Moving from Orange County(LA) to San Jose

[yorkhung]

Hello,
I just got a job offer and need to move to San Jose next month.
I'm living in Orange County currently so it's not easy to move my LEAF by driving it.
Does anyone has experience of to moving the LEAF to some place far away?
Potentially I can follow the pioneer and drive the car, but I'm very afraid the charging station would be taken.

Thanks

 

[cwerdna]

Tony Williams drove his Leaf BC2BC last year: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=198034" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. It's not easy, but not impossible either. Other Leafers helped drive his car back in the other direction.

 

[RonDawg]

If you will be driving a rental moving truck, just rent a dolly or flatbed trailer. UHaul and all the major truck rental firms have them. Dolly only lifts one set of wheels (which would be the front for a FWD car like the Leaf), flatbed is just like a flatbed tow truck. I helped a friend move from LA to Seattle many years ago, and we put his car on a dolly.

If you will be using a professional van service, I have seen them load cars into the lower level and put your stuff on a platform above it.

 

[cwerdna]

^^^
FWIW, during Tony Williams' Phoenix range test, unfortunately, 4 cars were damaged by a (bad?) tow dolly, including his. I can't find the link to the pics of it.

As for loading a car into a moving van, yes. I had that done for me before. IIRC, in my case, they built a platform inside the van and put my car up above items.

I've had 2 of my cars shipped before by Dependable Auto Shippers. They sent a local towing company to pick up my both my cars. I believe 1 went on a flatbed and the other on a trailer (can't find the pics right now). I believe they were loaded onto a larger car carrier for the trip.

I've also had a car shipped by Plycar (out of my own pocket). It went into the back of a huge big rig. I recall a Tesla Roadster and a brand new Porsche 911 in the back of the truck. There was another Roadster in the truck at dropoff. (Tesla was still selling the Roadster back then.)

When I got estimates from moving companies for my own out-of-pocket move, they mentioned it'd be more $ to have a car shipped in the moving van w/my belongings than to have a dedicated car shipping company do it.

 

[johnqh]

If you have a ICE car, you would drive it up yourself, right?

Why will EV be different?

There are enough charging stations on the way to make it work. If you have QC, you only need to stay one night. Without QC, maybe three nights.

Treat it as a leisure trip to sightsee along the route.

 

[RonDawg]

If you have a ICE car, you would drive it up yourself, right?

Why will EV be different?

There are enough charging stations on the way to make it work. If you have QC, you only need to stay one night. Without QC, maybe three nights.

Treat it as a leisure trip to sightsee along the route.

Some folks don't want to spend 3 or 4 days driving a route that most people do in well under 12 hours even with stops. I know I wouldn't.

Per PlugShare, there are no CHAdeMO stations between Glendale and Salinas. That's 300 miles he'll have to span on just L2, and much of it in fairly hilly terrain.

I don't know about you, but the thought of having to spend several hours in King City (a must as that's the only town with L2 in the 100 miles between Paso Robles and Salinas) doesn't exactly thrill me.

 

[johnqh]

If you have a ICE car, you would drive it up yourself, right?

Why will EV be different?

There are enough charging stations on the way to make it work. If you have QC, you only need to stay one night. Without QC, maybe three nights.

Treat it as a leisure trip to sightsee along the route.

Some folks don't want to spend 3 or 4 days driving a route that most people do in well under 12 hours even with stops. I know I wouldn't.

Per PlugShare, there are no CHAdeMO stations between Glendale and Salinas. That's 300 miles he'll have to span on just L2, and much of it in fairly hilly terrain.

I don't know about you, but the thought of having to spend several hours in King City (a must as that's the only town with L2 in the 100 miles between Paso Robles and Salinas) doesn't exactly thrill me.

True, but from Salinas to Atascadero is only 100 miles. He only need to charge a little over 2 hours (assuming he has the 2013 Leaf) at King City. It is just a long lunch.

And there may be RV park on the way which allows EV charging. So King City may not be the only option.

If he uses a moving company, he would have to fly, rent a car, wait for days for his Leaf to arrive. It is not a fun deal either.

 

[Rat]

Once you move, avoid Stevens Creek Nissan for service or anything else if you can. They are extremely hostile to Leaf owners. You can't charge your Leaf there since you didn't buy it there. Sunnyvale Nissan is very accommodating as is Boardwalk Nissan in Redwood City. I can't speak for other dealers farther east or south, although I had no trouble charging at Fremont Nissan (I think that's named Premier Nissan). I know Orange County isn't exactly cheap but be prepared for sticker shock on the housing front.

 

[yorkhung]

Thanks for all the input. I got few quote from the car moving companies and it's around $350 for the trip.
I did consider driving myself but my 2012 Leaf will take a long time to charge.
The range will also suffer since I'll need to put my stuff in the car with extra weight.
Lastly I'm always worry that there are some other Leafer or ICE taking up the charging spot.
I have seen many places where I can't charge because other cars are parking at the place for long time.
So far I have been enjoying many free charging places in the Orange County, I now wonder if it's the same in SJ.

 

[RonDawg]

True, but from Salinas to Atascadero is only 100 miles. He only need to charge a little over 2 hours (assuming he has the 2013 Leaf) at King City. It is just a long lunch.

Paso Robles to King City is 53 miles. As he will be using up most of his range by the time he gets to King City, he will need more than 2 hours' worth of charge to make it the remaining 47 miles to Salinas, especially with the 2012's slower charger.

To the OP: unless you can get it cheaper, I say pay the $350 to have it transported. If they damage the car, they pay to fix or replace it, and no worries about whether or not a charger along the way is being used, ICE'd, or not in operation.

 

[Drivegreen]

I'm pretty sure it can be done at this point ... that aside, I've used a1autotransport inc to ship mine a few times. For my purposes, it was across the country, but they have offices throughout California so I'm sure it would easy for them to ship from LA to the Bay Area.

 

[Drivegreen]

Disregard, didn't realize this was from 2013.