Welcoming my new (to me) Leaf to chilly Midwest

[Leptons]

Remember me?

I posted here way back on October 30th... at the time I had initiated the lease transfer process with Nissan. It did indeed turn out to be as slow as NMAC had promised. Despite a really nice and helpful lessee at the other end, we weren't able to officially say "we're done" until 15 Nov. The shipper picked up the car in Santa Monica the afternoon of the 18th, and we unloaded as the sun set on the 22nd here in Rockford, IL. Just to remind: 4500 miles, 2012, 12 bars, pretty much new, 27 months left.

It's been a chilly introduction to the Midwest, with temps ranging from 9 to mid 20's (deg F). As you can see from the pic taken when I left the gym this morning...



... "snow showers" have made things a bit more challenging. (I'm still awaiting IL plates -- lease transfer in this state is excruciatingly hard. Also I wanted to get a pic of the CA Clean Air Sticker on a snow-sprinkled Leaf!)

Finally, the electrician still hasn't come out to the house yet to make the final connections to my Clipper Creek L2 EVSE (I've run cables and installed everything but he's doing the hookup to make it "official" to code), so I'm running off of the issued L1. In case anyone is wondering about cold weather performance:

(1) I've put in just over 100mi in the past three days doing errands, taking the dog on a run, etc., and I've averaged 3.4 mi/kw-hr in teens-to-twenties temps with reasonable use of heat.

(2) Since the garage is hovering at or just below freezing at night, I am not concerned about charging to 100%; battery temp never reaches mid-range. Today was a pretty busy day, with 42 miles driving in 20-25deg F, keeping the cabin above 60, running seat heaters, and about 10 miles or so at ~50-55 mph. At the conclusion of all that I was at a projected 21 miles and 4 bars. I think that's really good, considering conditions.

(3) The Ecopias rate a B- for snow. Not great, but if you're reasonably experienced they're OK. The snow was not deep at an inch or so, but very powdery on a cold road: slippery! BTW: if your Leaf comes to Bear/Packer country on a truck from CA, where the tires were last checked on an 80 degF Santa Monica afternoon, get to a compressor ASAP.


In all everything is OK so far!

 

[derkraut]

Thanks for the update. Enjoy your Leaf. And---stay warm out there.

 

[redLEAF]

Congrats on the new arrival ... really strange to see snow with CA plates but of course there actually are places (mountains) with the white stuff out that way ... out here in the Midwest we think of SoCal with palm trees, etc. whenever the thought of CA comes up.

In any case; we're close to year two with our '12 LEAF and you'll find a wealth of experiences in the Chicagoland thread below ...

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=357&start=1340

We were lucky with mostly 'mild' winters so far but this sudden drop in temps early caught many by surprise.

Not sure what L2 'commercial' charge stations there are out in Rockford but I would stop by your neighborhood Walgreen's as a number have L2 and even L3's (although not functional; check the thread as to why) ... you'll enjoy the car much better the other 3 seasons but I got mine in late December and you'll survive the winter with the right amount of planning.

 

[RonDawg]

Enjoy the (new to you) ride!

Yeah as far as snow and California, it's not as unusual as you would think. As mentioned above, we do have mountains....and the highest mountain peak in the lower 48 (Mt. Whitney) is right here in the Golden State, as is the site of America's most notorious snow-related tragedy (the Donner Party).

Fall and winter are my favorite times here in LA, due to lack of smog and also as we sometimes get snow in the San Gabriel Mountains in the background. In fact I noticed that the storm from a few days ago deposited some of that white stuff on Mt. Baldy. And it's not officially even winter yet.

 

[rumpole]

Remember me?

I posted here way back on October 30th... at the time I had initiated the lease transfer process with Nissan. It did indeed turn out to be as slow as NMAC had promised. Despite a really nice and helpful lessee at the other end, we weren't able to officially say "we're done" until 15 Nov. The shipper picked up the car in Santa Monica the afternoon of the 18th, and we unloaded as the sun set on the 22nd here in Rockford, IL. Just to remind: 4500 miles, 2012, 12 bars, pretty much new, 27 months left.

It's been a chilly introduction to the Midwest, with temps ranging from 9 to mid 20's (deg F). As you can see from the pic taken when I left the gym this morning...



... "snow showers" have made things a bit more challenging. (I'm still awaiting IL plates -- lease transfer in this state is excruciatingly hard. Also I wanted to get a pic of the CA Clean Air Sticker on a snow-sprinkled Leaf!)

Finally, the electrician still hasn't come out to the house yet to make the final connections to my Clipper Creek L2 EVSE (I've run cables and installed everything but he's doing the hookup to make it "official" to code), so I'm running off of the issued L1. In case anyone is wondering about cold weather performance:

(1) I've put in just over 100mi in the past three days doing errands, taking the dog on a run, etc., and I've averaged 3.4 mi/kw-hr in teens-to-twenties temps with reasonable use of heat.

(2) Since the garage is hovering at or just below freezing at night, I am not concerned about charging to 100%; battery temp never reaches mid-range. Today was a pretty busy day, with 42 miles driving in 20-25deg F, keeping the cabin above 60, running seat heaters, and about 10 miles or so at ~50-55 mph. At the conclusion of all that I was at a projected 21 miles and 4 bars. I think that's really good, considering conditions.

(3) The Ecopias rate a B- for snow. Not great, but if you're reasonably experienced they're OK. The snow was not deep at an inch or so, but very powdery on a cold road: slippery! BTW: if your Leaf comes to Bear/Packer country on a truck from CA, where the tires were last checked on an 80 degF Santa Monica afternoon, get to a compressor ASAP.


In all everything is OK so far!

Are you able to use the pre-heating feature by turning climate control on from your smart phone? It's a great feature, the only problem is that you have to remember to do it (I know about the timer, but sometimes, I don't go out according to schedule ). I also wish there was a button I could just go out and push, without having to have the key and turn it on, that would accomplish the same thing, that is, pre-heating off of EVSE power. Our car is parked only steps away from our kitchen, so it would be really convenient for us.

 

[ksnogas2112]

Excellent! This winter is shaping up to be a bitter cold one for sure. The 3.x sounds right for the midwest winters.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Congrats on the new arrival ... really strange to see snow with CA plates but of course there actually are places (mountains) with the white stuff out that way ... out here in the Midwest we think of SoCal with palm trees, etc. whenever the thought of CA comes up...

Here's a picture of a Southern California LEAF that might stretch that view a bit:

abasile's LEAF

 

[Twiggy]

Get some Michelin X-Ice snow tires and you'll go to A+ rating in the snow. I opted for premounted and then I simply switch them out every November myself by jacking up the car four times.

The only down side is the Tire Pressure Monitoring Sevice in the original tire/wheels. You will have to suffer thru a winter with a tire warning light on all the time as it defaults to a warning when no TPMS is located. Or, if you want to splurge you can get Snow tires with the TMPS, but it will run at least $200 more!