Close Call

So my wife left the house early Friday morning to go to a doctor's appt. The car had been charged up to about 80%. Then later in the afternoon we left Studio City to pick some friends up at LAX, then hit a mexican place in Venice for dinner (sort of on the way home, not really far out of the way). As we went into dinner, I started thinking about the range left on the car. It said we had 29 miles to go. The trip home taking the long way (405 and 101) would take 20 miles. So I'm getting a little worried, but not panicking yet. Then on the way home, driving up the 405 (eco mode of course), I say to my wife, "We might not have enough juice to get home." So I exit off the 405 at Mulholland to take a more direct, if slower, route home. At this point the car says I have 8 miles left, and it's warning me to go find a charging station. It pulls up a map of nearby charging stations for me, and - surprise! - there are none (the plight of early adopters :lol: ). But that's ok, it's not anywhere close to 8 miles home. Then all of a sudden, the dashboard readout drops from 8 miles to -- miles. :shock: So now I'm seriously worried that the first introduction our three friends in the backseat will have to the Leaf will be waiting for a tow truck on a pitch-black section of Mulholland drive.

I managed to coast as much as possible and otherwise drive like a hypermiler the rest of the way home. We safely arrived into our garage, and it sure was a good feeling to stick that charger into the nose. I really wish the Leaf wouldn't drop from 8 miles to 0 miles. I understand it's an estimate, but surely they can be a bit more precise. I also think the battery's estimates don't account for 5 people in the car with luggage.

You better believe we're going to be more careful on our trips to the airport from now on!

Another reason why I plan to usually charge to 100 percent.

WWBD said:

So my wife left the house early Friday morning to go to a doctor's appt. The car had been charged up to about 80%.

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Two have reported the mile estimate going 8, 7, "---".

However, I thought one person described seeing the lower numbers (6 down to 1), but maybe I was mistaken?

yikes, that was close! I hope that we do hear from the first person on the forum who runs out of juice. It'll be a good learning experience. I usually charge to 80 percent but when I know I'm going farther (like over the weekend when I was visiting friends in the Valley (about 20 miles from where I live), I charged to 100 percent. I also top off every night even though I only need to charge about 2 hours on a usual day. I just like having a full charge in the morning in case I have some unanticipated trips to make.

I wasn't taking notes for exact figures, but when I tested Turtle-mode, you would go to --- miles remaining from from 7-8 miles. I drove at about 3 more miles with --- showing before I actually went into Turtle Mode. I drove less than 1/2 mile in Turtle mode before I was home in the garage. When I checked Carwings, it said I had 0% charge and 2 miles remaining.

So, once you see --- on your remaining miles, you better be within 2-3 miles of where you can charge or you risk Turtle Mode!

Glad you made it home with no problem tow and/or walking involved!!!

Wow, that was close WWBD. Glad you made it home. Can you tell us what was your total miles driven that day for the 80% charge? Also, besides driving in eco mode when you started to worry, did you drive "normally" before that? And what was your avg freeway speed would you estimate for the day? Thanks.

I haven't gotten to last bar yet, but at 2 bars (the red ones), about 14 miles, you get first verbal warning, a warning on driver's screen, and estimated miles begins to flash. I suspect that at one bar, you get the VERY low verbal (and onscreen) warning, and est. miles disappears. It's mostly a psychological thing, to put pressure on you, which it certainly accomplishes! As for turtle mode, you've really pushed too far at that stage. My thanks to the folks who have explored that region for us; I'd rather read about it than experience it.

I've been down to 2 bars twice.

-Karl

You were likely fine there at the end, an SOC gauge would have made you feel better. Duh Nissan. 8-0, real helpful.

EVDRIVER said:

You were likely fine there at the end, an SOC gauge would have made you feel better. Duh Nissan. 8-0, real helpful.

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+1

I tried plugging my ScanGuage II into the Leaf the other day.....it wouldn't even connect. We need the CAN codes to get the SOC out of the car. I'm confident that someone in AZ will bring their car in to that group/business that offered to read all the CAN codes for the ScanGuage. :mrgreen:

Maybe you could top up at the dinner establishment with your "emergency" L1 cord? You'd gain about 3 miles.

WWBD said:

Then on the way home, driving up the 405

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Worst possible thing to be doing final 10% of a drive. On the freeway, climbing a hill. 1,000 vertical feet costs you about 8%. Computer predicted you would imminently run out of charge based on high drain of last miles. If you had taken scenic Sepulveda, you’d probably not tripped into the "'dash" zone.

Good instinct to slow down and get off the freeway. You would have recovered some SOC on the downhill into the valley IF you drove slow enough to use regen, not wind drag. But you won't know that as the computer never recovers from "---".

kolmstead said:

I've been down to 2 bars twice.

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That's as close as I want to cut it too.

I want enough bars to get me to the bar. Assuming, of course, that I'm not already barred.

FYI LAX has free parking and charging stations for EVs
http://www.lawa.org/welcome_lax.aspx?id=58

"I went on a pleasure trip last week. I took my mother-in-law to the airport." - Henny Youngman

mwalsh said:

kolmstead said:

I've been down to 2 bars twice.

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That's as close as I want to cut it too.

I want enough bars to get me to the bar. Assuming, of course, that I'm not already barred.

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Barring traffic delays, of course.
:lol:

Here's my best guess on how the day broke down:

Roughly 80 miles to start with.

12.8 mi - RT to the hospital. Regular drive mode (wife . One person in car. Probably averaged 40 mi/hr.
30 mi - to LAX. Eco mode. 2 people in car. City driving during rush hour. Probably averaged 30 mi/hr.
6.9 mi - to La Cabana in Venice. Eco mode. 5 people in car + luggage. Probably averaged 40 mi/hr.
20.6 mi - La Cabana to home, with Mulholland Dr. shortcut. Eco mode. 5 people + luggage. Probably averaged 55 for first half and then 30 for last 4 or 5 miles.

Total = 70.3 miles

johnr said:

Maybe you could top up at the dinner establishment with your "emergency" L1 cord? You'd gain about 3 miles.

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I guess we better also stow an extension cord in the Leaf trunk with the L1 charger. I know they say that you shouldn't use the L1 charger with an extension cord but we have seen that plenty of times when preproduction Leafs were on display at shows.

WWBD said:

Here's my best guess on how the day broke down:
...6.9 mi - to La Cabana in Venice. Eco mode. 5 people in car + luggage. Probably averaged 40 mi/hr.
20.6 mi - La Cabana to home, with Mulholland Dr. shortcut. Eco mode. 5 people + luggage. Probably averaged 55 for first half and then 30 for last 4 or 5 miles.

Total = 70.3 miles

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Perhaps La Cabana to Santa Monica Nissan for 30 mins of L2 would have reduced the stress. Of course, it would be better if the LAX ChargePoint station was up and running. Glad you made it home.

WWBD said:

Here's my best guess on how the day broke down:

Roughly 80 miles to start with.

12.8 mi - RT to the hospital. Regular drive mode (wife . One person in car. Probably averaged 40 mi/hr.
30 mi - to LAX. Eco mode. 2 people in car. City driving during rush hour. Probably averaged 30 mi/hr.
6.9 mi - to La Cabana in Venice. Eco mode. 5 people in car + luggage. Probably averaged 40 mi/hr.
20.6 mi - La Cabana to home, with Mulholland Dr. shortcut. Eco mode. 5 people + luggage. Probably averaged 55 for first half and then 30 for last 4 or 5 miles.

Total = 70.3 miles

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Thanks for the driving profile WWBD. That's really good experience point to keep in mind: 80% charge, 70miles to almost turtle, mostly eco mode, and 5 passengers + luggages for 1/2 the time. Not too shabby.

I should add - no climate control pretty much the whole day.

WWBD said:

...At this point the car says I have 8 miles left, and it's warning me to go find a charging station. It pulls up a map of nearby charging stations for me, and - surprise! - there are none (the plight of early adopters :lol: ). ...

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This is why we are so excited about the possibilities @ http://electric.carstations.com. Leaf owners like yourself, volt owners and others are adding new stations all the time that the NAV does not have. Any user can add stations, more info or photos. Our mobile app is in development so this will help supplement the lack of stations that both the leaf and the volt will have in their dash and many more new features will be there in the next couple months. There are stations at our site there we never knew existed until someone submitted them!

thanks for sharing. Hopefully our leaf actually arrives in the "month of March"