71 mile round trip to new work location ... will I make it?

My Leaf is scheduled for July, which I figure means End of July or August. The company is moving to a new location in November, one that creates a 71 (or 66, if I go a different way) round trip (and I used my Prius to get the exact distance).

To be honest, it's commute, and a lot of it is freeway. Due to the traffic in the SF Bay Area, which the new location, I desperately need to get into the HOV lane to make my life less than miserable. I plan to use ECO mode all the time and no more than 65 (maybe 60, but in the Bay Area, that's asking for someone up my a**).

Right now, the Leaf is my only option for the HOV lane. The Volt is supposed to get the HOV lane "sometime" in 2012, but no one knows when that is. The plug-in Prius is set for April 2012. So I could have months of driving hell.

On the other hand, I might have range anxiety daily and have a heart attack. :-(

The question is, will it make that distance (esp. if it rains, since I read that the drag wlll decrease range)? AFAIK, no place to charge at the new location.

Can you make it? Yes---BUT. It will be "iffy" for sure if you drive a lot of freeway @ 60+mph. If I were you, I would really work on getting access to a plain old 120V outlet @ work. Even a couple of hrs would do it for you.

Good luck. I've had my Leaf for 6 days now; All I can say is that-for my kind of driving-it's perfect for me. They'll have to pry my dead hands off the steering wheel before I give it up. :mrgreen:

Iria said:

The company is moving to a new location in November, one that creates a 71 (or 66, if I go a different way) round trip (and I used my Prius to get the exact distance).
The question is, will it make that distance (esp. if it rains, since I read that the drag wlll decrease range)? AFAIK, no place to charge at the new location.

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If it were me, I wouldn't hesitate to make the '66' mile trip going 65 in the HOV. A long time ago (last Jan.), Mark Perry said that you could drive freeway speed (65mph) and go at least 70 miles. I don't know how much of your commute is freeway, but I'm sure it isn't 70 miles and I would keep it in ECO. The rain isn't going to make that much difference. Your foot will determine your range. Elevations would make a much bigger difference however.

I would suggest that if you can make the time that you investigate using surface streets. Also, you need to take into consideration the elevation changes. Even though it will be a round trip the regen is not 100% efficient, so hills do cost you some kW. Once when I was on flat land I did use surface streets for a particularly long trip of about 80 miles round trip. I stayed off the freeway the whole time and when I finally pulled into the garage I still had 12 miles left (before software upgrade). Once you get used to the car and, as some of us suspect there is a small "break in" period of car and driver, you may be able to use surface streets for some of the distance and freeway for the rest.

The question you are really asking is how fast I can drive and still make it?.. I would suggest 55mph top and see what you get, then work it up from there.. 56, 57, 58 and so on, work up slowly. You could also stay off the hwy and drive surface streets at 45mph tops.

No one is going to ram you from behind.. cover up your rear view mirror until you get used to seeing an SUV bearing down on you... soon you will have a train behind you also saving the planet!

derkraut said:

Can you make it? Yes---BUT. It will be "iffy" for sure if you drive a lot of freeway @ 60+mph. If I were you, I would really work on getting access to a plain old 120V outlet @ work. Even a couple of hrs would do it for you.

Good luck. I've had my Leaf for 6 days now; All I can say is that-for my kind of driving-it's perfect for me. They'll have to pry my dead hands off the steering wheel before I give it up. :mrgreen:

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It's wonderful to hear that you're so happy with your LEAF, derkraut. I'm glad you got it when you did.

Without a charger at work, this is going to be a stretch. If you average 3.6m/Kwh, you'll max out at ~70 miles. This is all you can expect at 65+ mph and some hills mixed in. Also means no lunch or no side trips. And you won't be popular doing 60mph in the carpool lanes.....

Herm said:

The question you are really asking is how fast I can drive and still make it?.. I would suggest 55mph top and see what you get, then work it up from there.. 56, 57, 58 and so on, work up slowly.

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That's fine advice if Iria is going to stay in the right lane, and in fact that is what I do. But of course Bay Area traffic slows waaayyy below 55 much of the drive during commute times.

However, Iria said specifically the HOV lane is a requirement. I would not recommend using that in the Bay Area at less than 65, and even at that speed you are going to be making a lot of drivers angry. So unless the traffic is light enough in the next lane so that you can shift over occasionally to let people pass, I think the key is to find some way to plug in to 120v at work. At least lane shifting is legal here pretty much everywhere except the Sunol grade section of 680.

Ray

It so happens that I have a 70 mile round trip commute. I am fortunate however, to have level II charging at both ends. With that said, I have made the round trip without charging or expending too much sweat. I'll burn as little as 4 1/2 bars each way (mostly surface streets) or as high as 7 bars if I'm doing 80+ down the freeway...

My wife's 71 round trip. She gets home with 13 to 17 miles to spare with the heat up over 100 degrees. I'd say you are fine. Now that doesn't mean that she'll make it in a few years when the batteries drain down, but that's why we just leased it and didn't buy it.

You'll be charging at 100% every day, at least, which will increase battery wear. Probably you'd want to lease rather than buy.

Don't know if this will help this thread, but I went from Altadena to Rosamond and back over the weekend. The distance is 69+ miles, and I went over the Crest Highway, along the Angeles Forest to Sierra Hwy. to Rosamond Blvd to the Cathouse where I volunteer (Shameless plug for the cats). The elevation was my primary concern, so I took it easy in both directions. I got to the Cathouse in 1 hour and 45 minutes, the bars remaining were 2, and I tried to keep my usage meter below 20 the entire trip, reasoning that I had 20 KWh to use, and I needed to be below, regen, or coasting for a half hour to make it there. The trip usually takes me about 1 hour 30 minutes in an ICE if I am being gas conscious, and I take the freeways (210, 5, 14). For those of you in the Bay area, the Angeles Crest goes straight up over the mountain where the Station Fire was. Big elevation gain to get to the Antelope Valley High Desert area, and this was my major concern so I tried some pre-trip tests before I attempted this.

On the way home I was more reserved, keeping speeds below 45 for the most part (On the way up I tried to do the speed limits, most at 55 or 60) and I got home with 4 bars on the meter. I used the AC on the way home, and did try the pre-cool thing, although that seemed to turn off before we set out. The trip home also took about 1 hour 45 minutes.

I look at the time to charge to 80% as a monitor, and with 240 charging (Not public) at the wildcatzoo.org (Another shameless plug) I got to 95% or so charge in 4 hours time. When I got home, I looked at the 120v number, and it said 9 hours.

The guess o meter is pretty worthless. I want a smiley face sticker to cover it. At the interchange from the Crest highway to the 210, (On the way home) it said I had 50 miles of range.

So, the weekend drive was over 150 miles, and it cost me maybe 5-6$? Sweet! I did take a trip to Diamond Jim's Casino with a few passengers after the Cathouse special event, and with the 95% charge I enjoyed the high speed 70mph freeway speed (I was a little faster than that) after all, to re-charge they say you should get it below 80%, right???

Iria said:

My Leaf is scheduled for July, which I figure means End of July or August. The company is moving to a new location in November, one that creates a 71 (or 66, if I go a different way) round trip (and I used my Prius to get the exact distance).

The question is, will it make that distance (esp. if it rains, since I read that the drag wlll decrease range)? AFAIK, no place to charge at the new location.

Click to expand...

How long did it take you in your Prius? The Leaf has about 20KWH of battery that are usable, and it takes about 25 or so to maintain freeway speeds, giving you something less than an hour of travel at those higher speeds. You have access to 80kw power, so you could use it up really fast if you want. If you can speed up slowly, using say10k, you can drive for 2 hours. This is a thumb rule of course, but it should help you figure out if it will work for you or not. Stop and go traffic on the freeway allows you to use no energy and coast or even regen, so that time of use will be free. If you are go go go all the time, you will lose driving time, although you will get there faster.

Iria said:

The question is, will it make that distance (esp. if it rains, since I read that the drag wlll decrease range)? AFAIK, no place to charge at the new location.

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You won't be able to use the heater at all. Impact of AC is much less, but with the freeway speeds you're proposing you have no margin. And over time the battery capacity will degrade some, so the commute you're talking about is a somewhat short term proposition at best.
I think the typical person is only going to be comfortable with a commute for the long haul with the Leaf if they initially are having 15 to 20 miles remaining at the end of their commute.
70 miles at +65mph has zero margin.

You should be able to make it with the Leaf if there are no elevation gains on your route. Having said that, your other HOV option is a Honda Civic GX (natural gas) which also qualifies for the white HOV stickers and has a 250 mile range. My wife has 90 mile commute and she drives a Civic GX and has no problem driving 80 MPH in the HOV lane and making 2 round trips before having to fuel. You would need cng stations somewhere along your route, check www.cngprices.com .

At 71 miles it's possible if you're not going too fast. At 65 mph I wouldn't chance it - unless you can charge while at work. Chances are, if you look carefully you can find a standard 120V outlet near a parking spot at work. With permission to plug in with your portable charging cord for a couple hours while at work, it would be an easy commute.

Iria said:

... AFAIK, no place to charge at the new location.

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I think you will be fine. I would take it very conservative at first, like some are suggesting, start out at 55mph. Push the car to it's limits under controlled circumstances close to home and get to know what it's like to run it down close to the end so your really know where the edge is and what to expect as the low battery warnings come on. My experience is that the Guesometer becomes more reliable towards the low end. Once you get the feel of how the elevation and all effects range, you should be able to modulate your habits accordingly with a better sense of how much you can push speed and climate control over time. I'm finding 70 miles doable on an 80% charge now that I have applied some of the fine tricks that are shared on this board (accelerate gently, drive in Eco, coast as much to a stop as you can safely etc). It will feel nervy at first, but it's actually fun once you get the hang of it and eventually you will develop your own style based on your priorities.

That said, it's hard to imagine that there truly is no place to plug in at work. Even a few hours on L1 would give you the slack to drive faster and use CC all you want, 8 hours would make it easy to charge to 80% each way. You may even offer to pay the nominal cost for the electricity to the employer (it's so cheap to drive this vehicle it will blow your mind!) A twenty Amp circuit is not hard to find in many buildings these days and after talking with an electrician, a heavy duty extension cord (10 or 12 gauge) should make just about any outlet reachable when used with the 110V EVSE that comes with the vehicle. Nissan advises against extension cord use, so you will want to use extra caution when considering that option. From everything I've been able to get my hands on, it appears that as long as the extension chord is a large enough gauge and is plugged into a receptical that is nice and solid, GFCI protected, not too old or oxidized, you **should be** fine. From what I can tell the concern is that you are drawing constant current over a long period of time, over substantial distance and an extension cord reduces efficiency somewhat and adds another point of failure where a poor connection could lead to heat and fire.

g

Piece of cake if you can charge at work. If not then it's going to be something of an adventure. Not so much in summer and not so much the first year but as the weather gets nasty and the battery degrades then you'll have more of a challenge.

The good thing is that you have time to work on it. See if you can't get a 120V charger at the new location.

I appreciate all these responses and I can see things might be iffy without 120v. Looks like I'll have to give some serious thought to this ...

Yah, if I wasn't in the HOV lane, I'd be running in stop and go speeds, which would mean I'd make it easy. I jsut don't want a two hour commute.

The other idea, I suppose, is to try to shift my hours so I can clear out of work earlier ... and stick to my prius until the plug-in is available.

Too bad, I really wanted the leaf as I wanted to be still greener. I'll think about it.

I purchased an extension cord to put in the trunk to extend the 18' cord that comes with the trickle charger. The problem that I had was that Lowe's and Home Depot only had 14 ga. cords which are good only to 15A. I was able to find a true 12 ga. cord at ACE. I also kept the length short and got the 25 ft. model. This should easily handle 20A over that distance and gives me a total of 42 ft. to reach a 120V outlet.