Buying in Austin Tomorrow

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wesofwaco

Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2018
Messages
8
Location
Cleburne, TX
I'm planing on driving down to Austin, TX and buying a car there to get the color combo that I want. I was planning to do a fast charge in Temple, but Plugshare shows that the Nissan dealership has moved the charger. The new charger is level 2 only. I have called and verified with the dealership.

Does anyone know of another Chademo charger between Austin and Burleson? I need to make it home to Cleburne, and google says it's 160 miles.
 
Would help if we knew exactly what you are planning to buy (year/trim/new/used).
For example, if it's a new 2018, even a long lunch charging @L2 somewhere along the I-35 corridor might be enough to get you home...but there are lots of scenarios in-between.
 
2018 LEAF SL with Tech Package.

I think I'll try to take a lunch in Waco while charging at the dealership there; but that is 90 miles from the Austin dealership.
 
How'd that go, wesofwaco? Congrats on that 2018. Plenty of excitement and range anxiety on that trip home, I hope it was a good first dance. Is this your first EV?
 
Yep, this is my first EV, and I enjoy how it drives and fully expect it to meet my requirements as a commuter.

Now, for the trip home. Due to delays at the dealership, we decided to spend the night, which means we drove home on a Sunday. We started with 9 miles on the odometer and 97% charge. Drove the 90 miles from Austin to Waco, arriving with 30 miles on the GOM.

We needed 39 miles to make it to the charger in Hillsboro, and the Nissan dealership in Waco was of course closed. We were able to charge for about 20 minutes at the Holiday Inn Tesla station (1 J1772 available) getting us 50 miles on the GOM. [Free]

Drove to Hillsboro Outlets arriving with 8 miles and a low battery warning. Charged for 1 hour 45 minutes while walking/shopping. This charger seemed to be slower than the one in Waco, and we achieved 45 miles on the GOM. I only needed 31 to get home, so we left and drove 55 on back roads until I was sure we would make it. Then I turned the climate control back on and drove the speed limit. [$4.30 to Blink]

Made it home with 4 miles on the GOM, and a low battery warning. Huzzah!

A fast charger in Waco would a huge help, and I probably won't make any trips south until one is installed. But for now, anything in the Metroplex is within my reach, and quick chargers are plentiful.

EDIT: There were two things that bothered me about the car today, and I'll take pointers on how to fix them.

1. To use cruise control, I've got to turn Pro Pilot on. I decided to turn off the steering assist; easy peasy, I hit the switch on the dash. Lane departure is still enabled, though. So, when I'm getting over on the shoulder to let someone around, because I'm doing 55 in a 70; the steering wheel vibrates (no problem) and the horn sounds. So from the perspective of the people passing me, I'm jerk enough to drive so slowly and I honk at them when they pass me.

2. I decided to use the GPS to get home, but it wanted to go a different route than I would normally take. There is no cancel navigation option that I could find on the Map screen. It would appear that once navigation is set, you are committed as a a pig at breakfast.
 
wesofwaco said:
2. I decided to use the GPS to get home, but it wanted to go a different route than I would normally take. There is no cancel navigation option that I could find on the Map screen. It would appear that once navigation is set, you are committed as a a pig at breakfast.
I don't have a new model LEAF, but the 2012 and 2016 models that I've driven have all had some sort of "Navigation Preferences" (probably not by that name) screen that you can fiddle with to pick the criteria the nav uses to select routes: avoid/use toll roads, avoid/use ferries, prefer short distance vs driving time, avoid/use freeways, and so on. Also, if you stubbornly ignore the Nav's advice, it will usually eventually reconcile itself to the route you've chosen, and recompute on the basis of the fait accompli you've handed it.
 
I've found the Cancel Navigation option. It's on the Nav screen, and this explains why I couldn't find it on the Map screen (which was showing the navigation route).

Here's another question. Where is the trip computer? I've seen videos of drivers showing the stats for a trip using the "Trip Computer", and the owner's manual mentions it twice; but I can't seem to find it.
 
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