6600+ ft. of climbing / LEAF in the San Bernardino Mountains

[abasile]

Glad it worked out for you, Eric! While we must have just missed you, it was nice to get your note/info. Did you take advantage of the trail access while you were charging at our house?

Four hours door-to-door (upbound only) isn't bad if you can constructively use the time spent charging. Next time perhaps you could shorten that a little by driving faster on the freeway from LA County, then spending a tad longer charging at the QC in San Bernardino (not Rialto). It can also be great to use the LEAF to drive around the Big Bear area while visiting up here. On a longer visit, you could even drive up to Onyx Summit, above 8000 feet.

Your biggest "thank you" should go to the owner of that QC. While our home L2 is strategically located along the way to Big Bear Lake, it would be much less convenient to get here without that QC. Considering all that the QC owner has invested, the least we can do is provide a few more electrons. (By the way, the more EV owners in PlugShare, the merrier!)

 

[EricH]

Your biggest "thank you" should go to the owner of that QC. While our home L2 is strategically located along the way to Big Bear Lake, it would be much less convenient to get here without that QC. Considering all that the QC owner has invested, the least we can do is provide a few more electrons. (By the way, the more EV owners in PlugShare, the merrier!)

I bought lunch at the 7-11, and thanked the manager (proprietor?) profusely. It's really a nice setup, and 45 minutes there vs. 5 hours at Fontana Nissan is a no-brainer. It was under $6 for the Gulp/rollups/chips, but that's $6 more than I've spent at a 7-11 in the past five years.
Just rested in the car and read the newspaper -- both ath 7-11 and at your L2. I didn't get out and explore the areas (at least this time).

And I'm on PlugShare as well, but I'm in a far less useful location (605/Beverly is between 2 Nissan dealers, as well as near large SCE ChargePoint installations in Irwindale and Rosemead -- plus the Mitsubishi QC is maybe 12-15 miles downhill from me!), so nobody's taken me up on the offer yet.

 

[mwalsh]

Abasile, any recommendations as to what to set off from the 7-11 with for a climb up to Crestline on the 18/138? It's only 12 miles, and I'll get to the 7-11 with probably 25% charge remaining. I was thinking I'd take it all the way to 80% with the QC, so I didn't need to worry about conservation. But am also concerned with the amount of time I'd have to spend in SB now that they've got the QC turned down. And if they only happen to have L2 the day we're visiting...well, I'd only like to spend the minimum time necessary to make it up the mountain.

And the trip down? I was thinking of leaving at 80%, with the hope of being close to 100% once I'm back down in SB.

 

[abasile]

Abasile, any recommendations as to what to set off from the 7-11 with for a climb up to Crestline on the 18/138? It's only 12 miles, and I'll get to the 7-11 with probably 25% charge remaining. I was thinking I'd take it all the way to 80% with the QC, so I didn't need to worry about conservation. But am also concerned with the amount of time I'd have to spend in SB now that they've got the QC turned down. And if they only happen to have L2 the day we're visiting...well, I'd only like to spend the minimum time necessary to make it up the mountain.

If you charge to 80%, you might make it to Crestline with 40% or perhaps a bit more. Yesterday my wife charged to 80% at the QC, was running late and drove at a pretty decent clip (20-40 kW power consumption), and made it on time to her appointment in Twin Peaks (just past Crestline and ~1000' ft. higher) with 34% left. She subsequently made it home to Arrowbear, very carefully/gently, with 14% remaining.

If you want to minimize time at the QC, perhaps charge to 60% and limit your uphill speed to 40 mph or less. You can also take the scenic, slower Old Waterman Canyon shortcut to save a bit of juice.

Or just charge to 70% or 80% and leave yourself plenty of extra margin.

And the trip down? I was thinking of leaving at 80%, with the hope of being close to 100% once I'm back down in SB.

Going down the mountain, it is near impossible to get close to 100%. 11 bars is do-able. As you approach the bottom of the mountain, you'll end up doing a fair amount of friction braking if you leave Crestline at 80%. One way to pick up more regen, especially with a higher SOC, is to drive as slowly as possible, even if that means friction braking to slow down. The faster you're driving on the descent, the more the car's software limits regen power, for some reason I don't fully understand. Definitely take Old Waterman Canyon if you want to maximize regen. Still, to have as much charge as possible for your return home, it probably would make sense to start down with 80% and not lower.

Note: If heading down CA-330 from Running Springs, 80% really is too high. This time of year with a fairly warm battery, I've been leaving Arrowbear with about 70% and hitting 80% at the bottom of the mountain. I end up doing some friction braking, but not an overwhelming amount.

 

[abasile]

This past Fourth of July marked our first time using the LEAF for a "mountain to mountain to mountain" drive. We wanted to spend some time hiking in the beautiful Mt. Baldy area, in a different mountain range (the San Gabriel Mountains) to the west of us.

We got a leisurely start around midday with about 70% charge (according to the gid-meter) from home in Arrowbear Lake, at 6100 feet. Our first stop after descending CA-330 was the sort-of-fast charger in San Bernardino, where we stopped just long enough for everyone to use the bathroom, pick up some goodies, and continue on with 86.4% SOC indicated.

Continuing west on the 210 freeway, we kept our speed at 55 mph and below and exited at Campus Ave. in Upland with 60% indicated. From there, we took lightly used surface streets up to Shinn Rd., which intersects Mt. Baldy Rd. at 3000 feet. Thankfully, that late in the day, there were few cars ascending Mt. Baldy and we were able to drive quite slowly pretty much the whole way up, using turnouts occasionally. Basically, from the freeway onward, I mostly kept the motor power at 10 kW or below on the flat and gentle sections, and 20 kW on even the steepest sections of the mountain.

Arriving at our destination, the intersection of San Antonio Falls Road at 6100 feet (same as our home!), the indicated SOC was 16%. In the past we've ascended to the summit (elev. 10,064'), but with our younger child joining us this time, we ended hiked a bit past the Sierra Club hut and had fun climbing boulders before turning around.

After a few hours of hiking, when we started the car, it indicated 14.9% - typical hysteresis.

Driving gently and relatively slowly so as to maximize regenerative braking, we had about 30% indicated when we made it back to the 210 freeway at Campus Ave. With great care, we arrived back at the CHAdeMO in San Bernardino with 11% indicated. Unfortunately, the charge rate was throttled back to 9 kW.

After roughly 1.5 hours of charging at this rate, we were on our way with about 71%, and made it home with a low battery warning. That was significantly longer than we had planned on spending at the 7 Eleven, but at least we made it home earlier than we would have on 3.3 kW, and got to see a few fireworks as we were driving home.

In total, we did about 120 miles (forgot the exact mileage) and about 10,000 feet of climbing, not bad for a range-limited LEAF!

 

[abasile]

A couple weekends ago, we had the pleasure of using the LEAF for an overnight stay at Heart Bar Campground, about 20 miles southeast of Big Bear Lake over an 8400' pass, and 37 miles from home. With no place to charge the LEAF, we planned the 75 mile round trip on one charge. This proved to be no problem at all, even with our LEAF's 8% gid loss.

We left our home in Arrowbear, at 6100' elevation, with 92% charge indicated (our 100%). As it was after dark and not much traffic on the mountain roads, I was able to hold our speed down to 30-40 mph most of the way. After some ups and downs to and through Big Bear Lake, and about 30 miles of driving, we reached Onyx Summit at 8400' with 43% charge indicated. Once we started descending the other side of Onyx, we were committed. Thankfully, by the time we reached the campground at 7000', our charge was back up to 48%.

With a very dark sky and the temperature around 50°, and plenty of firewood that we had hauled from home, our first order of business was to get a campfire going, and let the kids roast marshmallows. Followed of course by a nice rest, punctuated by howling coyotes. The next day brought hiking and "exploring".

Returning home late in the afternoon, we returned to Onyx Summit with 32% charge indicated, and stopped for a short walk to appreciate the local flora, including oodles of juniper berries.

After a brief stop in Big Bear Lake for a little shopping, we returned home with about 20% charge left. (Sorry for the blurry image.)

So, on 92.1% - 20.9% = 71% charge, we covered 75 miles of beautiful mountain driving. Still happy with the LEAF!

 

[surfingslovak]

Great pics! Big Bear Lake has an EVSE?

 

[abasile]

Great pics! Big Bear Lake has an EVSE?

No, the EVSE is mine, back home in Arrowbear.

Big Bear does have one cabin owner in PlugShare, and I've gotten permission to L1 charge at the Discovery Center. Didn't need it this time, though.

 

[mwalsh]

If I understood Tony's post in another thread, the SB 7-11 DC QC is now permanently shut down? Best to not count on it for any future trips:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=9870&start=49" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[abasile]

If I understood Tony's post in another thread, the SB 7-11 DC QC is now permanently shut down?

We haven't been by there in at least a couple of months, but at the last-reported charging speed of 9 kW (see my previous posts), it was no longer a good option for our family. :-(

The closest QC to the San Bernardino Mountains is now the new one at the AQMD in Diamond Bar. Last week my wife quick charged to 83.5% (gids) in Diamond Bar, added about 1.5 hours of L2 at Metro Nissan in Redlands (easy to do since restaurants and stores are within walking distance), then made it home to Arrowbear with somewhere around the "low battery" warning. She did drive slowly.

IMHO, if Nissan really wants to sell the LEAF, they need to fund QCs at some key dealerships such as Fontana (within 80% range of here, by the way).

 

[abasile]

Today we returned home from a trip down the mountain with about 15% charge indicated, then immediately charged to 42%, just in time to head to Big Bear to meet friends. Unfortunately, our planned L1 charging at the Big Bear Discovery Center didn't work out, mainly because they have started closing the gates early now that summer is over. We also discovered that not all of the lightpost outlets in the parking lot are equally reliable at delivering power.

After hiking with our friends, we found ourselves leaving for home with only 20.2% charge, and 17 miles to drive, thankfully with a net elevation loss of 700 feet.

There was very little traffic, so I drove 20-25 mph on all flat or uphill sections, used the hazard lights at times, and pulled out to let cars pass as needed. It turns out that we cleared Lakeview Point (elev. 7100') with 10% charge indicated, and the remainder of the drive was almost all downhill. We arrived home with 13.5%. Better than I had feared! So ended a 115 mile day with the LEAF.

 

[Yanquetino]

After hiking with our friends, we found ourselves leaving for home with only 20.2% charge, and 17 miles to drive, thankfully with a net elevation loss of 700 feet. There was very little traffic, so I drove 20-25 mph on all flat or uphill sections, used the hazard lights at times, and pulled out to let cars pass as needed. It turns out that we cleared Lakeview Point (elev. 7100') with 10% charge indicated, and the remainder of the drive was almost all downhill. We arrived home with 13.5%. Better than I had feared! So ended a 115 mile day with the LEAF.

Glad you made it, abasile --and with a smidgeon of charge to spare! I recently experienced a similar scenario: crested a mountain summit with 1 red bar and 5 miles on the GOM... but 14 miles from home. It's hard to steer the winding curves when your palms are sweating like mine were. :?

 

[tjz]

I did my own version of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb back in August a couple of days before the real one. I am lucky enough to live close enough that my back of the envelope calculations made it look just doable.

I drove it conservatively, though not necessarily below the speed limit. It was a white knuckler as I made it to the top after 32.3 miles and 8,000 feet of climbing. Low Battery Warning came on while I was still just shy of the summit. I was not looking forward to executing a 3-point turn in the middle of the road as my battery was dying! :shock:

I have to tell you I was *very* relieved to see that first bar get put back on after I headed back down. I arrived back home with 64.4 miles on the odometer, 4 bars, and 37 miles on the Guess-O-Meter.

 

[dgpcolorado]

I did my own version of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb back in August a couple of days before the real one. I am lucky enough to live close enough that my back of the envelope calculations made it look just doable.

I drove it conservatively, though not necessarily below the speed limit. It was a white knuckler as I made it to the top after 32.3 miles and 8,000 feet of climbing. Low Battery Warning came on while I was still just shy of the summit. I was not looking forward to executing a 3-point turn in the middle of the road as my battery was dying! :shock:

I have to tell you I was *very* relieved to see that first bar get put back on after I headed back down. I arrived back home with 64.4 miles on the odometer, 4 bars, and 37 miles on the Guess-O-Meter.

I wondered if someone in the Colorado Springs area had given that a try yet, congratulations! That climb is similar to the ride up Haleakala—starting at about 1300 feet—on Maui, but with the advantage of thinner air here in Colorado.

 

[tbleakne]

>>> Unfortunately, our planned L1 charging at the Big Bear Discovery Center didn't work out, mainly because they have started closing the gates early now that summer is over.
After hiking with our friends, we found ourselves leaving for home with only 20.2% charge, and 17 miles to drive, thankfully with a net elevation loss of 700 feet.

There was very little traffic, so I drove 20-25 mph on all flat or uphill sections, used the hazard lights at times, and pulled out to let cars pass as needed. It turns out that we cleared Lakeview Point (elev. 7100') with 10% charge indicated, and the remainder of the drive was almost all downhill. We arrived home with 13.5%. Better than I had feared!

I would like to use this run to provide additional calibration check of my LEAF Mileage Spreadsheet for slow-speed at altitude. Here is the elevation profile of this run:

I need estimates of the following additional information:
Ambient temperature
Total weight of occupants and gear (2 adults + 2 kids + ?)

Hopefully you had very little wind and little braking.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Tom, what iPad app are you using?

 

[abasile]

Just to clarify, Lakeview Point is not actually the highest point on that drive. At 7112', it is, however, the last high point before the westbound descent into Arrowbear, and 5.6 miles away from our house. The Cougar Crest trailhead parking, where we started with 20.2% charge, is 17.2 miles from home. We used about 10% charge (gid-derived) to drive the first 11.6 miles which involved about 300 feet of net elevation gain.

Except on the final descent from Lakeview Point, we did relatively little braking or even regen. We did brake to a full stop several times, though, to let faster cars pass. I'd estimate the LEAF's load was 475 pounds in occupants and gear. The ambient temperature was around 50 degrees, with little wind, and no climate control needed. We had six battery temperature bars, having already driven almost 100 miles that day.

 

[mkjayakumar]

6 battery temp bars at 50 F driving at slow speeds? is that due to regen braking ?

 

[tbleakne]

Tom, what iPad app are you using?

I am using TopoProfiler to generate the elevation profile for my spreadsheet. It does a good job of following highways. I wish it had a way of generating its elevation output in tabular form. I am presently manually entering data from key points along the route into my spreadsheet.

 

[LEAFer]

Tom, what iPad app are you using?

I am using TopoProfiler to generate the elevation profile for my spreadsheet. It does a good job of following highways. I wish it had a way of generating its elevation output in tabular form. I am presently manually entering data from key points along the route into my spreadsheet.

Do some snooping around all the features offered at http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;