Buzzing Around on the 4th of July

Celebrating a Little Energy Independence this 4th of July

By the end of the month, we will have had a Nissan Leaf for three years, and until last Tuesday, we hadn't attempted to drive it further up into the mountains than Red Rocks or Green Mountain.  For the 4th of July this year, we decided to head up to Nederland for the afternoon, and we decided to take the electric car.

Range Anxiety Test

Nederland is only about 34 miles from our house, so a round-trip should be well within the Leaf's range, and would make for the safest "bravery test" to see how far the car could go up into the hills.

We took Co. 72 west through Coal Creek Canyon from Arvada.  While climbing, the battery was depleting at almost twice the rate that it does around the city.  We made it into Nederland with only 47% left on the battery, but knowing that coasting and braking replenish the battery, I was confident that this would be enough to get us back home without having to use a public charging station.

Even so, a free public charger opened up after lunch, so we plugged in (the free ChargePoint app was required to activate the charging station).  After about an hour and 45 minutes, we were ready to go, and the battery was back up to 90% full.

What Goes Up Must Come Down

We headed down through Boulder Canyon, and in the 13 miles to Boulder, gained back 7% of our battery charge through coasting and braking.  We were driving in braking mode most of the way down, and still having to manually brake periodically for turns.  

On the way down, I wondered what would happen if the car's charge topped 100% and we were still heading downhill.  I assume the battery would just stop accepting a charge, but this was the first time I'd been confronted with that possibility.  It only reached 97%, so we never found out.

Takeaways

In the end, we'd used a total of 53% of the battery on the way up, and 15% of the battery on the way down.  So 68% of the battery for a 68 mile trip.  This is just slightly better than the mileage we get around town.

This makes me wonder what charging habits would need to be like for someone who lived in the foothills, and came down to town for work.

This was also the first time using a public level 2 charger outside of the dealership.  With the app, the experience was easy - it finds charging stations, and lets you know if they cost and if they're available - and it was nice to get some free kWH from the city of Nederland.  Public chargers are popping up all around the Front Range, and I'd anticipate infrastructure will continue to expand as demand increases.

With public stations, one of the big considerations is availability.  Some towns, like Nederland, Estes Park, and Idaho Springs may only have two or four spots, and if one is occupied, it's occupied for hours, not for minutes like a gas pump.  So if you drive far enough that you'll require a public charge in order to get home, you may be gambling on having to wait for an open space.

All in all, it was good to see what would happen. and to have a nice destination close enough to test, with little risk of running out of juice.  Estes Park, you may be next. Bzzzt.