Tony's Excellent LEAF Adventure

I decided to buy Gary's SOC meter kit, and I wanted to see how far I could actually drive the car. So, we set up to meet at a Nissan dealer over 60 miles from my house to get it.

I started at 100% charge, and did about 11 miles of "around town" driving before hitting the freeway at 60mph on cruise control. Burnt up bars #11 and #12.

The next 59 miles, at steady 60mph, to the south end of San Juan Capistrano left me with 1 bar remaining, with 1.6 miles burnt into that fuel bar. My range chart predicted that I had about 16 miles remaining at 60 mph. The Battery Value from Gary's SOC display showed 52 (out of 281) before we plugged in the L2 charger for 63 minutes at the Nissan dealer.

With an estimated one mile (at 60mph) per 5 minutes of L2 charge, that should have added almost 13 miles to the calculated 16 miles remaining, for 29 total. All the numbers were adding up nicely to go 30 miles to the next stop.

Average so far was 4.4 miles/kW.

My first plan was to drive back to Oceanside at 38mph, but I think sanity prevailed. To drive back at 60mph for 30 miles, I needed three full bars, or some value over 102 (of 281) on the SOC display. When we unplugged, the display showed 105 and I had the three bars. Both my charging rule of thumb, the SOC value, and the fuel bars all indicated that 29 to 30 miles was indeed likely at 60mph. I love it when a plan comes together.

So, with virtually no reserve planned, I started the return trip at 60mph. The super intelligent navigation computer was showing out of range, of course, but surprisingly, that went away within the first few miles. The "miles to go" on the navigation and my calculated range continued to remain very, very close, and things were progressing according to plan. Plan the flight, and fly the plan. Besides, I could always slow down if my cross checks showed something not kosher.

With 13.1 miles to go, "Low Battery" popped up. Ok, chart says that I can't do that at 60mph. Hmmmmmmmmm. Have to slow down. Also, I had forgotten that the highway had a couple of hills, but not until "Very Low" popped up at 5.3 miles to go. Crap, time for emergency action to ensure mission completion.

I slowed to about 45mph, and 38mph up the last few hills. Fortunately, there wasn't lots of traffic, and I turned the emergency flashers on and kept fully to the right of the slow lane for the grand finale. Honestly, it was going to be exactly as close as I planned, but now I was wishing that I'd just spent another 10 or 15 minutes charging in Orange County. Maybe I'm getting soft. No guts, no glory !

Anyhoo, I cruised into Mossy Nissan Oceanside without hitting Turtle, but I predict that I was within a mile of that, as it was planned to be from the start. 104.4 miles total covered, with 63 minutes of L2 charge previously. Maximum use of the equipment, and time. It was a beautiful day for walking, if it had come to that!

It was 10:43am, and the next leg was about 27.4 miles home; 27.4 multiplied by 5 minutes per mile added (for 60mph consumption) per hour of charging on L2 meant I needed 137 minutes of charging... 2 hours 17 minutes. So, I plugged in, left my courtesy charger note on the dash that had my phone number and the paper clip on a 2:00pm charge finish time. I set my iPhone for 2 hours 15 minutes, and had lunch and went shopping. There are lots of places withing walking distance, so this is a great refueling stop.

Had a nice lunch, bought some golf crap, some great maps of Baja California, walked around a bit, and it was time to hit the highway. I went 15 minutes past my calculated charging time (now 2:15pm), and then I thought that instead of going home and getting the ICE, I would just go straight to pick up my daughter at 2:30pm in the LEAF. I was late either way! Plan B was if it was going to be mega super close, I could pick her up, and charge at Mossy Poway, about 5 miles from my house. This excursion added 4 miles, and the extra 15 minutes should have only given me 3.

I had 3 fuel bars, and it would have been AWESOME to know the SOC number. Fuel bar number 3 disappeared at 8.0 miles into the trip, which was a right at expectation. The range chart now has 24 miles to go, and I only needed about 23 on the navigation screen. Press on at 60mph.

Crap. Traffic. XM wasn't showing this, and I wasn't worried about range, since slowing only helps. But, I'd be even later to pick up my daughter. This was really helping the gas mileage, since I knocked down 9.5 miles before fuel bar number 2 went bye-bye.

Traffic cleared up, and back up to 60mph. At 4.4 miles into fuel bar number 1, "Low Battery" popped up. If I added up 9.5 miles and 4.4 miles, I got 13.9, divided by two meant that I was getting well in excess of 6 miles average for each of those two, so no panic. Range chart predicted 12 miles from Low Battery as I sailed by Mossy Nissan's chargers in Escondido (you guys like the foreshadowing there? Like I'm going to Turtle it, or something ;-) Fortunately, I only needed about 10 miles to get to my daughter's pickup point.

Almost on cue, Very Low Battery popped up after 8.1 miles, meaning I had 4 miles left, with 2 to go. I found my daughter waiting, and explained how these crazy electric cars are just so slow !!!

Could we make it the last 3 miles home, or run over to Mossy Poway for a quick blast of electrons? We'd just drive as close to 38 mph as I could, and hope for the best. Turtle mode popped up less than a mile from the house. There is one thing I have learned; don't let the car auto-shutdown. It takes too long to get going again. So, I pulled into the local strip mall, where I can see my house on the hill, and parked. Then, I went scouting around for a plug in.

Found one at the local Mexican eatery, so I drove over, plugged in, and had some chips and salsa. And an ice cream bar. Waited about 30 minutes, for two reasons. 120 volt just doesn't get it charged very fast, and secondly, I have a big hill to go up. Ten minutes of charging at Mossy Poway would have been the right answer, but then it wouldn't be an LEAF adventure.

We drove up the hill, and hit Turtle again, but my destiny would not be denied. We made it to the garage, and plugged in.

140.3 miles total at mostly 60mph
3 hours 35 minutes of L2 charging total
30 minutes L1
4.4 miles/kw average

Wow! Thanks for write-up. That's quite the OC-to-SD Leaf Adventure. I like the use of the L1 at the restaurant.
I have to keep my eye open for outlets like that. Could come in handy some day.

I plan to make an Irvine-to-La Jolla trip this weekend. But since we will have the family in tow,
I cannot be quite the risk taker you were on this one. My direct-route will look something like this:



with a (crude) elevation profile like this:


As this will be our longest one-way leg in the Leaf, I'll be a little conservative on the leg heading south.
We'll make a short leg to Laguna Beach and use the ChargePoints for about an hr at 240v. From there,
take the PCH to the 5 Fwy through SJC. I'm counting on access to one of the Blinks at the Torrey Pines Lodge
for L2 for 6-7 hrs. That should be some nice lunch/beach/hiking time in Torrey Pines.

So that's the plan. The return trip, we can probably do in one leg. We shall see.

Great story! Imagine how much easier it would have been with a DC quick charge station located along the route...

Given that one can only charge at about 12 miles / hour on L2, perhaps it would have been better to have driven 55 mph the entire route instead of 60 mph?

Let's assume that you needed 32 kWh to make the trip. 55 mph instead of 60 mph is about 8% more efficient, so it would have taken 29.5 kWh instead - 2.5 kWh less. That would eliminate about 45 minutes of L2 time. But you'd spend about 15 minutes more time driving. So in the end you'd save 30 minutes.

Here's the mileage data points:

100% charge, temperature 65-70F (17-20C), winds southwest at 5 knots, air pressure 29.94 inches (1014 millibars), elevation 580 feet (187 meters) at the start, and ending at about 100-200 feet elevation at first charge point.

Cruise control on at 60 mph. No headlights or heater, but A/C on auto, at 70F.

Great story Tony. We used to eat at that Alvaro's every Friday. They have a chicken burrito that's amazing.

drees said:

That would eliminate about 45 minutes of L2 time. But you'd spend about 15 minutes more time driving. So in the end you'd save 30 minutes.

Click to expand...

I ended up driving about 18 miles more than the original plan. But, with 140 miles covered, at 38mph, I should be able to go 130-ish miles, and only need about 1 hour of L2.

140 miles at 38mph is 3.7 hours, plus one hour charging, or 4.7 hours total trip time.With a 6.6kW charger in the LEAF, only 30 minutes of charge time, or 4.2 hours total.

140 miles at 60mph, 2.35 hours driving plus 3.75 hours on L2; total 6.1 hours total. With a 6.6kW charger (come on Nissan with an upgrade), 1.875 hour charge plus 2.35, total: 4.25 hours

This is the second leg after 63 minutes of charging. All conditions very similar; temperature up to 70-75 degrees (20-24C), elevation starts at about 200 feet and ends at about 200 feet. Slight left quarter tailwind of previous leg is now a slight right quarter headwind.

Final leg, temps up to 75-80 (24-27C), elevation change from about 200 feet to 580 feet at my house. I'm not going to include the last mile to my house, after 30 minutes of L1 charge:

JPVLeaf said:

I'm counting on access to one of the Blinks at the Torrey Pines Lodge
for L2 for 6-7 hrs. That should be some nice lunch/beach/hiking time in Torrey Pines.

So that's the plan. The return trip, we can probably do in one leg. We shall see.

Click to expand...

You should be able to go both ways at 65mph, non-stop.

My only concern would be, what's your plan B if Torrey Pines is full / not available? Where else can you go?

Your charge in Laguna Beach should give you some options.

Excellent detailed report Tony, and quite an adventurer you are It's great to see your estimation is so accurate. Thanks!

JPVLeaf said:

Wow! Thanks for write-up. That's quite the OC-to-SD Leaf Adventure. I like the use of the L1 at the restaurant.
I have to keep my eye open for outlets like that. Could come in handy some day.

I plan to make an Irvine-to-La Jolla trip this weekend. But since we will have the family in tow,
I cannot be quite the risk taker you were on this one. My direct-route will look something like this:

with a (crude) elevation profile like this:

As this will be our longest one-way leg in the Leaf, I'll be a little conservative on the leg heading south.
We'll make a short leg to Laguna Beach and use the ChargePoints for about an hr at 240v. From there,
take the PCH to the 5 Fwy through SJC. I'm counting on access to one of the Blinks at the Torrey Pines Lodge
for L2 for 6-7 hrs. That should be some nice lunch/beach/hiking time in Torrey Pines.

So that's the plan. The return trip, we can probably do in one leg. We shall see.

Click to expand...

Hi JVP, you should be able to make at ~65miles trip, both ways at 60mph on a full charge, no problem. I did my maiden voyage (with wife and 2 children) from Nissan Poway (90 miles) via I-15 and 78 - although not all at 60mph:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=4421

But knowing where the Nissan Dealers are enroute would be good. Going "up" from Camp Pendelton to San Clemente, Dana Point and Mission Viejo seems like a killer at them time!

occ said:

Excellent detailed report Tony, and quite an adventurer you are It's great to see your estimation is so accurate. Thanks!

Click to expand...

I forgot to add that all the freeway driving was at 60mph with the cruise control ON. This was to eliminate the driver from the equation.

Hopefully, folks will understand that we can accurately plan these trips. Obviously, prudence dictates some reserve be factored in, but the point is, we can calculate it.

Secondly, I actually screwed up. For some reason, I thought the distance on leg 2 of trip was 30-ish miles, but Bling maps actually says it's 35.0 miles. While I was charged up for about 33.5 miles, and planning for 30......


Wesoloh Nissan
33633 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675-4845
(866) 521-0702

to:

Mossy Nissan Oceanside
3535 College Blvd, Oceanside, CA
(760) 720-9797

TonyWilliams said:

140 miles at 38mph is 3.7 hours, plus one hour charging, or 4.7 hours total trip time.With a 6.6kW charger in the LEAF, only 30 minutes of charge time, or 4.2 hours total.

Click to expand...

To get 140 miles of range, you need to achieve 6.7 m/kwh. Slim chances in the real world.

With speeds between 35 and 40, the best I've got is 5.9 (~124 miles).

ps : I'm quite sure 30 mph is more efficient than 38 mph. We shouldn't really use that 38mph - that was just an example Nissan gave and we assumed that was the best. A look at Tesla's published curves also support an argument in favor of slower speeds for better mileage.

I adjusted the Tesla spreadsheet to match Tony's range chart - it looks like you can drive between 10 and 30 mph to make it 140 miles. 150+ miles might be possible at speeds between 12 and 24 mph.

evnow said:

ps : I'm quite sure 30 mph is more efficient than 38 mph. We shouldn't really use that 38mph - that was just an example Nissan gave and we assumed that the best. A look at Tesla's published curves also support an argument in favor of slower speeds for better mileage.

Click to expand...

Yes, I can confirm that as well. I've been experimenting a bit and the best MPK readings were between 24 to 29 mph. I believe that the best number I saw was 6.4 or 6.5.

evnow said:

TonyWilliams said:

140 miles at 38mph is 3.7 hours, >>>>> plus one hour charging, <<<<<<<

Click to expand...

To get 140 miles of range, you need to achieve 6.7 m/kwh. Slim chances in the real world.

Click to expand...

You missed the HOUR charging in the equation

The guys at Edmonds, I think, drove 35mph to get 135 miles, if I recall. Where 38mph came in was the bottom of the "good" efficiency of the traction drive motor.

drees said:

150+ miles might be possible at speeds between 12 and 24 mph.

Click to expand...

No way! Haven't you looked at the graph on page 17 of this report? The motor becomes less efficient as you drop below about 30 mph. By the time you get down to 15 mph it has dropped to 89% efficient from a top of 95%.

Ray

planet4ever said:

drees said:

150+ miles might be possible at speeds between 12 and 24 mph.

Click to expand...

No way! Haven't you looked at the graph on page 17 of this report? The motor becomes less efficient as you drop below about 30 mph. By the time you get down to 15 mph it has dropped to 89% efficient from a top of 95%.

Click to expand...

At the speeds we're talking about the motor is already probably down at the bottom of the chart and no-where close to 95% efficiency level - we're talking about power outputs in the 2-5 kW range to keep a steady state 20-30 mph.

Going from 30 mph to 20 mph cuts wind resistance by 55% (more than half).

If surfingslovak has confirmed a 6.5 mi / kWh at 25 mph that's still only about 140 miles or so, so perhaps the model I'm working from is missing some static load. Would be nice to get some additional numbers but that's near impossible around here without any flat roads with minimal traffic.

Great story, Tony. My wife and I are planning our own excellent LEAF adventure this coming Friday, after we drop her car ('08 Altima Hybrid) off at a shop for an all-day detailing job. Your story reminds me that the last thing on my list of charging accessories to acquire is a 50' extension cord (12 gauge) with L6-20 ends. Maybe that will be today's project.

if motor efficiency drops too much at low speeds you may want to use a "pulse and glide" hypermiler technique.. accelerate to lets say 45mph at a moderate clip and then coast in neutral down to 20mph or so.. but dont use regen or you will ruin the whole thing. Male sure your tires are pumped up and properly aligned.