Making it home after purchase of Leaf

[kevmk81]

I am possibly purchasing a used 2013 leaf sv this saturday. The dealership is in St Louis. I will have full charge from St Louis, and will take it to Edwardsville IL where they have a level 2 charger. From there I will need to make it to Springfield IL.

So, to our address via pretty much entirely interstate is 72.2 miles from charger to front door of our home. Interstate speeds are 70 on the interstate.

There is another option though. There is a lower mph route. 75.5 miles that I could drive it at a slower pace.

Should I choose the alternative route? I don't think the Leaf will make the 70 mph interstate route since driving the interstate speed will take too much wattage/power.

So, what are those with any experience or those in the know, what are your thoughts? Will I make it home? Do I need to drive 55 or less?

 

[inphoenix]

Congrats on your purchase. Yes take the alternative route and drive slower. Use plugshare.com to check if there are any other chargers on the way that you could use.

 

[kevmk81]

Congrats on your purchase. Yes take the alternative route and drive slower. Use plugshare.com to check if there are any other chargers on the way that you could use.

There aren't any on the way home between Edwardsville and Springfield.

Hven't bought it yet. It will be this weekend

 

[Stanton]

Should I choose the alternative route? I don't think the Leaf will make the 70 mph interstate route since driving the interstate speed will take too much wattage/power.

So, what are those with any experience or those in the know, what are your thoughts? Will I make it home? Do I need to drive 55 or less?

Just because the speed limit = 70 doesn't mean you have to drive 70. I've driven <60 mph on the highway (with a few exceptions) for 4 years...and never had a problem. I don't know what the true capacity is of your battery (do you?), but lower speed = longer distance.

 

[HornsKeith]

You can also ask the dealership about delivery. Some larger dealerships have a captive (owned) flatbed fleet and can deliver for very reasonable prices. I had my 2015 delivered from three hours away.

Keith

 

[Graffi]

+1 to having it delivered, if reasonable. I would avoid the back roads and take the freeway, stay in the right lane and set cruise control at 55 mph. I would also set the car in Echo and B mode. I am still able to take an 85 mile R/T on the freeway and get home without reaching VLBW, which means that I still have hidden miles below zero. I also have a LeafDD and watch my gids when I get close. We now have over 37k miles on our 2.5 year old leaf.

 

[dhanson865]

I am possibly purchasing a used 2013 leaf sv this saturday. The dealership is in St Louis. I will have full charge from St Louis, and will take it to Edwardsville IL where they have a level 2 charger. From there I will need to make it to Springfield IL.

So, to our address via pretty much entirely interstate is 72.2 miles from charger to front door of our home. Interstate speeds are 70 on the interstate.

There is another option though. There is a lower mph route. 75.5 miles that I could drive it at a slower pace.

Should I choose the alternative route? I don't think the Leaf will make the 70 mph interstate route since driving the interstate speed will take too much wattage/power.

So, what are those with any experience or those in the know, what are your thoughts? Will I make it home? Do I need to drive 55 or less?

I drove a used leaf home from another state last year. At one point I had to make a 85 mile hop from the TN/NC border to my house (I could stop to charge a dozen places but they all charged outragous rates and I would have to charge at 3.6 KW which is about 12 miles an hour).

So to make the 85 mile hop I charged to full at the last free charger I could and then drove 45 mph the rest of the way home. I figured 45 mph was faster than 12 mph so I was better off to drive slow than to stop to charge.

I only had 83% SOH. If you have more than 83% SOH you can drive faster but take a portable air compressor and pump your tires up to 40+ PSI while you are charging on your first charging stop or at the dealership before you start out.

I'd take the alternate route if you have any concern about range and do the 45 or 50 until you know you have a bit of reserve.

If the alternate route has multiple points where you can cut over to the interstate and speed up then consider using both routes, taking it slow and then switching once you have enough reserve to go faster.

 

[knightmb]

I am possibly purchasing a used 2013 leaf sv this saturday. The dealership is in St Louis. I will have full charge from St Louis, and will take it to Edwardsville IL where they have a level 2 charger. From there I will need to make it to Springfield IL.

So, to our address via pretty much entirely interstate is 72.2 miles from charger to front door of our home. Interstate speeds are 70 on the interstate.

There is another option though. There is a lower mph route. 75.5 miles that I could drive it at a slower pace.

Should I choose the alternative route? I don't think the Leaf will make the 70 mph interstate route since driving the interstate speed will take too much wattage/power.

So, what are those with any experience or those in the know, what are your thoughts? Will I make it home? Do I need to drive 55 or less?

Plugshare is great for this kind of planning. So from, St. Louis, MO to Edwardsville, IL is about +25 miles and the elevation is only about 200 feet change (uphill) which won't affect range too much. Does your SV have a QC charge port? Plug share shows a QC in Edwardsville? From Edwardsville to Springfield, IL, it shows about 74 miles, so you'll have to be at 100% charge before leaving Edwardsville. There is a slight 300 feet elevation climb 1/3 into the trip, then it is all downhill to Springfield, IL. Do you know the battery state on your 2013 SV? I know mine (similar 2013 SV) could easily make the 74 mile trip (with so little elevation to worry about) at the speed limit and have some spare, but if you want to arrive in Springfield and not have range anxiety as a new Leaf owner, just do 62 mph or less the entire trip (use cruise control) and you'll make it home just fine with plenty to spare in Springfield to get to your house. If the weather is good to avoid using climate control, you'll be even more comfortable.

 

[speedski97]

first enjoy your new leaf . To make trip look at the rang chart http://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=4295. being new to the leaf . and Knowing the cars range is down 10 % at that age. 70 miles is a no go, it would be at 30 MPH to make that . there is a L2 charger in Granite City at American Steel foundries. this cuts the trip in half it is about 50 miles on both sides . It would take about 2 hours to charge @ 6.6 K , and still pushes the range for your first trip in a new car quite hard.
To make this trip I would use the DC fast chargers in the area, it would be a little more driving , but a lot easier. Looking at plugshare.com I would drive to Dommarito Nissan in Hazelwood MO. (This is a charge point site. you will need a card call Charge point sign up, it will work for this weekend too.) this is a dc fast charger so in 20 Min. you should be back on the road. about 30 miles to Auto centers Nissan in Woodriver IL they have a dc fast charger again 20 min. you are on the road to home 30 more miles ...Easy!

The route has lots of charge stations on it so if you need to top off you can, if you have Questions along the way you are at the Nissan dealer , you can ask. I think it will be easier on you and faster overall.

 

[BiggieJohn]

I would drive it 20-30 miles locally around the dealership (and near available charging) to ensure the range is as expected.
If it makes it 20-30 miles at freeway speeds then charge to 100% and drive home. May take a few hours, but at least you know the real range available on the battery. I had a bad experience with a 2012 SL recently that barely made it 18 miles, turns out there were several bad cells.

 

[speedski97]

Check the 110 charge cord, the l2 and the l3 before you buy the car. Also there is a 2012 sl in Chicago for $7100 it looks like a good deal?

 

[LeftieBiker]

The alternate route at 45MPH is your best bet. I'm conservative about range but I'd risk that option. Just make sure you have the L-1 charging cable with you.

I would avoid the back roads and take the freeway, stay in the right lane and set cruise control at 55 mph. I would also set the car in Echo and B mode.

B mode only helps with city driving, and with going down very steep hills. On the freeway it would probably result in a net loss of range, as semi-coasting in D is far more efficient than using regen. The latter wastes about 60% of the energy available, as heat.

 

[RonDawg]

Should I choose the alternative route? I don't think the Leaf will make the 70 mph interstate route since driving the interstate speed will take too much wattage/power.

So, what are those with any experience or those in the know, what are your thoughts? Will I make it home? Do I need to drive 55 or less?

Just because the speed limit = 70 doesn't mean you have to drive 70. I've driven <60 mph on the highway (with a few exceptions) for 4 years...and never had a problem.

You also have to balance that with the fact that people in many parts of the US tend to treat speed limit signs as a suggestion. On LA's 65 MPH freeways it's not unusual for people to be doing 80+ if traffic permits. 55 is the absolute slowest I will go, and only because in California semi-trucks and any vehicle towing a trailer is by law limited to 55 MPH even on the 70 MPH stretches, so it's not hard to find a semi-truck doing about that speed or maybe 60. I wouldn't do that in a state where trucks are allowed to go as fast as the cars.

 

[Flyct]

Brings back memory of our trip after purchasing a 2015 SL. Actually the first time I drove a Leaf. I thought that 101 miles on the gom was telling the truth.

The trip was 115 miles started at 9 pm. Dealer had fully charged it. The wife was following in her car, so worst case, if needed we could have parked it if we couldn't find an open charge station and come back the following day.

Drove it 60 MPH on interstate at night with no AC and windows closed for minimal drag. Not much traffic that time of night on a weekday. I stopped after 50 miles with gom showing 40 miles remaining. I Found an available L2 charger at closed Nissan dealer at 10 pm and charged for about 1 1/2 hours, until gom went from 40 miles to 85 miles charge. Drove remaining 65 miles on the interstate at 60 mph and made it home with VLB flashing.

The new 2015 was over 1 year old and after buying LeafSpy the first week of ownership I found it was 95% SOH. That was on Nov 4th. Today, almost 5 months later the SOH is at 94% but it's been as low as 92%.

After that trip I've grown to love LeafSpy and Plugshare.

 

[jsdugan]

Hey Kevmk81 - I sent you a PM - I am from Springfield as well. I was going to let you know about a charger on the South side of town, but after calculating the miles, it looks like your door to door mileage is only 1 mile more than the charger location I know of. Feel free to send me a PM if you want more information.

ALSO, if you create an account and log into PlugShare, and choose to show residential chargers, there is a guy that is about 11 miles North of the charging station in Edwardsville. I don't know the guy at all, but he might be willing to help out to top you off to make sure you get home?

 

[speedski97]

let us know how your trip went?

 

[kevmk81]

Not all that well. Turns out the rear bumper has a crack in it - so at some point I will be getting that replaced. I might do it myself though. Buy the part and install myself... anyone have experience in that?

Bought the carr though. Drives very nice, brakes work perfectly (actually better than the new 2016 I test drove in town - imo). Low miles. SV trim. I couldn't resist! I feel like I got a decent deal too.

So on the way out of town, I stopped at the last EVSE from Edwardsville IL to Springfield IL. Charged the car while I ate dinner with my family. They left to go back home after dropping me back off at my vehicle.

I grab my directions from a text that I sent myself from Google maps using my iphone's google app. I start the route. I initially wanted to do the trip off of the interstate, and that's the route I thought I was using. Then about 20 minutes into the drive I see that it's putting me on the interstate!!!!! I wasn't too happy. We had/have a strong wind from the north west tonight. 20ish mph.

Long story short, I made it home with maybe 2 or 3 miles left in the battery. Didn't turn into turtle mode but I know it was close. The 'very low battery' warning came on, which I believe the next one is the turtle.

My saving grace was my wife that came back down the interstate and gave me a draft the rest of the way home. Ended up going 45 on a 70 mph interstate. Got home at 10:30 tonight. Very stressful drive and NOT happy with Google apps for essentially re-routing my customized route from Google maps. Bummed about the bumper.

 

[LeftieBiker]

All things considered, you did pretty well. I understand the justified anxiety at the time, but hopefully you can look on the bright side: you now know the car's range in poor case scenarios. The bumper shouldn't be that hard to replace: it's the expense and wait for the parts that are usually an issue, and hopefully one of those at least the dealer will handle. If the crack isn't huge, you can fix it for now with the right epoxy, a small artist-type paint brush, and a little patience.

 

[RonDawg]

Turns out the rear bumper has a crack in it - so at some point I will be getting that replaced. I might do it myself though. Buy the part and install myself... anyone have experience in that?

I have not done this myself, but FYI when you have the bumper painted, make sure either the body shop does it while the bumper is OFF the car, or that the body shop has a qualified shop remove the traction battery before the car is put into the paint booth to be heat-cured. heat-curing the entire car with the battery still in place will cause even further degradation.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Since they'd use plasticizing agents in the paint to make it more flexible on the bumper, I don't think they'd heat-cure it. I don't know what paints are used these days, but when I installed a new bumper on my old Civic Si and painted it, I sure didn't use heat to cure it. In any case, it's better to avoid the risk.