Performance - Max Grade Climbing

smkettner said:

50% grade is 100' out and 50' rise. I will leave the trig angle to your slide rule.

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Got that right here for you -- about 26.5 degrees.

No, really. Would you believe I just now pulled out the slide rule I still have in my desk drawer? Not the big K&E I used to carry, but it definitely works, and after more than 50 years there's been no problem with a battery running down.

Ray

Looks like this guy was able to recharge his leaf by towing it behind a truck. I wouldn't do it but its possible. http://www.youtube.com/embed/5Sujv90PLLY

mogur said:

The car must be in ECO mode for this to work which means it is on and "in gear". Leaving a vehicle like this is inherently dangerous unless you plan to have someone sitting in the drivers seat the entire time to monitor it and intervene if necessary... It may also illegal under some vehicle codes...

TonyWilliams said:

Please expand on the "unsafe" part. If it's unsafe for regen, then I need to sell my car now.

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Ok, I think you're just repeating the same scaremonger. What is illegal (in your mind)? It's hard to tell from your reference... being "in gear" or "being on" or "having somebody in the car", or something else?

You don't need somebody in any seat to monitor a car. We can monitor a probe passing Pluto; a LEAF securely fastened to the rear of a 30,000 pound RV can be "monitored". Actually, if the car were to blow up, burn up, or some other terrible thing, I'd hope it would happen while being towed, instead of my wife or daughter actually driving the car.

A Leaf is an IDEAL motor home car, in my opinion, for those afternoon run abouts. Plus, camp grounds have access to plug ins to charge it. I'm not sure if it makes sense to tow the car on the wheels, unless the two drive "half" shafts can be disconnected from turning the motor over.

But, for those times when a fully charged car is needed at your RV destination, it might be logical. There is still the option of running the generator on the RV, and plugging in the LEAF while under tow. But, that obviously could take up to 8 hours at 240 volts. Plus, the load might be so large so as to make your RV useless for other high power functions.

So far, for a fast charge, without a handy L3 around, towing seems the best bet.

planet4ever said:

Either way you will be using a huge amount of gasoline or diesel relative to the miles you add to the LEAF. Far better to charge at home before you leave, and charge overnight in an RV park each night you are away.

Ray

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You guys are focusing on ENERGY efficiency, which of course, it makes far more sense to plug in.

But, if I drove the LEAF all around a National Park, to return to my RV with a mostly depleted battery, and then wanted to drive the RV for 2 hours to the next National Park (towing the LEAF), what would you suggest? Wait for an 8 hour charge? Hope for an L3?

I'll show up at the new camp ground with an "unfueled" car.

The efficiency that I'm after is TIME. Not energy.

gbarry42 said:

That 22KW you saw at 60 MPH would be just about 30 HP. And if they're telling us about "into the battery" then you have to add some more for the generator inefficiency. So your RV might go from 12 MPG to 9...the thing you want to know is "Will I make to the campground?" The good news is, when the motor home starts speeding up on it own, then you know the LEAF is done charging

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I going to bet that a typical 350hp / 1800 foot pound of torque diesel coach won't even know that tiny car is back there, even in regen mode. My last GM pickup with the Duramax diesel could pull an AMAZING load without breaking a sweat... or affecting the gas mileage much.

You could have a video camera in the LEAF to monitor progress (maybe displayed on the RV backup camera monitor). You'd be watching just like if you were sitting in the car going down a big hill in ECO mode.

ERG4ALL said:

If I'm not mistaken, I believe that the towing recommendations in the owner's manual advise against having the front wheels on the ground. If you're towing it behind an RV, it may be better to get one of those front wheel towing dollies.

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Or disconnect the drive half shafts (free wheeling hubs).

TonyWilliams said:

planet4ever said:

Either way you will be using a huge amount of gasoline or diesel relative to the miles you add to the LEAF. Far better to charge at home before you leave, and charge overnight in an RV park each night you are away. Ray

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You guys are focusing on ENERGY efficiency, which of course, it makes far more sense to plug in.

But, if I drove the LEAF all around a National Park, to return to my RV with a mostly depleted battery, and then wanted to drive the RV for 2 hours to the next National Park (towing the LEAF), what would you suggest? Wait for an 8 hour charge? Hope for an L3?

I'll show up at the new camp ground with an "unfueled" car.

The efficiency that I'm after is TIME. Not energy.

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I will suggest you run the generator for the two hours while in transit to get as much charge as that allows.

Or simply accept that a Leaf may not be the suitable vehicle for this application...

TonyWilliams said:

But, if I drove the LEAF all around a National Park, to return to my RV with a mostly depleted battery, and then wanted to drive the RV for 2 hours to the next National Park (towing the LEAF), what would you suggest? Wait for an 8 hour charge? Hope for an L3?

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RELAX, man. The point of both national parks and the RV lifestyle is to enjoy the outdoors. Slow down, let the fresh air and natural beauty flow into your body and refresh your mind. My own rule would be an absolute minimum of two days per park, never two parks in one day.

We've stopped driving our RV (too much wasted fuel), but back when we did, our pattern was to arrive at the next location late in the afternoon, set up, cook dinner, and just take it easy for the evening. We'd get a good night's sleep and be fresh to explore the new park in the morning. If we had been pulling a LEAF dinghy, which of course we weren't, it would have been fresh and fully charged, too, with morning light.

Ray

planet4ever said:

RELAX, man. The point of both national parks and the RV lifestyle is to enjoy the outdoors. Slow down, let the fresh air and natural beauty flow....
Ray

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Funny. All hypotheticals for me, personally. Most of my RV time in the past is parked at the spot that entertainment is. Never pulled a car, and any trailer I had would have been loaded with toys.

I carry a gas powered scooter in the various planes I've owned. Super easy to fuel up with 100 low lead gas out of the wing drains. Great for getting around.