need to do weekly 90 mile drive in 2014 S

[rawlins02]

I need to make a 90 mile highway drive in early morning and late evening once a week for the next 12 weeks. My 2014 S with Quick Charge Package has held up well. Has 72,000 miles, 10 bars capacity, and GOM today read 86 miles.

Cooler weather may be coming soon, or it may not. My options en-route are (1) quick charge for ~20 minutes (2) L2 charge for ~45 minutes, (3) sell it. With air temperatures in 70s and 80s upcoming I expect the quick charge will have the battery running a bit hot. A drive today in 80 degree air temp and one hour of L2 charge got battery temp up to 7 bars. I think it's best to avoid quick charge until the weather cools some. Is regularly seeing 7 bars on battery temperature considered detrimental?

I'm guessing someone interested in local driving only may like the car. Probably should have it detailed and list it for sale. Based on what I've seen online it be worth around $6000. Pretty good for a $8,200 purchase with 32,000 miles in 2017. No major issues encountered with repairs. I count myself lucky.

 

[Drew21]

Are you talking 90 miles total or 180 miles roundtrip?

More importantly, is the necessary charging infrastructure available on the route (and destination if it's 180 miles roundtrip), and would charging time fit into your schedule on those days? If so, I think you should be fine and I wouldn't worry about the battery temperatures all that much.

In the big scheme of vehicle ownership, 12 days is not much. If the Leaf has worked for your typical usage for 6 years and 40K miles and your typical usage is not expected to change in the future, I personally wouldn't sell.

As an example, I need a truck a couple times per year but there's no way I'm going to own one. I rent on those days and save money on fuel, insurance, and maintenance (not to mention expense and time of acquiring another vehicle) the remaining 360+ days of the year.

 

[GerryAZ]

If 90 miles each way, you will need to charge en-route each way along with full L2 charge at destination. That would be two DCQC sessions along with L2 overnight at home (worst case). Your battery will warm up during DCQC, but cool down slowly while driving and while parked. I suspect you might see 8 temperature bars that day, maybe even 9. I would not have been afraid to make that trip once a week for 12 weeks with my 2015 as long as there were at least 2 reliable charging stations (prefer DCQC) along the way. I would not be ab!e to drive my LEAF if I worried about 7, 8, or even 9 temperature bars on a !ong-term basis (10 to 12 bars occasionally). Motor power will be limited if temperature gets to 11 or 12 bars until the battery cools down a bit.

 

[rawlins02]

Are you talking 90 miles total or 180 miles roundtrip?

More importantly, is the necessary charging infrastructure available on the route (and destination if it's 180 miles roundtrip), and would charging time fit into your schedule on those days? If so, I think you should be fine and I wouldn't worry about the battery temperatures all that much.

It will be 90 miles early (5 am) on Tuesday, then 90 miles back late (9 pm) on Thursday evening. There is a DCQC just short of midway and a L2 just past midway.

Even before weather cools, I think I'll save time and use the DCQC for ~20-25 minutes to get enough juice to reach destination. I suspect that at most battery temp may reach 8 bars, until weather gets cooler. But if that happens it will be for less than an hour each time. I got a bit concerned last week when it went to 9 bars after two quick charges on a longer run.

Yea, I think I'll keep it another year until we pay off the home mortgage. Last winter was tough before the new DCQC was installed. On this route I would regularly need to charge at the L2 for ~90 minutes. The nearby Applebee's got a lot of my business!

 

[rawlins02]

If 90 miles each way, you will need to charge en-route each way along with full L2 charge at destination. That would be two DCQC sessions along with L2 overnight at home (worst case). Your battery will warm up during DCQC, but cool down slowly while driving and while parked. I suspect you might see 8 temperature bars that day, maybe even 9. I would not have been afraid to make that trip once a week for 12 weeks with my 2015 as long as there were at least 2 reliable charging stations (prefer DCQC) along the way. I would not be ab!e to drive my LEAF if I worried about 7, 8, or even 9 temperature bars on a !ong-term basis (10 to 12 bars occasionally). Motor power will be limited if temperature gets to 11 or 12 bars until the battery cools down a bit.

This sound like good advice. Please see my reply to Drew21 above. My biggest challenge will be charging at the level 2 at destination, given that I won't have time to plug/unplug. Maybe I'll "lend" the car to family who live near destination, to disconnect, use it, and then leave it there with 80-90% charge for my return trip.

 

[rawlins02]

If the Leaf has worked for your typical usage for 6 years and 40K miles and your typical usage is not expected to change in the future, I personally wouldn't sell.

I recently moved from western MA to southern DE. Charging infrastructure in this region is severely lacking. It's a charging desert here, and many DCQC units are broken. As an example, there are three in Ocean City Maryland, each one busted. Same with two in northern DE. Most importantly, the one on my weekly commute is now charging $1 per minute after 5 minutes. Previously they gave us 45 minutes. Last week cost to me was $40 for 18 kWh of energy. I won't abide price gouging. I'm going to sell and lease a Hyundai IONIQ 6. With a range of 361 miles I hope to rarely if ever need to use public charging.

 

[Stanton]

Have you thought about renting a (ICE) car for the 12 weeks? If it's a temporary arrangement...and you like your Leaf...you can go back to the "same as it ever was" when you are done with the road trip phase. Otherwise, I don't think this will be a very pleasant experience (for you or your Leaf).

 

[rawlins02]

Have you thought about renting a (ICE) car for the 12 weeks? If it's a temporary arrangement...and you like your Leaf...you can go back to the "same as it ever was" when you are done with the road trip phase. Otherwise, I don't think this will be a very pleasant experience (for you or your Leaf).

Yes I have. Best I could find was around $1000 per month. And I have additional costs on my travel. I'm doing the 90 mile drive, a train trip, and then a rental to ultimate destination. All out of pocket. It's quite the challenge. Then, still, I need to do that 90 mile drive on occasion to visit family. I was quite pleased to see the DCQC installed on that route. Too bad they dealership is taking advantage. And we're still left with the fact that charging around here sucks. My Leaf is great for in town driving. Driving it 8,000-10,000 miles a year around here is simply not feasible.