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manitou820

Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2013
Messages
7
Over Thanksgiving I drove from Colorado Springs (actually Manitou Springs) to just northeast of city park in Denver. It was about 45F out during my drive but I was conservative with the heat. I drove on 105 and 85 (west of I-25) to avoid driving slow on I-25. It added extra miles but I was able to cruise at 55mph most of the way. It actually worked out well because I avoided all of the holiday traffic. I stopped at Larry Miller Nissan to walk my dog and charge for 30min just in case. I made the trip (86mi) with 31% remaining, however I added about 9% at Larry Miller Nissan. So the reality is I could have done it on about 80% of the battery.

On the way home I drove I-25 to Castle Rock, and then took the Frontage Road to Palmer Lake then to Monument and then I-25 back home. I didn't stop to charge and I got home with 14% remaining after driving 76mi. I was going 70mph most of the way to Castle Rock and then from Monument into Colorado Springs. There were three options for charging on the way back just in case; the Walgreens in Castle Rock and in Monument, and the Woodmen Nissan on the north side of Colorado Springs.

Felt pretty cool to do this drive on all electric.
 
Very cool - so where did you charge in Denver? You said you stopped at Larry Miller but only for 30 minutes.

Have made the trip from Denver to the Springs when we bought the car, but have not tried to go back up to Denver yet. Waiting for the L3 chargers...
 
sbccsb said:
Very cool - so where did you charge in Denver? You said you stopped at Larry Miller but only for 30 minutes.

Have made the trip from Denver to the Springs when we bought the car, but have not tried to go back up to Denver yet. Waiting for the L3 chargers...

Good on Larry Miller Nissan for allowing you to pickup a charge!! (Not like M'Lady Nissan in Crystal Lake, IL whose policy is, "If you didn't buy it here, you can't charge it here," per an earlier posting about M'Lady Nissan.)
 
greengate said:
sbccsb said:
Very cool - so where did you charge in Denver? You said you stopped at Larry Miller but only for 30 minutes.

Have made the trip from Denver to the Springs when we bought the car, but have not tried to go back up to Denver yet. Waiting for the L3 chargers...

Good on Larry Miller Nissan for allowing you to pickup a charge!! (Not like M'Lady Nissan in Crystal Lake, IL whose policy is, "If you didn't buy it here, you can't charge it here," per an earlier posting about M'Lady Nissan.)

Yeah, Larry Miller is good about charging LEAFs that you didn't buy there - so are Arapahoe Nissan, Woodmen Nissan, and Colorado Springs Nissan.
 
manitou820 said:
Over Thanksgiving I drove from Colorado Springs (actually Manitou Springs) to just northeast of city park in Denver. It was about 45F out during my drive but I was conservative with the heat. I drove on 105 and 85 (west of I-25) to avoid driving slow on I-25. It added extra miles but I was able to cruise at 55mph most of the way. It actually worked out well because I avoided all of the holiday traffic. I stopped at Larry Miller Nissan to walk my dog and charge for 30min just in case. I made the trip (86mi) with 31% remaining, however I added about 9% at Larry Miller Nissan. So the reality is I could have done it on about 80% of the battery.

On the way home I drove I-25 to Castle Rock, and then took the Frontage Road to Palmer Lake then to Monument and then I-25 back home. I didn't stop to charge and I got home with 14% remaining after driving 76mi. I was going 70mph most of the way to Castle Rock and then from Monument into Colorado Springs. There were three options for charging on the way back just in case; the Walgreens in Castle Rock and in Monument, and the Woodmen Nissan on the north side of Colorado Springs.

Felt pretty cool to do this drive on all electric.

Welcome to the club! Not sure how I missed this post when it was first made - the trip you describe covers areas I've driven over many times.

So a few points:
1) Colorado Springs Utilities has two level 2 chargers on Mesa Road near Fillmore - great for a last minute top-up on your way home. One nice thing about these is that they are full 240V, unlike the slower 208V Aerovironment chargers at the Nissan dealers.
http://api.plugshare.com/view/location/11253" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

2) Following up on the charger speed, the Walgreens chargers are faster than Nissan dealer chargers. If you haven't already I suggest you sign up for a SemaCharge RFID card so you can use them if needed. In addition to the two you mention there are two a bit south of Larry Miller. I know they cost $0.49/kWh, but to me the faster charge is worth it (also, those 4 Walgreens are all walking distance from restaurants and shops).

3) I-25 from Lincoln Ave to Monument Hill is a huge drain on the battery, to be sure - not only do you have all those hills and a net elevation climb of about 2200 ft, but the widely-flaunted 75 mph limit means you have to go faster than optimal just to keep up, especially when it gets down to 2 lanes after Castle Rock. You're right that US 85 helps - it's the railroad route and less hilly than I-25, and I've often done the frontage road to Larkspur then the side road to Palmer Lake if battery is low. Now that Arapahoe Nissan has a QC - plus two parking garages with QC in downtown Denver - making trips to Denver with the LEAF should be less time consuming.
 
My first out of town trip with my 2015 Leaf S, loved it:

Just completed a trip from the north end of the springs (~Interquest) to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. 120 miles roundtrip. I took 1-25 both ways, keeping around 65-70 most of the way there, though I went as low as 60 up some hills and as fast as 81 coasting down others. Got there with 45% battery remaining! This was in the morning so there was no traffic and no need to run anything other then the vents a bit.

The way back I still kept close to 65 but slowed to 60 a bit more often on the steepest hills. Still got as high as 75 on the flats/downhills though less often. Even ran the AC half the trip and got home with 25% battery remaining. 5.0 mi/kWh there, 3.9 mi/kWh back. No traffic problems either way.
 
I'm still psyching myself up for a FoCo to the Springs trip. Will probably drive to Denver and work for the day there where we have good L2 and then should have no problem driving the rest of the way. Maybe go to the mall for food and a movie to get charged back up and then manage it with the trickle charger for driving around town. Going back, I would probably stop at one of the QC along 25 to refill for the trip home.

I go to the springs about once a month for a day and I'd love to use the Leaf for that trip instead of the SUV.
 
All of this reminds me of the time..around 1986..when I had a propane car, a Morgan Plus 8, that had a range of around 225 miles. It came with a propane station directory and not unlike today all not all of the stations worked all the time, so I called ahead.

I talked to the owner of a station, seemingly the only one, that would be open and sell propane for vehicle use on a Sunday. He assured me everything would be fine. I show up at the station and the attendant won't put the propane in the car as he was not "certified" to do that. I think the certification didn't even extend to the duty of a bathroom attendant for that matter. I asked that he call his boss, informing him of my earlier conversation. Couldn't happen he said as his boss was out fishing and couldn't be reached.

At that moment I got creative and told him that I wouldn't like to be in either of their shoes as I was a cardiac surgeon scheduled for duty at Northwestern Hospital in Chicago and if anyone died because I couldn't be there at 6 in the morning on Monday, oh my. He'd be wise to put his liability carrier on notice right away..business as well as personal. That's when he somehow got in touch with his boss who told him to fill up my car.

I'm a lot older now then I was in 1986 and I don't want to have a repeat of that experience, so I stay fairly close to home for now..even though I have on one occasion returned with the low battery warning at 8% percent remaining. You will probably do the same when you too appreciate the sunsets as opposed to the sunrises!!
 

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Yes, hopefully we get to a point where the charging stations are more numerous and more reliable. I can't believe the L3 at Arapahoe and I-25 seems to have been broken more than working. It would be a perfect pit stop to make C Springs to Boulder area possible for me with minimal hassle.

I know what you mean though greengate. I wouldn't do this as a daily commute as you're bound to get stuck in stop and go traffic or other problems sooner or later, but here are multiple L2's in castle rock and monument now if the trip hadn't gone as well as planned. Fun to stretch the car every once in a while but I won't be doing that trip often.

Oh, and that 25% is now the lowest I've gotten, but didn't even hit LBW.
 
Nfuzzy said:
My first out of town trip with my 2015 Leaf S, loved it:

Just completed a trip from the north end of the springs (~Interquest) to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. 120 miles roundtrip. I took 1-25 both ways, keeping around 65-70 most of the way there, though I went as low as 60 up some hills and as fast as 81 coasting down others. Got there with 45% battery remaining! This was in the morning so there was no traffic and no need to run anything other then the vents a bit.

The way back I still kept close to 65 but slowed to 60 a bit more often on the steepest hills. Still got as high as 75 on the flats/downhills though less often. Even ran the AC half the trip and got home with 25% battery remaining. 5.0 mi/kWh there, 3.9 mi/kWh back. No traffic problems either way.

That's pretty impressive and really emphasizes how much more range I'd get if I traded in one of our older LEAFs for a new LEAF - both due to better initial range and no battery degradation.

Getting to Denver isn't a problem as you go down hill a lot - although I am lucky to have 45% remaining at DMNS when driving from Monument. Getting back is mostly uphill I have to hypermile all the way and still am down to 2 bars at the top of Monument Hill. Note that the A/C uses little battery - but the resistance heater in the S model will use a lot. You won't get anything like that range in winter!

Any trouble accessing the charger at DMNS?
 
Wait, do the SL/SV have a different heater than the S?

No problem charging at DMNS, though I got there at 8:45 on a Sunday just to be safe. I was the first one there charging. When I left around 1pm there were two other leafs and a Volt on the L2's. There was one L1 open, and the other two L1's were taken by a non-plug in prius and an ICE.

Oh, and I drove in D mode on the freeway, B mode off freeway, non-ECO the whole way. Had 24 miles on the GOM at the top of Monument hill which climbed back to like 35 by the time I got home.

Oh, and can you describe what type of speed and other hypermile tricks you use on the way back? This is a few times a year type of trip for me (and one I wouldn't attempt in winter), but I'm still curious what I have in store a few years from now.

I may try making it to Westminster sometime. Shouldn't be a problem to get there, but will definitely have to charge on the way back.
 
Nfuzzy said:
Oh, and I drove in D mode on the freeway, B mode off freeway, non-ECO the whole way. Had 24 miles on the GOM at the top of Monument hill which climbed back to like 35 by the time I got home.

Oh, and can you describe what type of speed and other hypermile tricks you use on the way back? This is a few times a year type of trip for me (and one I wouldn't attempt in winter), but I'm still curious what I have in store a few years from now.

For hypermiling start here:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=5508" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You'll see that ECO mode isn't necessarily more efficient if you are a careful driver. For a non-careful driver ECO mode may be more efficient as it discourages excessive acceleration, but it's debatable just how much the extra regeneration helps.

For Colorado - specifically for the hilly areas between the Springs and Denver - hypermiling places a lot of emphasis on dealing with those hills. In flat areas it's mostly about: keeping the acceleration low; keeping speeds at the limit or, for highways, under approximately 62 mph; and avoiding unnecessary regen so that you use the bare minimum energy needed. The S model doesn't have the navigation feature so it's a little harder. On the SV and SL the nav feature has a screen which shows precise energy used or being regenerated and the goal of hypermiling is to keep the usage line at "0" as much as possible - coasting - or close to 0 with never more than 10-15 kWh of energy expended (I extend that to 20 on steep hills, and higher when traffic demands it). On the S model you have to approximate with the energy bubbles. This means a driving style of gentle acceleration, anticipating well in advance traffic situations such as red lights or slowing traffic and adjusting speed accordingly, and gentle braking.

Throw in hills like on I-25 and it gets more challenging. If you try to keep the acceleration low going up, say, the climb covering the 75 mph stretch to Castle Pines from Ridgegate you'll be in the far right lane (of 4 lanes) and still have people trying to run you off the road. Worse when a 2-lane, 75 mph section is involved, such as moving from the Greenland exit to County Line Road. Often I have to compromise range for safety just to keep up. So alternate routes are advised if possible. The frontage roads south of Castle Rock are great for this, as is the side road from Ridgegate to Castle Pines, where you can usually do 35 mph while doing that 9% grade with no one coming up behind you. Over time you learn to follow the water-level routes like the railroads did. From downtown Denver it is more efficient to take US 85 to Castle Rock than I-25, despite an additional 2 miles, because you avoid the extra 600 foot climb-and-fall at Castle Pines and because the climb in general is gradual. Similarly, taking the side road from Larkspur to Monument via Palmer Lake follows the railway route, except one short, steep climb south of Larkspur, so is more efficient than I-25 despite being 2 miles longer.

It's things like this that really keep the LEAF an early adopter car - most people aren't willing to do this. But it's an option if you want to.
 
Did this trip for the second time, though this time ran an errand in town before hitting I25. Stopped overnight at the Denver performing arts center for the charge. About 75 miles one way with 39% charge remaining at the destination. I reset the mi/kwh counter at the top of monument hill for grins and made it the rest of the way at 7.4 mi/kwh doing 65-75 for the most part but there was some stop and go traffic as we got into Denver. This makes me think I can do c springs to boulder nonstop... Hmmm
 
Just FYI, the QC at Boulder Nissan is out of service. Apparently they are getting an entirely new unit.

Last time I was there it was still working even though someone had run over the "nozzle". There are multiple good L2 options up there though.
 
Thanks for the tip. I would probably give beau jo's my business; I think it's awesome that they have chargers at all locations. Arapahoe Nissan QC finally looks like it's back up which would help on the return.

Trip home today really accentuated that elevation change. I was down to 60% at castle rock and stopped for 35min at the hospital to get it back to 77%. Took 83 home from there and made it home with 24%. Gorgeous drive this time of year that way.
 
BeauJo's is great and EV and gluten free friendly so I love to give them my money.

If you like sushi, there is a great place called Tasuki. It's about a block south of the L2 at the Rocky Mountain Institute on the west side of the Folsom, just north of Arapahoe. We were taken care of by the owner who is a really nice guy and he makes amazing sushi. Not too expensive either.

The charger at the Rocky Mountain Institute gave us a nice boost at full 6.6 speed while we ate. It's also a fairly short walk to the mall from there. I can't imagine why there is no L2 at the mall, but this one and the ones at Boulder Nissan seem to be closest.
 
Nfuzzy said:
Thanks for the tip. I would probably give beau jo's my business; I think it's awesome that they have chargers at all locations. Arapahoe Nissan QC finally looks like it's back up which would help on the return.

Trip home today really accentuated that elevation change. I was down to 60% at castle rock and stopped for 35min at the hospital to get it back to 77%. Took 83 home from there and made it home with 24%. Gorgeous drive this time of year that way.

I like the ones at the hospital but it looks like half(2) are still down and have been for a few months. I take 105 south when I am heading down south after charging at the hospital. Or if I am going straight from my house I take 83.
 
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