Nissan LEAF: Long-Term Test (Part 3)

December proved to be my wildest adventure yet with the LEAF.

On Thursday the 18th, I drove around all day, running the kids hither and yon, and making it to work appointments in the bitter cold temperatures. (The cold has the same effect on the LEAF battery as it does on any other rechargeable battery … it decreases the time until you need to plug it in again.)

 

The end of the day Thursday for me was the school PTO meeting. I returned home with the kids and for whatever reason, completely forgot to plug in the car. I had about 30 miles left on the battery range, and I just did not plug it into the wall. Blissfully unaware of this, I woke up early the next morning and made sausage-egg muffins for my 7 a.m. networking meeting. I knew I would be heading straight from networking to my company’s holiday event, which was a volunteer opportunity with The Salvation Army at the Ohio State Fairgrounds. I carefully wrapped my hot breakfast treat and walked into the garage. That’s when the horror set in. I did not see the thick black cable stretching from my wall charger to the hood of the LEAF. The car had not charged overnight. I had 30 miles left on my range, and had to go from Westerville to Lewis Center before 7 a.m., and then to the Fairgrounds after.

 

I started driving as my mind raced. I had not left early enough to take a slower, more energy efficient route to Lewis Center. I had to take the freeway to get there on time. That would use a TON of my few remaining miles. I panicked and called a friend, but we couldn’t come up with any way to switch cars. As I calmed down and accepted my fate, I started thinking through my options:

 

If I left the meeting early and went home, I might have 30 minutes of charging at my house on the 240V charger in my garage. But that would not be enough time to make a real difference, and I’d have to go out of my way to the east far enough that it would cancel out the additional charging. It would take at least 90 minutes of charging to give me enough miles for the freeway driving to the fairgrounds and back. I had to be at the event on time, since I’m the boss and it was my idea. The “going-home” option was not a winner.

 

If I could drive slowly on surface roads between Lewis Center and the fairgrounds, I could probably make it there without running out of battery. But then I would be at the fairgrounds, and there are no charging stations there. But that gave me another idea.

 

If I could find a charging station not too far from the fairgrounds, maybe I could walk or take a cab. I remembered that the previous weekend, I had parked and charged in the parking garage at South Campus Gateway. I looked on a map and it is one mile from the fairgrounds. Too far to walk on a wintry day when I had only 8 minutes to spare. On the upside, I knew that the charger at South Campus Gateway requires the user to scan a QR code to start the charge. That meant I could check and see if the charging station was available before driving there. And … it was available. OK, now to figure out the one mile gap. A taxi. Wait, isn’t there something cooler than taxis now? Yes, those apps. Uber and Lyft. I downloaded Lyft at a traffic light and requested a ride. I was still 35 minutes from the parking garage (taking the long way that doesn’t burn as much battery as freeway driving) when I received the happy message that Mark would be picking me up in 5 minutes! Yippee, but oh no! I won’t be there yet! Luckily the app showed a contact number for Mark, and I called and told him I was new to the app and screwed up. He told me to cancel the ride and try again when I was closer to my destination.

 

I pulled into South Campus Gateway parking at 8:45 with 7 miles left before my car stopped working, and rolled up to the charging stations. The left of the two charging station parking spaces contained a gas-powered car, the owner of which apparently couldn’t be bothered to park somewhere else. The right space was mercifully empty. I called for my ride again, and then found the correct app that operates the charging station, plugged in with the universal nozzle, and turned on the flow of electricity to my beautiful gray steed. I gathered the things I needed for my volunteer gig, bundled up, and walked out of the parking garage. In about 45 seconds, Mark pulled up in a Honda Civic and drove me to the fairgrounds. I arrived seven minutes early. When I finished volunteering, I took my staff to lunch (one of my employees drove) and had someone drop me off at the garage, where my car was fully charged and ready to go.

 

This latest adventure taught me two things: One, it’s helpful to have experience with various public charging stations, and knowing which ones I can REALLY depend on, and EXACTLY where they are. Two, don’t forget to plug in the car at night!

 

Oh, and I left a polite note on the gas car next to me, letting them know that we battery-electric people sometimes desperately need a charge and it’s really tragic if the charging station is being blocked by a car with an internal combustion engine.