I Beat EPA's 73 Mile Range : Report your experience

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wishboneash said:
Could have easily beaten the EPA 73 mile range today - covered 68 miles with 9 bars effectively used up. With a full charge and using up a couple of more bars would have made 80 miles comfortably.

Total Miles Driven : 68
Date : Aug 6, 2011
Leaf End Condition : Started with 11 bars and ended with 2 bars left (14 miles est range)
Route / Terrain : Pleasanton -> via 680/24 -> Tilden Park (Inspiration point, ~1000ft -> Berkeley dwntn -> via 80/580-> Pleasanton. Lots of elevation changes on Wildcat canyon Rd and Dublin grade on the return
Speed : range of speeds from 25mph to 60mph
Weather : temps 18-25C, no climate control used
Miles/kWh : did not measure

when would you expect turtle to kick-in, with the last est 14 miles? Trying to understand your best guess range before turtle?
 
mdh said:
wishboneash said:
Could have easily beaten the EPA 73 mile range today - covered 68 miles with 9 bars effectively used up. With a full charge and using up a couple of more bars would have made 80 miles comfortably.

Total Miles Driven : 68
Date : Aug 6, 2011
Leaf End Condition : Started with 11 bars and ended with 2 bars left (14 miles est range)
Route / Terrain : Pleasanton -> via 680/24 -> Tilden Park (Inspiration point, ~1000ft -> Berkeley dwntn -> via 80/580-> Pleasanton. Lots of elevation changes on Wildcat canyon Rd and Dublin grade on the return
Speed : range of speeds from 25mph to 60mph
Weather : temps 18-25C, no climate control used
Miles/kWh : did not measure

when would you expect turtle to kick-in, with the last est 14 miles? Trying to understand your best guess range before turtle?

Based on the range-speed-bar graph in another thread, I think another 14-20 miles might have been possible (depending on the road/speed conditions). I regret not having tried to drive around more near my home to see how far I could have gone. The turtle mode would occur after all the bars including the red ones were used up. So optimistically I could have made 90 miles if I started with a full charge and pessimistically 80 miles. A less demanding route with less freeway driving and elevation changes could have seen an even longer range. IMHO, for peace of mind for distances over 75 miles (60mph max) one should try and get a top up charge. If the route & conditions are well known, I think one could push this limit higher without re-charge. Other factors that go into this calculation would be battery condition and age.
 
I drive my leaf easy, live in a good moderate climate (just south of Portland OR). I'm trying to figure out how to get my photograph of "114 miles" (projected) on this message. How do you attach a photo to these messages? I've tried the "Img" above, but no success.
 
happyamp1 said:
I drive my leaf easy, live in a good moderate climate (just south of Portland OR). I'm trying to figure out how to get my photograph of "114 miles" (projected) on this message. How do you attach a photo to these messages? I've tried the "Img" above, but no success.

You can't (as far as I know) attach/upload a photo directly to the forum site. You need to get the photo on the internet elsewhere (one way to do that if you don't have a page/site of your own to host the content is to use the free site tinypic.com, or imageshack.us), then you post the link to the location of the photo in the "Img" tag, and the image will render as part of your post.
 
I guess I beat it.

Total Miles Driven : 90 Started with 100%
Date : 8/30
Leaf End Condition : Low battery, no bars and ---. Carwings reported 1 mile left.
Route / Terrain : roundtrip Hillsboro to Mcminville, OR. Plus some around town
Speed : 70% @ 65, 30% @30
Weather : 70F, almost no climate used
Miles/KWh per Leaf : 4.5m/kWh


Rangeometer initially was very high, but by middle of trip - was conservatively low. Which is good - if rangeometer thinks you'll make it - there is even buffer left.
But I read some one getting 120 miles per charge - is my car crimpled??

here is carwings log that i've done after morning charge

# tot used regen dist econ
4 0.2kWh 0.3kWh 0.1kWh 1.6miles 9.6miles/kWh 2lbs
5 5.9kWh 7.8kWh 1.9kWh 33.4miles 5.6miles/kWh 22lbs
6 1.7kWh 2.5kWh 0.8kWh 13.3miles 7.9miles/kWh 8lbs
7 7.7kWh 9.2kWh 1.5kWh 39.5miles 5.1miles/kWh 26lbs

Total used 15.5 kWh
Total from batt 19.8
Total regen 4.3
 
interplaydave said:
Hey All: So decided to take the Leaf up to visit friends in Santa Rosa. We knew we could get about 4.5 hours of trickle charge while there. Total trip distance -- house to house -- 110.9 miles. We live in Berkeley . . . so called Santa Rosa Nissan to see if I could drop in for an L2 charge, just in case, and they were very accommodating -- told me I could drop in anytime before 7pm (on Saturday). Arrived at friends with 3 bars and 22 miles to go and plugged in for trickle. Checked Carwings on my blackberry (twice! Wife about killed me :p ) and saw we were charging, but too slowly. ................snip
At THIS junction, I HAVE to ask you why in the world you haven't yet invested in the quick 220 appliance, where you plug into the two different legs of 120v so you can get 240 volts out:
volt-inverter.jpg


And then have your L1 charge cable modded to run on 240!
You wouldn't have had to bother with all the scary scary. You could have filled up enough to do the whole drive. Meah ... maybe that's just me.
 
Just out of curiosity, I checked with my insurer (State Farm) and was told that it makes no difference to them whatsoever. I'd be covered regardless.

GaslessInSeattle said:
Has anyone found out if using non-certified charging systems will void homeowners insurance in case of a fire?
 
hill said:
And then have your L1 charge cable modded to run on 240!
You wouldn't have had to bother with all the scary scary. You could have filled up enough to do the whole drive. Meah ... maybe that's just me.

With the quick220 gizmo. My understanding is that both 120v legs must not be on a GFCI circuit. Is that true? If so how many circuits are available 'outside' a building or in a campground that are NOT GFCI?

Thought the device sounds perfect until I read about the GFCI restriction. Interested in your 'real world' experience with the device and finding suitable circuits.

JP
 
JPWhite said:
Thought the device sounds perfect until I read about the GFCI restriction. Interested in your 'real world' experience with the device and finding suitable circuits.
Most houses, particularly older ones, have plenty of non-GFCI circuits. So far I am 4/4 with my Quick 220; I've successfully used it at four different houses (including my own). While this approach involves extra cords plus trial and error, it is great to have the flexibility of charging at 240 V in many more locations.
 
Agreed,
And as for 120v camp ground gfci's ... heck, why bother? 90% of camp ground I've been to have 240V making the hand wringing a moot point. Besides that, who'd want to throw out a perfectly good solution to MANY of the issues. No, you don't throw out alternatives, just because they don't work all the time. But if one really really wants to use gfci plugs ... there IS still a way. The search tool can be your friend. (Hint - search term isolation transformer ;) )
 
I am able to go longer ranges by plugging in my 3.3 kWh LeFePO4 battery pack in the back and charge while I am stopped at work or lunch to recharge the main battery. I simply convert the battery to 120 VAC and use the Nissan L1 charger supplied with the Leaf. I gain 1 to 2 bars on the SOC graph by setting the charge time on the battery pak to 3 or 4 hours. It is a great feeling to not worry about being stranded since I know I have spare power in the back. No range anexity.
 
wsbca said:
happyamp1 said:
I drive my leaf easy, live in a good moderate climate (just south of Portland OR). I'm trying to figure out how to get my photograph of "114 miles" (projected) on this message. How do you attach a photo to these messages? I've tried the "Img" above, but no success.
You can't (as far as I know) attach/upload a photo directly to the forum site. You need to get the photo on the internet elsewhere (one way to do that if you don't have a page/site of your own to host the content is to use the free site tinypic.com, or imageshack.us), then you post the link to the location of the photo in the "Img" tag, and the image will render as part of your post.

Save your effort. The projected number doesn't count. It's very easy to have a high number on the GOM which means nothing. You have to take a pic of the trip odometer with the m/kW h on the dash or console (if it goes above 8). When you are ready to take the right pic, tinypic is faster because it doesn't make you register and sign in.
 
NaturesLeaf said:
I am able to go longer ranges by plugging in my 3.3 kWh LeFePO4 battery pack in the back and charge while I am stopped at work or lunch to recharge the main battery. I simply convert the battery to 120 VAC and use the Nissan L1 charger supplied with the Leaf. I gain 1 to 2 bars on the SOC graph by setting the charge time on the battery pak to 3 or 4 hours. It is a great feeling to not worry about being stranded since I know I have spare power in the back. No range anexity.


It would be far more efficient and faster to send 240V DC to the Nissan Modified EVSE and to the L2 port for full charge speed. I think this will work and I will validate it and get back to you.
 
Last weekend I did a 450 mile trip, and beat the EPA estimate about four times in 2 days. I pretty much drove 40mph the whole trip, to maximize efficiency and minimize my charging time needed, so it was painful, but I definitely got to see the range capabilities of the Leaf in rolling terrain and on the interstate here in Georgia. The longest I drove was 97 miles, from points C to D on this image:
250mi_return_trip.png


I pulled into my parking lot after that 97 miles with "--" for miles left, it was nerve racking as I got near Atlanta because the hills were bringing my mileage closer and closer to the number of miles left on the trip. I did a quick write-up for curious friends, in case anyone is interested: http://atlantaleaflife.info/posts/8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
the lowest I saw the temp gauge reach was at night, and was 32 degrees F. I was sweating during the day at points, I think it got up to around 60-65ish.

I didn't take a picture of my trip range. Chalk it up to being tired and just wanting the trip to be over! It read 5.1mi/kwh at the end of the trip up, though. Think that might have included other parts of my trip — haven't quite got the hang of managing my readings for parts of trips yet.

I do have pictures of my dashboard after pulling into my parking lot on Sunday night, and seeing "--" for miles left:
WQScj.jpg


and I have a picture from carwings showing my efficiency for all the driving I did. All of my return trip was on Sunday.

S7BmD.png
 
jakswa said:
the lowest I saw the temp gauge reach was at night, and was 32 degrees F. I was sweating during the day at points, I think it got up to around 60-65ish.

I didn't take a picture of my trip range. Chalk it up to being tired and just wanting the trip to be over! It read 5.1mi/kwh at the end of the trip up, though. Think that might have included other parts of my trip — haven't quite got the hang of managing my readings for parts of trips yet.

I do have pictures of my dashboard after pulling into my parking lot on Sunday night, and seeing "--" for miles left:
WQScj.jpg


and I have a picture from carwings showing my efficiency for all the driving I did. All of my return trip was on Sunday.

S7BmD.png

Great trip report. DC charging would be nice, huh?

You might check the CW miles against Odometer miles, and also another source, for the trip.

CW under-reports "miles driven" by about 2.5% for my LEAF, and the same for at least one other driver, who has checked.
 
I have a question what where your charge times at every stop before you continued? that would be key aswell nice trip!
 
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