Went 75 miles yesterday on 66% of battery charge, from Frazier Park to Pasadena, CA. Yes, there is considerable downhill on that run. This was one leg of a trip from the southern San Joaquin Valley over the Grapevine and back in one day. Uphills were another matter. Still, our 2013 Leaf did better than I expected. Here is a summary of the trip distances and SOC at each phase.
Home: SOC 100%
11.1 miles to Nissan of Bakersfield (mostly freeway): 84% SOC on arrival. Charged to 99%
38.3 miles to Flying J at Frazier Park (all freeway): 35% SOC on arrival. Charged to 86%.
75.2 miles to Sierra Madre VIlla metro station in Pasadena (all freeway via I5, 134 and 210). 20% SOC on arrival. Charged to 64%.
32.6 miles to CSU Northridge DC quick charger. 30% SOC on arrival. Charged to 98% in about 40 minutes.
15 miles to Nissan of Valencia via surface streets. 83% SOC on arrival. Charged to 100%.
37.3 miles to Flying J in Frazier Park (all freeway). 40% SOC on arrival. Charged to 66%
48 miles home, mostly freeway. 20% SOC on arrival.
I didn't do much hypermiling stuff. Mostly I just drove at the speed of the slowest half of the traffic, and went light on the accelerator, keeping a steady pace as possible. Did follow trucks on some of the uphill runs, mostly because I slowed down a bit or happened to be in their lane where they were splitting the travel lanes due to construction. On the last leg I drove 65-73 mph almost the whole way. Only gained about 4% SOC on the northbound downslope of the Grapevine as a result. Was more interested in getting home and knew I had enough charge.
If I had it to do again, I would skip the charging at both Nissan dealers since it's doable without those stops and charging at high SOC is slow and not great for the battery from what I know. Don't know if anyone else has driven the Grapevine both ways in one day. It was definitely a learning experience on the car's capabilities, and I was pleasantly surprised. If only they had a QC at Frazier Park it would have made the trip a lot shorter.