San Jose to Capitola Beach and back?

[trentr]

Hello, has anyone tried this route before without charging? Basically, South San Jose to Capitola beach or Santa Cruz Boardwalk and back. It would be great to take the LEAF to the beach.

http://tinyurl.com/3nw9sd5

 

[DeaneG]

As long as you don't decide to do anything else while you are at the beach, you might make the round trip on 100% charge. But I'd bring a book and a charging map, or take a different car for more flexibility and less wide-eyed pucker on the return.

Just depends on whether you want the overall trip to be about the beach, or about the car.

 

[DaveEV]

Should be possible on a full charge. You can get away with some fairly low speeds (50-60 mph) going over the mountain and back down depending on traffic. Someone's got to be the first to go over the mountain!

 

[surfingslovak]

I haven't tried this, but I would like to. There appears to be a new Coulomb station at Ecology Action in downtown SC and another one close to Seacliff State Beach.

 

[gascant]

You should have no trouble making it there and back on 100% charge. Figure what goes up must come down. I routinely do 61 miles/day round trip (admittedly flat) with plenty of electrons to spare (3-4 bars). Don't watch the range indicator when you do it--just monitor the number of bars left in the SOC. At 7 miles per bar, you should be good.

 

[trentr]

Interesting, ChargePoint says that they have a charger at this address from the link you provided http://www.coulombtech.com/blog/coulomb-tech/chargepoint-network-expands-santa-cruz-calif/

City of Capitola, upper parking lot behind City Hall, 420 Capitola Ave. Capitola

But then the iPhone app is not listing the charger. It would be awesome if that is available since it is only a quarter mile to Capitola beach.

 

[surfingslovak]

Yes, this station is not listed anywhere. I was able to source another article through 4evriders.org and although the station seems legit, perhaps it would be worth emailing Steve Jesberg, the Public Works Director in Capitola, to confirm: [email protected]

 

[planet4ever]

I haven't tried this, but I would like to. There appears to be a new Coulomb station at Ecology Action in downtown SC.

Yes, I've been looking at that. I thought it would be nice to take my two teen-age grandsons to the Boardwalk and recharge for three or four hours while they are there. It's quite a hike down (and back up!) from Ecology Action, but there is a sort of local bus system. Very roundabout and infrequent, though. Another possibility would be to drop them off and drive back to the Chargepoint, staying in or near the car until the boys call for a pick-up. I'd rather read a book, anyway, than watch them go on the Giant Dipper and other fast rides. They're 16 and 20, big enough to take care of themselves.

I should say that I wouldn't be taking 17, since I live south of San Jose in Morgan Hill. I would go across Hecker Pass on 152 and take 1 to Santa Cruz. It's an 80+ mile round trip, which I think would be pushing it without a booster charge, given two times over the 1000 foot pass and 500 pounds of live meat in the car.

Ray

 

[surfingslovak]

I should say that I wouldn't be taking 17, since I live south of San Jose in Morgan Hill. I would go across Hecker Pass on 152 and take 1 to Santa Cruz. It's an 80+ mile round trip, which I think would be pushing it without a booster charge, given two times over the 1000 foot pass and 500 pounds of live meat in the car.

Ray

Ray, would you mind sharing any relevant trip details if you decided to go? I'll do the same.

Best,
George

 

[trentr]

Yes, this station is not listed anywhere. I was able to source another article through 4evriders.org and although the station seems legit, perhaps it would be worth emailing Steve Jesberg, the Public Works Director in Capitola, to confirm: [email protected]

I've contacted him,

"The EV charger in Capitola is not yet operational. It should be in the next two weeks. Please check with me again in a week and we should have a firm date."

I'll try again in two weeks. I'm assuming this is a Level 2?

 

[surfingslovak]

I've contacted him,

"The EV charger in Capitola is not yet operational. It should be in the next two weeks. Please check with me again in a week and we should have a firm date."

I'll try again in two weeks. I'm assuming this is a Level 2?

Ah, good to hear! I believe that it will be a Coulomb CT2100, which has one J1772 240V port and one standard NEMA 5-20 120V port.

 

[gasmiser1]

I haven't tried this, but I would like to. There appears to be a new Coulomb station at Ecology Action in downtown SC and another one close to Seacliff State Beach.

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There are 3 Coulomb stations at Santa Cruz Ecology. I checked them out. One separate along a parallel parking space and two others very narrow in width, sandwiched between two ICE car spaces (guaranteed door dings).

 

[cdrews]

I have done pretty much that exact route a number of times in the past months. It's easily doable. I arrive in downtown Santa Cruz with 4 bars missing which would get me back easily without topping off.
Going there I always drive very careful so I will surely make it back without a charge. Coming back everything goes
I sometimes charge at the Ecology location. They are awesome, right next to the main drag in downtown Santa Cruz. If just every charge location was that convenient.

 

[Rat]

This is somewhat encouraging to me, but I'm still not convinced. My drive is from Los Altos to Aptos (Seascape) and back when I go. Seascape is an additional 10 mi. at least from Santa Cruz and I'm farther N to start with, too. I'd say that's another 30-35 miles round trip, and I don't go into downtown S. Cruz, so I'm not sure where I'd charge. I recently made the trip but took the Acura. Why push the limits and fret the whole way? My wife used the Leaf for some errands in Los Altos but never had to put as much as 15 mi. on it. I'm concerned about running short of juice not so much because of my own convenience (although that's significant) but more because I'm trying to set an example with the Leaf of how EV's are practical and one time running out by the side of the road (near the top of Hwy 17) would set back that image 100X any good PR that results from just driving around. If I hear of someone doing almost my R/T to Seascape with no trouble then I'll reconsider but it sounds too close for comfort for me. I've measured it at 84 miles with a big mountain in between twice. I don't even have 120 to plug in at Seascape since the carport there has no power.

 

[surfingslovak]

There is a new Coulomb station at 80 Albright Way off of Highway 17 in Los Gatos. It's a satellite Netflix campus with a designated EV spot and I was able to get an opportunity charge there outside of normal business hours on a Sunday afternoon. That should be on your way to Los Altos and perhaps it would help to get you home if you were running low.

 

[SparkyEV]

I've measured it at 84 miles with a big mountain in between twice.

I was surprised how small the impact was from going back and forth over the mountain. I got 4.8 miles/kWh on my round trip from South San Jose to Santa Cruz, which is not much lower than the 5.0 miles/kWh I get on my 55-mile commute from South San Jose to Moffett Field (mostly flat). I can understand your hesitation to go all the way to Seascape without an easy way to charge at your destination though.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=4724

 

[rwherrick]

Hello, has anyone tried this route before without charging? Basically, South San Jose to Capitola beach or Santa Cruz Boardwalk and back. It would be great to take the LEAF to the beach.

I did this trip a few months ago. I was very cautious before I did it, since I wasn't sure how much the nearly 1,800 foot elevation gain would take out in terms of range - I even did a test drive to Summit road and back to collect data on this first, and make sure I wasn't going to get stranded. But it turns out there seems to be very little penalty to range going over highway 17, so long as you drive cautiously. I stayed in the slow lane behind an 18 wheeler on the way over, and arrived with 9 bars left (!) (i.e., 3/4 full, starting from near Santana Row, at Highway 17 & I-280, about 29 miles each way). I didn't bother recharging at my friend's house after going to the Boardwalk, and just drove normally on the return trip, and used up 4 or 5 bars of charge on the way back. Capitola and back without recharging is probably do-able, provided you start with a full charge, drive in "Eco", and stay in the right lane on the way over. You can adjust your driving speed on the way back depending on how much range you have left, or change your destination to stay near a L2 charger if your results are not as favorable as mine.
I typically get nearly 5 miles per kWh on city streets; I don't drive slow, but I'm not flooring it and then braking hard either. For those who like to drive hard or get poor economy, I would say this trip might not be a good idea. I drove on 880 up to Castro Valley and that maxed the car out a lot more (76 miles at about 3 mi/kWh, including 4 hours of L1 charging that restored 5kWh / 17 miles of range; got home with 11 miles left), but that was driving at highway speeds, a lot faster than is safe to drive on Hwy 17. That's as far from home as I'll go without a L2 charger on the other end. Maybe SFO in the future.
- Bob

 

[trentr]

Update, the chargers are up. If you want to hit the beach and charge at the same time, this is it! Looks like it's only a 5 min walk to Capitola beach. It is also on the chargepointamerica.com website. Just make sure to register and have the card ready to activate the chargers.

"The EV charging stations have been installed and are operational. They are located in the Pacific Cove Parking Lot behind City Hall at 420 Capitola Ave, Capitola CA. You do need to register with chargepoint America program to use the chargers. There is no cost though. They are available 7 days a week." - Steve Jesberg, the Public Works Director in Capitola

 

[jason98]

Hello, has anyone tried this route before without charging? Basically, South San Jose to Capitola beach or Santa Cruz Boardwalk and back. It would be great to take the LEAF to the beach.

http://tinyurl.com/3nw9sd5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Did this on multiple occasions with 80%.
Also went as far as Manresa beach (with 100%) without having to recharge in a middle.
But note that I live in San Jose - Los Gatos border area so do not have to put any energy to get to hwy 17.
I takes 3 bars for me to reach the summit going from San Jose. These 3 bars stay pretty much till Santa Cruz or hwy 1 exit.
Then 1-2 bars can go on hwy 1.
Also note that going back to the valley from the sea level may consume couple more bars than going towards the ocean.

 

[planet4ever]

Also note that going back to the valley from the sea level may consume couple more bars than going towards the ocean.

I don't know exactly where you are, but that sounds odd. Vasona Reservoir, for example, is only 300 feet above sea level, which might account for half a bar. Perhaps it's a matter of timing. Speed and traffic could have more effect than that small elevation difference.

Ray