Drive to Zion National Park in my Nissan Leaf April 19, 2012 Mark D Larsen

Call of the Wild (Click to enlarge)

I am willing to wager that most new EV owners want to put their vehicles to the test, simply to know what they are —and are not— capable of. For example, because an EV’s range on a full charge cannot (yet) match that of a car with an internal combustion engine, I have been pushing my Leaf to its limits on trips to the Utah Hill summit, Mesquite, Veyo, Pine Valley, and the St. George airport, so that I can better gauge when and if I might need a charge to reach a particular destination.

My visit to the latter destination was to encourage the rental car agencies to include EVs in their fleets so that tourists could visit the nearby National Parks, Monuments, and Recreation Areas without polluting them with greenhouse gas emissions. I knew that the nearest, most obvious destination for such a plan would be Zion National Park, and thus had decided to drive there in my Leaf to make sure that its range was sufficient for the trip, even though it would mean an uphill climb most of the way, and with a few stretches of 65 mph speeds.

When I left home on that trip, the readout showed what is visible in the photo to the left below. I had charged the Leaf to 100%, and in Eco Mode the GOM was guessing a total range of 108 miles.

Depart Home (Click to enlarge)

A Good Sign (Click to enlarge)

The town of Hurricane is about half way to Zion, and sits at the crossroads of other routes to Lake Powell and the Grand Canyon, as you can see above on the right. I actually stopped at the Walgreens in Hurricane to encourage the manager to consider installing an EVSE for customers. Since that store sits right on the main road from the St. George airport to those destinations, tourists who rent EVs would undoubtedly stop there to purchase their snacks, drinks, sunscreen, etc., if Walgreens simply posted a sign out front offering to let customers plug in while shopping. I have since also spoken with representatives of Walgreens’ central offices for the region, located in Las Vegas, and pointed out that there are now 18 stores in the chain that have already installed EVSEs in northern Utah around the Salt Lake City area. They told me that they would seriously consider the idea, and suggested that I also contact their installer, SemaConnect. I immediately dispatched an e-mail to the latter company, and their response was likewise encouraging. We’ll see if those EVSEs materialize in the near future.

I kept going straight on the highway to Zion, which next went through the town of La Verkin, and then climbed a steep road to a desert plateau heading east, as shown in the photo below on the left. It eventually passes through Virgin, where the river of that name parallels the highway, then Rockville, and finally arrives in Springdale, the last town before entering the National Park.

Desert Highway (Click to enlarge)

Upon Arrival (Click to enlarge)

Above on the right you can see the readout upon arrival. I had used 6 of the 12 bars to drive 49.5 miles, with an average of 4.9 kWh per mile, and the GOM was guessing that I had about the same distance remaining in the battery pack in ECO mode. Knowing that I had climbed in elevation to reach Zion, I was fairly confident that I could drive back home again without recharging. Nonetheless, I wanted to enjoy a leisurely trip rather than experience “range anxiety.” Moreover, I wanted to test out my upgraded 240V cordset for the first time at an RV park, so I stopped at the Quality Inn campground in Springdale.

I must say that I have rarely run across such rude behavior from employees. Because my Pomeranian Petisa loves to go for rides in the Leaf, I had her with me on this trip. There was no sign posted anywhere near the RV office stating “No Dogs Allowed,” and since I didn’t want to leave ‘Tisa in a hot car, I picked her up and carried her in my arms to go inside. I have never had a business in this desert region object to this, as long as she is in my arms, but such consideration certainly did not apply in this case. Without even a “good afternoon” greeting, let alone a smile or nod, one of the women behind the counter immediately shot at me that I couldn’t have a dog in there and had to leave immediately. Ah... okay. I apologized, went back to the car, put ‘Tisa inside, and returned. This time another woman attended me. I asked if they would please allow me to pay them a few dollars simply to plug in my EV to one of their outlets for an hour. She retorted in an abrasive tone that I would have to pay the full $40 daily fee, even though more than half of their RV spots were empty. I thought she must have misunderstood my request and reiterated that I only wanted to plug in for an hour at most, and would gladly pay them for whatever the electricity cost, plus a few dollars extra. Again: I'd have to pay the full daily fee. Period. No exceptions. Next...?

Forget that! I left. I have since reported to Quality Inn headquarters that I was severely disappointed in the employees’ attitude at that RV park. While I can completely understand a business declining to accommodate EV owners, especially since most people are unfamiliar with such vehicles, what I find inexcusable is the curt, in-your-face, rude, snotty manner of addressing possible customers. I have also posted a short narrative of the experience for other Leaf owners, to warn them to steer clear —literally— of the business.

I started the journey home, but then saw another campground by the side of the highway in Virgin, the Zion River Resort RV Park, and decided to try my luck there. The difference was like night and day. The woman who attended me, Mason, was friendly, helpful, accommodating, even intrigued with my Leaf. She gladly offered to let me plug in as long as I liked, and would only charge me for the electricity used. She showed me where there was an outlet, and jotted down the meter’s reading.

You can see on the left below that, since leaving Springdale, I had lost two more bars to travel 13 additional miles. However, the GOM was speculating that I'd only traveled 5 miles and the miles-per-kWh gauge was now reporting an average of 5.1. Evidently regenerative braking while descending was indeed making the return trip more energy efficient.

Before Plugging (Click to enlarge)

Plugged and Charging (Click to enlarge)

On the right above, you can see my upgraded cordset, with its yellow PowerGrip adaptor, plugged into one of the RV park’s 14-50 outlets. I was in no hurry, and read a book for a couple of hours while ‘Tisa took a nice nap in her doggy seat. Mason then compared the electrical meter’s reading with the first one, and calculated that I had used 8.8 kW of electricity. According to her higher daytime rate, that meant I owed her... $1.20. I gladly paid her $3.00 and again thanked her for allowing me to plug in at their RV park.

I was frankly astounded to see that I now had 8 of 12 bars visible, and 85 miles of range predicted on the GOM, as you can see on the left below. The upgraded cordset had evidently fed the maximum possible 3.3 kWh into the Leaf’s charger, just as much and as fast as when using my dedicated EVSE at home. Yes, I suppose that the 6.6 kWh charger anticipated in the 2013 Leaf will do the same in half that amount of time, but unless and until quick chargers are available in my area, I can’t imagine really needing to charge faster than my Leaf can handle.

After Plugging (Click to enlarge)

Upon Arrival (Click to enlarge)

When I pulled into the garage again, the display showed the results on the right above. The entire trip to Zion National Park and back tallied 99.2 miles. I still had four bars of charge left, with 39 miles guessed on the GOM. The energy gauge had risen even further to an average of 5.3 miles per kWh. I probably could have made it home without charging at the RV Park in Virgin, but... just barely.