Seattle to Bellingham in 2016 SL

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topcat2001

New member
Joined
May 25, 2019
Messages
4
Hi all,
Thanks for the fantastic posts. Seeing a strong community around the Leaf was one reason to get it. We got a CPO 2016 SL w/premium (40K miles 86% SOH) for 13K + taxes/fees on Friday. Could have gotten a 2017 S with half the miles for the same price but I always buy used so I like to splurge on the upgrades(I'm really particular about the audio) and we were in a bit of a rush and this was the least expensive 30KWh SL.

Really only planned to use it for my 40+ mile roundtrip commute and grocery trips but on Sunday we took it to Bellingham on a whim (from West Seattle, Google shows a one way distance of 95 miles) to see my wife's sisters and check out the Fairhaven fair. Really had no idea what to expect. Car was showing close to 100 miles on the guessometer after a 98% charge. First stop was at Campbell Nissan Everett(about 30 miles into the trip) to top off but their fast charger was not working so decided to check out a brand new Electrify America station at the Walmart in Burlington(60 miles in). Get there and notice that none of the 12 chargers look like it will fit (CCS) but luckily one of them is CHAdeMO so I plug it in and realize i don't have my credit card (left it at a restaurant the previous day). My debit card is also expired. Luckily wife has hers so we start it. I look for the app in the app store but it is not there (apparently not released yet) so enter my cell number for updates and head into the Walmart. About 15 minutes later get a text that it is at 85% so walk back and it is already at 97%.Got to Bellingham and drove around a bit. Recharged again at the same place on the way back and made it back to Seattle with about 4 bars (30 miles?). I would say I probably would have gotten a range of 85-90 miles on that drive and if it wasn't for the up and down hills probably even close to 100.

Our other car is a 2013 ML350 so the 60K miles I expect to put on it in the next 5 years while the battery capacity warranty is in place should save about the cost of the Leaf in fuel costs/maintenance compared to the ML so it was a no brainer. I just cancelled my Day 1 Model 3 reservation that I had almost forgotten about.
 
Welcome!

I think you've learned your lesson about being prepared w/apps, cards and accounts already created w/payment info entered, etc. before embarking on a trip.

Not sure why you didn't use the http://www.westcoastgreenhighway.com/electrichighway.htm. https://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/Programs/Electric%20Vehicle%20library/Electric%20Hwy%20Map-REV_4-15.pdf has been there for years and was Aerovironment now Webasto (https://www.evsolutions.com/ev-network).

Yes, unfortunately, Electrify America is VW-funded so they're stacking the deck in their favor in terms of CCS vs. CHAdeMO. :(

If you haven't already, you should use Plugshare (app and web site) to check the scores and recent reports of any public stations you plan to use.
 
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