Leafs Over Texas!

[AndyH]

Thanks for this info Martha! I haven't seen the units in the Silverado 16 parking lot yet, but did note the error on the MyChargePoint map. It's really nice to see all the new EVSE around town, though!

I activated one of the UTSA L2 units today with my Chargepoint card - and even though the protective plastic film hasn't yet been removed from the EVSE, the units are ready to go.

These are L2 units only, though - not like the L1/L2 units at the airport. So even though I'm the one that requested the ones at UTSA (one to be installed near the motorcycle lot, naturally!), it wouldn't help if I could park my bike in the garage as I can only use L1.

 

[MrIanB]

Picked up an orphan 2011 SL red at town north Nissan in Austin last Sat 1/21/12. Coming from a 370z and don't miss it. This car is so much fun to drive and love all the tech in it. I work at home and typically go out for lunch in the 1431 and 183 area in Cedar Park and at Lifetime fitness on 620 and Parmer at night. Daily drive is 20 miles and by the looks I can almost go 5 days without recharging as I typically drive in Eco mode and get several miles back with regen brakes. Gotta love that. Thinking of having windows tinted for $170.00 but need an estimate from Sun Tint first. Their work is excellent. Town North Nissan sales was great considering they matched a price from an offer in McKinney which would have been a pain to get the car home since limited range on the Leaf. I drive once a week to the office on 360 and Courtyard and have seen a white Leaf in the parking lot. Have seen another Leaf on 1431 and Lakeline boulevard.

Anyone that wants to get together and share info on this car send me a pm and we can arrange a meet. By the way, Pedernales Electric Coop does not have any rebates/incentives for electric vehicles but the customer rep stated that management is considering going to time of use and would let me know when it happens.

Ian B

 

[EdmondLeaf]

Picked up an orphan 2011 SL red at town north Nissan in Austin last Sat 1/21/12.

Congrat on your Leaf. Mine is from Bankston Nissan Lewisville. Great service, I highly recommend them. GM Paul Francis we go above and beyond to make you one happy customer. They have some Leaf for immediate delivery http://bankstonlewisvillenissan.com/Dallas-Fort-Worth/For-Sale/New/Nissan/LEAF/. I am driving a lot, close to 80 miles every other day and very happy with the car. Unfortunately there are no public charging stations anywhere in my driving range so have to relay on my garage only. Hopefully that will change once state is open to order.

 

[MrIanB]

Picked up an orphan 2011 SL red at town north Nissan in Austin last Sat 1/21/12.

Congrat on your Leaf. Mine is from Bankston Nissan Lewisville. Great service, I highly recommend them. GM Paul Francis we go above and beyond to make you one happy customer. They have some Leaf for immediate delivery http://bankstonlewisvillenissan.com/Dallas-Fort-Worth/For-Sale/New/Nissan/LEAF/. I am driving a lot, close to 80 miles every other day and very happy with the car. Unfortunately there are no public charging stations anywhere in my driving range so have to relay on my garage only. Hopefully that will change once state is open to order.

Thanks, town north has about 15 leafs ready for delivery. They were going to be part of a fleet in Houston but the deal fell through and town north bought most of them. They have silver, white, red and blue. No blacks available.

Ian B

 

[MrIanB]

Can people in the San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and Austin area report what kinda mileage they got over the summer 2011 with this crazy drought and triple digit heat temperatures while using the a/c?

Thanks,

Ian B

 

[adric22]

Can people in the San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and Austin area report what kinda mileage they got over the summer 2011 with this crazy drought and triple digit heat temperatures while using the a/c?

I'm in Ft.Worth. I found that blasting the air-conditioner during the very hot part of the Summer would essentially reduce my range by 20 miles. I would say, to be on the safe side, I wouldn't plan on driving any more than 40 or 45 miles during the hot summer, if you plan to use the air conditioner.

That being said, I found that the range was not affected by the heat at all, only the use of the air conditioner. Even during the very hot Summer, I was still quite comfortable driving to work in the 80 degree mornings with the windows cracked and the A/C off. So I would only run the A/C on my way home when it was 106 degrees outside. So I only had to use the A/C for half of my daily commute.

Just a little CYA here.. Just because I said 40 or 45 miles doesn't mean you can't go further. But I'm very conservative with my estimates and I have never driven my Leaf at any point where I didn't make it home with at least 20 miles left on the range-estimate. I just don't like to cut things that close.

 

[MrIanB]

Can people in the San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and Austin area report what kinda mileage they got over the summer 2011 with this crazy drought and triple digit heat temperatures while using the a/c?

I'm in Ft.Worth. I found that blasting the air-conditioner during the very hot part of the Summer would essentially reduce my range by 20 miles. I would say, to be on the safe side, I wouldn't plan on driving any more than 40 or 45 miles during the hot summer, if you plan to use the air conditioner.

That being said, I found that the range was not affected by the heat at all, only the use of the air conditioner. Even during the very hot Summer, I was still quite comfortable driving to work in the 80 degree mornings with the windows cracked and the A/C off. So I would only run the A/C on my way home when it was 106 degrees outside. So I only had to use the A/C for half of my daily commute.

Just a little CYA here.. Just because I said 40 or 45 miles doesn't mean you can't go further. But I'm very conservative with my estimates and I have never driven my Leaf at any point where I didn't make it home with at least 20 miles left on the range-estimate. I just don't like to cut things that close.

Cool, thanks for the info. I am at home all day but for when going out on weekends wanted to get an idea.

Ian B

 

[MrIanB]

If Nissan was to put quick chargers at all their Nissan dealers, could we make it from Austin to San Ant, Austin to Dallas, Austin to Houston and vise versa with a stop along the way??

Ian B

 

[ecoobsessive]

I often drove over 60 miles when it was 100+ degrees outside. I was getting around 4.6 mKwh during the summer, same as what I am getting now in the cool weather. The A/C unit is very efficient, so it only took a few minutes of having the fan full blast until the car cools down. After that, I was able to keep the fan on a very low speed and normally had temp. set around 78, so only a sliver would show on the "energy usage" screen. Of course that was only 2 trips a day: one early morning and return late afternoon. If you need to make numerous trips during the heat of the day things will be different.

The only time my mKwh went below 3 was in a bad traffic jam on the Hwy in 100+ temp - it was stop and go traffic where we had to come to complete stops continually for about 10-13 minutes (I always reset mKwh when I come upon a traffic jam as my own little experiment. Traffic jams can either greatly increase or decrease mKwh depending on lots of factors.)

Regarding heat, I was more concerned about charging to 100% in my garage that was 100 degrees day and night and the effect of that on battery life. So I took efforts to keep my garage as cool as possible, like by not parking hot cars in it - let the cars cool down in the driveway when I came home from work and later parked it in the garage in the evening - esp. the ICE car.

I'm not putting any hope in Nissan Quick Chargers anytime soon. Dealers don't have much incentive to shell out the $$$, but that would be nice!!

 

[EdmondLeaf]

Martha, 4.6 mkWh translate to 97 miles range @ 50mph from 100% charge, according to Tony Williams chart. On your 60 mile trip during summer, can you recall how much charge did you use?

I often drove over 60 miles when it was 100+ degrees outside. I was getting around 4.6 mKwh during the summer, same as what I am getting now in the cool weather. The A/C unit is very efficient, so it only took a few minutes of having the fan full blast until the car cools down.

 

[Pipcecil]

My experience in DFW: With 105+ temperatures with a car sitting outside without shade (I did use a window shade sometimes) and no option to precool in the afternoon (although I precooled in morning when it would barely drop to the 80's) was A LOT easier on the car's range than the winter. This includes having to turn the AC down because I was freezing. With temperatures in the winter hitting in the upper 30's in the morning and mid 50's in the day (same scenario preheat in the morning, nothing in the afternoon), I burn more electrons than the summer.

I really wouldn't worry about your summer range, but more your winter range. When it dipped into the 28's in nov (I think it was then) that was some interesting nail bitting range test (accelerating slow, no heater at all, ECO mode, etc.!). Never ever had to worry about range in the summer...ever.

Most of my driving is highway to work, averaging 60 mph. 55 miles round trip and I usually had about 25 miles range left (3-4 bars) and thats not including the spare ~10 miles after the very low battery warning (and this with very comfortable AC). Mild winter puts me with the same trip and skimpy on the heater at 15-20 miles left and 2-3 bars remaining. Very cold days (in the 20's) with a skimpy heater left me with usually 1 bar and ~10 miles.

A trip I took this weekend up to Frisco from Midlothian (way south dallas): Drove freeway the entire trip, 65 down south, 60 through dallas, 65 on DNT and then 70 on DNT. My exit was north of SH 121. Temp was upper 30's. Heater was set to auto at 69/68, which I ended up reducing some to about 65 and then turning off at the end due to range. Trip was 50 miles and I made it to the charger with one bar and 8 miles left on the guess o meter. So the car probably had a total of 65ish in range for that trip (if I kept going) with the highway driving/heater/distance.

In contrast, during the summer, my wife's work is 2 exits south but more side streets to get to her destination, so the distance is the same with a maybe 2-3 miles of the final trip being city streets. During the summer she would arrive with 2-3 bars, sometimes 4.

Also note, this is running in D, not ECO mode. Probably could get a few miles out with eco, but driving highway without stopping or slowing, its only effect is a slightly diminished heater, which might have given me a couple extra miles total.

 

[EdmondLeaf]

Most of my driving is highway to work, averaging 60 mph. 55 miles round trip and I usually had about 25 miles range left (3-4 bars) and thats not including the spare ~10 miles after the very low battery warning (and this with very comfortable AC). Mild winter puts me with the same trip and skimpy on the heater at 15-20 miles left and 2-3 bars remaining. Very cold days (in the 20's) with a skimpy heater left me with usually 1 bar and ~10 miles.

So it looks like from 100% during summer it is possible do get around 90 miles (55 +25+10)
winter will be 70 miles (55+ 5(1bar) +10)

My drive to work soon will be 68 miles RT (up from 60) so with increasing temp I should be OK even with 80% charge.

 

[ecoobsessive]

You can do a 68 mile RT, but not with charging at 80% because it will be too close (at 65 miles RT I usually came home with 2 bars left after 100% charge). You never know when you will get high winds, heavy rain, traffic problems, etc. I recently changed work locations so I don't have to do the 60+ miles anymore. I know my LEAF would make it, but I didn't know for how many years. So now I'm doing a 40 mile RT with 80% charging, but even with the shorter 40 mile RT communte, when it was below 30 in the morning I charged to 100% - just in case.....

 

[adric22]

If Nissan was to put quick chargers at all their Nissan dealers, could we make it from Austin to San Ant, Austin to Dallas, Austin to Houston and vise versa with a stop along the way??

I have thought about this before. For example, I have examined the possibility of driving from Ft. Worth to Austin or maybe Houston. Keep in mind that you'd probably need to stop every 50 miles for a charge. Also keep in mind that traffic on Texas interstates typically stays at or above 80 mph. So even if you got in the slow lane and drove 70, you are going to have a lot of people passing you. That being said, you'd probably need to stop and recharge at least 3 times, maybe 4.

Sorry to say.. but the Leaf will just never be suitable for long trips, no matter how many quick charge stations there are. The quick charge stations would be most useful for making more parts of a larger metropolitan area (like DF/W) accessible. For example, when I need to drive to Dallas and back. Right now I can make it from Ft.Worth to Dallas and back as long as I don't try for any of the further suburbs like Plano or Mesquite. If there were more quick chargers, that might be doable. (of course, my Leaf isn't even equipped with QC port, so the point is moot)

I think DF/W needs about 25 QC stations and about 200 or more level-2 chargers before I could say our infrastructure is at a level to really make the EV viable for most people. Right now I think we have 1 QC station and maybe 2 dozen L2 chargers which are almost all in the North-East area of town. We don't have anything in the Ft.Worth area.

 

[MrIanB]

I hear your point. I am in town and would rent car if need be to go out of town. I thought most Nissan dealers have the 220 chargers in front for us to use.

Ian B

 

[SierraQ]

Can people in the San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and Austin area report what kinda mileage they got over the summer 2011 with this crazy drought and triple digit heat temperatures while using the a/c?

I cannot speak for the extreme 100+ hot days but I did drive in plenty of 90 degree days in Dallas. The car did far better with A/C blasting at 90 degrees outside than it does currently with moderate heat at 40 degrees outside. This is evident just by watching the power consumption. The A/C typically levels off at 1.5kW but the heat tends to be closer to 3kW. Range-wise on a full pack this meant about 80-85 miles in the summer and 65-70 for the winter using mostly highway (60-65mph). In both cases preheating/precooling was used in the mornings.

Bottom line is the heater seems to suck a lot of energy (15-20 miles equivalent cost) but the A/C is more efficient (5-10 miles equivalent cost). The energy gap is probably not as bad as that because these numbers do not take into account the capacity loss at lower temperatures, but the cumulative effect of heat plus lower capacity is rather significant.

 

[EdmondLeaf]

Thank you all for nice info. I can add some electrons at work if needed, but so far so good. Nice to know we can expect more range when temp will go up. Noticed that yesterday when temp was 60+. Got my first LBW warning 2 days ago, there is quite a bit range left with no energy bars, and GOM flashing. Got home with 7 miles flashing after driving about 5 miles with LBW.

You can do a 68 mile RT, but not with charging at 80% because it will be too close (at 65 miles RT I usually came home with 2 bars left after 100% charge).

 

[shay]

Thank you all for nice info. I can add some electrons at work if needed, but so far so good. Nice to know we can expect more range when temp will go up. Noticed that yesterday when temp was 60+. Got my first LBW warning 2 days ago, there is quite a bit range left with no energy bars, and GOM flashing. Got home with 7 miles flashing after driving about 5 miles with LBW.

Have you seen Tony's range chart: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=101293#p101293" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?

 

[EdmondLeaf]

Have you seen Tony's range chart: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=101293#p101293" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?

There is also https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...FN0NEYzRllFSlU2OEh1ZmRFMDRjRXc&hl=en_US#gid=0 by surfingslovak, which will let calculate range according to your mkWh, and very much agree with Tony's chart. I put 3K on my car already, but within relatively short time, so no summer experience.

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

the car is designed to be used with the prewarming function in the winter time and greater reliance on the seat and steering wheel heating if you have it. don't be afraid to set the prewarming function for a half hour or more before you drive. you can eliminate your climate control heater use with an extensive prewarm and substantially improve your range over the numbers on the charts. I'm getting close to what I got in the summer time relying on prewarming, 80 miles without dipping into VLB territory.