A question from the Hudson Valley, New York

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dtomko

Active member
Joined
Jul 18, 2011
Messages
30
Location
Warwick, NY
Hi everyone,
My home charger evaluation is scheduled for Oct. 20, but I still have a few concerns so I wanted to get some feedback. Here's my situation:
I live in Orange County, NY where the winters can get pretty cold and harsh. I don't have a fully enclosed garage space so the Leaf will be charging in the cold in the winter - nights routinely get down to the upper teens in January. My commute, the good news: it's 35 miles each way and there are two (free) charging stations installed where I work. The bad news: in addition to the winters, it also gets pretty hot in the summer. Also, I go over two mountains, both about 1200 or so feet. I start from about 500 ft elevation, but by the end of the commute am almost at sea level. The roads over the mountains are twisty, but the last 15 or so miles are striclty highway.

We get a lot of snow, usually, and although the roads are cleared really quickly, the mountains can be a bit challenging in the winter. I currently own a 2002 Sentra, which I love and which is great in the snow. I'm not planning on getting rid of it - my daughter will use it, and we also own a 2003 Subabru Outback.

Sooo, opinions, please.

Thanks,

Drew
 
You're lucky to have charging at work...you can likely charge to 80% most of the time. As far as getting "hot", I'm sure it doesn't get as warm there as it does for the folks in Texas and Arizona, and they had no problems. The air conditioning is pretty efficient, so I wouldn't give that much thought. As far as cold weather goes, you're getting a 2012, so you'll have the cold weather features standard. I would think that 35 miles, even with the mountains, should stay within the LEAFs range even with those temps, but someone who actually experiences cold weather can probably speak to that better.
 
With our LEAF which we park outdoors, we haven't yet experienced nighttime lows in the teens; the lowest it's seen thus far has been in the upper 20s. But this winter will change that. Still, based on our experience, I think your one-way commute is short enough to be quite easily within range no matter what the temperature. With its relatively high clearance and FWD, all the LEAF needs is some decent winter tires and it should be a reasonable snow car, if my experience driving it around on our local dirt roads is any indication.

As for your 1200' "mountains", we call those "hills" out here. In terms of range, you will definitely notice the 500' of net elevation gain/loss. But it shouldn't be a big deal at all. Here's my experience: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=3512" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
abasile said:
With our LEAF which we park outdoors, we haven't yet experienced nighttime lows in the teens; the lowest it's seen thus far has been in the upper 20s. But this winter will change that. Still, based on our experience, I think your one-way commute is short enough to be quite easily within range no matter what the temperature. With its relatively high clearance and FWD, all the LEAF needs is some decent winter tires and it should be a reasonable snow car, if my experience driving it around on our local dirt roads is any indication.

As for your 1200' "mountains", we call those "hills" out here. In terms of range, you will definitely notice the 500' of net elevation gain/loss. But it shouldn't be a big deal at all. Here's my experience: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=3512" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Yes, "mountains" is probably a stretch, but that's what we call them! I wondered how much of a wash it would be with the braking on the downhills. I did read through that thread so I think it will be OK; my concern is with the cold weather, though, and I suspect I'll be swapping out the low resistance tires fairly quickly.

Thanks for the input!
 
I think you will really enjoy the hills, and the ability to get to work with very little energy. It sounds like you don't go over 60mph much, which is the largest drain for most people. Going home will eat up the battery a bit, but you likely won't even need to charge it at work - but if it is free, charging there and not at home might be a possibility. With front wheel drive and traction control, I would suspect a heavy car like the leaf would fare well on snowy roads, but I haven't experienced it. Please post your experience if you decide to go oil free - which is a great feeling.

For my 40 mile round trip from an elevation of 1500' I start with 80% charge to get the regen on the way down. I don't charge at work and unless I do speeds in excess of the limit (65) I get home with a third (or more) of the battery unused. The other item you will want to use is the preheater - so you don't need to be cold and you won't use the battery to warm the interior. Mainting the temperature requires very little energy I have found, so no worries for your commute.

I would suggest you ignore the range meter, since it is going to be very inaccurate for you. Mine will typically say something like a 60 - 70 mile range with an 80% charge, and then within a few miles (Where I lose 500') it will go up to over 100. If I drive gentle, I get to work 17 miles away with only 1 or 2 bars used, and a range higher than when I left the house. Typically it will say 32 miles when I get home, but I know that is a worst case scenario.

I know this is wordy, but it really is a lot of fun to play with the regen, and the other day I went down to the store and gained energy driving the 4 or so miles downhill. I know because I gained a bar on the battery - which is really cool to see.
 
Caracalover said:
...Going home will eat up the battery a bit, but you likely won't even need to charge it at work ...
His commute is 35 miles each way, not round trip. He'll definitely want to charge at work.
 
davewill said:
Caracalover said:
...Going home will eat up the battery a bit, but you likely won't even need to charge it at work ...
His commute is 35 miles each way, not round trip. He'll definitely want to charge at work.
I drive 70 miles (140 RT) every Sunday, some at freeway (65) speeds and with massive (Over 2000') elevation gains/drops. He will likely not need to charge at work. I use the A/C freely, and often have 2 bars or more remaining. Of course he will want to charge at work (Especially since it is free), but without it he should be ok, for sure in the summer - I drive into the Mojave desert with temps over 90, and am looking forward to the winter (Have seen 6 F) to see how that affects things. With mountain driving it is easy to go slower (35) on the uphills, and regen heavy on the downs. So on the way there, it will use less energy - maybe three or four bars if the speeds are mostly below 45. Going home will use more, but he will be fine even so - I would guess he could get home with 4 bars remaining if he tried. The unknown factor is the cold, but with chargers at both ends he will have no worries at all.

In fact with chargers at both ends he will really enjoy the instant torque on the mountain roads, and not have to be conservative the way I do on my 70 mile trips. It is a very fun car to drive in those situations. I am of course assuming the mountain roads are not 55 MPH or higher.
 
Thanks, everyone! I'm a lot more confident now, although with charging stations at work I didn't think there would be serious issues.

BTW, the speed limit on the mountains is 55, but it's really difficult to do that, especially on the uphills (one lane each way), because when I commute, there's always traffic. I'd say I'm doing no more that 45 at best and often 35.

I've been patiently waiting since the intitial order last April, and I look forward to providing data on cold and snowy Leaf use!

BTW, just as an aside on the issue of being stranded by the Leaf: every car I have ever owned has left me stranded at least once and often several times for one reason or another: dead battery, dead alternator, and a variety of mechanical glitches. I suspect the Leaf may be the first car to never leave me stranded since I'm going to watch everything so carefully.
 
While you MIGHT make the summer 70-mile round trip without a recharge,
adverse conditions and 3000' of in-traffic climbing can be a draining experience.

So, until you get familiar with your LEAF's capabilities, charge to 100% and charge at work.

Plan B, for times when you cannot charge at work:
Other On-Route charging stations?
 
My only concern about work is having the charging stations occupied, but I usually get in early enough, I suspect, to grab the morning shift.

As of now there aren't any other charging stations in place; however, there is a Nissan dealer about 5 miles before work.

Plan B is to take the Sentra!
 
dtomko said:
My only concern about work is having the charging stations occupied, but I usually get in early enough, I suspect, to grab the morning shift.

As of now there aren't any other charging stations in place; however, there is a Nissan dealer about 5 miles before work.

Plan B is to take the Sentra!
If people are reasonable, using the chargers at work shouldn't be a problem. Invite all of the users of the EV chargers at work out to lunch. Briefly outline what each of you needs to charge - or if you need to charge at work at all. Swap contact information - Names, work phone, cell phones, license plate numbers or some other way to identify which car belongs to whom. Then you can work out a loose schedule - Sally get's here first, so she'll charge typically from 8am - 1pm and she can park her car in a non-EV charger space after lunch. I'll charge from 1pm to 5pm. Etc... Really should be pretty easy to make sure everyone gets the charge they need - and the benefit of everyone participating, is that if anyone's plans change, you all know each other and can make a friendly call to each other to swap out EVs at the charging spaces.

Enjoy! LEAFing is a wonderful new experience. A very nice, clean, smooth, quiet, predictable driving experience and you'll meet all kinds of great people in the process!
 
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