What do you think- will I be sweating it?

First, I'm VERY excited about the Leaf, particularly that it will let me stay in the coveted CA carpool lane...however, I have a bit of a commute.

28 miles each way to work and a short hop to lunch puts me at a minimum of 58-60 miles daily. A drive to a client could add 12 miles to that. In the hot SoCal summers, constant AC will be a must for several months of the year. And there is no way of charging at my office.

So...will I end up on turtle mode and barely making it to the garage and sweating it each day?

kevintari said:

First, I'm VERY excited about the Leaf, particularly that it will let me stay in the coveted CA carpool lane...however, I have a bit of a commute.

28 miles each way to work and a short hop to lunch puts me at a minimum of 58-60 miles daily. A drive to a client could add 12 miles to that. In the hot SoCal summers, constant AC will be a must for several months of the year. And there is no way of charging at my office.

So...will I end up on turtle mode and barely making it to the garage and sweating it each day?

Click to expand...

One thing is for sure, you will be charging to 100% every day, but that said, it should be smooth sailing.

kevintari said:

So...will I end up on turtle mode and barely making it to the garage and sweating it each day?

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You will be fine on your regular commute without the extra side trip. It could be very close in the summer with extra side trip depending on:

--speed
--how much you use the A/C

One of Nissan's scenarios is highway at 55 MPH, 95 degree outdoor temperature, A/C in use. Range was 70 miles, just shy of your projected 72 miles for the long days.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Leaf#Range

Honestly, with highway driving, I would feel better charging at work (obviously that may not be possible). In fact, if it were me, I wouldn't buy (at least this version of) the Leaf knowing that was my daily commute. You basically have no room for error (like going to lunch, etc.).

A HUGE amount of your problems or lack thereof will be decided by those 28 miles of highway. Drive at 60mph or less, you should be fine. If you insist on 65-70mph, you'll be scraping the bottom of the battery every day to get home. (I'm not saying you WON'T make it, but it'll be close.)

I drive 65 miles each day, at 60-mph or less, and arrive home showing 15-20 miles left and 2 or 3 bars.

YMMV.

kevintari said:

First, I'm VERY excited about the Leaf, particularly that it will let me stay in the coveted CA carpool lane...however, I have a bit of a commute.

28 miles each way to work and a short hop to lunch puts me at a minimum of 58-60 miles daily. A drive to a client could add 12 miles to that. In the hot SoCal summers, constant AC will be a must for several months of the year. And there is no way of charging at my office.

So...will I end up on turtle mode and barely making it to the garage and sweating it each day?

Click to expand...

My commute is just under 60 miles, and I normally get home with around 18-20 miles left on the Guessometer, so you should be okay. I would check to see if you can get permission to charge at work on those days you need to go to a client...just to be sure the car is a right fit for you.

I understand your excitement about the LEAF! It is a wonderful car to drive. However, if your primary objective is to stay in the carpool lane, it might not be the car for you at this time. If you end up routinely doing 75-80 mph, as is often normal in the carpool lane, you will definitely find yourself sweating the range.

One suggestion might be to see if there is a place within walking distance of your office where you can charge during the day, perhaps during the morning hours until lunchtime. Extra walking can do the body good. Another possibility would be to stop a Nissan dealer or other charge point on your way home if it looks like you're going to come up short on charge, but then that would more than negate the time advantages of being in the carpool lane. If you could drive more slowly and not use the carpool lane, the LEAF could work for you, but...

If the LEAF won't work for you, the Honda Civic GX (CNG fuel) also qualifies for the white sticker for carpool lane access. In another year or two, the Chevy Volt will likely qualify. Or you could buy a Tesla with ample range.

+1. I would suggest you wait for the LEAF 2.0 as rumors about "secret battery advancements" are leaking everywhere. The current car could work but might not depending on your driving style and expectations. Your numbers are borderline and sound like there are uncertainties in your workday. BUT, to confuse the issue further, access to public chargers would solve your situation. I wonder if Nissan realizes they could be losing potential customers due to Ecotality's failure in delivering EV Project chargers?

I would not buy the Leaf to use the carpool lanes. There could well be days that you need to putt home in the regular lanes with no air conditioning.... so yes you might be sweating a bit.

First don't be a lead foot and accelerate to fast and try coasting when ever possible..What is your avg. M/KWH ? I some time drive to work and back home twice on a 60 mile commute on one charge..It also helps that I do very little freeway driving and its on flat roads ..

kevintari said:

28 miles each way to work and a short hop to lunch puts me at a minimum of 58-60 miles daily. A drive to a client could add 12 miles to that. In the hot SoCal summers, constant AC will be a must for several months of the year. And there is no way of charging at my office.

Click to expand...

Personally, I'd be uncomfortable unless I can charge on L2 during the day. Perhaps it's because with these huge hills in Central Texas and the constant need for AC, I'd be lucky if I get more than 70 miles per charge. If your roads have smaller altitude changes, that might yield a larger range.

Just realized that there is a 110 outlet right next to my parking space at work...I can trickle charge all day- problem solved!!!

(at least I think so- math gurus, what % of charge will I get after 8 hours on 110v?)

your scenario might be close to what we did yesterday. trip was 62.3 miles with 80% freeway at 70 mph no climate control

but also had in town driving all in D mode with jackrabbit starts, etc. iow, we purposely tried to see what our minimal range would be and ended up with 12 miles left

so in your scenario, i am guessing some conservative freeway for you and you will have nothing to worry about

kevintari said:

Just realized that there is a 110 outlet right next to my parking space at work...I can trickle charge all day- problem solved!!! (at least I think so- math gurus, what % of charge will I get after 8 hours on 110v?)

Click to expand...

Actually, it's 120v, not 110v - hasn't been 110v for 50 years, but old terms seem to live on forever.

(120 volts) * (12 amps) = (1440 watts) = (1.44 kilowatts)
(1.44 kilowatts) * (8 hours) = (11.5 kWh)
But what percentage of that actually gets into the battery (rather than being lost in the charger), and what the total battery capacity is, are both open questions. So we can't tell you a "% of charge". There are also problems in trying to come up with that answer based on Nissan's statement of "approximately 21 hours" from low battery to full. We don't know the % of charge at low battery, and we know that the charge rate tapers off as it approaches full.

The simple and useful rule of thumb is that you should be able to get about 4 to 5 miles of driving out of each hour of charging at 120v.

Ray

kevintari said:

Just realized that there is a 110 outlet right next to my parking space at work...I can trickle charge all day- problem solved!!!

(at least I think so- math gurus, what % of charge will I get after 8 hours on 110v?)

Click to expand...

Roughly 35-40 miles if plugged in continuously.

kevintari said:

Just realized that there is a 110 outlet right next to my parking space at work...I can trickle charge all day- problem solved!!!

(at least I think so- math gurus, what % of charge will I get after 8 hours on 110v?)

Click to expand...

You're set, then! Even at the conservative end of 3 mi/hr trickle charge, you should get back at least a solid 24 miles... enough to alleviate anxiety and create room for those lunch and side trips. Just make sure that plug is attached while you're at the office.

My 50 mile commute has not created a whole lot of worry yet. I usually get home with 4-5 bars.