SoCal LEAF & EV Gathering - Sixth Year Ended - 20 Aug 2016

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
tbleakne said:
I would be interested in observations about the Bolt concept car from folks who also attended the Exposition Park NDEW event on Sunday.
I have read speculation that the Bolt has a 50 kWh battery, probably packaged as a slab under the floor. It may have a tweak to the battery chemistry relative to the Volt, trading power density for increased energy density. As a concept car, not pre-production, you probably were not allowed very close to the car. I also read that they may only make about 30K or so cars because that is the limit of what LG can supply in batteries.

Comments from Boomer23, 91040, others ?

I haven't heard the speculations that you mention about the batteries for the Bolt, but we could do some math to arrive at the probable kWh capacity. The car is about the size and frontal area of the BMW i3, but likely heavier since it will probably lack the carbon fiber structures used in the i3. Figure about 3200 pounds?

If the i3 BEV gets about 85 miles per charge on 19 useable kWh, I see 50 kWh (gross) as being in the right range for 200 real world miles. It remains to be seen whether the 200 miles will be real world or pie-in-the-sky.

I find the Bolt a very good looking small EV, and many seem to agree. It looks like trunk space behind the rear seats is smaller than most small EVs, and I think that GM will live to regret the Bolt name due to confusion with the Volt.
 
Our next Gathering is this coming Saturday, September 26th, in Santa Ana,
at the Hometown Buffet on 17th Street, just 2 blocks East of I-5.

HTB opens at 8 AM for breakfast, you are welcome to join us.
Some of us are likely to still be there at 11 or even noon.
The lunch menu food usually appears between 10:30 and 11.

We expect LEAFs and Teslas, likely a BMW i3, and possibly a Coda.

There should be good stories of the NDEW happenings, and hopefully
some reports about the 2015 BC2BC EV Rally-Loop 3000 mile event.
 
We had a very nice Gathering, with about 12 to 14 warm bodies,
and at least 4 Teslas, 2 LEAFs, 2 Rav4EVs, and a BMW i3, but
no Coda this time.

Phil brought some NDEW goodies, Thanks!!!
Our waitress got the yellow arm band, and
a nice, smart preteen girl sitting nearby got
the blue band, with delight for Clean Air.

Insight to humanoids (not always true in every case):
How can you tell when a politician / man is lying?
When their / his lips are moving!

Oh well, we had a good time, with solar panels, wiring
and copper/aluminum connections, and mini-split heating
and cooling systems being just a few of the topics.

Thanks all, for attending.
 
For those who wish to plan ahead, Gatherings every 2 weeks
until the end of 2015, then a 3-week gap to get past the holidays
and into the new year.

If somebody wants to host an extra event or potluck
perhaps for the holidays or new-year, please feel free
to suggest a date and time.

In this thread's first post, you can find our tentative schedule:

------ 65th month Gatherings ------ 
Gathering #65a: 9 Jan 2016 at the HTB in Cerritos for breakfast.
Gathering #65b: 23 Jan 2016 at the HTB on 17th in Santa Ana for breakfast. 

------ 64th month Gatherings ------ 
Gathering #64a: 5 Dec 2015 at the HTB in Cerritos for breakfast.
Gathering #64b: 19 Dec 2015 at the HTB on 17th in Santa Ana for breakfast. 

------ 63rd month Gatherings ------ 
Gathering #63a: 7 Nov 2015 at the HTB in Cerritos for breakfast.
Gathering #63b: 21 Nov 2015 at the HTB on 17th in Santa Ana for breakfast. 

------ 62nd month Gatherings ------ 
Gathering #62a: 10 Oct 2015 at the HTB in Cerritos for breakfast.
Gathering #62b: 24 Oct 2015 at the HTB on 17th in Santa Ana for breakfast. 

Cheers, Gary
 
One day and 23 minutes until our next Gathering, in Cerritos
at the Hometown Buffet 2 blocks East of 605, just North of
South Street, which is the first exit from 605 South of the
91/605 interchange. Breakfast starts at 8 AM. CU there.
 
Hi gang.

I missed seeing you all this morning in Cerritos. Looking forward to next Saturday before the Solar Decathlon in Irvine.

Speaking of the Decathlon, I did a quick visit last Thursday on opening day for the public viewing. I have some comments and thoughts. Please head over to the Solar Decathlon thread for my comments.

As for today's adventure, the BMW had to be towed (flat bedded) to the dealer for diagnosis of a drivetrain malfunction. It turned out that the circuit breaker on my EVSE tripped during overnight charging. I assume that something in the car's charging system caused it to trip the breaker. One guy online had a similar problem and he said that the 12 v battery was involved. I won't know the diagnosis until early next week, if then. (This other guy said that his dealer had his car for 2 weeks, with lots of discussion with the engineers in Germany.)

Contrary to possible misunderstanding, this is only the second time that the car has been in the shop, and the first time it has been undriveable. The first time it was in the shop was when the car was only a week old and it threw an airbag/seatbelt fault. The dealer had the car for a week while they waited for a wiring harness from Germany. During that same visit, I had to insist that the dealer update the firmware.

I did have a recurrence of the airbag fault about a month ago, but I ignored it up until I was forced to take it in today. So they'll be working on both the drivetrain and airbag faults during this visit.
 
Even though our BMW i3 owner did not make it to yesterday's breakfast
at the Hometown Buffet in Cerritos, we had 11 bodies, including a new
visitor who was looking for opinions concerning his order of a Tesla Model S
which he had to finalize today. Probably a silver S70, but there were those
who were trying to encourage the 85 kWh battery size. Hopefully, we will
see what he decided, perhaps before Christmas.

Tom, very nice video.
Cheers all, thanks for attending.

Next HTB garhering is in Santa Ana on 17th Street, 2 bkocks East
of I-5, on Saturday, October 24th.
 
On Saturday 17th of October, some will be meeting at the Knowlwood
resturant (one block SW of I-5 via the Sand Canyon exit) at 9 AM
to eat and chat before going to the Solat Decathlon at the Irvine
Great Park nearby. I hope to attend.

Hoping for much shorter lines to tour each of the (roughly) 14
houses, I will probably go on Thursday, when the temperatures
should be much lower than this weekend.

See Boomer's comments in the nearby Solar Decathlon thread.
 
It looks like Thursday the 15th to the Solar Decathlon, about 11:30 for me.
Anybody else going on Thursday?

Then, breakfast at 9 at the nearby Knowlwood resturant on Saturday
the 17th, possibly going back to the Solar Decathlon afterwards.

Cheers all, GG
 
I just made a reservation for 12+ under my name.. for 9am

Knowlwood's
14952 Sand Canyon Avenue
Irvine, CA 92618

Hope to see you there
 
Our next Gathering is this coming Saturday, October 24th, at the
Hometown Buffet on 17th Street in Santa Ana, just 2 blocks
East of the I-5 freeway. It opens at 8 AM for breakfast, and we
are usually there until at least 11, and often noon.

CU Soon Lee ... cheers, Gary
 
With about 10 bodies at the table, we had one of the longest Gatherings
ever, with the last three leaving after 2 PM. Lots of good discussions from
Auto-Steering in a Tesla, Chademo charging an iMev, and Solar Panels to
dealing with Diabetes and the temptations of potatoes and pasta, to
the heartbreak of losing a dearly loved creature, human or otherwise.

A demo ride in an Autopilot Tesla S to show off the newly released
Auto-Steering feature was enjoyed by three.

Next Gathering is in 2 weeks in Cerritos, then 2 weeks later back
in Santa Ana again. Good to see you all, including one who stayed
overnight in a hotel to be able to join us for a little while before
leaving for a Saturday mid-morning performance.
 
Our Gathering on November 7th 2015 will be at the Hometown
Buffet in Cerritos. Take the South Street exit from 605, go East
2 blocks, and then North one short block, turning right into the
parking area. The exit from 605 is the first exit south of freeway 91.

I plan to arrive at approximately 8 AM, perhaps with a brief charging
stop at the Superchargers in Fountain Valley if I am low on fuel
or have gotten started early.
 
Back
Top