My first "extended" trip.

[Luft]

A couple of days ago I decided to take a trip that was farther than my LEAF could travel on its charge. I normally charge to 80% and wanted to make the extended trip with this amount of charge. It just makes sense to me to use the 80% level because when DC quick chargers do become available that's what I'll probably be charging to anyway.

So, I fired up my laptop and went to Google maps. I requested a route from Tenino Washington to Elma. This leg was only 34.8 miles. No problem. From there I planned to go to Olympia so I plugged in Elma to Olympia. Only 29.7 miles giving me a total of 64.5 miles. The final leg would be the return from Olympia to Tenino. Google maps told me that the trip was 14.2 miles.

Time to break out TonyWilliams' chart and do some number crunching. I planned on travelling at 50 MPH and the temperature was 50F. I preheated the LEAF for almost an hour so I had 11 fuel bars showing and my GreenCharge app was showing 84%.

First I calculated my range loss due to the cold. (70 – 50)/2 = 10% loss.

Next I looked up my range without any losses. At 50 MPH and only 10 fuel bars I should be able to go between 78 and 85 miles. Because I had 11 fuel bars showing I decided to use the higher number of 85.

Subtracting 10% I figured that I could travel 85 – 8.5 = 76.5 miles. The first two legs of my trip added up to less than 65 miles so I figured I would arrive in Olympia with around 10 or 11 miles remaining. I would plug in at one of the many charging stations, slurp up enough electrons to make it home and finish up my trip. Sounds like a plan, right?

The Trip:

After importing the Elma destination into my GPS, I plugged in my iPod and turned on some classical music put the LEAF in ECO mode and gently rolled out of Tenino. After I got onto HWY 12 I set my cruise control to 50. It was raining but my windshield wasn't fogging and I kept the climate control off.

The speed limit changed from 50 to 55 but I stubbornly stayed at 50. A couple of cars were behind me but only one decided that I was worth passing. I looked at my outside temperature reading and noticed it had fallen to 48F. By the time I arrived in Elma with 4 bars showing, the temperature was 47F.

I requested a list of charging stations near my location. I chose the Olympia charging station on Adams street and set off. Almost immediately my navigation system, in a very pleasant voice, informed me that my destination may be out of my car's range. I felt an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach. Olympia was the closest city with a charging station and the temperature was now 46F.

Cars started backing up behind me. The speed limit was now 60 MPH. I reluctantly increased my speed to 55 MPH. Bad mistake! As I reached Highway 101 my navigation system told me that I didn't have enough power to reach my destination!! I had been driving on the last two bars for a while now and the GOM said I could only go another 8 miles!

Screw the 60 MPH speed limit! I slowed to 50. Traffic was light and there was another lane. They could go around. Again requested charging stations near me. This time a chose the nearest one which was a Nissan Dealership. I lost another fuel bar and my GOM was now flashing at me. 4, 4, 4...

Up ahead I saw a white car on the side of the road. It was a State Patrol vehicle. There were two cars behind me and I saw the officer pull out onto the highway after we went by. Just as the two cars changed lanes to pass my navigation system told me to exit the highway. The patrolman didn't follow.

I felt much better now that I was able to do 38 MPH. It wasn't long and I was turning into the Nissan dealership with 3 miles showing on the GOM. They were happy to help me out and in a few hours with 4 bars showing I travelled home. The only trouble I had on the way home was that now my windshield was fogging badly and I refused to turn on the defogger.

Whew! What a trip.

 

[abasile]

Did you get a "low battery" warning? From that point, you have roughly 17% charge left. Considering the "padding" at the bottom of the charge range, even after you have run out of bars and the GOM shows ---, it sounds like you weren't actually all that close to running out of charge. Even still, getting 65 miles out of an 80% charge isn't bad.

It sounds like you charged to only 80% as sort of an experiment. Obviously, to ease your range anxiety, it would have been better to charge to 100%. Maybe next time.

May you have the pleasure of many more extended trips!

 

[Luft]

Did you get a "low battery" warning? From that point, you have roughly 17% charge left. Considering the "padding" at the bottom of the charge range, even after you have run out of bars and the GOM shows ---, it sounds like you weren't actually all that close to running out of charge. Even still, getting 65 miles out of an 80% charge isn't bad.

It sounds like you charged to only 80% as sort of an experiment. Obviously, to ease your range anxiety, it would have been better to charge to 100%. Maybe next time.

May you have the pleasure of many more extended trips!

I did get a low battery warning. I wish that I had taken better notes but I entered a panic mode when my navigation system started telling me that I might not make my destination. When the navigation system told me that I didn't have enough charge to reach my destination the feeling was horrible. I was in the middle of nowhere. :shock:

I do feel like I lost more range than was predicted even before I deviated from my planned speed. I think this was caused by the rain. I think when it rains it is like the car has to push through really thick air. Maybe someone with a SOC meter can give us data on non-rainy days vs rainy days. Of course the harder it rains the more the impact so it might be hard to put into a formula. But I know that from now on I will try to factor in precipitation.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

glad you made it and i am very familiar with your route and that hill you had to climb after the dip into Mud Bay is a killer.

for one thing, i would have never tried the trip without a full charge. as far as your concern about making it. you probably only needed less than a 90 minute charge at the dealer.

the problem with the GOM is that is errs on the side of caution. driving carefully, you have probably a minimum of 5 miles after you go to VLB (very low battery, the 2nd low battery warning) which is when display goes to "_ _ _"

to be honest with ya, now that i got the SOC Meter its a bit ridiculous in how Nissan tries to scare you. when the display provides the LBW (low battery warning) you have more than 1/6th of your battery pack range left.

i struggled over whether to get the SOC and was lucky enough to get into a group buy so probably saved over $30 on the price plus it was a chance to see some of the Seattle group but i am really glad i got it now. knowing the true capacity left (well, maybe not perfect but MUCH better than what Nissan provides) is a great stress relief.

for an adventure (not really with the SOC meter)

check this out. i recorded both SOC readings, odometer readings, etc for each bar and warning on a 100 mile trip done a few weeks ago

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/blog.php?u=291&b=134" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[DaveEV]

Like the others - I definitely would have started with a 100% charge.

Rain heavy enough to leave water on the roads will kills efficiency. I find about 10-20% depending on how hard it's raining. Was it raining the whole time?

Any idea what kind of mi/kWh the car was reporting? That's your best indicator of how efficiently you are driving.

 

[TonyWilliams]

I didn't quite understand why you used the range chart to start, and then start referencing the GoM and the "out of range" warnings. The two are in no way connected.

It doesn't look llke you got to VLB. How much further did you have to go when you charged?

 

[smkettner]

I recommend an "extended" 100% charge before your next adventure.

 

[Luft]

glad you made it and i am very familiar with your route and that hill you had to climb after the dip into Mud Bay is a killer.

for one thing, i would have never tried the trip without a full charge. as far as your concern about making it. you probably only needed less than a 90 minute charge at the dealer.

the problem with the GOM is that is errs on the side of caution. driving carefully, you have probably a minimum of 5 miles after you go to VLB (very low battery, the 2nd low battery warning) which is when display goes to "_ _ _"

to be honest with ya, now that i got the SOC Meter its a bit ridiculous in how Nissan tries to scare you. when the display provides the LBW (low battery warning) you have more than 1/6th of your battery pack range left.

i struggled over whether to get the SOC and was lucky enough to get into a group buy so probably saved over $30 on the price plus it was a chance to see some of the Seattle group but i am really glad i got it now. knowing the true capacity left (well, maybe not perfect but MUCH better than what Nissan provides) is a great stress relief.

for an adventure (not really with the SOC meter)

check this out. i recorded both SOC readings, odometer readings, etc for each bar and warning on a 100 mile trip done a few weeks ago

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/blog.php?u=291&b=134" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wow. That's some good data. I feel like I was scared for nothing now. Where did you get your SOC meter? Is it hard to install? (I an not overly mechanically inclined) Is it ugly? Is it expensive?

 

[Luft]

Like the others - I definitely would have started with a 100% charge.

Rain heavy enough to leave water on the roads will kills efficiency. I find about 10-20% depending on how hard it's raining. Was it raining the whole time?

Any idea what kind of mi/kWh the car was reporting? That's your best indicator of how efficiently you are driving.

Yes, 100% charge would probably have been the wiser choice but from what I have read the DC QC stations are suppose to be place 40 to 60 miles apart and I'll use them to charge to 80%. I wanted to get a feel for what it might be like to take a real extended trip.

It was raining the entire time. It varied from drizzle to heavy. When I got home I was getting over 4 mi/kWh. (4.1 I think)

I'll be doing it again. Probably a different route and in warmer, dryer weather. Maybe I'll get a SOC meter as well if they don't look too bad.

 

[Luft]

I didn't quite understand why you used the range chart to start, and then start referencing the GoM and the "out of range" warnings. The two are in no way connected.

It doesn't look llke you got to VLB. How much further did you have to go when you charged?

Yes, I know that the GoM is pretty lame. I swore before I left that I wouldn't pay attention to the range indicated and just go by the fuel bars but when the warnings started logic failed. :lol: I couldn't take my eyes off of the GoM. It was awful! I think a SOC meter is the way to go.

 

[DaveEV]

It was raining the entire time. It varied from drizzle to heavy. When I got home I was getting over 4 mi/kWh. (4.1 I think)

At 4.0 mi / kWh you might have just squeaked in - 80% charge should get you mid 60s miles at the temps you were at.

Last remaining question - how far from home were you when you pulled off to charge at the Nissan Dealership?

If you waited 2 hours to charge to 4 bars, you must have still at least 15 miles to go?

 

[planet4ever]

I drove 8 miles this afternoon after LBW and didn't quite(*) get VLBW. It wasn't raining, but I was driving 60 on a very slight uphill grade with five people in the car! I never use the navigation unit - don't even know how to set a destination - so I never have its warnings to distract me or my passengers. I just watch the m/kWh average and the bars, and note the trip mileage if/when I get the LBW and VLBW. Even though I was showing the car off to relatives who had never been in a LEAF before, I assured them I wasn't worried, and knew exactly what I was doing. Admittedly I realized it was possible I might get VLBW shortly before arriving at home, but, again, I knew that would not be a problem.

I had charged to 100% (unusual for me) so hadn't planned to hit LBW at all. My niece got a bit queasy in the mountains on the way over, so I took a nine-mile detour on the way back to avoid them. No Worries. All in all, we had a very pleasant trip, a nice meal at Moss Landing, and our guests left highly impressed by the car.

[Stats not really spectacular: 74.0 miles, 4.1 m/kWh, 1,000 foot pass (once), maybe 30% freeway, temperature mid 50's but 5 people's body heat meant no heater needed despite no preheating, cold soaked ~40° for charging]

Ray

* I must have been close, because when I shut down at home and then restarted I had three dashes.

 

[TNleaf]

...

Time to break out TonyWilliams' chart and do some number crunching. I planned on travelling at 50 MPH and the temperature was 50F. I preheated the LEAF for almost an hour so I had 11 fuel bars showing and my GreenCharge app was showing 84%.

...

You preheated the car for an hour before starting the trip? Was an hour needed? I think preheating for 15 minutes would have done the same thing. /shrug

 

[Ingineer]

I agree with most of the posters here as well; you should charge to 100% even if you think there's only a small chance you'll need the range. Charging to 100% and then driving right away isn't very hard on the pack at all. What's bad is charging to 100% every time, then letting the car sit unused for long periods of time.

Rather than preheat for an hour (!), I would have charged for 50 minutes, THEN in the last 10 minutes turned on the heater before departing. Also, a little known fact is that you can turn "on" the car while charging and use grid power for the CC and have manual control of it, and any excess power not needed for CC will still be going into your pack.

-Phil

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

have to agree. preheating longer than 10 minutes is just wasting electricity. i preheated for 10 minutes outside one day when it was 24º. the fan came real low after about 90 seconds from the time i sent preheat from carwings on my droid.

the fan speed slowly ramps up which is good since it doesnt waste its time blowing cold air. after 6-7 minutes the fan was blowing at full speed. it does not take long to warm up the car from that point. if you are really cold sensitive, you might go 15 minutes...

 

[Luft]

It was raining the entire time. It varied from drizzle to heavy. When I got home I was getting over 4 mi/kWh. (4.1 I think)

At 4.0 mi / kWh you might have just squeaked in - 80% charge should get you mid 60s miles at the temps you were at.

Last remaining question - how far from home were you when you pulled off to charge at the Nissan Dealership?

If you waited 2 hours to charge to 4 bars, you must have still at least 15 miles to go?

The Nissan Dealership is about 15 miles from my home. I knew from experience that I can travel home from that area using about three bars. I let my car charge to 4 bars so I would be sure that I had a full three available. As it turns out I arrived at home with 2 bars showing.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

It was raining the entire time. It varied from drizzle to heavy. When I got home I was getting over 4 mi/kWh. (4.1 I think)

At 4.0 mi / kWh you might have just squeaked in - 80% charge should get you mid 60s miles at the temps you were at.

Last remaining question - how far from home were you when you pulled off to charge at the Nissan Dealership?

If you waited 2 hours to charge to 4 bars, you must have still at least 15 miles to go?

The Nissan Dealership is about 15 miles from my home. I knew from experience that I can travel home from that area using about three bars. I let my car charge to 4 bars so I would be sure that I had a full three available. As it turns out I arrived at home with 2 bars showing.

what color is your Leaf? i see a white one, a couple red and blue ones around town all the time

 

[planet4ever]

The Nissan Dealership is about 15 miles from my home. I knew from experience that I can travel home from that area using about three bars. I let my car charge to 4 bars so I would be sure that I had a full three available. As it turns out I arrived at home with 2 bars showing.

That sounds like a misperception that the battery is dead when the last bar is gone, combined with an overdose of caution. Actually, unless you have a significant uphill climb or strong headwinds:

• You should normally be able to go 15 miles fairly easily on a bit more than 2 bars, certainly a lot less than 3 full bars.
• By slowing down to 40 mph or less you can easily go 15 miles on less than 2 bars.
• While charging, the bars don't appear until the next one is "half full", so you had at least 3½ bars-worth of juice.
• Because of all the miles available after the last bar disappears, you could have made it home easily if you had only charged until the second bar appeared.

It wasn't long and I was turning into the Nissan dealership with 3 miles showing on the GOM. They were happy to help me out and in a few hours with 4 bars showing I travelled home.

Another way to look at it is that you get 10-15 miles for every hour of charging, and you can push it to the higher number by driving slowly. In your situation (assuming a relatively flat road ahead) I would have charged for an hour and driven home slowly. Look at it this way: 15 miles at 30 mph is only half an hour; it costs you only 15 minutes compared with driving 60 mph. Think how much time you would have saved over your "few hours" of charging. (I'm guessing you actually charged 2½ to 3 hours to get to 4 bars.)

Ray

 

[adric22]

I just hope none of the anti-ev movement people see this thread. It sure does make it seem rather complicated and anxiety forming to drive an EV.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

I just hope none of the anti-ev movement people see this thread. It sure does make it seem rather complicated and anxiety forming to drive an EV.

he made it! whats the problem? i understand his position because i have done the same thing. twice i charged due to fear of making it home when it was not convenient for me. once was a trip of 132 miles, no choice there and taking the extra time to charge was all scheduled so questionable as to whether that should be included. the other time was simply getting lost. wrong turn cost me an extra few miles, SO insisted upon getting a charge then complaining the whole time we were there (ended up charging for 30 minutes and got tired of listening to her) we made it home but with the SOC meter, i now realized i could have made it home easily.

he did not have it and i dont blame him for stopping. now i know the route he may have taken and close to half could have been done at speeds of 40 mph or less, but there is a stretch that is minimum 50 mph. he might have made it. when his display started blinking he had about 12 to 15 miles at the speed/temp but there is a valley he would have had to cross so a boost at the dealership was warranted. hey, why not? they have TV, game room (for kids) and coffee