I have to admit to being a bit peeved when I saw this tweet and followed the link through to the press release and saw the 2014 LEAF is rated for 84 miles.
Did I really get screwed out of 9 miles of range by not waiting two months? Everything I'd read said that there weren't going to much in the way of changes for 2014. 9 miles is a pretty big change.
Turns out it isn't really an increase. It's just a numbers game. The 2011/12 LEAF was rated at 73 miles. The 2013 was rated at 76 miles. Only a 3 mile difference. But the actual improvement was 11 miles using the 2011/12 calculation.
The difference was that for the 2013 model there's an option to charge only to 80%, ostensibly to improve battery life. Unfortunately, this meant that the EPA made Nissan average the ranges of 80% and 100% (68 and 84 miles respectively in the 2013), giving 76 miles. The 2011/12 calculation was based on 100% only.
The difference with the 2014 model is that Nissan removed the 80% charge option and so they can now use the full 100% charge range for their EPA calculation.
Did Nissan do that purely to game the EPA rating or did they really find that only charging to 80% had a minimal affect on battery life? I'd be interested in knowing.
I'll credit Green Car Report's post on the 2014 LEAF for explaining the new rating.
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