LEAF almost does Tour de France (14 July Segment)

[Nekota]

Wired -- That wacky Dutch EV enthusiast who used a Toyota Tundra to charge his Nissan Leaf is back with an even crazier stunt: Driving today’s penultimate stage of the Tour de France.

Everyone knows the Nissan Leaf’s EPA-certified range of 73 miles is a ballpark figure. Some will get more, some less, depending upon how hard you drive and what kind of terrain you cover.

Vincert Elverts and Gaby Zwaan wanted to see how the Leaf would do in the mountains, so they chose a whopper of a course: today’s Tour stage, a 68-mile knee-buster with three monster climbs — including an 8.5-mile slog up the famed Alpe d’Huez. The stage has been won by such greats as Marco Pantani, Lance Armstrong and Andy Hampsten.

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/07/video-nissan-leaf-almost-does-a-tour-stage/

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I've made the trip up Mt. Hamilton several times as a volunteer at Lick with a round trip of 65 miles. I reach the summit with another 15 miles of range and show 50 miles on return where CA130 ends on Alum Rock Road. A comparison of the Tour terrain vs Mt. Hamilton may shed some ideas on getting the LEAF to complete the course. Any ideas?

 

[linkim]

I've made the trip up Mt. Hamilton several times as a volunteer at Lick with a round trip of 65 miles. I reach the summit with another 15 miles of range and show 50 miles on return where CA130 ends on Alum Rock Road. A comparison of the Tour terrain vs Mt. Hamilton may shed some ideas on getting the LEAF to complete the course. Any ideas?

Gascant put out a call "looking for a volunteer to organize the Mt Hamilton Drive that was discussed at Gathering #5....." Perhaps you are the ideal volunteer he is looking for. Hope you can make the LEAF meeting on Aug. 13.

Kim

 

[Nekota]

I've made the trip up Mt. Hamilton several times as a volunteer at Lick with a round trip of 65 miles. I reach the summit with another 15 miles of range and show 50 miles on return where CA130 ends on Alum Rock Road. A comparison of the Tour terrain vs Mt. Hamilton may shed some ideas on getting the LEAF to complete the course. Any ideas?

Gascant put out a call "looking for a volunteer to organize the Mt Hamilton Drive that was discussed at Gathering #5....." Perhaps you are the ideal volunteer he is looking for. Hope you can make the LEAF meeting on Aug. 13.

Kim

I won't be able to attend the 13 August meeting due to travel conflicts but putting a Mt Hamilton trip together is something I can look into.

 

[Boomer23]

Those wacky guys! I'd happily try to duplicate their feat, but I won't let anyone paint pictures inside my LEAF, whether going up and down mountains, or sitting still. Sheesh! :lol:

 

[DaveEV]

I've made the trip up Mt. Hamilton several times as a volunteer at Lick with a round trip of 65 miles. I reach the summit with another 15 miles of range and show 50 miles on return where CA130 ends on Alum Rock Road. A comparison of the Tour terrain vs Mt. Hamilton may shed some ideas on getting the LEAF to complete the course. Any ideas?

It would be helpful to know how many bars it took you to get up Mt. Hamilton (4200 ft to the Observatory) and how many were remaining when you got home...

 

[johnr]

I'd like to see LEAFs become the new pace cars of the Tour de France. It would be an *unbeatable* promotional opportunity for Nissan, and the cyclists would appreciate the zero emissions. Remember they would not normally be going 55 mph. The car would only have to go as fast as they cyclists are going. Traveling at say 30 mph or so, it should have sufficient range, right?

 

[GeorgeParrott]

A number of the stages are well OVER 160 km or more than 100 miles. Other than the time trials and the last day parade into Paris, I don't think the current state of battery technology would allow a Leaf for SURE to complete those longer stages.

It sure wouldn't be good publicity to have "dead Leafs" along the road covered by international TV.

Just my speculation, of course.

 

[davewill]

If Nissan decided to sponsor, I'm sure they'd have a mobile charging station and multiple vehicles available to cover the routes without having cars dying on the road.

 

[Nekota]

I've made the trip up Mt. Hamilton several times as a volunteer at Lick with a round trip of 65 miles. I reach the summit with another 15 miles of range and show 50 miles on return where CA130 ends on Alum Rock Road. A comparison of the Tour terrain vs Mt. Hamilton may shed some ideas on getting the LEAF to complete the course. Any ideas?

It would be helpful to know how many bars it took you to get up Mt. Hamilton (4200 ft to the Observatory) and how many were remaining when you got home...

I start with 12 bars in Sunnyvale and when entering the main road to Mt. Hamilton CA130 at Alum Rock road I have 10 bars remaining. I reach the observatory before sunset and I have 4 bars remaining and on the return trip at night I usually pick up a bar so I have 5 bars at the end of CA130 at Alum Rock road. The trip home takes another 2 bars and I have 3 bars remaining. The CarWings overestimates the "regen" and reports I regenerated more than I used on the return leg of the trip even though I used at least one bar based on the dash battery bars. So it takes 8 bars going up and 1 bar on the return trip.

Driving down a road with sharp turns at night is more annoying in the LEAF since the drivers side left view is restricted by the driver side support posts and the small window so you cannot see the center of the highway. I usually see a few animals on the road (deer, wild pigs, coyotes, foxes, turkeys, quail and many ground squirrels) and not having an unobstructed view at night adds to the night driving challenge since those larger critters are the ones on the road at night.