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Mike Shubic April 24th, 2010 0 Comments

10 Comments

John Feagins says:

September 6, 2012 at 4:05 pm

We bought ours last weekend. When I drive to work early on the streets rather than the interstate in ECO mode with windows down, I get 4.7 miles / kWh – the equivalent of 120 miles per gallon. It drops to around 80 if I drive on the interstate in drive mode with the AC on.

My mom lives in Llano just outside the range of this vehicle, but mine is equipped with a “Quick Charge” 440V DC charge port that claims to be able to put 80% charge into the car in 30 minutes. Road trips will be possible when those Quick Charge stations are spaced at about 60 – 70 mile intervals, since the car will not go 100 miles at highway speeds. Unfortunately, the QC stations are being installed in cities like Dallas and Houston, not in between them.

Use of a gasoline generator would extend range but drop efficiency down below 30 MPG.
1. Mike's Road Trip says:
  
  September 6, 2012 at 5:17 pm
  
  Hi John, thanks so much for stopping by and posting this information…very helpful. Cheers, Mike
Steve Miller says:

September 6, 2012 at 9:31 pm

The answer to your question is no. While the range isn’t the limiting factor, the charge time is. Take a look at Top Gear UK a few seasons back. They gave it a try and while the drive wasn’t the problem, when you have to stop essentially after 90 minutes to recharge the battery, it become apparent that you cannot sustain a long trip.
1. Mike's Road Trip says:
  
  September 7, 2012 at 1:38 am
  
  Oh, that’s interesting Steve…thanks for chiming in!
Jake says:

September 9, 2012 at 6:42 am

I would agree that the Nissan Leaf isn’t the best for road trips. I’ve taken two small road trips in mine and in both cases the trip time ballooned due to the wait for Level 2 charging stations to juice me up. With that said, if you go into a small road trip with realistic expectations, it can be interesting to explore the areas you stop to charge in, even if some boring time is mixed in with the wait. There are still no level 3 charging stations in my state. I have high hopes that Level 3 charging would make my Leaf more suited for the occasional road trip, but even 30 minutes is kind of long to wait for every 60-100 miles driving (Level 3s take Leafs to 80% in 30min). If you’re interested, here’s the blog post I did of my first trip: http://atlantaleaflife.info/posts/8
1. Mike's Road Trip says:
  
  September 9, 2012 at 1:04 pm
  
  Hi Jake, thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. Much appreciated. Cheers, Mike
Lance Pickup says:

December 12, 2012 at 11:31 pm

Mike, what do you consider a road trip?

Okay, the LEAF will never be appropriate for the kind of road trip we take every year or two, travelling 1500 miles round trip to visit family.

But I did once take my LEAF on a trip of 191 miles to a meeting about 85 miles away. I did have to go a little further than I would have in a gas car because I was avoiding the highway, and this did end up taking a lot longer than if I had just used the highway. Plus I stopped to charge a bit on the way, I charged while I was at my meeting, and on the way home I stopped again to have dinner and charge up while I ate. But I did have a very enjoyable trip.

My goal in the next 2 or so years is be able to take a trip from Raleigh, NC to Charlotte, NC (where my son goes to school), which is just about 160 miles. I figure I can make it with careful driving 2 30-minute fast charge stops, so hopefully those fast charge stations will start appearing in the right places.

Anything longer than that I probably wouldn’t attempt in the LEAF.

That said, the LEAF easily meets the vast majority of our driving needs. We’ve only had to resort to the gas car 6 times in the past year.
1. Mike's Road Trip says:
  
  December 12, 2012 at 11:40 pm
  
  Hi Lance…I’d like to do maybe 150-200 miles a day with a couple of charges. Then stay in an area for a few days exploring. Maybe make it a month-long trip/promotion where I produce a number of videos and blog daily of the experience. It would be great if I could get someone like Nissan on board with a charging station company and perhaps a hotel chain that has charging stations at their locations.
Scott says:

January 9, 2014 at 6:06 pm

We have 3, Level 3 chargers around us and can easily run errands around Fort Collins, CO head to Boulder for the evening, and come home. A 200 mile day has been achieved twice now on our Leaf and we’ve only had it 7 weeks.
Our family is planning to take at least one camping trip to a destination over 150 miles from home, one way. I do not anticipate having to stop for more than 20 minutes and the outlet at our tent-site (campground) will be used to charge us enough to get down the mountains and do short day-trips from there.
As more level 3 chargers come online, we’ll have the entire front-range of Colorado to cruise freeley. Possibly by the end of ’14.
1. Mike's Road Trip says:
  
  January 11, 2014 at 2:22 pm
  
  Hey Scott, thanks so much for stopping by and sharing. Cheers, Mike

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