First time road trip in my Leaf SV Plus

[SamBlackjack]

I have a 2019 SV Plus and recently took it on its first road trip out of town. I've been very happy with the Leaf driving around town the past few years except for a few minor issues (rear camera, etc.). This was an opportunity to do a relatively short road trip of about 250 miles each way, and it usually takes me between 3.5 to 4 hours depending on traffic.

I charged to 100% the morning before leaving, with the range estimate at 214 miles. I planned a charging point about 150 miles away, figuring it'd leave enough wiggle room so I don't have to wait too long to charge up enough to finish the trip. When planning my trip using PlugShare, I filtered to only show Chademo chargers. There are very few outside of big cities, and often there's 1 Chademo charger in a multi-charger station, so if that one charger was down or occupied, I'd be out of luck.

As I drove, what surprised me was how much the range drops on the highway - it was eating up about 1.5 miles of estimated range for every mile I drove. I don't think it was draining this fast when I drove around the highways in town, but perhaps I just didn't notice since they were never longer trips. I wasn't sure I'd make it to the planned stop I had, and with much anxiety, I reached the ChargePoint station with 26 miles left (12%). That station was fully operational with 4 Chademo and 4 CCS chargers with no wait, so I was able to charge to near full before continuing on to finish my trip. Total time about 5.5 hours including charging.

At my destination, I was only able to use a household 110V outlet as there was no other options available nearby. But I was going to be there for a week so I just let it slowly charge over days and it got to 99%, showing an estimated range of 197 miles. Because of my experience during the first leg of the trip, I planned for two stops on my return trip. I stopped first at the station I used during the first leg, and again had no problem charging. I didn't have as much time to wait so I charged to about 87% knowing I'd be stopping at another station, though hoping I could make it all the way home.

As I drove homeward, watching the rate of estimated range decrease with the remaining distance, I knew I couldn't make it home without charging again, so I went to the 2nd stop I planned. This was an Electrify America station with multiple CCS chargers and 1 Chademo charger. Frustratingly, after multiple attempts, the charger would stop immediately after starting to charge despite showing as operational on the station screen as well as the EA app. It didn't give any helpful error messages, but just to say unplug and try again. I sat next to the station and searched for the nearest available Chademo station with hopefully more than one charger and found one behind a dealership. With it being night time, I knew the dealership was closed, but there was no indication that the charger is not available. As I approached the dealership, I was relieved to see that the lot was not blocked and there was an open ChargePoint station. I sat in their parking lot and made sure I had charged to at least double of the remaining distance before heading home. Total time about 6.5 hours including charging.

I'm sure most of the folks on this forum have gone through similar experiences, but I thought I'd share my experience and my lessons learned from my road trip in the Leaf - don't take it out of town or any trip of more than 150 miles with a fully charged car; plan to charge at stations with at least 2 available Chademo chargers; and don't buy another car with a deprecated charging port.

 

[marshallinwash]

The Leaf is pretty much a commuter car. There is a CCS to CHAdeMo adapter that some folks have bought that generally works.

https://mynissanleaf.com/threads/accraine-electway-ccs1-chademo-adapter.36033/#post-647303

https://insideevs.com/news/726889/chademo-ccs-adapter-a2z-video-unboxing/

If you type in "stateofcharge" when ordering it, you be able to get 10% off the adapter.

Note there may be some risk in that the charging companies be able to stop you using these adapters.

Plus the cable zombies may have cut off all the cables.

 

[BillAinCT]

Note there may be some risk in that the charging companies be able to stop you using these adapters.

Is this simply just your opinion?

 

[Stanton]

The Leaf is pretty much a commuter car.

^^^ THIS...end of story.

 

[Doanster1]

What charge rates were you able to achieve (or not) each time? Did you check how warm the battery was before each session? Pleasantly surprised you didn’t say the car went into turtle mode.

 

[SamBlackjack]

What charge rates were you able to achieve (or not) each time? Did you check how warm the battery was before each session? Pleasantly surprised you didn’t say the car went into turtle mode.

At the first charger (50KW charger), it started charging at about 45KW for about half an hour, then dropped to 20KW for about 45 minutes and dropped off as the car got above 95%.

At the second charger (62.5KW charger), it averaged about 25KW for the half hour I was there.

I didn't check the battery temperature. The air temp was in the low 80F for both charges.

 

[BillAinCT]

Most if not all EVs taper DCFC starting at 80%. At EVgo and other chargers it's mentioned on screen that the charge rate will decline at 80%. Perhaps these chargers are initiating the cut back?

The general statement that the Leaf is a only a commuting car is just not true for 62kWh Leafs. I've made a dozen or more 290-320 round trips in winter and summer. This required one DCFC on the way home and only 30-40 minutes is all that I needed for that.

 

[marshallinwash]

Is this simply just your opinion?

Not just mine.

 

[BillAinCT]

And you're not prepared to back this up?

 

[marshallinwash]

And you're not prepared to back this up?

Can you say with 100% assurance that it won't happen?

All I can say is that there is some chance of it happening. How much, I don't know. But it's not zero, since the charging providers don't want you to use adapters that haven't been approved.

For your safety, EVgo only permits the use of automaker-manufactured charging adapters on EVgo charging stations or with EVgo’s charging network (“Authorized Adapters”). Authorized Adapters include 1) Tesla AC adapters for use with EVgo AC chargers; 2) Tesla-manufactured, authorized, and/or endorsed adapters (e.g. the CHAdeMO and CCS Combo 1 adapters); and 3) any other automaker-manufactured adapter.

I suspect folks buying the device understand the risk, and are willing to take it for the convenience of having CCS charging.

Frankly, I don't why this is bothering you, and I'm done commenting.

 

[Doanster1]

At the first charger (50KW charger), it started charging at about 45KW for about half an hour, then dropped to 20KW for about 45 minutes and dropped off as the car got above 95%.

At the second charger (62.5KW charger), it averaged about 25KW for the half hour I was there.

I didn't check the battery temperature. The air temp was in the low 80F for both charges.

Thanks! That’s not bad at all. Tapering is normal so to stay at 45kW for half an hour is great.

 

[hradek]

I would agree that most people would find the Leaf unacceptable for longer trips away from home. There seems to be a general mood in the country that EVs are bad choices for long trips with the Leaf being in the number one slot. I have made several trips from San Francisco to LA and Palm Springs with the 40 Kw battery, I drive 50 miles and look for the next charging station while I charge and go another 50 miles. Less road range issues this way and get to see a lot of places but most people are in more of a hurry. Big hurdle to overcome here is the charging stations. Until that is fixed EVs are for the leisure class and the green people. I would like to see a single fast charging station(combo cc2 tesla) and single free level 2 station in all major brand gas stations. Then, we would look serious about climate change.

 

[rgs]

Our last Leaf is sitting by our house awaiting a settlement for the damage caused by being backed into by a full size Chevy Crew Cab pickup in a parking lot. It is a 2014 S which we have driven since it was new. It has over 90,000 trouble free miles, but will probably be totalled. The Leaf was our second car to a 2018 Long Range Tesla Model 3 (nominal range of 310 miles). The Tesla replaced a 2020 SV+ we got new in early 2021. We got the Tesla after a stressful 1,200 mile trip in the Leaf where we ran into multiple problems charging. The Leaf now belongs to friends as a second car to their Tesla Model Y. We have had two other Leafs, a 2011 we returned after its lease was up and a 2013 which now belongs to our son.

Shortly after our 2014 Leaf was damaged, we bought a 2019 Tesla Model 3 SR+ (210 mile nominal range) with 26,000 miles from a friend who bought a new Model Y. We paid $350 for the CCS retrofit for both Teslas so we can charge at any public charger. Right now, no other car can make that claim.

What ever you think about Elon, Tesla has done a much better job of supporting its owners' ability to charge than any other manufacturer. They have made CCS retrofits and adapters for older models, including S and X. Ford is second, but it will be a while before Fords can charge everywhere as it will require Tesla to upgrade older Superchargers.

Nissan, through their abandoning of Leaf owners, has given the corporate middle finger to hundreds of thousands. An expensive, unapproved adapter is hardly a solution.

Our next car will probably not be a Tesla, as long as charging is no longer an issue. My hope is that our Teslas will last until we are too old to drive, or even longer if self driving becomes more than a fantasy

 

[Doanster1]

Def don’t want to turn this into a Tesla vs Other discussion. We are also a dual EV family (P85D and ‘21 SV) as well. Have always road tripped with the Tesla, even with the forced tapering known as chargegate. Was trying to see if I could realistically drive the SV from Portland to LA hence the turtle/charge rate question. If only the battery was liquid cooled we wouldn’t be having this conversation. There are enough CHADEMO chargers along the I5 corridor, which surprised me.

 

[rgs]

Our 1200 mile trip in the SV+ was from Portland down US 101 to Santa Cruz and back via I-5 in September, 2022. There were sufficient CHADEMO chargers, but the charging experience was frequently frustrating. For example, in Klamath, California, there was no cellular service to start a Chargepoint session. The card reader didn't work. We finally got a charge started by connecting to a nearby WiFi network. The Chargepoint system was so flakey that we were never charged for the session. On the way home, my wife was driving because I was ill. We had trouble with chargers dying in mid-session in 100°+ heat. We have never had to wait and have never had a problem at a Tesla Supercharger.

CHADEMO/CCS charging has almost certainly improved in the last two years. I look forward to the time when the availability of charging will not be a factor in a car purchase decision. We're not there yet.

 

[ibeckerman]

This pretty much matches my experience with our 2019 SV plus. Having a backup place for the target ChadeMO station is wise. And highway driving at 70 mph with the AC on also hammers the range down a bit. Didn't hear much about the ride itself. We find it comfortable for long-distance travel as much as local travel.

 

[ibeckerman]

This pretty much matches my experience with our 2019 SV plus. Having a backup place for the target ChadeMO station is wise. And highway driving at 70 mph with the AC on also hammers the range down a bit. Didn't hear much about the ride itself. We find it comfortable for long-distance travel as much as local travel.

 

[SamBlackjack]

Most if not all EVs taper DCFC starting at 80%. At EVgo and other chargers it's mentioned on screen that the charge rate will decline at 80%. Perhaps these chargers are initiating the cut back?

The general statement that the Leaf is a only a commuting car is just not true for 62kWh Leafs. I've made a dozen or more 290-320 round trips in winter and summer. This required one DCFC on the way home and only 30-40 minutes is all that I needed for that.

I should add as the OP that Chademo stations are not as prevalent along my trip. That was a big factor for some of the challenges of my trip. Outside of major cities, available Chademo chargers near the interstate were few and far in between. So if they are more prevalent in your area or driving route, that'd definitely be better.

 

[hradek]

I have some simple rules for long distant driving with my Leaf SV. Start early and don't plan on driving too far when the temperature nears 100 degrees. Choose a longer route that includes more cities that have charging stations over a shorter route that may seem faster, 101 vs I-5. Compile and print a list of all potential chargers on your trip and download, fund and log into the apps associated with these chargers the day before your trip. Compile a list of hotels along your route with level 2 chargers and buy the Tesla adapter for your Leaf. Charge more frequently than you think you need to because you will spend less time charging at any individual station and check while you are charging if the charger you are driving to is working with the app. If you have a choice of chargers, avoid chargers in shopping center over charger is less busy areas.
3 ways of locating chargers
1) plug share app
2) search "city name" followed by "EV chargers"
3) https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/electricity-locations#/find/route?fuel=ELEC

 

[cwerdna]

I would agree that most people would find the Leaf unacceptable for longer trips away from home. There seems to be a general mood in the country that EVs are bad choices for long trips with the Leaf being in the number one slot. I have made several trips from San Francisco to LA and Palm Springs with the 40 Kw battery, I drive 50 miles and look for the next charging station while I charge and go another 50 miles. Less road range issues this way and get to see a lot of places but most people are in more of a hurry. Big hurdle to overcome here is the charging stations. Until that is fixed EVs are for the leisure class and the green people. I would like to see a single fast charging station(combo cc2 tesla) and single free level 2 station in all major brand gas stations. Then, we would look serious about climate change.

Battery capacity is measured in kWh, not "Kw". As for trips between SF and LA, hopefully you took highway 99 as there WAY more DC FC choices there than on I-5 (the usual route for ICEVs). Plugshare can help a lot for that.