So, owners what range are you getting ?

[Boomer23]

There were two times when the car told me I did not have enough battery to reach my destination, but if I went slower and took city streets I was usually able to get home. The interesting thing I noticed is that after it shows 5 miles left the indicator goes blank and the turtle mode never came on. I guess I was able to get home before the turtle mode.

Yes, the miles remaining will go blank, or rather "---" but you still have miles remaining. You'll get a Low Battery Warning at around 3 miles remaining on the dash and a Very Low Battery Warning before you get to Turtle mode.

I recommend that you print out one of these charts from Tony Williams and carry it in the car. It'll help you in predicting your remaining miles when you get low on charge. http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=101293#p101293" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[SalvadorDC]

Great site - thanks to all that participate by sharing info. Here's my story:

I picked up my new 2012 Leaf SL on Dec. 30th within the Washington, DC area. Had already put over 200 miles on it, but yesterday was my first real test - a trip from my house to Columbia, MD (my company's HQ location). Leaving at 6 AM, I normally do the 42 mile trip (one-way) in under one hour with the use of mostly highway driving in an ICE vehicle. Since winter temps had returned to normal around Washington, I planned on being safe and decided to try a trip limiting highway use as much as possible. I signed into CARWINGS on the PC and utilized the route planner function to calculate the shortest trip possible on a 100% charge. Results estimated a 4 battery bar, 33 mile, 55 minute trip (the normal route I'd use estimated 6 bars of battery use, by the way). Seemed like an adventure in the waiting, so off I went using the shortest distance approach.

I'll spare you all the details of the actual streets used for my trip (for those that aren't familiar with this area), but the end result mixed roughly 75% city 'stop and go' with 25% highway speeds (55-60 mph). The temperature was even colder at my destination (28 degrees, from 32). Driving all the time in ECO mode with zero heater use, I ended up using 6 bars of battery with 49 miles remaining on the GOM. The trip took an hour and a half (delay not traffic related, either). I couldn't help but wonder if I was going to make it home, so I L1 charged at the job for a touch over three hours giving me back 3 bars of battery. With 9 bars of battery for the return trip, I made it home with only 2 remaining - and a concern over whether or not I would have made the round trip without those three hours of L1 charging. To make things interesting, mother nature started dumping snow in Washington, causing some extra DC-area congestion.

While I don't exactly remember the remaining miles on the GOM, I believe it was in the teens. According to the car's multi-function LCD console, average speed for the round trip was 15.9 mph and m/kWh avg. was 4.2 (while CARWINGS indicated 4.3 -- in fact, the data from the two trips as reported from CARWINGS' site suggests I used a total of (including some regen) 16.5kWh for 72.2 miles.

So my takeaways:

1) Along each way, the trip had some pretty clear elevation changes, perhaps explaining the extra bars needed for each leg of the trip (as compared with the route planner's more pleasing estimation)
2) It was cold and only getting colder (battery temp was 4 bars all the time, however)
3) I know there are hidden miles/bars under the last two visible "red" bars that show, so I guess it's conceivable that I could have made it home without the extra 3 bar L1 charge. Or not, as I'm not sure yet. Do others concur with this?

Thanks in advance for any input. Can't wait for warmer temps to arrive.

 

[Reddy]

84 mi RT in the winter without L1 at work sounds crazy to me. You won't catch me trying that, but I only have about 8 mi RT. I pre-warm, blast the heat the whole way, and only charge about 2-4 hrs per night on L1 depending on any extra driving. At $0.05/KWH it's still less than $0.02 per mile.

Reddy

 

[SalvadorDC]

84 mi RT in the winter without L1 at work sounds crazy to me. You won't catch me trying that, but I only have about 8 mi RT. I pre-warm, blast the heat the whole way, and only charge about 2-4 hrs per night on L1 depending on any extra driving. At $0.05/KWH it's still less than $0.02 per mile.

Reddy

No doubt, Reddy, but 84 miles was the preferred route with my other ICE car, since I could arrive at the destination in under an hour. Now you know why I opted for the shorter 33 mile "EV" route via CARWINGS route planner feature.

That said, I am trying to ascertain if I could have made it without the 4 hours of trickle charge (not 3 as I earlier noted). Though it might have saved me this time, I'm not sure if I can go expect to have use of the outlet every time I make the that trip.

Thanks for responding.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

No doubt, Reddy, but 84 miles was the preferred route with my other ICE car, since I could arrive at the destination in under an hour. Now you know why I opted for the shorter 33 mile "EV" route via CARWINGS route planner feature.

That said, I am trying to ascertain if I could have made it without the 4 hours of trickle charge (not 3 as I earlier noted). Though it might have saved me this time, I'm not sure if I can go expect to have use of the outlet every time I make the that trip.

Thanks for responding.

great write up and i have to say... you made it! whats the problem? but seriously, ya time is always money especially if you are short on it. multi tasking while driving is limited so it is a lot of time that cant be made up.

as far as making it without charging? no way. but why try? if charging was not a hassle to obtain (was not out of the way, etc) then why not? it takes all of 2 minutes to dig the cable out of the trunk and plug in. it may sound like a hassle but its better than spending 5-15 minutes getting gas.

 

[DaveEV]

3) I know there are hidden miles/bars under the last two visible "red" bars that show, so I guess it's conceivable that I could have made it home without the extra 3 bar L1 charge. Or not, as I'm not sure yet. Do others concur with this?

One can generally assume about 5 mi / hour when charging on L1 depending on how efficiently you drive. So with 2 bars remaining the GOM you had around 15 miles left. It certainly would have been pretty close had you not charged up a bit. IMO - if ever in doubt, always plug in if possible!

Not only does it give you some extra range, but it's easier on the battery, too, to charge a bit in the middle of trips.

 

[SalvadorDC]

I hope to retry the route some other day, but I'll probably wait for temps to rise.

I have to say that I had serious concerns over someone walking off with my Leaf's portable charger - the 120 outlet I used was in my company's unsecured garage and very obvious to passerby'ers.

Has anyone thought of rolling one of their Leaf's tires up onto the cable to better secure it? I had this idea but common sense told me the weight would have been detrimental to the overall health of the charger and its cabling. I'll have to search the forum for suggestions...

 

[prebson]

I have to say that I had serious concerns over someone walking off with my Leaf's portable charger - the 120 outlet I used was in my company's unsecured garage and very obvious to passerby'ers.

Has anyone thought of rolling one of their Leaf's tires up onto the cable to better secure it? I had this idea but common sense told me the weight would have been detrimental to the overall health of the charger and its cabling. I'll have to search the forum for suggestions...

You can also lock the charger with a padlock. There's a hole on the J1772 plug for that.

 

[SalvadorDC]

I have to say that I had serious concerns over someone walking off with my Leaf's portable charger - the 120 outlet I used was in my company's unsecured garage and very obvious to passerby'ers.

Has anyone thought of rolling one of their Leaf's tires up onto the cable to better secure it? I had this idea but common sense told me the weight would have been detrimental to the overall health of the charger and its cabling. I'll have to search the forum for suggestions...

You can also lock the charger with a padlock. There's a hole on the J1772 plug for that.

Thanks, prebson. I will look into that excellent consideration.

Couldn't help but notice your signature and whether there's a typo: you reserved in March of 2010 and just got your Leaf at the end of last December? That right??

 

[prebson]

Couldn't help but notice your signature and whether there's a typo: you reserved in March of 2010 and just got your Leaf at the end of last December? That right??

No typo. I was on the original reservation list (reserved it the first day reservations opened up) but was not able to get it until a few weeks ago. The car was not available in this area until just recently. A long wait but just happy to be able to buy a production EV that so far has met all of my driving needs

 

[Ingineer]

I hope to retry the route some other day, but I'll probably wait for temps to rise.

I have to say that I had serious concerns over someone walking off with my Leaf's portable charger - the 120 outlet I used was in my company's unsecured garage and very obvious to passerby'ers.

Has anyone thought of rolling one of their Leaf's tires up onto the cable to better secure it? I had this idea but common sense told me the weight would have been detrimental to the overall health of the charger and its cabling. I'll have to search the forum for suggestions...

I don't want to further take this OT, so I'll keep it brief; but we just had our very first report ever of an EVSE being stolen. Apparently the person in question failed to lock the car and it was removed by a thief. I'm fairly surprised, but we have had no reports of an EVSE being stolen while charging.

-Phil

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Had report of WA lay had hers Swyped the other day while she was out fishing

 

[Ingineer]

Had report of WA lay had hers Swyped the other day while she was out fishing

This is the one. We already have a new one en-route to her.

-Phil

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Had report of WA lay had hers Swyped the other day while she was out fishing

This is the one. We already have a new one en-route to her.

-Phil

Ok cool. I thought she had it taken while plugged in. but glad you were able to get her a replacement quickly

 

[N1ghtrider]

Low batt warning at 103 miles. Very low batt at 114 miles. No turtle warning. All but 10-15 miles on Miami city streets. 10-15 miles on I-95 at no more than 55 mph.

 

[rblover69]

Man I have a approve 93 mile trip round if I was able to get that reliably here in Orlando without charging at work that would be awesome ....but I'm still going back and forth with the builder of my job to put a 110 so I can charge for at least 6 hours so I'm good for the ride back home....there is a 240v charge point but man that's a serious 1/2 mile walk lol.... And to many people take the damn charging spots lol.l.thats insange range, although I doubt I will be able to get that on high way at 55 constantly ....good data here

 

[TomT]

I suspect that thief had no idea what they were actually stealing...

don't want to further take this OT, so I'll keep it brief; but we just had our very first report ever of an EVSE being stolen.

 

[Ingineer]

I suspect that thief had no idea what they were actually stealing...

Yeah, the little "backpack" will be a hot temptation for most thieves, as it looks a lot like something that could contain a Laptop. NEVER leave it visible from outside! (you'll probably lose a window AND your EVSE at some point!)

-Phil

 

[N1ghtrider]

 

[N1ghtrider]

Nothing to write home about, but this 102 miles on a single charge was somewhat unusual for me due to the fact that almost half of those miles were on the interstate and a lot was with climate control, due to the record high temps in Miami last week (highs of 87 and 88F most of the week).

I hit low batt warning at 92.3. Carwings shows 5.8m/kWh for this charge.