Watering my horse after our desert ride (Click to enlarge)

Plug-In Day Saga: Las Vegas Odyssey September 30, 2012 Mark D Larsen

One week ago, September 23, was National Plug-In Day, with celebrations taking place in numerous cities all across the country. Some of them were very large and exciting, as this photo shows of a gathering of numerous Nissan Leaf owners at Crissy Field in San Francisco. Here in Utah EV activists organized an event in downtown Salt Lake City at the Gallivan Center. As I am 10 minutes from the Arizona border, I regretfully had to conclude that said event was too far away for me to participate. However, the Nevada Chapter of the Electric Auto Association was likewise planning on hosting a get-together in Las Vegas, and after a neighbor who owns a Volt prodded me a couple of times, I decided to take advantage of the “holiday” by taking my Leaf on its first truly long distance day trip.

I had intended to get up with the birds, but decided to hold off until I wouldn’t have to drive in the dark. That nighttime adventure would come later, on the journey home. I finally left at about 7:30 AM, knowing that I would lose an hour in Nevada. I drove nearly 2 miles before realizing that I needed to take a photo of my dashboard as a starting record. Below on the left you can see the readout right before I turned onto old Highway 91. It was 66°, so I didn’t need climate control, the GOM was trying to fool me with a predicted 109 mile range, all 12 capacity and charge bars were showing, the battery temperature was at 6 bars, and because I had been descending the road from my house, the energy gauge indicated a completely exaggerated average of 12.1 miles-per kWh.

Start your engines motors (click to enlarge)

The Summit of All Fears (click to enlarge)

Losing it (click to enlarge)

After about 20 minutes I crested the summit of Utah Hill and pulled over to take the middle photo above. As the photo to the right of it shows, my energy gauge had dropped to 2.9 miles-per-kWh, I had lost 3 charge bars, the GOM claimed that I had used over half my miles, even though the odometer had only recorded 13.1, and the outside temperature had dropped 8°. I knew from my previous forays along this route that I was in good shape, however, because the road down the other side of the mountain is much longer and drops much lower in elevation. What did truly worry me, however, was the prospect of climbing back up that road to return home —a daunting challenge that you’ll read about down below.

On the long descent, my Leaf was in Regen Heaven, as you can see by the next readout on the left below, about a half hour later. When I pulled into the parking lot at a local bar in the town of Beaver Dam, shown in the middle photo below, my charge bars hadn’t changed at all. However, the GOM now guessed 114 miles of range, 4 more than went I left home, although I had actually driven 30 miles. My energy gauge had now risen to an average of 6.2 miles-per-kWh.

Gaining it (click to enlarge)

Is this Beaver? Damn! (click to enlarge)

Halfway to charging goal (click to enlarge)

To save energy, I took the frontage road from Beaver Dam to Mesquite rather than getting on the freeway. Yes, it took longer to drive 13 miles farther, but when I arrived, as you can see in the photo on the right above, I still had those 9 out of 12 charge bars, my average miles-per-kWh had risen even further to 8.8, and the GOM was now predicting 88 miles of range left. I knew I was halfway to my intended charging spot in Moapa Town, so the readout looked encouraging, but I was also concerned that I had to get on the I-15 freeway after about 12 more miles of frontage road, and the higher speeds would quickly gobble up what energy I had left.

A week before the trip, I had examined the map carefully to determine where a good charging spot might be. I concluded that the farthest I could travel on a full charge was to the sole RV Park in Moapa, Palm Creek at Warm Springs. I called the owners and explained my situation, asking if they would allow me plug my EV into a 50-amp outlet for a couple of hours on my way to-and-from Las Vegas for Plug-In Day. I offered to pay them for whatever electricity I used, plus a few bucks extra. They were happy to accommodate me and simply asked that I remind them the day before my arrival. I called the previous day, but nobody answered, so I left a voice-mail message and hoped they would remember.

Because the RV park was not close to the freeway, but several miles to the west, I had to use even more energy to drive another back road to finally get there. I was honestly surprised to find such a pleasant oasis in the middle of an otherwise desolate desert a little over an hour later, as you can see in the photo on the left below.

Made it to Moapa (click to enlarge)

Feed me Sydney! (click to enlarge)

Withdrawal from the Milbank (click to enlarge)

As I expected, the freeway speeds had decimated my remaining charge. As the middle photo above indicates, I had doubled the miles on the odometer, but I only had 2 red charge bars left, and 21 miles on the GOM. The good news was that, thanks to the back roads along the route, the energy gauge now showed an average of 6.7 miles-per-kWh. Not bad! I plugged my upgraded cordset into the 50-amp outlet of one or their Milbank RV panels to recharge, shown in the photo on the right above. The owners asked me to pay $10 total for the service both going and coming, and I happily agreed.

Palm Creek boasts a wireless internet connection for its guests, so I was able to take advantage of the wait to dispatch a few e-mails and check out the Plug-In Day activities in other areas using my laptop. After nearly 4 hours, the dashboard indicated that I had re-filled 10 of the 12 charge bars, with an 81 mile guess on the GOM, shown below in the left photo. It would take another hour to reach 100%, but I knew that Las Vegas was about 60 miles farther, so I surmised that the charge was probably sufficient to reach the solar-powered EVSE stations at the Clark County Government Offices, where the main Plug-In Day event was taking place, shown below in the middle photo.

Good enough (click to enlarge)

Shady Characters (click to enlarge)

Feeling pretty low (click to enlarge)

Back on the freeway, this time I tried the hypermiling trick of tailgating a semi to minimize wind resistance. It didn’t work very well, truth be told. As the semi I was following would speed up, slow down, change lanes, I often ended up outside its slipstream. Maybe I need to practice this hypermiling trick more, but I think my overall conclusion is that one would do better to simply maintain a lower 55 mph speed in the right lane and let other drivers whiz by on the left, probably waving a greeting with their middle finger. Since the bars and GOM miles were steadily decreasing, I decided to exit as soon as I could and take Las Vegas Boulevard the rest of the way into the city. This was probably a prudent decision. Although I had surmised correctly that the partial charge at the RV Park was sufficient, there was not a lot of room to spare when I arrived at the Plug-In event, as show above on the right. The miles-per-kWh average had dropped to 5.0, I again had only 2 red bars of charge left, and 18 miles on the GOM. Adding the odometer miles to that guess'timate gives 75.2 miles of range, nearly 6 miles less than the readout had predicted at the RV park.

It was now after 2:00 PM in Las Vegas, and only a few Plug-In Day participants were still at the site: Lloyd Reece (President of the Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association), Jon Hallquist (Vice-President), Bill Kuehl (Secretary/Treasurer), Stan Hanel (Outreach Coordinator), and member Craig Morganson. Besides my Leaf, there was a Tesla Roadster Sport, a Chevy Volt, and a couple of EV conversions parked under the solar arrays, as show below on the left. I was sure glad that those few EV enthusiasts were present, because I learned to my chagrin that one needs a ChargePoint access card to activate the EVSEs —something that the Plug-In website had completely failed to mention. Thank goodness those folks generously let me swipe their cards so that I could charge back up, shown in the middle photo below. A very nice couple stopped by and were interested in the Leaf, and I hope I answered their questions to their satisfaction. Then another woman showed up to inquire about EVs, and since I had recuperated a few miles in my battery pack, I even gave her a ride around the neighborhood streets. Like everyone else who experiences the Leaf for the first time, she was amazed that it was such a “normal” car.

Plug-In Party (click to enlarge)

I’ve been carded (click to enlarge)

EV bay at Mandalay Bay (click to enlarge)

After the event ended, Stan Hanel was very kind to show me the way to the EV spots reserved at the Mandalay Bay on the “strip,” shown above on the right, so that I could charge to 100% at one of the casino’s two free EVSEs before departing for home. I was fortunate that one of the spaces was unoccupied; a Volt was charging in the other one.

I decided to get a bite to eat with a friend and her mother with whom I periodically exchange tweets and e-mails about religion and politics. I also gave them a ride in my Leaf and I believe they were thoroughly impressed with its cutting-edge technology, so much so that the friend and her husband are now looking into the possibility of replacing her Mercedes ICE with a Volt, as they are as fed up as I am with our addiction to foreign oil. Afterwards, I found a Starbucks in the Mandalay shops and signed on to the internet to check my e-mail again and peruse a few webpages.

At about 10:00 PM (9:00 PM Las Vegas time), an e-mail showed up in my inbox letting me know that my Leaf was now fully charged. I returned to the parking garage, and the photo below on the left shows that the GOM now guessed 103 miles of range. You’ll also notice that the battery temperature gauge now had 7 bars visible, which was understandable, since it was 90° outside. You can see me next to my Leaf, ready for a very long night ahead, in the middle photo below. I unplugged and started to retrace my route up Las Vegas Boulevard. Let me tell you: the strip is a madhouse at night, with bumper-to-bumper traffic and so many tourists milling about that you’d practically need to take a number to cross the street. It seemed like it took me forever before the traffic thinned out enough to head for the freeway again.

Full of it (click to enlarge)

Parting shot (click to enlarge)

RV Parked (click to enlarge)

As you can see above on the right, when I again arrived at Palm Creek in Moapa, the battery temperature was still at 7 bars, despite the cooler weather. I had 5 charge bars left, and the GOM indicated 41 miles of range remaining. I plugged in, checked my e-mail one more time, and then settled down in the passenger seat to wait for the pack to fill back up. Here I will interject that I was pleasantly surprised to discover that one can sleep relatively comfortably in the front seats when they’re fully reclined. Sure, they are by no means as accommodating as a real bed, but compared to airplane or bus seats... they’re great!

It had been a very long, tiresome day, and I dropped off immediately. Hours later, the “clunk” of the charger turning off woke me. The dashboard in the photo below on the left showed 123 miles on the GOM, and the battery temperature had dropped back down to its usual 6 bars. Time to undertake the last leg of the journey. Knowing that I had to traverse that steep, long climb over the Utah hill summit, I drove at the very minimum speed legally allowed on the freeway to Mesquite: 45 mph. This was not a problem, as there were very few vehicles on the roads during the wee hours of the morning. In fact, there were times when I couldn’t see any other headlights for miles.

Homeward bound (click to enlarge)

The whole is more than the summit (click to enlarge)

Sliding into home base (click to enlarge)

Thanks to that hypermiling, when I reached Beaver Dam, I had 7 of 12 charge bars left. I therefore figured that I could probably could make it home okay. I started up the nemesis road, keeping a close eye on the GOM and the charge bars all the way. I admit it: my range anxiety kept mounting as I saw the bars steadily disappear, one by one by one. I can attest that it’s difficult to steer when your palms are as sweaty as mine were! The middle photo above shows the readout when I finally crested the summit. I knew that I was still about 14 miles from home, yet there was only one red bar left and the GOM predicted just 5 miles of range remaining.

Nonetheless, I breathed a cautious sigh of relief, because I knew that regenerative braking would restore a few of those miles on the shorter descent down the other side. By the time I reached the bottom, the GOM indicated 15 miles of remaining range, although there was still only one red bar left. When I turned into my subdivision, there were 10 miles on the display, which started blinking, the energy gauge was replaced with an alert box, a yellow charge light appeared, and the navigation voice gave me a “Low Battery Warning” (LBW) —the very first time I had ever heard it. When I pulled into my garage, there were only 7 miles blinking, as shown above on the right. Whew. I made it. Barely!

My Plug-In Day odyssey had been quite a learning experience. Total miles driven? Nearly 282. I am glad I undertook this adventure, just to prove to myself that I could do it, and I enjoyed meeting LVEVA members Lloyd, Jon, Bill, Stan, and Craig in Las Vegas. Would I do it again? Nope... at least not unless someone installs reasonably priced quick charge stations in Mesquite and Moapa, as I describe in a previous post. Besides, I know very well that my battery’s capacity will diminish with miles and time, and it would be foolish of me to think that for next year’s Plug-In Day I could travel as far per charge as I did this time. Even with the capacity I now have, this was a very long day’s journey into night.