adric22
Well-known member
We're on our second Leaf. And so far, neither me nor my wife have been left stranded, until last night. There was a perfect storm of variables that led to it, though.
So I left my place in Kennedale, Tx to far north Fort Worth to pick up a friend (about 27 miles). From there we drove to Highland Village (another 24 miles). There were several L2 stations along the way but I didn't want to stop at one. There was a Dc fast charge nearby our destination according to plugshare. I thought I'd top off there. Well, it turned out to be a Nissan dealer and they were closed and there was no way to access it. Still, no problem. I still had enough range left to take my friend home and hit a Dc fast charge station on my way home.
When I dropped off my friend it showed I had 16 miles remaining and the charge station was only 6 miles away. No problem! But after a mile or so, it dropped to 8 miles remaining. And then a mile after that it went to ---. And then a mile later it reduced power. I still had about 4 miles to go to the station. I pulled over into a parking lot and called a tow truck.
It was also pouring rain, dark, and cold. And I was left all alone in a dark parking lot in an unfamiliar part of town. I started having an anxiety attack, unfortunately. It was a retail business area, but all of the businesses were closed. Had it not been raining, dark, and late at night I might have searched around for a 120V outlet I could plug into for an hour or so, then try to make it to the fast charger.
So in retrospect here are some thing that went wrong:
The tow truck driver offered to take me to the charge station. He was familiar with it and said he had taken electric vehicles there before. I decided not to, and just had it towed back to my friends house and plugged into 120V and left the car there over night, while he drove me home.
I would also point out this is a 2013 model and I only managed to get 80 miles out of it before it died. I guess that is probably about right since most of that driving was freeway.
But I do think this sort of seals the deal that I'm done with BEVs. Our other vehicle is a Volt and obviously this wouldn't have been a problem if I had been driving that vehicle. When our lease is up on this Leaf I'm pretty sure the next vehicle will be another PHEV of some kind. I probably wouldn't say that if Dallas/FortWorth had more charging infrastructure or at least more planned. But we haven't really gained any chargers in 2 or 3 years. In fact, I think we've lost several. And I don't see that changing any time soon.
So I left my place in Kennedale, Tx to far north Fort Worth to pick up a friend (about 27 miles). From there we drove to Highland Village (another 24 miles). There were several L2 stations along the way but I didn't want to stop at one. There was a Dc fast charge nearby our destination according to plugshare. I thought I'd top off there. Well, it turned out to be a Nissan dealer and they were closed and there was no way to access it. Still, no problem. I still had enough range left to take my friend home and hit a Dc fast charge station on my way home.
When I dropped off my friend it showed I had 16 miles remaining and the charge station was only 6 miles away. No problem! But after a mile or so, it dropped to 8 miles remaining. And then a mile after that it went to ---. And then a mile later it reduced power. I still had about 4 miles to go to the station. I pulled over into a parking lot and called a tow truck.
It was also pouring rain, dark, and cold. And I was left all alone in a dark parking lot in an unfamiliar part of town. I started having an anxiety attack, unfortunately. It was a retail business area, but all of the businesses were closed. Had it not been raining, dark, and late at night I might have searched around for a 120V outlet I could plug into for an hour or so, then try to make it to the fast charger.
So in retrospect here are some thing that went wrong:
- The nearby Dc fast charge station that would have helped was unavailable after hours
- Had the GOM been more accurate and I realized my peril earlier, I would have stopped for an hour at an L2 station, as there were some along the way.
- it was pouring rain and humid and the windshield kept fogging up, so I had to run the defrost a lot in order to see.
- Insufficient fast charge infrastructure in Dallas/Ft.Worth area.
The tow truck driver offered to take me to the charge station. He was familiar with it and said he had taken electric vehicles there before. I decided not to, and just had it towed back to my friends house and plugged into 120V and left the car there over night, while he drove me home.
I would also point out this is a 2013 model and I only managed to get 80 miles out of it before it died. I guess that is probably about right since most of that driving was freeway.
But I do think this sort of seals the deal that I'm done with BEVs. Our other vehicle is a Volt and obviously this wouldn't have been a problem if I had been driving that vehicle. When our lease is up on this Leaf I'm pretty sure the next vehicle will be another PHEV of some kind. I probably wouldn't say that if Dallas/FortWorth had more charging infrastructure or at least more planned. But we haven't really gained any chargers in 2 or 3 years. In fact, I think we've lost several. And I don't see that changing any time soon.