Poway to Julian, California; 81 miles, 6700 feet gain

[TonyWilliams]

Edit: The trip was completed in 70 - 80 degree weather, with clear skies and no wind.

[TangoKilo]

Your estimate seems reasonable. My real world experience on a drive from the middle of the San Fernando Valley (elevation 800) to Newcombs Ranch on the Angeles Crest Highway (elevation 5600) resulted in between 9 and 10 bars burned (47 miles). On the return trip, it took 38 miles before I consumed one bar....

[TonyWilliams]

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.

Julian Pie Company. Am I the first LEAF in this town?

[TonyWilliams]

I used 9 bars on the climb, and drove 41 miles. The Guess-O-Meter was showing 18 miles remaining and 3 bars for my 41 mile return. I did about 20 total miles of pure coasting. I didn't drop to 2 bars until 66.6 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.

After I had driven 64.9 miles into the 81 mile trip... see that 27 miles of Guess-O-Meter range? The Navigation still thinks it's out of range with only 16 miles to go!!! What a tool !







The end of the trip. I took a little detour that added about 0.7 miles. The Low Battery Warning popped up just a bit later at 17.5%

[TonyWilliams]

Can you give all the details as I have a trip I'd like to try that's similar, except to the other side of Julian to Shelter Valley. Did you fully charge at Nissan Poway? How much charge did you have loft when you got to Julian after your trip?

I did not charge at Nissan in Poway. I drove right on by. I did let the car charge to 100%, then cool for an hour or three in a garage that was about 65 degrees, and then pumped a few more electrons in until it wouldn't charge any more.

Your trip has a few significant challenges beyond my trip:

.......................Your Trip.......Your Trip to Julian...My Trip to Julian.....
Distance:........ 68.13 mi.............55.45 mi................40.55 mi...........
Elevation gain: 7326 ft..............6591 ft...................5189 ft..............
Elevation loss: -5195 ft............-2717 ft.................-1585 ft.............

Getting to Julian will not be trivial. I arrived with 3 bars, and you will climb 1400 feet more, and drive 15 more miles. Those extra 15 miles, even at 45mph, will be two full additional fuel bars burned, PLUS at least one half to over one fuel bar for additional elevation gain. You will be into some solid battery warnings, but it can be done in the 40-45mph range. If you can get to Julian, you can get to your destination.

Be mindful of the temperatures. It does have a measurable impact. You're cutting close enough that I wouldn't launch on a 90 something degree day. Clearly, weight will play a role here. How many are going, and how much baggage? Don't slow significantly in the corners, and then accelerate out of the corners. Try and pick a speed you can maintain through the twisties. I was down to 35 mph at many stretches, but didn't slow below that, and didn't accelerate past about 45mph. Slow and steady !

The only exception to the speed recommendations are that any downhill, where you should let it freewheel in Neutral to the 50mph range, and use the D or ECO mode to control speed. I tried not to press the brake pedal at all, unless I needed more regen to slow.

Getting past Julian is a non-event, obviously, if you just make it to Julian. I presume you'll get a nice solid charge at your destination? Your return trip will be easy from a full charge.

[DaveEV]

Nicely done and thanks for the detail!

Yes - I figure if I can get to Julian with a bar remaining I ought to be able to make it the rest of the way. Unfortunately, the other side is quite steep and windy - lots of regen will be used, but I'm afraid some friction brakes will be needed, too. Once at the bottom, there is another decent sized grade to at 55 mph to make it over before it levels out some.

Edit: Looking at your data in the previous post more closely, I'm thinking it may not be possible without going very slow or charging. It will certainly be cutting it very close - closer than comfort should anything unexpected arise. A 10 min quick charge in Ramona would be ideal. Too bad the Wild Animal Park doesn't have any L2 stations - could stop there for a couple hours on the way.

[TonyWilliams]

Yes - I figure if I can get to Julian with a bar remaining I ought to be able to make it the rest of the way. .....
Edit: Looking at your data in the previous post more closely, I'm thinking it may not be possible without going very slow or charging. It will certainly be cutting it very close - closer than comfort should anything unexpected arise. A 10 min quick charge in Ramona would be ideal. Too bad the Wild Animal Park doesn't have any L2 stations - could stop there for a couple hours on the way.

Drive the Poway Nissan route, and charge there. There's shopping / lunch spots within a 15 minute walk west on Poway Road.

Without a charge, you will hit that first battery warning. And since you'll be getting 3 miles/kWh or LESS for the final ascent, you'll have 9 miles or less at that point. Should "Very Low" pop up, you'll have less than 3 miles, so you should have plenty of data to know if you should just turn around and coast down to an electrical outlet anywhere before completing the climb to Julian.

Wynola or Santa Ysabel can both be rolled to easily (if you don't kill the battery first... don't do that!!) if you turn around prior to Julian, and there's got to be a plug-in somewhere. All the better if you can use a Quick 220 setup.

[davewill]

... Too bad the Wild Animal Park doesn't have any L2 stations - could stop there for a couple hours on the way.

The park does have parking for RVs, with power, including 240v circuits. If you have a modded EVSE...

Report and pics at the link: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.p ... how#p78768" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[DaveEV]

... Too bad the Wild Animal Park doesn't have any L2 stations - could stop there for a couple hours on the way.

The park does have parking for RVs, with power, including 240v circuits. If you have a modded EVSE...

Report and pics at the link: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3318" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks - will have to check that out, didn't realize there was 240V there as well as 120V. Still need to send my EVSE out to get upgraded.

Drive the Poway Nissan route, and charge there. There's shopping / lunch spots within a 15 minute walk west on Poway Road.

Ideally I'd charge back up to 100% there - it's 21 miles slightly uphill, so would probably need 2 full hours to get back up to 100%. At least an hour would be required. Long wait... Wild Animal Park would be a much nicer way to spend a couple hours (have a Zoo pass) if I can get my EVSE modded and confirm the 240V outlets work.

[TonyWilliams]

Made my second trip to Julian, after a San Diego county snow storm. It was my Dad's 70th birthday, too, so to offset my green, zero carbon emission trip to Julian, we also flew the Piper Mailbu to Santa Catalina Island for lunch.

I used a bit more power on this trip, and had a bit less usable battery capacity with significantly lower ambient temps. Plus, more weight with 3 people vice just little 'ole me last summer, and my parents appreciated the heater!

Completed the trip with 85 miles at VLB. So, almost 90 miles of range.