Hi Ari and David -
Updating you both (any anyone else who reads this thread) on the event in Columbus and chargers in Cleveland -
I made it to Columbus! I had to stop both in Medina and Mansfield (both Nissan dealers) but had absolutely no trouble charging. Here are the details for the trip:
(David - if you have a 2013 Leaf (not an S), I think you can charge at 6.6 KW which would make the trip faster)
Medina is about 35 miles from Shaker - charged for about 2 hours in Medina (walked around and got breakfast)
Mansfield is around 50 miles from Medina - charged for 4 hours (they have a free dealership shuttle that will take you to the mall, etc.)
Columbus is about 70 miles from Mansfield - there are charging stations in the city
(on the return trip, you spend more time (5 hours+) charging in Mansfield)
I did not confirm with Medina, but Mansfield has their chargers on all the time.
In the end, I left Cleveland at 7:12 AM and arrived (with traffic) at 5:41 PM at a charger in Columbus (friend picked me up while car charged).I-71 has many hills which causes a significant drop in range (50 miles took 8 bars of charge away) so I played it safe with charging as much as possible. Although it takes a while, it's definitely doable! If we ever got fast charging in Ohio - it would be GREAT. If I hadn't paid for the statehouse garage to charge ($5), the entire trip (almost 500 miles) would have cost $0. Amazing.
At the event, there was one other Leaf, at least 5 volts, 3 Tesla Model S's, and a Tesla Roadster. I did take a ride in a Model S and it was definitely memorable (while being a passenger). I was able to drive a Model S the other day in Cleveland (Tesla was here) but it was disappointing (didn't really get a chance to try out the performance because of traffic). I think the Leaf can certainly remain viable into the future.
OKAY - now for the charging update -
The new Walmart in South Euclid has 4 charging units available free of charge. I've added it to Plugshare as well.
What's happening in your LEAFs?