Randy3
Well-known member
After leaving home with a 100% charge, my wife and I stopped at Nissan of Clovis to top off at their L2 station. We had used 18 miles getting from home to Clovis. We stayed at the dealer for about an hour and left their with 12 bars, but I don't think the top bar was full (we lost it pretty quickly after charging).
I drove in Eco mode exclusively and stayed 5 miles under the limit, except during the steepest part (see below). We didn't use climate control at all.
To check it out, I set the navigation to reach Shaver Lake without using freeways. It led us to Auberry Road up to Prather, then 168 up to Shaver Lake.
Things went pretty much as expected until we got to the steep grade just after the junction of 168 and Lodge Rd. Before that junction, we had traveled about 25 miles and had used 4 of our 12 bars (remember 1 may not have been full at the start). With 8 bars remaining, I thought the 16 mile hard climb up the hill would leave us with at least 4 bars when we got to the top -- wrong.
If you don't know 168, most of the trip up from the Lodge Rd junction to the top (a few miles to the town of Shaver Lake), is beautiful 4 lane highway with very little traffic during the off season. It's a 3000 foot climb in less than 14 miles. I tried to see if slowing way down would save battery, but going under about 25 mph gives no real benefit. The bubbles on the dash would not go below 3 unless I just stopped. I knew the miles remaining number would be meaningless, but watching the SOC bars get eaten up so quickly started to scare me. We were only getting about 2.5 miles per bar up this hill. I think the speed limit is 60 here, but we didn't go above 25 except for a few brief moments.
Starting (Clovis) elevation ~350 feet.
Junction 168/Lodge Road elevation ~1850 feet
Distance - 25 miles
Used just under 4 bars.
Max trip elevation just before Shaver Lake (town) ~5800 feet
Distance from junction 168/Lodge Road to Shaver Lake - 16 miles
at Shaver Lake - 2 bars (red ones) remain, receiving warnings that battery is low and miles remaining shows 12 miles.
----------------
Back to Clovis
Very few businesses were open when we got to the top. My wife liked looking at the snow up there but didn't want to get out in the cold (no, we weren't using climate control). So, just after Ken's Market (again, closed), we turned around and headed down the hill.
Regen effect -- travel back down to junction 168/Lodge Rd 16 miles almost all downhill.
Regained 1 bar (had 3 bars when arrived at 168/Lodge Rd)
Miles remaining went from 12 at the top to 58 at the bottom.
I rode the break as much as possible, with regen gauge showing 10-20 kw most of the time.
We took 168 back to Clovis. Even with just 3 bars, we traveled the 41 miles from Shaver Lake to Clovis. Just as we were getting off 168 to Herndon, the car went down to 2 bars, showed 19 miles remaining and told us the battery was low.
So, we had gone 82 miles on essentially a full charge, up 5,500 feet and back down, and taken a nice drive that included a couple of scary times when the car looked like it might not make the whole trip. My wife had never been up this road before. At the end of the trip she told me she'd like to go back up again sometime, but not in this car.
I drove in Eco mode exclusively and stayed 5 miles under the limit, except during the steepest part (see below). We didn't use climate control at all.
To check it out, I set the navigation to reach Shaver Lake without using freeways. It led us to Auberry Road up to Prather, then 168 up to Shaver Lake.
Things went pretty much as expected until we got to the steep grade just after the junction of 168 and Lodge Rd. Before that junction, we had traveled about 25 miles and had used 4 of our 12 bars (remember 1 may not have been full at the start). With 8 bars remaining, I thought the 16 mile hard climb up the hill would leave us with at least 4 bars when we got to the top -- wrong.
If you don't know 168, most of the trip up from the Lodge Rd junction to the top (a few miles to the town of Shaver Lake), is beautiful 4 lane highway with very little traffic during the off season. It's a 3000 foot climb in less than 14 miles. I tried to see if slowing way down would save battery, but going under about 25 mph gives no real benefit. The bubbles on the dash would not go below 3 unless I just stopped. I knew the miles remaining number would be meaningless, but watching the SOC bars get eaten up so quickly started to scare me. We were only getting about 2.5 miles per bar up this hill. I think the speed limit is 60 here, but we didn't go above 25 except for a few brief moments.
Starting (Clovis) elevation ~350 feet.
Junction 168/Lodge Road elevation ~1850 feet
Distance - 25 miles
Used just under 4 bars.
Max trip elevation just before Shaver Lake (town) ~5800 feet
Distance from junction 168/Lodge Road to Shaver Lake - 16 miles
at Shaver Lake - 2 bars (red ones) remain, receiving warnings that battery is low and miles remaining shows 12 miles.
----------------
Back to Clovis
Very few businesses were open when we got to the top. My wife liked looking at the snow up there but didn't want to get out in the cold (no, we weren't using climate control). So, just after Ken's Market (again, closed), we turned around and headed down the hill.
Regen effect -- travel back down to junction 168/Lodge Rd 16 miles almost all downhill.
Regained 1 bar (had 3 bars when arrived at 168/Lodge Rd)
Miles remaining went from 12 at the top to 58 at the bottom.
I rode the break as much as possible, with regen gauge showing 10-20 kw most of the time.
We took 168 back to Clovis. Even with just 3 bars, we traveled the 41 miles from Shaver Lake to Clovis. Just as we were getting off 168 to Herndon, the car went down to 2 bars, showed 19 miles remaining and told us the battery was low.
So, we had gone 82 miles on essentially a full charge, up 5,500 feet and back down, and taken a nice drive that included a couple of scary times when the car looked like it might not make the whole trip. My wife had never been up this road before. At the end of the trip she told me she'd like to go back up again sometime, but not in this car.