UPDATE: We made it! Long Island to Washington, DC

[beachfitrob]

Cracker Barrel down here has DC and L2, so you could do a DC then L2 during a meal. I did close to 100 miles on a 10 bar battery (51.3 AHr) with a Cracker Barrel stop and just L2 for the last bit since it was only about 12 miles more. It was probably 80 miles at about 50Mph average.

I'd do that 80ish mile 2 leg combo in one leg via driving 10mph less. That would save more time than the extra charge session is going to take.

If I can do it on 10 bars you should be able to on 12.

It was me, 13yo son, and some bags.

 

[apvbguy]

Cracker Barrel down here has DC and L2, so you could do a DC then L2 during a meal. I did close to 100 miles on a 10 bar battery (51.3 AHr) with a Cracker Barrel stop and just L2 for the last bit since it was only about 12 miles more. It was probably 80 miles at about 50Mph average.

I'd do that 80ish mile 2 leg combo in one leg via driving 10mph less. That would save more time than the extra charge session is going to take.

If I can do it on 10 bars you should be able to on 12.

It was me, 13yo son, and some bags.

10 MPH??? are you for real?? why buy a car if you are going to travel at 10MPH?? I do an easy 15mph on a bicycle

 

[P71VIC]

he said 10mph less, like 55 instead of 65

 

[NYLEAF]

Hello all...just a quick update from DC. To answer the original question, we made it. I was able to drive way more efficiently than I expected, so we only dipped below LBW twice. I'll post photos and my LeafSpy logs once I'm at a real computer rather than my iPhone. The trip took a bit longer than expected, mostly due to a slow waitress at Denny's and some traffic in the DC area. GPS took us right through DC during rush hour rather than around ... Oh well. Thanks for all the advice and help, everyone.

 

[NYLEAF]

I've updated the first post with photos and a more detailed account of the trip. There's also a link to my LeafSpy log from the trip down as well as the trip back to NY.

 

[NasGoreList]

took a quick look at your data. your battery just got hotter and hotter as trip progressed and you kept charging. each time you charged you added another 8-12F to the battery pack and battery would stay at that temperature despite the air cooling (negated by discharging the battery) it got from driving.

delta between ambient and battery temperature also increased as your trip went along and it reached as much as 45F over ambient..that can't be good for battery longevity..leaf is just not designed for trips like these.

do you have total kWh charged(or discharged plus 10%) over total miles driven to get true miles per kwh for this trip?

 

[abasile]

took a quick look at your data. your battery just got hotter and hotter as trip progressed and you kept charging. delta between ambient and battery temperature also increased as your trip went along and it reached as much as 45F over ambient..that can't be good for battery longevity..leaf is just not designed for trips like these

As much as I enjoy LEAF adventures, I wouldn't want to put our battery pack through that, either. The 2011-2014 battery chemistry is just too heat intolerant, and trips like this are likely to reduce battery capacity far out of proportion to the miles driven. Like many here, I'm very curious as to how heat tolerant the 2015 batteries actually are. How much additional degradation will 45F over ambient for, say, 18 hours cause? Time and data should give us an idea.

Still, I'm happy to see that it is possible to drive from LI to DC on quick chargers alone!

 

[NYLEAF]

Well, the good news is, my lease is up in March, so if I did any serious permanent damage to the battery, I don't have to deal with it too much longer. This trip was the first time I agreed that the battery needs some sort of temperature management system.