driving Leaf from Bay Area to Joshua Tree

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HiEnergywoman

New member
Joined
Jun 7, 2017
Messages
3
Hi folks,

I need to get my 2015 Leaf from the Bay Area to Joshua Tree, and I have a couple days. I searched this forum for long distance travel and found threads from 2011-2012 and Tony William's Coast trip, but nothing recent. I mapped a route on PlugShare, the longest gap between quickchargers is 84 miles (on I-5). The farthest I've ever driven between chargers is 65 miles. I looked into shipping the car and can't find a quote below $250, which is really too much. Also, I'm interested in doing the trip...just because. Main questions...

1. Will I damage my battery or incapacitate the car by doing 6 or 8 quick charges in a day, two days in a row? I'm willing to do the drive-for-45 minutes charge-for-45 minutes routine for two days, but I don't want to end up with a dead Leaf halfway there or permanent damage

2. I had thought about getting a hotel room somewhere in that 84-mile gap and trickle charging. I see lots of recommendations on here for special hardware to charge quicker than just trickle charge, but I don't think it will make a difference if I'm willing to stop overnight. Any thoughts on whether I need special hardware?

3. Has anyone else done this? I know I may have to wait along the way in line for chargers, etc, but still think I can do it in two days. I asked a guy at the dealership and he thought I was crazy. Let me know if I'm way way off...

Thank you!
 
Just QC charging successively shouldn't harm the battery, Leaf taxis in the UK do this all the time.

However, the heat would be my main concern. Charging when the temp bars are >7 is not good for the battery and it's likely going to be hotter than that in the desert.

SF to LA shouldn't be that hard, for the LA to Joshua Tree leg I would use this trip planner:

https://www.evtripplanner.com/planner
 
I have made that trip a few times. The hardest part is the hill going into LA the grape vine. there is a DC fast charger Gorman that was the key to make this trip a lot easier. I think I still have KWH and speeds, for each leg if you want them. Leaf Spy is nice to have on a trip like this for the piece of mind. Plan on the drive down 99 HWY at night to keep the battery temp down it can still be 90 degrees or more at night. Their is a inside EGO station in Visalia to give the car time to cool off. The trip across LA is easy. There is a neat DC fast charger with a nice owner in Joshua Tree on HWY 62, you can drive though Joshua tree park to Palm Springs if you drive slow, the 4000 foot drop helps a lot.
I have gone up from LA on HWY 101 to Solvang, that was easy, above that still looks short on fast chargers. I would not try that route even if it looks easy with out a EVES in the car and a lot of back up plans. 101 is still just a bit short of chargers with the Altitude gain IMO. Tony Williams range chart is good, read the notes at to bottom and use Google earth to figure altitude change. for planning I use an average speed of 25 MPH with charging and driving. That is a bit faster now with the new EVES installed on the routes. just so you know it will be A long trip.

As with all EV trips slower is faster, make a plan, then drive your plan. have a back up plan, if it is work to make the trip, do not do it... Have fun ..
 
Speedski97, thank you so much! I would love any info you can send. So you go down 99 instead of I-5? I see I-5 is supposed to be a "West Coast Green Highway" but when I tried using their trip planner it wouldn't work.

Do I need LeafSpy to decipher the kw and speeds you're proposing to send? Or is it a CSV I can figure out in Excel?

I do know it will take a very long time, was planning to bring art supplies and catch up on phone calls. But I'm on the verge of giving it up and just paying for the shipping, would be lovely to have your specifics to cement my plan (supposed to leave this coming Thursday).

I'm new to the Forum and don't know how people find each other to send files, do let me know. Thank you.
 
@HiEnergyWoman

You can send a private message to speedski97 using this link:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/ucp.php?i=pm&mode=compose&u=14475
 
I sent an im, e mail me and I will send you the info. The trip is easy, just long. What part of SF are you in? you will need a charge point card , a EVGO card and send EV express an mail at www.evrus.net. That is the 25 KW chargers that are the last to be installed in the last holes to make your trip easy.
 
There was a private message about our trips through Tehachapi. See

EV Trip Report: Bakersfield to Palm Springs
January 30, 2016, by Paul Gipe

Wherein we again learn the importance of avoiding dependence on a GPS, on the value of paper maps, and on driving conservatively.
http://www.wind-works.org/cms/index.php?id=613&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=3981&cHash=8aaba5ce35931b5de4bf665843b84b1e

Bakersfield to Tehachapi Trip Report Redux
http://www.wind-works.org/cms/index.php?id=613&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=4667&cHash=63ead9442c2ebaf48b256cb9c8f562ad

EV Trip Report: Tehachapi Revisited
June 3, 2015, by Paul Gipe

My meeting to discuss Electric Vehicle (EV) infrastructure in Kern County was canceled, leaving my day free. So I turned to Nancy and suggested we drive our 2015 Nissan Leaf to Tehachapi for lunch....[more]
http://www.wind-works.org/cms/index.php?id=613&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=3600&cHash=840cacbd65a0c6677b0d16a51148a682

EV Trip Report: Bakersfield to Tehachapi
February 18, 2015, by Paul Gipe

On Sunday Nancy & I drove our car to Tehachapi from Bakersfield, California. That in itself isn’t significant. Thousands of cars and trucks climb the 4,000 feet from the San Joaquin Valley to the..
http://www.wind-works.org/cms/index.php?id=613&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=3475&cHash=778efcb08049b29c67ca9bbda9592421

You can read all our trip reports at
http://www.wind-works.org/cms/index.php?id=612

Paul
wind-works.org
 
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