Running Out of Juice

[LEAFfan]

I think it is just too risky to plan a 90 mile round trip with any confidence on a single charge. Too many variables of air conditioner use, weight of occupants, hills, speed, wind resistance. Unless you can recharge at your destination, your ability to get home is very in doubt. Welcome to range anxiety.

That may be for you, but I would make that trip easily. In fact, I could make a 90 mile round trip on an 80% charge. Range anxiety? :lol:

 

[muus]

Gerry, will something smaller say a 1000W generator like a Honda EU1000i charge a Leaf?

http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/products/models.aspx?page=models&section=P2GG&category=sq

A small lightweight generator like an EU1000i could be a pretty handy item to keep at home as a transportable backup in case it's needed when all else fails...

No, the EU1000i isn't powerful enough. The Leaf draws 12A @ 120v which is 1440W. The specs for the EU2000i indicate it is capable of supplying 1600W continuous so it should in theory do the job.

http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/...tion=P2GG&modelname=EU2000i&modelid=EU2000IKN

 

[garygid]

The EU1000i might only be rated for 800 watts continuous?

IF (yes, IF) the EVSE could be set to the minimum 6-amp "Max-Amp" setting (6 x 120 = 720 watts), then the car would charge VERY slowly (something like a 40-hour charge), or maybe 2 miles per hour of such slow charging.

But with our "fixed" 12-amp setting, it would overload the generator, and the output voltage would probably not be enough for the LEAF's internal charger to work properly.

Best to not even try it.

 

[GerryAZ]

MXP,

As others have noted, the EU1000i is too small to charge the LEAF. I have experience using the EU2000i with test equipment and believe it would be a good choice. I got the 3000 because I want to use it for emergency power at the house and also to run my welder so the 2000 is not quite enough for my needs.

Gerry

 

[Electric4Me]

I think it is just too risky to plan a 90 mile round trip with any confidence on a single charge. Too many variables of air conditioner use, weight of occupants, hills, speed, wind resistance. Unless you can recharge at your destination, your ability to get home is very in doubt. Welcome to range anxiety.

That may be for you, but I would make that trip easily. In fact, I could make a 90 mile round trip on an 80% charge. Range anxiety? :lol:

Luchaks's "mistake" was driving "too fast", but range anxiety only comes when one is anxious about the possible results if you don't make it. Instead, he planned for the occasion, and the resulting adventure, and learned something! Thanks for sharing luchaks!

As for how easy the car is to push, I was surprised yesterday while driving down a moderate hill at 65 that when I put it in N it really started picking up speed... I'm not coasting at that speed in my gas car!

 

[mxp]

MXP,

As others have noted, the EU1000i is too small to charge the LEAF. I have experience using the EU2000i with test equipment and believe it would be a good choice. I got the 3000 because I want to use it for emergency power at the house and also to run my welder so the 2000 is not quite enough for my needs.

Gerry

Thanks for the advice Gerry, and those who responded. Is the EU2000i specs indicated 1 gallon of gasoline: 9.6 hrs of use, so it is safe to assume that 1 gallon of gas will charge the Leaf to say 70% @ 120V right?

What about the option of purchasing a similar Honda generator from overseas say in countries where there is 240V general electricals? Those generators would offer 230/240V outlets on the generators wouldn't they?

 

[TonyWilliams]

What about the option of purchasing a similar Honda generator from overseas say in countries where there is 240V general electricals? Those generators would offer 230/240V outlets on the generators wouldn't they?

At 50 hz, vice 60 in North America.

 

[jkirkebo]

MXP,

Thanks for the advice Gerry, and those who responded. Is the EU2000i specs indicated 1 gallon of gasoline: 9.6 hrs of use, so it is safe to assume that 1 gallon of gas will charge the Leaf to say 70% @ 120V right?

A litre of gasoline would normally get you about 2kWh output, so a gallon is about 7.5kWh. Thus you would need at least 3 gallons to charge a Leaf from near empty to full. Probably a bit more since there are charging losses. 4 gallons should really be enough.

 

[youngr3]

Question...if you had two each of the Honda 2000 watt generators and took the hot line from each of them could you get 220 volts for charging at 220 V and 16 amps?

 

[DaveEV]

Question...if you had two each of the Honda 2000 watt generators and took the hot line from each of them could you get 220 volts for charging at 220 V and 16 amps?

There's a whole thread for this already:

Two briefcase Honda/Yamaha generators for 240 volts ???

 

[jwatte]

I called my friend down the street that I would need his generator.

The car comes with three years of roadside assistance. Call them, and they'll tow/flat-bed you to home or a dealer where you can charge. Just make sure to put it in neutral and tow it with front wheels up if it's not a flat-bed.
Additionally, both me and my wife has AAA, and the furthest I drive is about 30 miles away, so most of the time, I've given up on the range anxiety. On an 80% charge, doing the "longer" trip, I got back home with 17 miles left. Guess I'm just not as adventurous
I really appreciate your message, though, because I've been estimating my 100% range on freeway to about 90 miles, and that seems to agree with yours. (3.7 miles per kWh, times 24 kWh).

 

[planet4ever]

The car comes with three years of roadside assistance. Call them, and they'll tow/flat-bed you to home or a dealer where you can charge.

Does anyone know for sure that they will tow you home? The warranty booklet just says, "Roadside Assistance will arrange to transport the vehicle to the nearest Nissan LEAF certified dealer." It makes no mention of home as an alternative. It does specifically say that "Out of charge" is covered, and that "There is no charge for the dispatch of on-site or towing service."

Ray

 

[Herm]

The emergency service dispatcher can PROBABLY authorize a tow home, especially on a weekend or nighttime when dealerships are closed, but you need to get that approved before the tow truck gets to your car.

 

[lettcco]

awesome story, thanks for sharing.

A tip I want to share is you can usually find a 120V outlet at strip mall which has kiddie rides or water dispenser outside. Might save your butt when nightfall comes and you need a charge desperately.

 

[DarkStar]

awesome story, thanks for sharing.

A tip I want to share is you can usually find a 120V outlet at strip mall which has kiddie rides or water dispenser outside. Might save your butt when nightfall comes and you need a charge desperately.

Also, park by a tree. Seriously though, most strip malls with trees like to put lights up in them in the winter, so they put outlets nearby them. One mall locally has two outlets in every tree "box" (about every 15 feet).

 

[Turbo3]

luchaks, Does your Leaf have the updated firmware which recalibrated the 12 bars and estimated range numbers? I am thinking it does not.

The reason I ask is I have the new firmware and when I ran my Leaf down to zero bars I got a different behavior than what you reported. When the estimate dropped to 15 miles the last bar went away. At 10 miles estimate I got the low battery warning and the Nav system gave me a list of nearby charge points. At this point the range dropped one mile at a time (10-9-8-7-6-5) as I continued to drive. At 5 miles left I was in my garage.

When I charged back up it took 21.667 kwh as reported by the Blink Charger so there was still at least 15 miles still in the pack given it must take well over 24 kwh from the wall to fill a 24 kwh battery.

For this drive I went 91.2 miles total which included a 4200 climb to Lick Observatory and down again (60 mile RT) plus a 30 mile shopping trip. Started with 100% but no A/C used (only 75 here). I averaged 5m/kwh.

 

[planet4ever]

Actually, Turbo3, your report sounds more odd-ball to me for the April upgrade than luchaks does. Everyone else seems to have reported that the "Low Battery" warning came before the last bar disappeared. Since you said the guessometer was still counting down after that, you obviously didn't confuse "Low Battery" with "Very Low Battery". (The number changes to three dashes at "VLB".) Since it is a guessometer, the number it shows when the last bar disappears can vary, though it does seem to stabilize at the low end. I think most people report the last bar disappearing at somewhere around 5 miles. 15 would be really extreme.

Just a wild thought: You aren't calling "last bar" the one above the two so-called "red bars", are you? (They aren't really red, but they are next to the two red battery capacity bars.)

As for your comment about 24 kWh capacity, the majority opinion here seems now to be that the LEAF won't let us use that much capacity, so I don't think you should take your Blink number as a basis for estimating how much available charge you still had. If you had driven about five miles after getting "LB", I doubt seriously if you still had 15 miles usable capacity.

Ray

 

[DaveEV]

As for your comment about 24 kWh capacity, the majority opinion here seems now to be that the LEAF won't let us use that much capacity, so I don't think you should take your Blink number as a basis for estimating how much available charge you still had.

Multiple people have confirmed the Blink reporting about 24-26 kWh going into the car from turtle to 100%.

If you had driven about five miles after getting "LB", I doubt seriously if you still had 15 miles usable capacity.

Given that he only had 21.7 kWh - it's not a leap to assume he had 2-3 kWh left which would give him about 10-15 miles range.

 

[Turbo3]

One correction. The guessometer reported 15 miles when the second to last bar went away so I only had one bar (red area) left. When the last bar went away it reported 10 miles and I got the low battery warning and nav system gave me the option to find a charging station. Which even listed my house which was also the nav destination.

I found it very reassuring that the guessometer went 10-9-8-7-6-5 as I got closer to home.

Never got the "---" or the very low battery message. At 5 Miles per kwh and 91.2 miles the car was reporting I used 18.24 kwh which matches the 21.667 kwh I put back in if you assume 84% wall to battery effeciency (92% charger 92% battery in/out).

I have pictures of the dash showing the "Battery level is low" message, 5 miles left, no bars at all, 91.2 miles and 5.0 average miles/kWh.

 

[Stunt822]

Why not use a tow rope wtih your friend's car, before your car locked up? This way electronics will function just ilke driving downhill. APply some brakes to get more charge
You'd get some charge (enough to self-park into garage), and you wouldn't have to wait at all.
Rope is definitely going to be standard in my cargo organizer


Otherwise, i'm thinking to buy some used small generator like this
http://yamahagenerators.com/yamaha_generator_ef2000is_pr_51.html
But at 110v you'd have to wait 30 min to go 3 miles?

But to be honest - this tendency is scary - buying a leaf forces you to go thru all this trouble.... Maybe soon there will be enough DC chargers so you could get a jump charge in 25 minutes - that will solve all issues.