BenInCastleRock
New member
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2019
- Messages
- 4
I bought a 2019 Leaf SV with winter package about a month ago. Most of my driving is to work and back (42 miles round trip) or just around town and the Leaf fits my needs perfectly. I usually charge to 75%. The Leaf displays a range that doesn't really match my real world results, but that doesn't really bother me. I don't usually get close to the range the Leaf says I should, but at least it gives me and idea of how much charge I have left.
I knew I was going to pick up my kid at college and I decided to use the Leaf. The trip is 90 miles each way and there's a fast charger and an L2 charger close to the school. There are highways I could take where the speed limit is 75 mph, but since the car uses so much more energy to go 75 mph vs 60 mph, I planned to take the highways with more traffic and some traffic lights. That decision meant that the trip would take 2 hours each way compared to 90 minutes if I went the 75 mph route. Both routes were approximately the same distance.
Before the trip I charged to 100% at home. I used Eco mode and e-pedal and did not run the heater (even though it was about 20 degrees F that morning. I live in Colorado and when it's sunny the inside of the car is comfortable when it's 35 degrees outside. So my trip was a little chilly but I was alone in the car and I didn't mind.
The leaf displayed 156 mile range as I left the house. I drove at 65 mph for the first 10 miles of the trip. The range shown by the leaf dipped to 149, then started climbing back up. I hit traffic and for the next 35 miles my speed was between 30 and 55 mph. Incredibly, after 45 miles of driving my range showed 152... 4 miles less than when I started!
When I arrived at the charging station I had 80 miles of range according to the Leaf, much higher than I expected. The Leaf's charge time screen showed I needed about 1 hour of fast charge or 3 hours of L2 charging to get to 100%. My kid was expecting me in 2 hours, so I decided to fast charge while I ate lunch. I know fast charging often isn't encouraged, but I wanted to have the peace of mind before the 90 mile drive home (actually it's about 102 miles including the drive from the charging station to the school). This was only my second time charging away from home. The EVgo station gave me instructions that I followed. It didn't ask me how long to charge and I didn't have the Leaf's charge timer enabled. When I came back to car the EVgo station said that the charging session had ended after 37 minutes and the Leaf said the battery level was 80% and the range was around 134. We made it home with about 20 miles of range to spare and it would have been a much more relaxed trip if I had more range.
I think the difference in range between the 2 trips could be due to the fact that my home is at a higher elevation (about 1000 ft) than most of the trip. I looked at the battery temperature and it was on the low end. Why didn't fast charging go to 100%? Is there a better charging strategy that I should have used? Could I have plugged in the L2 charger after fast charging?
I knew I was going to pick up my kid at college and I decided to use the Leaf. The trip is 90 miles each way and there's a fast charger and an L2 charger close to the school. There are highways I could take where the speed limit is 75 mph, but since the car uses so much more energy to go 75 mph vs 60 mph, I planned to take the highways with more traffic and some traffic lights. That decision meant that the trip would take 2 hours each way compared to 90 minutes if I went the 75 mph route. Both routes were approximately the same distance.
Before the trip I charged to 100% at home. I used Eco mode and e-pedal and did not run the heater (even though it was about 20 degrees F that morning. I live in Colorado and when it's sunny the inside of the car is comfortable when it's 35 degrees outside. So my trip was a little chilly but I was alone in the car and I didn't mind.
The leaf displayed 156 mile range as I left the house. I drove at 65 mph for the first 10 miles of the trip. The range shown by the leaf dipped to 149, then started climbing back up. I hit traffic and for the next 35 miles my speed was between 30 and 55 mph. Incredibly, after 45 miles of driving my range showed 152... 4 miles less than when I started!
When I arrived at the charging station I had 80 miles of range according to the Leaf, much higher than I expected. The Leaf's charge time screen showed I needed about 1 hour of fast charge or 3 hours of L2 charging to get to 100%. My kid was expecting me in 2 hours, so I decided to fast charge while I ate lunch. I know fast charging often isn't encouraged, but I wanted to have the peace of mind before the 90 mile drive home (actually it's about 102 miles including the drive from the charging station to the school). This was only my second time charging away from home. The EVgo station gave me instructions that I followed. It didn't ask me how long to charge and I didn't have the Leaf's charge timer enabled. When I came back to car the EVgo station said that the charging session had ended after 37 minutes and the Leaf said the battery level was 80% and the range was around 134. We made it home with about 20 miles of range to spare and it would have been a much more relaxed trip if I had more range.
I think the difference in range between the 2 trips could be due to the fact that my home is at a higher elevation (about 1000 ft) than most of the trip. I looked at the battery temperature and it was on the low end. Why didn't fast charging go to 100%? Is there a better charging strategy that I should have used? Could I have plugged in the L2 charger after fast charging?
