Anti-range anxiety

[mrradon]

So I've put on 4k now. I think I'm very much in love with this car.

Lumber hauling machine
My Forester tranny blew so i used the Leaf to haul lumber till I got the Soob back running. 35 14' 2X4's no problem. 1000# of cement bags/roofing tile no problem. After awhile the Lowes guys would laugh when I pulled up to pick up lumber. I take the head rests off, tilt the passenger seat down and lay the lumber on the passenger side dash on top of a blanket. Get that stuff all the way in.
45 16' long siding panels? No problem...

Carpool
I wasn't carpooling at first, I managed to average out to 5.1m/Kw in stop and go traffic till I found surface roads that got me there a bit faster, but a small decrease to 4.7m/Kw.
Then I car pooled (one person), to use WA HOV lane and it dropped to 4.1m/Kw.
Now I have a 4 person car pool and its down to 3.7m/Kw. The extra weight is noticeable as is the rain, I found this out the hard way. Also, with four bodies, defrost and HVAC operation is a must (range effect)

Long Trip
I did a trip from Mill Creek to JBLM (Joint base Lewis McChord. I had my grandson for the weekend and was going to stop off at Seattle's aquarium. I found a car parking station with 4 "BLINK" chargers. However, they were all on the BLINK. I had to go to another parking lot to get a charger that worked. Set the charge to 100%.
Real heavy rain to JBLM resulted in much reduced range! It was about 45 miles to my son's house. I couldn't charge up there, turned around and headed home, near Tacoma the range was down to a dozen miles, stopped off at the Museum of Glass on Dock Street. Their parking lot had charging stations! Had dinner, watched a football game and when my car told me it had enough charge headed home.
I stayed on the interstate the whole way but found my range was 20% low due to the resistance from heavy rain. The last 20 miles I set the cruise to 55 from 65.
This was a 140 mile round trip and it did fine!

 

[ksnogas2112]

Awesomeness!!!

 

[mazdaboi]

Awesome! Luckily your stations were available. I went out on Saturday night to downtown Washington D.C. Looking at the energy and plug maps prior to travel (only 32miles each way on 80% charge...should be NO problem) Each charge station i went to (all underground parking garages) were closed. At this point I was under 6 bars, so the only station that was open claimed they did not have any 15a wall plugs. Ignoring the guy i took my chance and drove through the 4 levels....and WOW found 2 plugs. Trickled charged for 3hrs, had just enough to get home. It was irritating for me on the weekend...I still dont trust all the plug maps for the D.C. area yet.

 

[ALF]

I found a car parking station with 4 "BLINK" chargers. However, they were all on the BLINK.

:lol: Great! Unfortunately, I too have experienced the same problem in WA (Woodinville).

 

[mazdaboi]

I found a car parking station with 4 "BLINK" chargers. However, they were all on the BLINK.

:lol: Great! Unfortunately, I too have experienced the same problem in WA (Woodinville).

If you havent already, sign up for a free Blink Network account and they will send u a blink access card or a code to use at those locations for EVSE use. There are Blink chargers around the D.C. area however most are at complex's or hotels which are for guests or you must fork over some money to valet the car (and plan to stay to get your money's worth)

 

[adric22]

Wow.. I would not put lumber in my Leaf. I actually have to buy lumber semi regularly and I have to rent or borrow a truck. I would not want the interior of my car scratched up from carrying that stuff around.