HIOJim
Well-known member
I've had my SL-e Leaf for about 2 and a half weeks and for the most part have enjoyed it a great deal. Most of my driving is extremely local - I live 3.2 miles from my job site and don't tend to wander afar all that often. Last week I went to the airport where my plane is hangared and logged the longest trip to date - 25 miles round trip!
But one travel scenario that is very likely to occur is a trip to Portland International Airport. If any of my relatives were to come for a visit I would certainly want to pick them up. Mapquest told me that it was 27.8 miles from my home near Hillsboro Airport to PDX. That doesn't sound bad, but there is a definite elevation gain/loss between the two destinations and I frankly wondered how the Leaf would handle them. I wanted to do a test under less than ideal conditions and see how the car fared. When the weather forecast for today looked rainy, I thought I had found my Test Day.
I did my usual Saturday rituals and by 8am was ready for my trip. I had charged the Leaf to 100% the night before instead of its usual 80% so I had a full bag of electrons to expend. I dropped the dog off at the doggie daycare as he's not a very good traveler and headed for Hwy 26 east.
The roadway was wet and there were intermittent showers. The temperature was 59 degrees. Perfect western Oregon weather, though disappointing for a July day. As I passed 217, I saw from the info sign that there was an accident ahead. Excellent, as what trip is free of traffic or unexpected stoppages? I knew from MNL poster Patrick0101 that Leaf low speed performance is not optimal so this would be a good test.
As I crested the Sylvan hill the traffic became bumper-to-bumper. I was showing a miles/KWH reading of 3.8 at this point - the climb to the top of the Sylvan hills had taken it's toll. The whole way I had kept my speed to below 60mph, and in the right lane this wasn't a problem. I was disconcerted by how quickly the first bar disappeared but that had been the case in the past. At the top I was down 3 bars. Sweet!
But the 2-car crash took the usual 3 lanes down to 1. Traffic crept along and I lost all of the expected regen from the descent down to the Vista Ridge Tunnel. The actual accident was about 1/4 mile from the tunnel entrance and once I passed that it was clear sailing. Once established on I-84 I stuck to the center lane and kept up with the flow of traffic, which was cruising at about 60mph. Not bad.
I headed north on I-205 and got off at the airport exit. When I hit the exit for the long term parking I was at 5 bars, but I continued on to simulate dropping someone off for a flight. I actually cruised past the departure terminal before looping back to head for home, still showing 5 bars.
It really started to rain on the trip back. For laughs I had the Nav system give me turn-for-turn directions and tried to keep the cars speed below 60mph, though I did not go slower than the flow of traffic. The climb from the tunnel up to the Zoo was arduous and I saw several bars fall from the effort. But then the glide down into Beaverton was a welcome change of pace and I saw the 10th bar drop just as I was on the off ramp for my exit at Brookwood Pky. I cruised at 45mph the rest of the way home (about 3 miles) and ended up in the garage with 2 bars still showing and 21 miles showing on the guess-o-meter. I had averaged 4.1 miles/KWH for the trip and 61.5 miles total.
So, the trip is definitely do-able. I would have preferred to have had 3 bars remaining as I don't have a lot of experience with what is left after 2 bars. But 70 freeway miles seems possible if not always comfortable.
The Leaf passed its test!
But one travel scenario that is very likely to occur is a trip to Portland International Airport. If any of my relatives were to come for a visit I would certainly want to pick them up. Mapquest told me that it was 27.8 miles from my home near Hillsboro Airport to PDX. That doesn't sound bad, but there is a definite elevation gain/loss between the two destinations and I frankly wondered how the Leaf would handle them. I wanted to do a test under less than ideal conditions and see how the car fared. When the weather forecast for today looked rainy, I thought I had found my Test Day.
I did my usual Saturday rituals and by 8am was ready for my trip. I had charged the Leaf to 100% the night before instead of its usual 80% so I had a full bag of electrons to expend. I dropped the dog off at the doggie daycare as he's not a very good traveler and headed for Hwy 26 east.
The roadway was wet and there were intermittent showers. The temperature was 59 degrees. Perfect western Oregon weather, though disappointing for a July day. As I passed 217, I saw from the info sign that there was an accident ahead. Excellent, as what trip is free of traffic or unexpected stoppages? I knew from MNL poster Patrick0101 that Leaf low speed performance is not optimal so this would be a good test.
As I crested the Sylvan hill the traffic became bumper-to-bumper. I was showing a miles/KWH reading of 3.8 at this point - the climb to the top of the Sylvan hills had taken it's toll. The whole way I had kept my speed to below 60mph, and in the right lane this wasn't a problem. I was disconcerted by how quickly the first bar disappeared but that had been the case in the past. At the top I was down 3 bars. Sweet!
But the 2-car crash took the usual 3 lanes down to 1. Traffic crept along and I lost all of the expected regen from the descent down to the Vista Ridge Tunnel. The actual accident was about 1/4 mile from the tunnel entrance and once I passed that it was clear sailing. Once established on I-84 I stuck to the center lane and kept up with the flow of traffic, which was cruising at about 60mph. Not bad.
I headed north on I-205 and got off at the airport exit. When I hit the exit for the long term parking I was at 5 bars, but I continued on to simulate dropping someone off for a flight. I actually cruised past the departure terminal before looping back to head for home, still showing 5 bars.
It really started to rain on the trip back. For laughs I had the Nav system give me turn-for-turn directions and tried to keep the cars speed below 60mph, though I did not go slower than the flow of traffic. The climb from the tunnel up to the Zoo was arduous and I saw several bars fall from the effort. But then the glide down into Beaverton was a welcome change of pace and I saw the 10th bar drop just as I was on the off ramp for my exit at Brookwood Pky. I cruised at 45mph the rest of the way home (about 3 miles) and ended up in the garage with 2 bars still showing and 21 miles showing on the guess-o-meter. I had averaged 4.1 miles/KWH for the trip and 61.5 miles total.
So, the trip is definitely do-able. I would have preferred to have had 3 bars remaining as I don't have a lot of experience with what is left after 2 bars. But 70 freeway miles seems possible if not always comfortable.
The Leaf passed its test!
