Upcoming 98 mile round trip with wife and baby -- insane??

Here's the trip I'm planning for this weekend, with my wife and baby along for the ride. Google says it's a 98 mile trip; my guess is the radio will be playing music for the baby, and I'll have the windows cracked a minimum to keep the interior comfortable.

The burning questions:
* Will I make it, or never be heard from again?

* Will I still be married afterward?

* Will my son still call me papa??

All very important questions, to be sure... But before you weigh in, here is the route.

I know there are a couple of Nissan dealerships north of Seattle I can hit if I'm desperate, but I'd love to make this in one charge. (I won't be running the A/C; I'll try to keep the speed down without getting run over; I won't be overinflating my tires or drafting semi's, and I do need to hit all four waypoints in one trip.)

On CarWings, some dude did 17.2 miles/kWh. I'm averaging 4-6 on a normal drive. Any thoughts on how he might have done that? Also I saw some folks running accessories at 0w, while mine seem to be at 200w pretty much constantly. Is that the navigation screen using all that power?

Your thoughts, tips and advice welcome. I'll let you know how we do!

-Brad

Is ECO a given? What kind of speeds are you thinking on the freeways?

You've only had the car for a week?
You're planning to be on Interstates most of the way?

Certifiably insane. Don't do it. It sounds to me as if the only way you could make it work would be to spend at least an hour and a half at a charging station, and that is not going to go over well with a wife and a baby.

Ray

bradleygibson said:

On CarWings, some dude did 17.2 miles/kWh. I'm averaging 4-6 on a normal drive. Any thoughts on how he might have done that?

Click to expand...

Yeah - that dude was going down-hill most of the way.

If you're averaging 4-6 on CarWings, you'll never make it ~100 miles on a single charge. You'll need to average close to 5 mi / kWh according to the dash reading. Reset it before each trip to get an idea of what kind of driving it takes to achieve that - it's not easy. To do that, you'll need to go about 55 mph max with lower speeds preferred. Drive in ECO and avoid the brake pedal if possible. And if you don't actually need regen - don't use it so feather the throttle. Remember - in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!

How fast do you have to go so you dont get run over?.. suppose there is a guy behind you doing 80 and you are going 65?.. instant fireball!

No one is going to "run you down" if you do 55 on the right hand lane, it may feel like that because the rear view mirror distorts distance but the speed differential is not that great.

Inflating the tires to max sidewall printed on the sidewall is not dangerous, tires have vast margins before they blow out the bead.. many people routinely run their tires at double max sidewall with no issues.

In any case I think you are begging for trouble, break in the battery so you can get maximum range.. it usually takes 3 full cycles, not 3 partial cycles. Its almost impossible for an EV newbie to achieve maximum range and you already are starting with a bunch of bad habits.. work up your range slowly.

I don't think you'll make it. I made a similar 73-mile round-trip (with only 1 waypoint), and I was running on "fumes" when I got home. Even though I did make it, the last 10 miles were on a reported 0% charge and I certainly thought that I would be calling a tow truck. As a matter of practice, I no longer plan 60+mile interstate trips without planning on a lengthy stay at an L2 station.

bradleygibson said:

All very important questions, to be sure... But before you weigh in, here is the route.

I know there are a couple of Nissan dealerships north of Seattle I can hit if I'm desperate, but I'd love to make this in one charge. (I won't be running the A/C; I'll try to keep the speed down without getting run over; I won't be overinflating my tires or drafting semi's, and I do need to hit all four waypoints in one trip.)

On CarWings, some dude did 17.2 miles/kWh. I'm averaging 4-6 on a normal drive. Any thoughts on how he might have done that? Also I saw some folks running accessories at 0w, while mine seem to be at 200w pretty much constantly. Is that the navigation screen using all that power?

Your thoughts, tips and advice welcome. I'll let you know how we do!

Click to expand...

First, are you a member of Seattle Nissan Leaf Owners on Facebook ? Post this there - you will get more ideas.

Second, your Carwings m/kwh is low. I get more than 7. But, I drive mostly suburban roads on the east side. Even then, I don't think I can make it. Anyway, CarWings numbers are overly inflated.

The better m/kwh is on the dash/console. If you hit 4.8 m/kwh and above there, you can make it. But with all the high speed elevation changes, you are unlikely to be hitting that. You could try going north on 99 instead of I-5 and charge with Campbell on the way. There are also a few chargers in Seattle you could use. If you can charge for 2 hours total on your way, you can make it.

u cant make it on the freeway. you could make it by taking surface streets. u could make it by getting a boost charge. something as little as 60-90 mins would do it. 2 hours would insure you could take the freeway.

i would check for public charging near one of your stops. incorporate a short walk and lunch. that will be enough to make it work

Even IF you could make it, too much stress to make the drive fun. Just plan on a 1-2 hour charge somewhere (L2) as Dave suggested, during lunch would be perfect, you just need to do a little planning. These are the days we need the infrastructure to catch up....it will get here, but we are still in the early innings.

I was not able to pull up the route but I have done quite a bit of LEAFing around in the Seattle area with a wife and two kids in the car car. I would not expect to get near the 100 mile range until you have owned the car for a while and had a chance to break it in and more importantly given it a chance to break you in! Some people love a challenge but setting yourself up for failure is full hardy. you should plan every trip with some reserve or supplemental charging if you need to. Even with nearly 3,000 miles on our Leaf I'd be hard pressed to do what your attempting with a weighted down car. I'm guessing you have to go 40 mph and have excellent technique.

So why stress it, you'd make the trip fine if you stopped and charged on L2 along the way. Campbell Nelson Nissan is in edmonds just a few miles from I-5 and has several L2 chargers, a couple are at the west end of the lot with parking on both sides of the strip and have a long chord. They are quite Ablidgeing!
G

Thanks, everyone, for the thoughts.

mwalsh - Yes, definitely will need Eco mode.
Ray, Herm, DaveinOlyWA, Ready2plugin - I'm wondering if I roll at 50mph on the highway vs. the stop & go of side streets if I'd get better mileage. Fortunately the stress is fairly low, as my wife is curious too about how far we can make it...
drees - Hahaha! Love the thermodynamics clip! I didn't realize until now that the carwings reading and the dash reading were different. I'll see what I can do for dash efficiency on the way to/from work today--thanks!
TennLeafer - thank you for the hard data--that's good to know; based on this, you're right--I probably won't make it without a top-up charge somewhere along the way. I think I'll try to plan a lunch stop where we can pick up an hour or so's worth of L2 charge along the way.
evnow - Thx for the tip--I'll join the FB group and see what's going on there too. Yep, 5 is the magic number on the dash. My guess is that I'll be a little shy of that, unfortunately, but it will be a good gauge of how I'm doing as we go.

Thanks again everyone, for the reality check. I'll practice during the week getting my efficiency numbers up, but in the end, I'll plan for a 1-2h pit stop for some extra juice.

All the best,
-Brad

If you can plug in 6 to 8+ hours (L1) at the destination you will be fine.
Bring a looong extension cord if needed, #12 wire. I have used 50' just fine and I think 100' would be no trouble if needed.
If no way to recharge then I think you may not make it.

Can't wait for the trip report

bradleygibson said:

Thanks again everyone, for the reality check. I'll practice during the week getting my efficiency numbers up, but in the end, I'll plan for a 1-2h pit stop for some extra juice.

Click to expand...

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Visualize (through wife's eyes) a nice lunch-&-charge, shop-n-charge, etc. ...

Then, envision waiting at a hot, noisy, dangerous freeway roadside no-parking, no-stopping sholder, trucks wizzing past, ...
for the tow truck, than a "nice" ride in the truck cab to a dealer, and an ADDITIONAL 2 hours of charging where there is nothing to do ...

OK, calculate probabilities ... weigh the CONSEQUENCES, ...
and make the wise, safe, comfortable choice for your baby.

If you choose wrong, ...
you can ALWAYS do the trip again with your next wife! :lol:

You can certainly make it, just not in the Leaf. Unless the trip is about the car rather than the destination, I'd take another vehicle that day. Nothing wrong with choosing the right tool for the job at hand.

If you can keep the speed down to 45 mph, you'll make it, no stress. The slower your speed, the farther you can go, because of lower wind resistance. The problem is, traffic may not allow you to safely travel slower than 55 mph. You can afford to increase your speed if you can do opportunity charges at each stop - this depends how long you're charging at each stop, of course.

Got to go with insane.

This is madness.

(Of course, now I have this mental image of Gerard Butler in Spartan armor remarking, "Madness? MADNESS? THIS. IS. NISSAN!")

most of my 6,000+ miles is in town and its not a good idea to assume you will do well. it is hugely dependent on your light timing and traffic density. i say not worth it. the route displayed has several charging opps that are pretty close.

if done on Saturday, i know the area well enough to say that traffic will be Hell. its expected to be sunny and in the mid 70's on Saturday which means EVERYONE will be out and about.

Okay, I have some very bad news for you.

Your drive will consume 29.66kWh, and your battery (and its not really usable) is 24kWh. this takes in account all of the elevation gain and loss on this drive.

Lets just say we should use 20kWh as a safe margin, which means you have about a 9 1/2 kWh deficit.

You will need to charge at one of your locations for at least 8 hours at 120 VAC. I would do over 9 hours just to be on the safe side.

You will likely be in big trouble (and enter turtle mode) at or before the 526 interchange going back down south, probably around the hill. But more likely around the 41st st exit.

If you can manage over 4.5-5 miles/kWh, you might make it back on turtle. If you do worse (and likely you will get around 4 miles/kWh if you are careful and skilled), you will not make it.