Hobart to Mt Wellington pinnacle

[chuq]

I have had my Leaf for six months, and hadn't really given it a good test - it was second hand, and I wanted to find out what it is capable of - so I thought I would see how it went to the top of Mt Wellington and back.

For those who don't know, Mt Wellington is the mountain that overlooks the city of Hobart - it is 1270 m tall, and it's pinnacle is only 8 km (in a straight line) from sea level.  It is accessible by a road which is 20 km from the waterfront (of course, there are a lot of twists and turns involved).

Here is the route, on a map and elevation wise.
(Note: Origin is not my actual house, it's a random nearby location)




(Dots indicate Davey St, Pillinger Drive and The Springs)

My house is in Lenah Valley, so not directly from the city - the one way distance is 26 km. Would I make it?

I started with a 100% charge.  My battery is on 10/12 bars, which gave me a GOM reading of 101 km.  (Note that my house is about 180m elevation, with a significant incline for the last couple of km before my home, so I think this is what gives me a rather pessimistic GOM readout.)

Travelling into the city is fine - it usually is - and my GOM peaked at 117 km at the lowest elevation.  I then headed out of the city still with 12 bars and 105 on the GM.  With only 19km left to go, surely it would be easy!

Wrong.  The next leg of 7.4 km, involved an elevation change of 63m to 436m.  In that time I lost four bars of range and my GOM dropped from 105 to 51 km!

However, I pushed on.  I only had 11.5 km to go, how bad could it be?

The next leg to the Springs picnic area was a bit less challenging, with a mere 260 m increase over a 4.4 km road distance. By this stage we were a bit over half way to the pinnacle elevation wise.  I had 7 bars of range and the GOM was down to 32 km.   

The last part was the steepest - a 7.5 km distance with an elevation increase of about 560 m!  But we made it - with 3 bars of range and 12 km remaining on the GOM.

The pinnacle car park was packed (as it often is on warm days, it makes it easier to bear the ~10 degrees temperature drop)!  So a quick couple of photos and we headed back down.  Very thankful for regenerative braking!

For the record, I did the entire drive without heating/air-con running, and entire in D mode (not ECO).

Some stats for the journey:

[chuq]

   

[EVangelist]

Congrats - probably the first Leaf ever to scale the mountain! I was in Hobart only a month ago and did the Mt Wellington drive twice (not in an EV tho  ) the first time the weather turned so nasty (blizzarding, basically) that the ranger evacuated everyone and we all had to go back down.

I saw two blue Leafs while I was in Hobart, but neither of them yours since the rego plates were different.  I did wonder how a Leaf would go getting to the top of the mountain!  And now you have answered the question 

I see from your stats that the GOM dropped 60 km for the 52 km round trip - not too bad.  You should have driven down in Eco, the regen is more aggressive and you could have possibly got even more power back.

Did you use the Nissan Carwings trip planner before leaving?  It would be interesting to see how its prediction compares with your actual bar loss.

[leafboi]

I'm interested to know how many bars and GOM range you recaptured on the way down.....

[EVangelist]

Nov 22, 2016 11:34:56 GMT 11 leafboi said:

I'm interested to know how many bars and GOM range you recaptured on the way down.....

It's in the stats image - going back down to the base of the mountain chuq's Leaf gained 2 bars and GOM increased from 12 to 65 km.

[chuq]

Nov 21, 2016 13:48:06 GMT 11 EVangelist said:

Congrats - probably the first Leaf ever to scale the mountain! I was in Hobart only a month ago and did the Mt Wellington drive twice (not in an EV tho  ) the first time the weather turned so nasty (blizzarding, basically) that the ranger evacuated everyone and we all had to go back down.

I saw two blue Leafs while I was in Hobart, but neither of them yours since the rego plates were different.  I did wonder how a Leaf would go getting to the top of the mountain!  And now you have answered the question 

I see from your stats that the GOM dropped 60 km for the 52 km round trip - not too bad.  You should have driven down in Eco, the regen is more aggressive and you could have possibly got even more power back.

Did you use the Nissan Carwings trip planner before leaving?  It would be interesting to see how its prediction compares with your actual bar loss.

Thanks - I don't know if it is the first Leaf to do that - there are about 20 or so in the state, I'm sure someone has, but this is the first photographic evidence that I'm aware of!

There are a few blue ones about Hobart

I tend to drive in D all the time, we tend to use less than half our range each day so enjoy the quick takeoff and responsiveness.  I'll give Eco a go next time

I used Greenrace to give me a bit of an idea on range, but I wasn't too concerned since if I hit zero I knew that I could get back down again safely.  I tried Carwings and it told me I'd start at 12, get to 2 by the summit (I had 3, close enough!) but then return back with 8 (I had 4!)  If that's the difference between Eco and D, I'm quite impressed!

[jake]

Nov 29, 2016 23:24:46 GMT 11 chuq said:

Nov 21, 2016 13:48:06 GMT 11 EVangelist said:

Congrats - probably the first Leaf ever to scale the mountain! I was in Hobart only a month ago and did the Mt Wellington drive twice (not in an EV tho  ) the first time the weather turned so nasty (blizzarding, basically) that the ranger evacuated everyone and we all had to go back down.

I saw two blue Leafs while I was in Hobart, but neither of them yours since the rego plates were different.  I did wonder how a Leaf would go getting to the top of the mountain!  And now you have answered the question 

I see from your stats that the GOM dropped 60 km for the 52 km round trip - not too bad.  You should have driven down in Eco, the regen is more aggressive and you could have possibly got even more power back.

Did you use the Nissan Carwings trip planner before leaving?  It would be interesting to see how its prediction compares with your actual bar loss.

Thanks - I don't know if it is the first Leaf to do that - there are about 20 or so in the state, I'm sure someone has, but this is the first photographic evidence that I'm aware of!

There are a few blue ones about Hobart

I tend to drive in D all the time, we tend to use less than half our range each day so enjoy the quick takeoff and responsiveness.  I'll give Eco a go next time

I used Greenrace to give me a bit of an idea on range, but I wasn't too concerned since if I hit zero I knew that I could get back down again safely.  I tried Carwings and it told me I'd start at 12, get to 2 by the summit (I had 3, close enough!) but then return back with 8 (I had 4!)  If that's the difference between Eco and D, I'm quite impressed!

Actually I don't think there would be much difference between Drive and Eco on the way down because you would probably be producing the same amount of regen by putting your foot on the brake. I know you get more regen coasting in Eco, but that can be simulated by driving in D and lightly pressing the brake. There are other energy savings by using Eco such as reduced power by climate control etc. OR am I wrong about this and more regen is made available when selecting Eco (double bubbles)?