Driving my LEAF up Mt. Lemmon Highway, Tucson, AZ

[Azrich]

I've only had my LEAF five days, but it was time to check out its climbing ability and regeneration powers. The Mt. Lemmon Highway, in northeast Tucson, takes you from the desert in the valley up to Ponderosa pine forests with snow in the winter. The total distance is 25 miles. I only went about 9 miles today.

Here's a photo story of my journey:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60752910@N02/sets/72157626369430734/

 

[Boomer23]

Very cool trip and pictures, Rich. And a beautiful place to do it. It looks so clean and fresh and your LEAF looks terrific in that countryside.

Thanks for sharing your fun trip and experiment with mountain climbing.

 

[IBELEAF]

I am thinking of doing same tint job. Any issues with scratching the tint film with windows going up/down?

 

[Azrich]

I am thinking of doing same tint job. Any issues with scratching the tint film with windows going up/down?

After tinting, I was not suppose to put the windows up or down for two days. I can start using them again tomorrow. I've never had scratches on my other vehicles' tinted windows. This time I did pay the $50 for "scratch replacement". I made sure to ask him, who decides if it is scratched or not? I do. The Pinnacle Series is their best film, but I got it because of its ability to block out about 60% of the heat.

 

[mwalsh]

The Pinnacle Series is their best film, but I got it because of its ability to block out about 60% of the heat.

I like it! What was the tint percentage on the fronts?

 

[Deleted member 770]

It's amazing just how far off the range calculations can be when going up what I presume is a fairly steep hill. Given what you saw in the way of regen+recalculation on the way down, I hope you're willing to go further up the mountain next time. I'm waiting for someone to try a really "interesting" (read "long" & "hard") trip in a Leaf. Like taking a picture of your LEAF at Curry Village in Yosemite...

 

[sproqitman]

On your next trip up the mountain, could you keep track of the battery gauge bars in addition to the range remaining? I'd be curious to know if you are able to actually add bars back to the battery over an extended descent. The climbs around here aren't long enough.

 

[sjfotos]

Very interesting story and pictures! Thanks Rich! Good real life research!

 

[wsbca]

It's amazing just how far off the range calculations can be when going up what I presume is a fairly steep hill.

The range calculation does not have ESP - all it's saying is if you keep driving like this (same terrain, same speed), your battery is likely to last for X more miles. The calculation was getting more and more accurate the longer he kept climbing - it was further "off" when he started (given what was to come) than it was when he turned around. Similarly,once he reached the bottom, he wasn't going to go 92 more miles, unless another monster descent materialized out of nowhere. As noted in another reply, the really interesting data will be the state of charge (loosely described by the # of bars) - particularly whether multiple bars were restored on the descent.

Great photos!

 

[tps]

I'm waiting for someone to try a really "interesting" (read "long" & "hard") trip in a Leaf. Like taking a picture of your LEAF at Curry Village in Yosemite...

The story of that trip would indeed be interesting! If someone does a Yosemite trip with the LEAF, they have to do Glacier Point, also...

 

[Azrich]

I'll keep better data during the next ascent, counting the bars in addition to the mileage range. Is there any where on the nav system that might give me more accurate information instead of the dashboard info? I know I will be able to go much further next time.

 

[abasile]

I'm waiting for someone to try a really "interesting" (read "long" & "hard") trip in a Leaf.

I'm expecting to take delivery of our LEAF in a few weeks. Given that Fontana Nissan is at about 1500 feet elevation and we live a tad above 6100', with 37 miles in between, we will have an interesting drive home, up Rim of the World Highway (CA-18). I plan to report on it!

In the meantime, check out:
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=2724&hilit=baldy
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=2753&hilit=shaver

Actually, Randy3's Shaver Lake drive involved both more miles and more elevation gain than our drive home will. The difference is that Rim of the World Highway is basically in Southern California's "backyard" and is potentially accessible to many more LEAF drivers. (I should also mention that taking CA-330 instead of CA-18 would shorten our drive by about 6 miles, but it's under construction right now.)

 

[davewill]

I'd love to see a way to reset the range calculator. It would be nice for the end of a climb or downhill, or when leaving a long freeway drive to essentially "erase" the driving history and let the car build a new mileage profile from scratch.

 

[garygid]

I think a much shorter time constant (averaging time of just 2 seconds instead of minutes) would be good.

 

[SteveInSeattle]

It's amazing just how far off the range calculations can be when going up what I presume is a fairly steep hill.

The range calculation does not have ESP - all it's saying is if you keep driving like this (same terrain, same speed), your battery is likely to last for X more miles. The calculation was getting more and more accurate the longer he kept climbing - it was further "off" when he started (given what was to come) than it was when he turned around. Similarly,once he reached the bottom, he wasn't going to go 92 more miles, unless another monster descent materialized out of nowhere. As noted in another reply, the really interesting data will be the state of charge (loosely described by the # of bars) - particularly whether multiple bars were restored on the descent.

Great photos!

This is a good description of how the mileage estimate works and people don't seem to understand this-- it is telling you how far you can go IF your drive continues to be the same as the recent segment.. In other words, it did NOT REGEN as much as it seems it just is saying that if there were more similar driving it would go that far. The estimates are useful ONLY IF YOUR CONTINUING TO DRIVE UNDER SIMILAR CONDITIONS, so the bars are a better way to see the energy use and regeneration.

Furthermore, if you start out with 50 miles of range after slow city driving and then either approach a hill or start driving at 70 miles per hour the range will drop quickly and this is not a flaw in the car. It is put very well in this quote "the car does not have ESP"

 

[WhisperLeaf]

I got my Leaf a few days after you (554) - I live in Tucson - and have talked about driving up Mt Lemmon. Are you saying that a full charge only got you 9 miles up the highway? (It is roughly a 6,000 ft ascent - not counting switchbacks.) Wow!

BTW - I am getting my firmware upgrade tomorrow AM - and I learned that there are only 4 of us in Tucson plus - to my surprise - 2 Hertz rentals for a total of 6 Leafs.