RULES FOR NEW LEAF OWNERS

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hobbyguy said:
Question on Santa Monica Charge Points. Are they free to use, you just need the card to unlock and start and finish charging? I got the free card during April, but opted not to connect to a credit card. Are the one's at LAX also accessible with the card that requires no credit card attached? Thanks, I just don't see anything on this topic, I guess I am confued, nothing new there.
Just hit 10,000 miles today :D
Click to expand...

The Santa Monica ones in the parking garage are free.
-Matt
 
Caracalover said:
planet4ever said:
I'm guessing that you haven't gotten the April firmware upgrade, right? I think ten miles per bar is really high with that change. ... But then maybe you do have it, and are just a much better EV driver than I am.

Ray
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You are right, I haven't gotten the firmware upgrade yet, but I have stopped looking at the range meter, so not using that as a base.I enjoy gaining charge so I do take it easy about half the time, but I am never seen as slow. I have never pushed the limits of the charge (Have only charged to 100% once or twice, never been into the bottom red), but with a 30 mile commute RT for a couple months I have noticed that I get a rough ten miles per bar. Made the 30 mile round trip to Burbank twice in one day, which made the wife a little nervous but I had confidence, even though the second trip was to the Castaway in Burbank. I actually want to put a smiley face sticker over that darn range meter number - it just bugs me and is useless, don't think any fix will help either.
Click to expand...
OK, but just so you don't confuse people who do have the upgrade (probably most people, by now), the bars are effectively "thinner" with it, and there is now quite a bit of reserve at the bottom after the last one is gone. And I do mean the last one, even the two next to the red capacity marks. I agree with you on the guessometer. I think it only confuses people who try to make any sense out of it.

Ray
 
cdub said:
How many bars does it take to get back to Glendale on the freeway? I worry about the climb up the 2.
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As a rough estimate, at 60mph, I used one bar of energy from the low point of the 2 in Eagle Rock, to where the grade flattens out about 2 miles later. Until then, I had been averaging about 6 miles/bar of 60 mph, freeway driving coming from Orange County.
 
Awesome. I used 2 bars getting from my house in La Crescenta, CA to Studio City today. It was charged to 80%. I lost the first bar pretty quickly - maybe in reality it was a half bar when charged to 80%. Charging to 80% gave me 10 bars when I started up in the morning.

The range-o-meter seems pretty useless for guessing range. Slightly helpful at times... but gives you heartache at others. Maybe there will be a software update later where you can toggle between the range available and a state of charge percentage on that screen.

I coasted and regened down the 2. Tried hard to get that bar back... but alas. :)
 
cdub said:
The range-o-meter seems pretty useless for guessing range. Slightly helpful at times... but gives you heartache at others. Maybe there will be a software update later where you can toggle between the range available and a state of charge percentage on that screen.
Click to expand...

I call it the Guesstimator™, it should be reliable once the car is for sale in Florida and other flat states.. then you will only see drastic changes when you speed up or slow down, everyone will get the hint then :idea:
 
The guessometer is only accurate if you always drive the exact same speed and on perfectly level roads. I'd not hold my breath for a software upgrade to add a SOC meter, however some foks ARE working on an aftermarket meter.

cdub said:
The range-o-meter seems pretty useless for guessing range. Slightly helpful at times... but gives you heartache at others.
Click to expand...
 
DId a test today and drove back to my house from the start of the 2 freeway by the 5 to my house. I kept it in D - got up to 68 at times going up the big hill.

I used up 3 bars. Not bad. (but who knows how much of that first bar I had when I started) I did it more aggressively in D so I'd know the worst case scenario... so to be safe I need 3 bars to get up the hill back to my house.
 
You might want to add a 6th rule.

#6, Using a J1772 station one day does NOT mean it will be available for you the next day!

I witnessed my first charge station "log jam" last night at Fashion Island. Three random silver LEAFs show up to use only 2 chargers! Hope that third guy was not at the end of a long road trip. With LEAFs getting delivered at a rapidly increasing rate and no new L2 stations (yet?), I will no longer assume stations are always available. It's time to assume they are always taken until Ecotality actually does some work.
 
cdub and others....happy to be Plan D. We are just off the 10 between downtown LA and the westside.
PM me for my phone number if you want this "insurance". :D Also there are 4 chargepoint free no card needed charging stations at the Calif. Science Center parking structure...if they're not ICEd...in Exposition Park near USC.
Kat
 
Kataphn said:
cdub and others....happy to be Plan D. We are just off the 10 between downtown LA and the westside.
PM me for my phone number if you want this "insurance". :D Also there are 4 chargepoint free no card needed charging stations at the Calif. Science Center parking structure...if they're not ICEd...in Exposition Park near USC.
Kat
Click to expand...

Thanks for the offer! I was looking for those actually at the science center that same infamous day. I was down there at the butterfly pavillion with my kids before we went to Santa Monica.

Where are they? I couldn't find them.
 
Doh - well that's not helpful.

Been getting a little more confident. I charged to 100% so I could go back and forth to work twice today. (had to go home for my lunch)

I'm back at work with 6 bars remaining. No problem. I did baby it the way here though both times... took Glendale Ave instead of the 2 and pretty much regened or coasted all the way to the 134 so getting to work maybe used 1 and a half bars.
 
No, Expo Park EVSEs are not paddle style. They are J connectors. They just switched them out. Here are their locations in the Science Center parking area.
One (1) on the West side of Level A of the parking structure down the same row as the other two (2) by the elevator
One (1) on the West side of Level B of the parking structure

If you find them ICEd, take a picture and email to Seana Campos, assistant general manager of Expo Park at [email protected]
She sent me a very nice email stating that they had orders in for better signage and markings on the concrete for the spaces but that the state process moves slowly. Once clearly marked, she said the state officers would be vigilant in enforcement.

So check out their 4 charging stations! They are chargepoint, no card needed, no phone call needed...and they are free.
 
Good to know. They must have swapped them out right after I was there!

Kataphn said:
No, Expo Park EVSEs are not paddle style. They are J connectors. They just switched them out. Here are their locations in the Science Center parking area.
Click to expand...
 
Nice to know about the Exposition chargers. Thanks for the heads up. I have also wondered about the LA Nissan dealer near the convention center, has any one used them and then gone over to the convention center? Seems like a cheap parking place to me, I called them a while back and they said they have 5, but are they available late night?

Anyone gone to Palmdale over the Crest yet? I am planning on doing it Sunday.

Thank you Ray for clearing up the bar issue - Eventually I will go get the upgrade, but since I have had no issues, I am not concerned about it.

I have found that drive is the best mode to have it in until you want to slow the car. If you are in ECO and going uphill, you are actually using energy trying to maintain speed - the regen is not worth the drag. I have also been experimenting with neutral, didn't know that was possible till I read about it on another thread - useful to maintain speed in many situations, especially freeway.

Back on topic a bit, I went from Altadena to LAX with almost a full charge and returned with almost half a charge, using the shortest distance option on the GPS, although on the way there it took me on the 110 freeway, but on the return took me through Downtown LA which I am sure cost me more juice. Without upgrade bar count was 3 to get there, 4 to get back, although I lost a 5th bar while parked in the garage listening to the radio. I did freeway speeds and kept with traffic the whole time.
 
Caracalover said:
Back on topic a bit, I went from Altadena to LAX with almost a full charge and returned with almost half a charge, using the shortest distance option on the GPS, although on the way there it took me on the 110 freeway, but on the return took me through Downtown LA which I am sure cost me more juice. Without upgrade bar count was 3 to get there, 4 to get back, although I lost a 5th bar while parked in the garage listening to the radio. I did freeway speeds and kept with traffic the whole time.
Click to expand...

Really? That's impressive.
 

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