LEAFing up to 4000 feet mountain and back without recharge!

Details:
I started from Palo Alto, CA with full charge and drove to Los Gatos, CA, picked up two passengers. Then started trip to Lick Observatory on Mt. Hamilton in San Jose, CA. Elevation according to wikipedia was 4,209 ft.
Check : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lick_observatory" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

When I reached the top, I was left with 1 bar and 4 miles of range on GOM. I felt I would be OK and make it downhill to home or at least a charger in flat lands. But, just for the future, I asked the staff if they can set up charging stations to make it easy for EV drivers. I talked to director of observatory and he said it is historic building with stone structures and hard to run new wires outside. But, he said if EV drivers really need it, they can run an extension cord and offer charge.

Since return was downhill, I kept gaining more miles on GOM and also gained one bar after driving 9 miles downhill. And then for most of the trip to flatlands, I stayed at two bars without losing or gaining. When I reached flatlands of San Jose I was at 2 bars and 25 miles on GOM. I could make it all the way home to Los Gatos without charging in middle.

I had a similiar experience yesterday. GOM said 5 when I reached the summit and I had two bars. Crazy thing is after about a mile with me regenerating energy at 15kw or so I lost a bar and went to one bar. Never got to low battery warning though.

Having done the route before I was not concerned (didn't even turn off the A/C), and got home with the low battery warning coming on within yards of my house. Home is about 30 miles from the summit.

FYI my route is over the mountain pass between Tujunga and Palmdale, via the Big Tujunga road to the Angeles Forest Hwy.

Try putting your route into the new car wings route planner and see if it is at all accurate. I checked it out a month ago or so but my internet connection is slow. It now has elevation being figured into the mix.

Very similar to the two times I've driven to Julian, California:

LEAF to Julian

I used 9 bars on the climb, and drove 41 miles from my house at 580 feet elevation to Julian (over 4000 feet elevation). The Guess-O-Meter was showing 18 miles remaining and 3 bars when i started my 41 mile return.

I did about 20 total miles of pure coasting. I didn't drop to 2 bars until 66.6 total miles into the trip (about 26.5 miles on the return from Julian) The trip was complete with one bar showing, just before the Low Battery Warning came on.

100% battery charge to 18% charge remaining after 81 miles total.

Distance: 40.55 miles.....return 40.55 miles, total 81.1 miles

Elevation gain: 5189 ft.............1585 ft..... total gain 6774 feet

Elevation loss: 1585 ft..............5189 ft......total loss 6774 feet

The trip was a success.

Isn't it nice not having to listen to an internal combustion engine while climbing mountains?

A June trip involving a hill: my home to Silverton via Red Mountain Pass, and back.
Outbound 7670' to 8000' to 7000' to 11,018' to 9300', 43 miles
Return 9300' to 11,018' to 7000' to 8000' to 7670', 43 miles


Total: 86 miles at 4.9 miles/kWh on the console. The low point to the high point was a 4000' gain. That trip is pretty easy to make on a single charge in my LEAF. At my electric rate of 13¢/kWh the cost was ~$2.60 from the wall. I made the trip because I had left my camp chair in Silverton the day before and it is worth way more than $2.60. It was also a lovely morning for a scenic drive through the mountains:

Red Mountain, 6-24-12.

I dunno... Wailing through the mountain twisties in my Porsche was a pretty sweet sound!

abasile said:

Isn't it nice not having to listen to an internal combustion engine while climbing mountains?

Click to expand...

It is not just the sound of combustion engine! Also, breaks getting hot from too much pushing with ICE. It is very nice that in ECO mode LEAF does some amount of breaking for you.

Awesome!