, including intermediate waypoints if any (work, market for example) and then your final destination (home, for example). Tell the system where you are planning to charge.

What I use (in addition to the GPS estimated surplus/deficit) is the "cup of energy" display which you can bring up on the left side of the speedo. This will show you how many Wh/mile you need to maintain to reach your destination. Don't chase the instantaneous Wh/mile display that is overlayed, but rather compare the requirement to what you know you can and cannot achieve.

The problem with the GOM is that it responds to short term variation in consumption. If you go up a two mile long uphill, its estimate of your remaining range will drop quickly. You, on the other hand, may know that it's level (or downhill) beyond a nearby summit. In my daily commute, I climb the Santa Susana Pass about 10 miles before my destination. The GOM may report that I won't make it, but I know that I will since it's downhill from the summit, and I arrive with 10 or 15 miles remaining.

In my case, if the cup of energy shows 300 Wh/mi or more to reach my destination, I know I'm gold. If 250, I need to be careful. If 200, I need to plan on an enroute charge.

You can also watch the trend in the cup of energy. If it's rising, you are safer and safer, and vice versa.

The only thing missing in the Ford implementation is a way to save favorite routes (not just favorite destinations). If you go from a to b to c to d every day, you should be able to store it as a "route". In a regular car, this isn't really necessary, since you will quickly learn your way. In an EV, it's an energy computer so you need to use it repeatedly.

I've had my 2014 FFE for about 10 days and have put over 700 miles on it. I'm getting around 90 miles from a full charge and routinely drive my 67 mile commute with capacity to spare. Here's how I learned to love my battery:

1) jmueller065's blog is really quite helpful. "Whats With That Blue Cup?" and "Butterflies, Really?" are worth a read.
2) There's some excellent wisdom round about this forum about the behaviors that extend range.
3) I have issues with the Nav system, but use it religiously as an essential tool for managing my energy consumption until my next charge. Lots of nice intelligence built into the synergy between the Nav and the car.
4) They don't call it the "Guess 'o Meter" for nothin'!

My biggest Nav issue is that after using Waze for the past year, I'm used to far better estimated arrival times, dynamic traffic updates and intelligent rerouting. So, I ignore it (except for the data it provides to support managing energy).

I heartily agree with the wish to be able to save regular trips. The Home to Work to Home is a well worn route.

I'd also like to tell the silly thing that I've arrived at my destination. For some reason, it can't figure out that I did stop and work for 8 hours. Every day after work, I drive off and the Nav system keeps wanting to take me back to work. I then have to jump through screens and delete the Work destination so that I can go Home. Sigh.

Any rate... the Nav system works great helping to make your little blue cup the right size!

Range happy,

Jenny

jenjc said:

I'd also like to tell the silly thing that I've arrived at my destination. For some reason, it can't figure out that I did stop and work for 8 hours. Every day after work, I drive off and the Nav system keeps wanting to take me back to work. I then have to jump through screens and delete the Work destination so that I can go Home. Sigh.

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The address you entered for work might not really locate the point where you turn in and/or park at work, and therefore the navi never quite realizes you've arrived.

Instead of using the address, try setting a "favorite" destination for work based on the actual GPS location of either, a) where you normally park, or b) where you "turn into" work. Some place you're always likely pass very close to, if not outright "hit". The navi should be much more likely to realize you've "arrived".

I agree with just about everything already posted here. I too am a fan of using nav for destinations when I can, and especially when range is a factor. I too am disappointed with the useless ETA guess. I use my phone when I want a realistic ETA.
Personally, I hide the surplus display because I find it distracting most of the time when my trips are nowhere near max range, and when I don't have a destination set, and not terribly accurate. Plus I can get that same info when I care just comparing the nav's distance to destination with the GOM range.
I'm a big fan of the enhanced trip meter view. I use it's trip Wh/mi avg much like the blue cup, though I would prefer having the cup and/or an instantaneous Wh/mi field in the trip meter view.
One minor clarification...

jmueller065 said:

--since there is about 18kWh of battery usable and the trip meter will show kWh used.

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18 kWh is what folks see as the "energy to empty" when they use third-party ODB readers. Most of us don't have these. That number does not directly correlate with the number you'll see on your enhanced trip meter. Those of us who have fully discharged our FFE batteries (to the warning, anyway) have reached19.5 to 19.8 kWh on the trip meter, so that's the battery capacity you should be using if tracking via trip meter. The difference of 1.5-1.8 kWh translates to 8-10 miles range when driving at 40mph, so it isn't negligible.

jenjc said:

I've had my 2014 FFE for about 10 days and have put over 700 miles on it. I'm getting around 90 miles from a full charge and routinely drive my 67 mile commute with capacity to spare.

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I'm really jealous!
I've had my 2014 FFE for one month now and have never gotten more than an estimated ~77mile range max range.
I just can't get my trips much below 260Wh/m except for a very short 2 mile trip that mostly downhill.
But my average is staying up around 280-290Wh/m with my typical trips including longer freeway trips that I've been carefully using cruise control at 65mph.
I can trying reducing freeway speed to 60 or so, but I'm not sure I can ever get to over a 90 mile range, that would require an average of under 220Wh/m!

I beginning to wonder if some FFEs are just more energy efficient than others? You are one of the very lucky ones!

dmen said:

18 kWh is what folks see as the "energy to empty" when they use third-party ODB readers. Most of us don't have these. That number does not directly correlate with the number you'll see on your enhanced trip meter. Those of us who have fully discharged our FFE batteries (to the warning, anyway) have reached19.5 to 19.8 kWh on the trip meter, so that's the battery capacity you should be using if tracking via trip meter. The difference of 1.5-1.8 kWh translates to 8-10 miles range when driving at 40mph, so it isn't negligible.

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Yep that correlates with what I have read from various sources, the useable battery capacity on the FFE is often mentioned as about 19.5KWH (out of the 23+ KWH full capacity).

NightHawk said:

I can trying reducing freeway speed to 60 or so, but I'm not sure I can ever get to over a 90 mile range, that would require an average of under 220Wh/m! ... I beginning to wonder if some FFEs are just more energy efficient than others? You are one of the very lucky ones!

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I've been averaging 220 Wh/mi recently after about 500 miles of half freeway, half city driving. But, for those 500 miles, I have kept my tires inflated to 45 PSI. Also during this time, my car has been fully charging with range estimates in the high 80s, normally 90s, and occasionally low 100s.

Before that, I was running 38 PSI (the recommended pressure) and averaging about 250 Wh/mi. Fully charged ranges were more like high 70s, sometimes low 80s.

In both cases, my typical driving scores were in the 80s and low 90s.

It's my experience that the difference between tire inflation pressures of 38 PSI and 45 PSI is about 12% more range, or about 10 miles (at least with my driving patterns).

@NightHawk: Are you sure your tires are at least inflated to the recommended 38 PSI? Sometimes the dealers inflate them to the "standard" pressure of 32 PSI, or you may have some slow leaks. Driving at 32 instead of 38 could have inverse effect on efficiency, and lower it by about 10%.

WattsUp said:

@NightHawk: Are you sure your tires are at least inflated to the recommended 38 PSI? Sometimes the dealers inflate them to the "standard" pressure of 32 PSI, or you may have some slow leaks. Driving at 32 instead of 38 could have inverse effect on efficiency, and lower it by about 10%.

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Yes I checked them shortly after I got the car a month ago and made sure they were 38psi then.
A week ago I added air to all tires to 40-41 psi and have seen no improvement.
Should I try 45psi? I'm not convinced that would make a huge difference.

I am starting to wonder if some FFEs are less efficient - maybe a battery efficiency variation?
I do notice the reported battery charge % seems to drop quicker than expected from the trip meter reported KWh used.
Not sure the service techs could diagnose it as an issue though unless the range got a lot lower.
Fortunately I haven't needed more than <60mile total round trip range for my trips, so my typical 70-75 estimated range has been adequate.
Maybe others benefit from a more level terrain, its lots of hills for me and I live at the top of a hill...

NightHawk: Maybe you have something else wrong, like a seized brake pad (a common ICE problem LOL) or something else adding drag to the car.

jenjc said:

I then have to jump through screens and delete the Work destination so that I can go Home. Sigh.

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If you have a trip setup with multiple waypoints you can just "cancel the route" (either on screen or telling sync to "cancel route") when you do so the car will give you the option of either cancelling the entire route or skipping to the next waypoint (and thus you don't have to go in and edit the route).

jenjc said:

I'd also like to tell the silly thing that I've arrived at my destination. For some reason, it can't figure out that I did stop and work for 8 hours. Every day after work, I drive off and the Nav system keeps wanting to take me back to work. I then have to jump through screens and delete the Work destination so that I can go Home. Sigh.

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I've been trying to memorize more of the Sync voice commands, to avoid exactly this distraction of tapping through menus on the screen. You can grab the voice command paddle on the steering wheel, say "Navigation", wait for the confirmation beep, say "Cancel route", say "Yes" to confirm and it will stop trying to send you back to work.

Or say, "Navigation", wait for beep, and say "Set destination home" (if you've programmed your home address as "home" in the favorites). You can also say "Set destination street address" and tell it a number, street and town, but even if you enunciate clearly it often has a hard time recognizing a whole spoken address.

There are many more voice commands for pretty much everything on the dashboard (phone, music, nav, climate) starting on page 288 of the manual.

They have flattened the command structure somewhat. For instance: To cancel the route you don't have to say "Navigation" first, you can just say "Cancel Route" from almost any screen.