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Sunday, November 25, 2012

Stage One and Cold Feet

I have noticed that with my stage one anxiety, I have probably been looking at my range mileage too much while driving. I should be looking at the battery bars. There are 12 battery bars with two of them being red. Red means "Oh no! Better find a charge somewhere". I have never been close to the red bars yet. I had figured that when I leased the Leaf for two years, I would charge up at work using one of the dealerships 4 charging stations. I could use the level 1 trickle charger(EVSE) that comes with the car at various locations using a 120V outlet with an extension cord as needed.
 I live in Bremerton, Washington, 3.5 miles away from work, make various jaunts to the Gig Harbor area and back to Bremerton several times a week. The vehicle works perfectly around Bremerton where I am not so concerned about it's energy usage. I can turn up the heat in the Leaf, defrost the windows, blast the stereo with great music and not worry too much. It is when I take my longer trips out to Gig Harbor that I worry more and Range Anxiety sets in. Gig Harbor, at this time, has absolutely no Level 2 (240V) charging stations to charge up with. So I have to use the Level 1 EVSE that comes with the car and that can take up to 20 hrs for a full charge. I could just not worry about it but I do because my trip out there usually uses about 50% of the Leaf's energy without delving into the last two red bars. I can reduce the cars consumption with various techniques and that is where the cold feet come in.
 The Leaf's Stereo/Navigation, heated seats, and heated steering wheel run off the auxiliary battery and are charged in conjunction with whatever electrical charger, and a solar panel on top of the hatchback's spoiler. What happens is that I end up being concerned about conserving the Leaf's energy use as I drive around on longer trips. If you drive in Eco Mode, the car seems more sluggish but consumes less energy. I try to coast down hills which help to recharge the battery. I use the brakes on long stops to regenerate energy back into the battery. I find myself becoming green unintentionally.
Studies have shown that when you use heated seats and a heated steering wheel, the less likely you are to use the vehicle's heater. My feet get cold and my windows get fogged up! I need to wear thicker, longer socks and insulated shoes.

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