"We took delivery of our LEAF on 4/20/11 at Fontana Nissan (great dealership, by the way) and are very pleased to report that the LEAF met, and even exceeded, my expectations for mountain performance driving into and around the San Bernardino Mountains east of the Los Angeles area. Initially my plan was simply to drive the LEAF home to the mountains and plug it in. However, with only a bit of extra L1 (120 V) charging to be safe, we ended up driving an additional 24 miles or so that evening on mountain roads, some of them on the steep side.
Here are the highlights of the drive:
- Started out at Fontana Nissan, elev. 1500', with a full charge (12 bars) and a range estimate of 112 miles, in ECO mode.
- To be ultraconservative, took surface streets instead of the 210 freeway east. Due to minor "user error" with the navigation system, drove a bit out of the way, though.
- At 14 miles, reached the intersection of Waterman Avenue and Baseline, elev. 1100', in San Bernardino (below the 210 freeway). This is where we started climbing up to Rim of the World Hwy (CA-18). 11 bars of charge, range estimate of 121 miles.
- At 18 miles, turned off CA-18 onto Old Waterman Canyon Rd., elev. 1800', which saves 1.2 miles vs. staying on CA-18, and is slower and steeper. 10 bars of charge, range estimate of 60 miles.
- At 21 miles, returned to CA-18, elev. 3000'. 9 bars of charge, range estimate of 37 miles.
- While ascending CA-18, I endeavored to hold power usage steady at 20 - 25 kW, maxing out at 30 - 40 kW only occasionally as needed. Generally maintained 40 - 45 mph.
- At 28 miles, approaching Rimforest on CA-18, elev. 5600'. 5 bars of charge, range estimate of 19 miles.
- Continuing along the "Rim" on CA-18, a mixture of ups and downs.
- At 36 miles, along the "Rim" well above the clouds on CA-18, elev. 6100'. 3 bars of charge, range estimate of 20 miles.
- Continuing on CA-18, ascended to 6200' just west of Running Springs and descended to 5900' just east of Running Springs.
- At 41 miles, arrived at home in Arrowbear Lake, elev. 6100'. 3 bars of charge, range estimate of 22 miles.
- "Trickle" charged (L1, 120V) at home for 1.5 hours. 4 bars of charge.
- At 53 miles, reached Church on the Mountain at Lake Arrowhead, elev. 5200'. 3 bars.
- At the church (which isn't even the one we regularly attend), got lots of interest in the car and great questions.
- Trickle charged at the church (during my older son's Awana Bible study) for < 1.5 hours. 4 bars of charge.
- At 65 miles, arrived back at home with 2 bars. No "low battery" warnings.
All in all, we did over 6600' of climbing and over 2000' of descending. My older son rode with me and helped gather data. The LEAF was very, very smooth, seemed to have plenty of available power, and handled quite well on the occasional hairpin turns. Here are a couple of photos:
Along Rim of the World Highway, elev. 6100' above the marine layer.
L1 charging at a local church.
Also, as of yesterday we now have an AV charging dock at home, where we have easy walking access to some beautiful, forested trails. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to visit the mountains with your LEAF and charge here. We're "on the way" to Big Bear. Once CA-330 re-opens, the drive up from Fontana Nissan, or perhaps Metro Nissan in Redlands, should be significantly easier."
Em: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=3512