This weekend I completed a 185 mile, 2-day trip to a friend's ranch near Idyllwild, CA, in the San Bernardino Mountains. The ranch is at 5K ft, and it is 53 miles and 3K ft above the last L2 I charged at, which was Raceway Nissan.
I have visited this location several times over the last few years, but this was my first time in my LEAF. Getting there and back successfully required a year of planning, because backup choices are poor and my LEAF is down 10% in usable battery capacity:
Picking a route that avoided unnecessary hills and provided L2 charging at almost 2K ft altitude at the Nissan dealership.
Having my friend verify that his 30A 240V dryer plug had power and would accept my NEMA adapter.
Calibrating my Leaf Range Spreadsheet, which has corrections for altitude, temperature, rolling resistance, battery losses, weight of occupants, etc.
Using way-points along the route to check my progress against my Gid meter readings, and adjust my speed accordingly.
Using speeds as slow as 30 mph on the mountain portions.
I reached the ranch at 21% Gids, within 1% of my spreadsheet's prediction. By the time I drove into charging position using dirt roads on the property, I was just below LBW.
On the return leg the next day, some route location confusion, a 4-mile detour to checkout a RV park, traffic pressure to maintain a speed somewhat higher than I had planned on one 2-lane stretch without turnouts, and a mild head-wind all resulted in my SOC dropping 8% below prediction near San Jacinto.
I had optional charging opportunities at both Raceway Nissan and Empire Ontario Nissan, but I decided I still had enough margin to forgo stopping at Raceway and driving a little slower. By the time I reached Ontario Nissan, I was down just 5% below prediction, and I had enough margin to get home with 10% Gids if necessary without stopping there either.
My plan had been to charge at Ontario Mills while having dinner at Outback. There had been reports on Recargo that one of the two chargers was broken, but when I reached them, both were free. I charged for an hour successfully during dinner, and when I returned, a Volt was charging on the other unit.
A few more pictures from the trip: