6600+ ft. of climbing / LEAF in the San Bernardino Mountains

abasile - Thanks for the quick reply!

I will definitely try to get as much charge at the 7-11 as possible just in case. I can charge on L1 over night while I'm up there which should give me enough to do some regen on the way back down then will try to get to the free QC that I linked below if it works successful on the way up there.

Your offer is much appreciated and I will consider it for another trip but won't be needing it this time.

Just took our 2011 LEAF down the mountain for the annual battery check. All five stars as usual, not that it means much. I guess my mountain climbing doesn't translate to exceeding Nissan's below-five-star threshold for "high power levels". (Coming back up the mountain, I was averaging ~30 kW of motor power at 40-45 mph.)

Replaced the underbody shield for $258, after a year with bungee cords holding together the old one. I'll need to be more careful on rocky dirt roads...

The driver's side window hasn't been working. It seems likely to be a motor issue. Nothing happens when I move the switch. The dealer quoted $486 if it is indeed a motor issue, or a minimum of $120 to diagnose. Not worth it.

Also, my trusty old SOC/gid meter quit working for some reason. The display doesn't light up, and I'm not inclined to try to figure out why. Will probably get the iOS version of Leaf Spy and the wifi adaptor.

abasile said:

The driver's side window hasn't been working. It...Nothing happens when I move the switch. The dealer quoted $486 if it is indeed a motor issue, or a minimum of $120 to diagnose. Not worth it.

Click to expand...

Others have determined it's often the switch that fails and posted instructions to replace if you are of mind to do so...

LeafMuranoDriver said:

I could leave with 90%+ to go to a QC about 60 miles away... http://api.plugshare.com/view/location/13998" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (free w/ No Charge to Charge)

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Looks like somebody just posted on Plugshare last night that this location was vandalized. Bummer! There are many L2's around but was hoping to not have to hang around for a couple hours.

How do people verify chargers are active? Call the location? Call the network of the charger? Or...?

abasile said:

J (Coming back up the mountain, I was averaging ~30 kW of motor power at 40-45 mph.)

Click to expand...

Wonder how well the BMW i3 would climb the mountain in only Rex mode (35 HP), given your speed at
the Leaf's power (~40 HP) with additional power available for an emergency, i.e. most likely not a favorable
spot to demo the i3's Rex mode. Although the i3 is lighter than the Leaf, this would not help much in this
situation.

JimSouCal said:

abasile said:

The driver's side window hasn't been working. It...Nothing happens when I move the switch. The dealer quoted $486 if it is indeed a motor issue, or a minimum of $120 to diagnose. Not worth it.

Click to expand...

Others have determined it's often the switch that fails and posted instructions to replace if you are of mind to do so...

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip! Maybe when we start getting some warm weather (it's rainy with a high of 40 F today) I'll be motivated to try that.

lorenfb said:

Wonder how well the BMW i3 would climb the mountain in only Rex mode (35 HP), given your speed at the Leaf's power (~40 HP) with additional power available for an emergency, i.e. most likely not a favorable spot to demo the i3's Rex mode. Although the i3 is lighter than the Leaf, this would not help much in this situation.

Click to expand...

The i3 rex seriously needs a "mountain mode" like the Volt, to save charge for a mountain climb (or other purposes). I don't like the idea of intentionally crippling a car just so that it'll be considered by CARB as a BEV.

Climbing the mountain in the LEAF, at least I have the ability to speed up when a faster driver approaches from behind, or merge safely where the passing lanes end.

LeafMuranoDriver said:

How do people verify chargers are active? Call the location? Call the network of the charger? Or...?

Click to expand...

Plugshare app will show the status of eVgo chargers. Available, in-use, offline, as well as a wrench if the location is awaiting a visit from maintenance.

Chargepoint app will show the status of Chargepoint chargers. Same, available, in-use, offline. I've had some false positives though, and had to push Chargepoint to change the status to offline.

Plugshare comments in general might be good to check, for things like missing cable which may trick an app into saying the charger is available but you can't actually use it.

Greenlots app I've had a lot of issues with.

Another Leaf made it up the mountain!

I never really had range anxiety. I charged more than needed just to make sure since before this trip, I never drove more than 20 miles one way. It was very interesting to see how much battery usage moved for elevation changes.

1st Leg - Started @ 100%
Drove 52.0 miles @ 60-65mph
Remaining @ 40% Charge / 5 Bars / 52 Miles Left
QC'd for 30 Minutes to charge to 93%, went down to 89% right away. I have free EVgo charging so I thought why not try the L2 for a little while since I never used an EVgo L2. Moved over and plugged in for 10 minutes to 93% charge.

2nd Leg - Started @ 93%
Drove 54.5 miles @ 60-65mph
Remaining @ 28% Charge / 4 Bars / 32 Miles Left
L2 charged for 2 hours to 90%

3rd Leg - Started @ 90%
Drove 21.2 miles @ 40-45mph up the mountain then going into the mountain went 30-35mph
Remaining @ 37% Charge / 5 Bars / 29 Miles Left

Trip Home

1st Leg - Started @ 100% - Drove ~5 miles to the highway to 90% then down the mountain, ended @ 95%.
Drove 69.5 miles @ 50-60mph down the mountain then 60-65mph on the freeway
Remaining @ 43% Charge / 5 Bars / 48 Miles Left
L2 charged for 2.25 hours to charge to 100% @ The LA County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. What a great place to take a rest and charge. Been here a year or 2 ago and it's so peaceful and enjoyable to walk around the grounds. Was lucky to snag the 3rd and final charger available.

2nd Leg - Started @ 100%
Drove 50.0 miles @ 60-70mph
Remaining @ 36% Charge / 5 Bars / 39 Miles Left



What's the best way to track the elevation changes?



Here's a few pics from the trip...

Charging at Fresh & Easy EVgo in Irwindale - Great charging spot. It was 10 miles out of the way unfortunately but it worked out well.



Charging at 7/11 in San Bernadino - Not the best charging spot. The QC is down and the L2 looked to be still crooked but usable. I guess it's free? I slid my credit card a couple times but I don't think it did anything.



Leaf @ Rim of the World, just under 5,000 feet.




Overall, a much longer than usual trip with EV (5.5 hours) vs. ICE (1.5-2 hours) but I charged for free everywhere I went and saved at least $50 in gas. If I do it again, now I'll know I can either driver faster and/or charge less at stops. Or if more QC's become available, it wouldn't be so bad.

Thanks again to abasile and the others for the info!

LeafMuranoDriver said:

...Trip Home

1st Leg - Started @ 100% - Drove ~5 miles to the highway to 90% then down the mountain, ended @ 95%...

Click to expand...

Why did you start with such a high SOC before going down that mountain? You would have had a lot more help from regen braking if you had started at 70% or less.

What's the best way to track the elevation changes?

Click to expand...

I use GPS Visualizer. GRA describes how to use it here:

GRA said:

Here's the one I use. Map the route in Google maps, then click on the link button (upper left, next to the print icon button). When that box opens, I click on Short URL, then copy that and open http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Click on Profiles (elevation etc.), choose your units (Metric/US/Nautical) and then paste the URL into the box (2nd from bottom, right) labeled "Or provide the URL of data on the Web", and click on the button below labeled "Draw the Profile".

Click to expand...

An example profile using this technique:

dgpcolorado said:

LeafMuranoDriver said:

...Trip Home

1st Leg - Started @ 100% - Drove ~5 miles to the highway to 90% then down the mountain, ended @ 95%...

Click to expand...

Why did you start with such a high SOC before going down that mountain? You would have had a lot more help from regen braking if you had started at 70% or less.

What's the best way to track the elevation changes?

Click to expand...

I use GPS Visualizer. GRA describes how to use it here:

GRA said:

Here's the one I use. Map the route in Google maps, then click on the link button (upper left, next to the print icon button). When that box opens, I click on Short URL, then copy that and open http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Click on Profiles (elevation etc.), choose your units (Metric/US/Nautical) and then paste the URL into the box (2nd from bottom, right) labeled "Or provide the URL of data on the Web", and click on the button below labeled "Draw the Profile".

Click to expand...

An example profile using this technique:

Click to expand...

I left the L1 charger on all night and came out to it at 100% in the morning. I wasn't going to wake up in the middle of the night to check it and unplug. I thought why not get as close to 100% at the bottom of the mountain as possible.

Would I have gotten to the bottom of the mountain with 95% if I started at 70 or 80%?

Thanks for the info! Much appreciated!

LeafMuranoDriver said:

I left the L1 charger on all night and came out to it at 100% in the morning. I wasn't going to wake up in the middle of the night to check it and unplug. I thought why not get as close to 100% at the bottom of the mountain as possible.

Click to expand...

A valid question. The reason is safety because regen helps slow the descent without the heavy use of the friction brakes; ICE cars use engine braking in lower gears for this purpose. Abasile has had problems with the brakes overheating on his descents since regen is crippled on our older cars.

You could have used a charge timer to shut off charging before it got to full.

Would I have gotten to the bottom of the mountain with 95% if I started at 70 or 80%?

Click to expand...

No. You probably can't regen your way up that close to 100%. You might have been able to get to 90% or so, however (in warm weather, you can't get as much regen in winter temperatures). When I want to have the maximum charge at the bottom of my hill I use 100% charging. The difference is that the steepest part of my descent is only 800 feet, versus thousands of feet when dropping down from Lake Arrowhead.

I see that LeafMuranoDriver charged at the 7/Eleven in San Bernardino north of the 210 freeway. As per PlugShare comments, the QC there has been down for years. I had assumed the intention was to charge at the 7/Eleven just off the 10 freeway, which has a working Blink QC. Glad it worked out, though I can sympathize with having to wait hours for L2. :-(

We left the mountain for Memorial Day weekend, in our LEAF, and drove 323 miles in total for a camping trip with friends in the vicinity of Joshua Tree National Park. Briefly, our trip went as follows:

Initial conditions - At home we had an ambient temperature of roughly 37 F and lots of fog. It had been raining. To warm the LEAF's battery, I charged it to full, ran the heater while plugged in, then unplugged the car, ran the heater set to 90 F and discharged the battery to ~70%, then charged up to full again. Also, it probably helped that I had just driven down and up the mountain on the prior day.

Day 1 - 93 miles total. Drove east from Arrowbear Lake on CA-18, then took CA-38 through Fawnskin, CA on the north side of Big Bear Lake. Continued east on CA-18 through Big Bear City, averaging about 40 mph, then down the mountain toward Lucerne Valley, CA in the high desert. At the start of the descent, we had roughly 50% charge remaining, and the battery temperature was still at four bars (perhaps 50 F). With traffic very light, we made most of the steep descent at 15-20 mph to maximize regen, and simply pulled over whenever a vehicle approached from the rear. Got the charge back up to about 70%. Continued descending, gently, on Camp Rock Road, then headed east on lonely CA-247 at 45-55 mph (sped up whenever vehicles approached from behind). Approaching Yucca Valley, CA, used Buena Vista Rd. and Yucca Mesa for a shortcut. East on CA-62 at 50 mph. Turned north on Sunfair Rd. to Joshua Tree Lake RV park/campground, arriving a few miles after the first "low battery" warning, and plugged in I using our "upgraded" EVSE and "50 amp" RV plug adaptor.

Day 2 - Visited 49 Palms Oasis (~4 mile roundtrip hike) and the National Park visitor center in 29 Palms, CA, then returned to the campground having driven ~38 miles. Charged again to full, then made a ~64 mile (total) loop through the park (Joshua Tree, CA; Jumbo Rocks; 29 Palms; return). Did rock climbing, an evening ranger program, and star gazing at http://www.skysthelimit29.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; .

Day 3 - Visited the Indian Cove area and did a little dirt road driving.

Day 4 - 96 miles total. Drove ~65 miles to the new evGo quick charger in Calimesa, CA off the 10 freeway. Great, effortless regen on the descent down to Yucca Valley, CA. Significant headwinds in the San Gorgonio Pass area along the 10 freeway. Poked along at 50-55 mph. Made it to the QC about one mile after the "very low battery" warning. (I could have used the QC in Cabazon, CA, but figured we could push on, with the L2 at the Walgreens in Banning, CA as a backup.) Used the QC for 26 minutes and bought some produce at the Fresh & Easy, then made our final stop at the Walmart in Redlands, CA where we topped off using the Blink L2 there. Our shopping took longer than the top-off, and the climb back up the mountain was easy ("low battery" about 1.5 miles from home).

All in all, it was a refreshing vacation, a great time with friends, and not difficult using the LEAF aside from the need to drive slowly given our ~22% battery capacity loss. Our friends wanted/needed electric hookups anyway, so there was no loss not being able to stay in the national park itself.

Also, I am very happy to have the QC and L2 in Calimesa. Next time, I anticipate I could charge to full there, and make it all the way home. (It's almost all downhill into Redlands.)

dgpcolorado said:

LeafMuranoDriver said:

I left the L1 charger on all night and came out to it at 100% in the morning. I wasn't going to wake up in the middle of the night to check it and unplug. I thought why not get as close to 100% at the bottom of the mountain as possible.

Click to expand...

A valid question. The reason is safety because regen helps slow the descent without the heavy use of the friction brakes; ICE cars use engine braking in lower gears for this purpose. Abasile has had problems with the brakes overheating on his descents since regen is crippled on our older cars.

You could have used a charge timer to shut off charging before it got to full.

Would I have gotten to the bottom of the mountain with 95% if I started at 70 or 80%?

Click to expand...

No. You probably can't regen your way up that close to 100%. You might have been able to get to 90% or so, however (in warm weather, you can't get as much regen in winter temperatures). When I want to have the maximum charge at the bottom of my hill I use 100% charging. The difference is that the steepest part of my descent is only 800 feet, versus thousands of feet when dropping down from Lake Arrowhead.

Click to expand...

Good "food for thought". I don't think I had much issue with braking. I hit speeds of 60+ and would slow in the turns then coast (with 1-2 regen dot) on the straight shots. You are right, I could have used the charge timer. This was the 1st time I had ever used L1 so I wasn't really sure of the timing and thought it would be better to go with 100%. I mainly wanted to get to the bottom of the mountain with as close to 100% as possible. I wanted to be able to have some extra battery to go faster on the freeway.

abasile said:

I see that LeafMuranoDriver charged at the 7/Eleven in San Bernardino north of the 210 freeway. As per PlugShare comments, the QC there has been down for years. I had assumed the intention was to charge at the 7/Eleven just off the 10 freeway, which has a working Blink QC. Glad it worked out, though I can sympathize with having to wait hours for L2. :-(

Click to expand...

I wasn't totally sure from the comments, my mistake. People would say they charged but didn't specify L2 or QC and I didn't see any comments about the QC being down for quite a while so I thought it may had been fixed. It would have been nice to save an hour with QC but overall, not that big of a deal since I wasn't on a tight schedule.

Sounds like you had a great Memorial Day weekend!

With my "gid meter" not working, I finally ended up getting a Wifi OBD adapter and installing the iOS version of Leaf Spy Pro ($18 for the adapter, $20 for the app). Love the app! I'm still thankful to Gary "GID" for the original "SOC meter" as well.

Anyway, my current stats are:
AHr=51.46
SOH=78%
Hx=60.10%
Odo=55,908mi
107 QCs & 4031 L1/L2s
GIDs at 80% charge=180
21 mV delta between min/max cells
12V battery at 12.08V
Battery at 72F right now

The LEAF is still great for driving within the mountains. Leaving the mountain and returning is more challenging, as we typically need to use a QC, then top up to full on L2 before making the ascent. For "quick" trips down to Redlands, about an hour of L2 is required. We then arrive home a few miles after LBW.

abasile said:

The LEAF is still great for driving within the mountains.

Click to expand...

Speaking of the mountains, are you affected by the big fire burning up there?

Stoaty said:

Speaking of the mountains, are you affected by the big fire burning up there?

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As the Lake Fire has been contained south of Highway 38 and hasn't been threatening the more populated areas of the mountain, we are thankful to be able to say that its affect on us has been minimal. Like other mountain residents, I've probably spent a little too much time checking for updates on it, though. I'm hoping that the fire's intensity hasn't been too destructive and that many will still be able to enjoy that area of the San Gorgonio Wilderness.

Our area did get some smoke for a few hours on Friday and Saturday mornings, necessitating that we close up the house. The smoke has been far worse for people east of here, in the Morongo Basin north of Joshua Tree National Park. The closure of Highway 38 has brought some additional Big Bear traffic through here, but nothing major.

Our real concern is the intensity of the heat for this time of year and the overall level of dryness. We hope and pray for a good amount of monsoonal moisture in the next couple of months, and a strong El Nino this winter. Exactly how climate change is going to affect this mountain range in the next decade is hard to say for sure, but it isn't helpful.

I just wanted to add a note that I made the trek up to Big Bear on Thursday. I started out from San Diego, and with advice from abasile, I stopped at Temecula Nissan to make sure I could make it to San Bernardino. The QC there was on the chargepoint network, which I never used before, so I was shocked at the cheap energy (74 cents for my fill-up)! Of course they charge in batches of $25, so if I never see Chargepoint again (none in San Diego), it will be an expensive fill-up. I stopped at 7-11 in San Bernardino for another QC and ate lunch nearby. I left the 7-11 with 88% charge and drove the 24 miles to Abasile's house where he graciously provided another 13% to my battery. I ended up not needing the charge because I made it to Big Bear from his house only using about 15%. I checked in to my rented house and plugged in immediately to be ready for the trip home the next day after some snowboarding.

Trip log:
SD to Temecula: 47.6 miles, 14.7 kWh
Temecula to San Bernardino: 47.8 miles, 11.8 kWh
SB to Abasile's house: 23.6 miles, 10 kWh
House to Summit Blvd: 16.8 miles, 3.4 kWh

Total trip: 135.8 miles, 39.9 kWh

I drove to Big Bear a few weeks age. charged to 95% at the inland center dc fast charger. I think it is higher then the 7-11. I have a 2011 SL with a new battery. Drove to Big Bear straight had a no go point at Running springs of 6.5 kwh or less I would stop and charge. 5500 foot change and 43 miles at 35 to 45 mph. used 17.5 for the trip. did not stop to charge on the way up. It was a good trip.

It sure is nice that LEAFs with newer battery packs can be driven all the way from San Bernardino to Big Bear without charging. I'd recommend enjoying the experience while you can! The last time we drove our 2011 LEAF straight home from the 7-11 QC, to Arrowbear mind you, not Big Bear, we took care not to exceed ~40 mph coming up CA-330 and still arrived with a "very low battery" warning. So it's best for us to use the QC and then top off on L2 in Redlands before making the climb.

Speaking of L2, we are particularly excited about the eight new charging docks at "Mountain Grove at Citrus Plaza" in Redlands. Citrus Plaza has a number of good stores and restaurants, and is now the closest and arguably best place for J-1772 charging before heading up the mountain. This will certainly improve the utility of our 2011 LEAF's original battery pack for the next couple of years at least.