Trip Reports: Long Distance Leaf

[dgalvan]

Took the family on our first Leaf "long distance" trip last weekend (between L.A. and Santa Barbara), and it all worked out well.
Thought I'd share some data and lessons-learned.
I'd welcome/encourage/invite any other long-range "trip reports" (for the Leaf or other short-range electric cars) to be posted to this thread. As a new-ish Leaf owner I'd find such stories heartening, and I imagine other new Leaf owners might as well. I'd define "long-distance" as any trip that requires you to stop and charge the car before arriving at the final destination.

Background:
We've had our 2014 Leaf S since April of this year, and up to now have not driven it more than ~40 miles from home (it's a fantastic commuter car). But on Friday my wife agreed to the idea of taking the Leaf on the 84 mile trip to visit my relatives in Goleta (north/west of Santa Barbara). My car has 12/12 capacity bars (I haven't used a device to count GIDs.)

Trip overview:
The trip normally takes us about 1 h 30 m without traffic on a Saturday morning (in an ICE car).
This time, it took about 2 hours total, since we stopped once for 30 minutes to QuickCharge in Ventura.

Mileage / Charging Data:
-It took 50% of the battery (100% to 50%) to travel 44.3 miles from hour home in Woodland HIlls to the NRG eVgo quick charge station in Pacific View Mall (Ventura).
My "EZ-Charge" card did not work with the station, though I had set up my account months ago with NRG, but after calling NRG they activated the station for me, resulting in a free quick-charge. (Would have normally cost $10.)

-Charged from 50% to 91% in 30 minutes. I walked the dog while my wife took the kids to the nearby Target for some shopping while the car charged.

-It took 56% of the battery (91% to 35%) to travel the remaining 39.2 miles from Ventura to Goleta.

-Luckily my relatives live close to the only DC Quickcharger in Santa Barbara / Goleta (at least, the only one listed on Plugshare), which is at Nissan of Goleta. After dropping off the family and putting the little one down for a nap at my relatives house, I took the car over to the quick charger. This was a Chargepoint station, and cost $5 for the quick charge. My Chargepoint card worked fine.

-QuickCharged from 33% to 100% in 54 minutes. (from 33% to 86% in 30 min; to 91% in 45 min).

-After some driving around to parks and attractions, we departed Santa Barbara the next day with only 57% in the battery.

-It took 52% of the battery (57% to 5%; I saw only dashed lines on both the charge indicator and the guess-o-meter) to travel the 41.3 miles from Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History to the Team Nissan dealership in Oxnard, which had another NRG evGo station. Again, my EZ-Charge card did not work (though I had set it up yet again the preceding night after it hadn't worked the previous day), so I again called NRG and they again issued me a free one-time charge. So, hey, my card not working actually ended up giving me a second free quick charge. Again, normally it would have cost $10.

-Charged from 5% to 87% in 27 minutes. Wife walked my 4-year old to Costco for an errand, I stayed with the dog and my sleeping 2-year old in the car.

-It took 65% of the battery (87% to 22%) to travel the 38.3 miles from Team Nissan in Oxnard to our home in Woodland Hills (!). I attribute this poor efficiency to the fact I was driving ~70mph this whole leg (kids were getting antsy), and that there is a long, steep hill coming up out of Camarillo into Thousand Oaks.

Lessons Learned:

-The entire trip from home to Goleta (83.5 miles) took 106% of the battery charge. Efficiency: 1.3% per mile
-The entire trip from Santa Barbara to my house (79.6 miles) took 116% of the battery. Efficiency: 1.5% per mile
(I didn't make a conscious effort to drive slower, and drove my typical 70 mph when I could.)

-If I had paid for all 3 quick charges (only reason I didn't was because my EZ-charge card wasn't working), it would have cost a total of $25. That's pretty darn close to what the gas would have cost me had I taken this trip in my other car, a 22 mpg Hyundai Santa Fe (I estimate that cost would have been ~$23.87 assuming $3.22 per gallon). If someone did the trip in a fuel-efficient car like a Prius, it would definitely have cost less for gas than the quick charging costs in an electric vehicle. I could have mitigated this a bit by charging at my relative's house, but didn't want to impose on them. Alternately, I probably could have gotten by with charging at a Level 2 charger in Ventura for an hour, which would have given me about 20% of the battery, enough to get me to the quick charger in Goleta, and only costing me $2 instead of the $10 quick-charge fee.

Still, with NRG charging $10 for a quick-charge, driving an electric car on a long-range trip is NOT attractive from a cost-of-fuel perspective. ($5 per quick charge is much more reasonable, IMHO. Kudos to Chargepoint.)

-Stopping to quick charge really wasn't a big deal from my wife/kids' perspective. Since the charging stations were within walking distance of useful stores (a Target in Ventura, and a Costco in Oxnard) We were able to use the stops to get some shopping done that we would have normally had to make additional trips for anyway, so the time was not in any way wasted.

 

[recmob]

Thanks for taking the time to document your travels. I'm only into my 2nd week with a 2015 'S' and drive 44 miles each way. Just received my EVSE 240 volt mod on Sat, yahoo! Only 4 hrs to charge here at work today. Good thing, its quite windy and I might need that charge. I typically see 50% used for that mileage as well.

Took the family on our first Leaf "long distance" trip last weekend [/b]

 

[heathATL]

Thanks for the summary. I'm planning to take a similar length trip to see my in-laws about 95 miles away. I plan to stop for a lvl 2 charge half-way there.

 

[2k1Toaster]

We only just starting taking the Leaf "out of range" too. We've had it for just over a year, and are now doing 170mi round trips but still it is not as comfortable as just taking the Prius.

And the Prius would only cost $9.50 in gas for the entire trip.

 

[recmob]

I considered a Prius, but with 85% highway daily I couldn't see where the savings would be in my case.

And the Prius would only cost $9.50 in gas for the entire trip.

 

[2k1Toaster]

I considered a Prius, but with 85% highway daily I couldn't see where the savings would be in my case.

And the Prius would only cost $9.50 in gas for the entire trip.

I get 45mpg minimum, usually 50mpg average when travelling at 80+ mph. In town, it goes up even more. Our Prius is essentially 80+mile trips only now. And that's with sticky winter tires and mountainous terrain.

The Leaf is a great car for a different purpose. The novelty of driving it further is just that, a novelty. I am sure in a couple months we will be bored of Quick Charging and the Leaf will remain in its little boundary area as it was before.

 

[billg]

Here's my report on a "LD" trip I took back in September. As a new LEAF driver, I learned a lot.
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=18035&start=10#p390906

 

[dgalvan]

Trip Report: Los Angeles to San Diego

Background: Drove down to SD and back twice over the holidays, (two round trips). I logged data for 3 out of the 4 legs.
Actually it was from Woodland Hills (western San Fernando Valley) to El Cajon (east county San Diego), a distance of 155 miles via the 101, 405, 5, and 8 freeways. My actual distance driven was a few miles more due to driving to the charging station locations.
Most charging was done for free at participating No Charge To Charge CHADEMO stations.

1st Leg: December 20, Woodland Hills to El Cajon 160.3 miles:
(Drove 70-75 mph most of the way, except for a patch of traffic where I was going ~30 mph for 20 min or so, south of San Juan Capistrano)

* Departed Woodland Hills @ 7:47 am with 100% State of Charge (SOC)

* Used 73% to go 52.7 miles (SOC: From 100% at home down to 27% at Westminster mall.)
* Stop 1 Westminster Mall NRG evGo: Charged 61% in 30 min (27% to 88%) on CHADEMO.
Charged 1% in 6 min (88% to 89%) on level 2.
* Used 43% to go 31.3 miles (89% to 47%) (Westminster to Residence Inn San Juan Capistrano.)
* Stop 2 Residence Inn San Juan Capistrano: Charged 45% in 36 min. (47% to 92%)
* Used 60% to go 44.8 miles (92 to 32) from residence inn to flower hill promenade.
* Stop 3 Flower Hill Promenade: Charged 24% in 7 min. (32% to 56%)
* Used 42% to go 31.5 miles (56% to 14%)

* Arrived El Cajon @ 12:15 pm with 14% SOC.

* Overall, used 218% to go 160.3 miles. Took 4.5 hours total. Required three stops. Fuel cost: $5
(Residence Inn Chargepoint station cost $5 for QC. All others were free via NCTC.) . Technically possible with only two stops, but charging station locations make that difficult given 40ish mile gap around Camp Pendleton.

Efficiency: 1.4% per mile.

 

[mwalsh]

^ Nice! Things have changed a lot in 4 years. That trip would have taken quite a bit longer when there were no quick chargers. Actually, I personally wouldn't have even tried it.

 

[dgalvan]

Trip Report: San Diego to Santa Monica

December 22, El Cajon to Santa Monica 145 miles:
(Drove 70-75 mph most of the way, except for between Carlsbad and Westminster where I tried to "draft" behind trucks and probably traveled 60 mph most of the way.)

* Left El Cajon @ 4:00 am
* Used 55% to go 42.3 miles to Carlsbad premium outlet (100% to 45% SOC)
* Stop 1 Carlsbad Premium Outlet: Charged 46% in mins (45% to 91%) (to 70 in 10 min, to 80 in 15 min, to 91 in 30 min)
* Used 79% to go 64 miles to Westminster Mall. (91% to 12%) ("drafting" 2.5 car lengths behind trucks, no heat)
* Stop 2 Westminster Mall: Charged 41% in 30 mins (45% to 86%)
* Used 48% to go 40.3 miles to Santa Monica (86% to 38%)
* Arrived Santa Monica, @ 7:52 am.

* Overall, used 182% to go 146.6 miles. Took 3 hrs 52 min total. Required two stops. Fuel cost: $0
(Both NRG evGo were free via NCTC.)

Efficiency: 1.2% per mile

 

[dgalvan]

Trip Report: Long Beach to San Diego (El Cajon)

December 23, Long Beach to El Cajon 116 miles (assuming no stops):
(Drove ~30 mph in traffic the first leg, then ~70 mph the rest of the way.)

* Departed Long Beach @ 5:44 pm (SOC 91%)
* Used 42% to go 38.9 miles (91% to 49%) to Shops at Mission Viejo. Arrived 6:55 pm, so average speed was 30.3 mph.
* (Considered trying to make it all the way to Carlsbad Premium Outlets without stopping at Mission Viejo, which would have meant trying to drive 78.1 miles with 91% charge. Guess-o-meter said 47 miles when I got to Mission Viejo, and it was only 39.2 miles remaining. Decided not to risk it and stopped at Mission Viejo.)
* Stop 1 Shops at Mission Viejo: Charged 42% in 30 min (49% to 91%). Took another 20 min at the mall shopping. Left at 7:45.
* (Passed Carlsbad Premium Outlets charging station on freeway with 43% remaining. So only would have had ~2% left if I hadn't stopped at Mission Viejo. Perhaps better I didn't risk it.)
* Used 61% to go 50.3 miles (91% to 30%) to flower hill promenade.
* Stop 2 Flower Hill Promenade: Charged 62% in 30 min (30% to 92%). (and did some shopping at Whole Foods)
* Used 40% to go 30.4 miles to El Cajon. (92% to 52%)
*Arrived El Cajon at 9:15 pm.

* Overall used 143% to go 119.6 miles. Took 3 hrs 31 min total. Required two stops. Fuel cost: $0 . (Took 3 hrs 11 min if you subtract the extra 20 min I spent shopping in Mission Viejo after my car was already done charging.)
(Both NRG evGo were free via NCTC.)

Efficiency: 1.2% per mile.

 

[13leafSF]

Long story short - I'm getting a hybrid as my second car when my lease expires.