Leafing in Florida

Well, after a harrowing journey across the country on an auto carrier where the power switch was left turned on, my leaf arrived with me here in Florida.

Of course the local DMV had little to no information about how to register the car, so that delayed my ability to drive it on local roads a couple of days.

I'm happy to report that the car is now officially here, and being used for my commute. Which based on the drive home last night can be a little frightening. Tornado warnings, high winds, torrential downpour, and 268 lightning strikes per hour.

If it interests anyone, I posted a video below.


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLMMGU7DgZo[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-3mpeYJwV8[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWj5iBnmXXw[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WprZw2ePOzs[/youtube]

Haven't looked at the videos yet ... but congratulations on getting it home safely ! Albeit, a little low on charge ! How did that happen ? ( I am not asking who the dummy was that (not being used to EVs) forgot to turn it off ... ) Shouldn't there be a fail-safe designed to turn the car off automatically after a significant time out (1-2 hours) ? What was your LEAFs charge level at arrival ?

Funny, you would never expect an ICE to have a safety shutoff, would you? I guess a big noisy engine is enough reminder it should be shut off?

The car showed 15 miles on the odometer, but a little over 8 hours on the time meter. So I'm guessing some dummy moved it off the truck, into a lot, and let it sit over night.

Based on the time meter, I think the car does indeed have a safety shut off, at 8 hours rather than something simple. Why else would the car have run almost exactly 8 hours?

Sigh. Someone else will have to test that one.

Neat trick let me guess
Reserved 04/20 then realized you won't get a car anytime soon
2nd reservation using ca address and credit card

Bam Leaf in Florida

Now why can't Nissan just do that?

So ... interesting situation. If they parked it without turning it off ... did they also not lock it ? Or does locking it still not turn it off ( if it was on ) ?

Sorry KMP, no tricks here. Just an unexpected twist of life events.

I haven't tested the leaf yet, but the rental altima I had for the last four weeks wouldn't shut off if I left I running and got out with the keys in my pocket, so I'm guessing the leaf is programmed the same way.

Oops sorry , you relocated

Good deal maybe you will jump start things in the east!

Congrads Driveleaf, You must be the first in the state....
And that was a intense storm last night...

Makes u wonder though, a Electric car in a thunderstorm.... What can go wrong....

Major "Quick Charge" (almost instant)?

mikee322 said:

Congrads Driveleaf, You must be the first in the state....
And that was a intense storm last night...

Makes u wonder though, a Electric car in a thunderstorm.... What can go wrong....

Click to expand...

Find the video "The Nissan LEAF story". It shows the "lightning bolt test", where they discharge a huge Van De Graff generator to verify that it does not disrupt the on-board electronics.

I know there's little danger from the emp, but I have to say when you hit several inches of unseen standing water, you start to worry about where all that water is being splashed up into. You can also really feel the cars weight as it fights hydroplaning.

I will also admit, with the severe lightning strikes, I was afraid to plug in the car for fear of electrical surges. I remember reading somewhere that the AV dock was supposed to be surge tolerant, but can't seem to find anything about it now.

On another note, it will be fun to take my leaf to the test drive event next weekend.

driveleaf said:

...

On another note, it will be fun to take my leaf to the test drive event next weekend.

Click to expand...

Yeah, don't worry, those of us who are just now getting to see a Leaf for the first time won't be jealous at all.

So where are you? Obviously within 50 miles of Sawgrass...

I am in Orlando actually. Where is sawgrass?

driveleaf said:

I will also admit, with the severe lightning strikes, I was afraid to plug in the car for fear of electrical surges. I remember reading somewhere that the AV dock was supposed to be surge tolerant, but can't seem to find anything about it now.

Click to expand...

I wonder if this would be a good investment:

http://www.smarthome.com/4860/Leviton-51120-1-Whole-House-Surge-Suppressor-Surge-Protector/p.aspx

driveleaf said:

I am in Orlando actually. Where is sawgrass?

Click to expand...

Oh, sorry, Sawgrass is the mall in South Florida where the test drive is happening this coming weekend (1/29) - somehow I thought that's the one you meant. Well, I definitely won't be jealous since I won't see you after all.

Why Florida isn't ready for the leaf...

Don't get me wrong, I love the car, but really I don't think Florida has set itself up to be conducive to EV life.

I charged to 80% as usual for a weekday. I drove to work in Eco mode, a 10 mile journey. I live 3 miles from the company property line, and then have 7 miles inside the boundary line. So I've positioned myself for the minimum commute possible.

I took 2 friends to Chick-fil-a for lunch, approximately 7 miles each way. We didn't use Eco mode, and it was warm so the fan was turned on.

By the time I got the car parked it had 54 miles remaining in range. No problem, 10 short miles and I'm home.

I get a phone call, and an appointment i had been waiting for opened up at 6:30. Great, I'll pull open the navigator app and send the route to the car. 18 miles. Hmmm. Freeway miles too. Ok, route to home afterwards, 26 miles. Chriminy.

So, if I'm careful, I'll make it home tonight, but thats assuming ideal outcomes, and so far this state has proven less than ideal, with it's addresses frequently not matching google or gps coordinates. And with no knowledge of my destination, I have no idea if I'll have access to L1 charging or not. And certainly no L2 charging to be found here.

A single change in plans can render the car at. It's range anxiety inducing tolerances around here.

Driveleaf

I can see that range anxiety thing if u cant find a recharge point..
I'm discovering(in Florida) that there are more charge stations than what are showing on the maps..
Most of them are new and may or may not show up one or more map applications... For example, charge-point app shows charge locations for St. Peterburg and none for Sarasota-Bradenton.. The recargo app ,shows two for sarasota-bradenton and none for St. Peterburg..

It seems to me that Orlando would have the Most charge locations available in the state,but finding a decent list of them might be and issue...
I wonder if the city or county government would have some sort of list because of the free charger that they are promoting ...

driveleaf said:

Why Florida isn't ready for the leaf...
...
A single change in plans can render the car at. It's range anxiety inducing tolerances around here.

Click to expand...

Oh no, now I'd better hope nobody from Nissan is reading this!

I've been tracking my mileage per day for about 250 days now and I've averaged 39 miles per day. I've had 13 days over 100 miles, and none of them were unplanned. So I still want mine now, regardless of infrastructure concerns.

Anyway, hope you made it home!

do you have L2 charging at your home?

i am only using L1 and 1-2 times a week we are doing a 60 mile RT commute mostly freeway @ 65 mph. the Leaf makes it no problem usually with 20-27 miles to spare, but 110 does not fully charge it up the next day.

now its not an issue since mostly it drive 20-40 miles a day so not fully charged is fine.

now i know its hard to judge your driving needs especially if unexpected side trips are common which i am guessing they are not, but i basically charge to 100% because i want to be prepared just in case.

StrangerTides said:

driveleaf said:

Why Florida isn't ready for the leaf...
...
A single change in plans can render the car at. It's range anxiety inducing tolerances around here.

Click to expand...

Oh no, now I'd better hope nobody from Nissan is reading this!

I've been tracking my mileage per day for about 250 days now and I've averaged 39 miles per day. I've had 13 days over 100 miles, and none of them were unplanned. So I still want mine now, regardless of infrastructure concerns.

Anyway, hope you made it home!

Click to expand...

i have been tracking mine since i got my first Prius in 2004. once i had an unplanned trip that was more than 100 miles but that was only because we had gone to store only to find they did not have what we were looking for (Ikea) so we decided to take the long way home but only because it was a bright beautiful day and gas was just over $2 a gallon.

all i can say is that, i want it bad enough to make it work. if i need to get out of town, i just take the Prius