Not Your Average Adventure! By Tanya Coram

When I tell people that we are an exclusively EV family, and often take long trips, they usually reply sarcastically, "Well, that sounds like fun..." or "Your kids must hate having to stop so much!" Our travels do take hours longer than if we were in a gas-powered vehicle, but they do take us off of the beaten path, and often do leave us enjoying random towns while our vehicle charges. This may be completely out of the question for some, but, for us, is life as usual!

Steve and I are not foreign to the concept of traveling in a different manner than the Average Joe. Fourteen years ago, for our first anniversary, we vacationed in Europe. Instead of doing the normal student-traveler itinerary, covering expansive distances in short amounts of time by train, we chose to focus our efforts. We hoped that by staying in one area we would see the literal "off-the-beaten-path" sights. And foregoing the Eurail passes meant that we would have to travel by, quite possibly, the slowest way possible...by foot. Again, we were met with the skeptical, "Why the heck would you do that?!!"

We walked along an expansive network of trails called the GR Trails. Sometimes the trails were well marked and easy to follow, other times we made our way through mud bogs and unable to find trail markers. We took a week and walked--no buses, no trains, no cars--the D-Day beaches. Was it slow? Yes. Could we cover as much distance as someone on a tour bus or in a car? Of course not. However, we saw and experienced so many things that the tourists on a big bus could not.

Farm-Camping in France

On the very first night of our trip, we found ourselves in the middle of a farming town, miles from the beach that was our destination, a huge storm bearing down on us, and no place to sleep. We decided to forego a push to get to a proper campground, and, instead, asked a farmer if we could set up camp on their property. Only expecting to set up our tent in their field, the family surprised us as they led us to their hayloft with an invitation for us to stay. It was not a planned stop by any means, but has since become our favorite memory of the month-long trip to Europe.

If you regularly follow Steve's blog, you may notice that I routinely do not tag along on his road trips. I usually do not head out with Team Crazy Daddy because it provides me a great (child-free) time to work on filling orders for my little sewing business. I do often wonder how he maintains sanity while driving such long hours in the car with the littles...there are times I have lost every ounce of patience before even leaving the entrance of our housing development! After always being the one waving from the doorstep as my family left on LEAF adventures, I decided that it was my turn to head out on the road and take the wee ones to visit my aunt and uncle in Cornelius. OR.

Usually just a pit stop for Steve during his adventures, Cornelius would be our destination. I was excited to spend a couple of days visiting family and hanging out before returning to a more hectic life. When planning this trip, I just knew my experience on a long trip was going to be completely different than Steve's. My kids were likely to have meltdowns. There would probably be difficulties with the charging infrastructure. I knew that I may be in for a long trip.

I'm not a newbie at solo LEAF travel. In fact, I've made the Seattle(ish)-Portland(ish) trip by myself a few times before. The last time I made the drive was in July of 2013 with my 78 year old grandma riding shotgun and Charlie, who epitomized the terrible twos, riding in the back. It was in our battery-degraded 2012 LEAF and the range game was a bit difficult to manage, but we did it.

Setting out on this trip, I knew the locations of the charging stations. I was confident that I could easily make it driving the speed limit, and was looking forward to getting the show on the road. We left Lake Stevens around 9:30 am with a 100% charge. After fighting a bit of traffic, we pulled into the Blink quick charging station in Fife a while later with about 18% battery charge remaining. There was another LEAF charging, so we pulled in and waited our turn. While waiting (for the other LEAF to charge to 100%...), I had a very pleasant conversation with a fellow 2013 owner. He was quite intrigued with my confidence in driving my two kids to Portland in a LEAF. I told him that I was expecting major meltdowns and crazy children soon, but was confident in the actual drive.

Key to Calm Kids? Use the iPad :)

After Fife, we made our way to Centralia for lunch, then Castle Rock, and, finally, Vancouver before arriving in Cornelius at 5:30 pm. At each stop, the kids were eager to get out of the car and explore our surroundings. Although the Play Place at McDonalds was the highlight of the day, the kids were interested in each stop we made, getting out every time to see what there was to do. In Vancouver, a new LEAF owner pulled in to charge at the Blink unit just seconds after us. We watched the mom and teenage daughter try to connect for a minute or two. Then Sabrina then shouted, "Mom, they may not know that only one side charges at a time!" After a brief discussion with the two women, and a pledge to make sure their vehicle began charging before we left, I had a moment to revel in the fact that my six year old daughter knew this information!!

After two days of playing at my aunt and uncle's house, we were ready to head home. I was expecting the same trip home--no real range anxiety, no issues with battery heat--but, things got a bit tricky on the last leg of the trip: Fife to Lake Stevens. When we pulled into Fife, the battery was HOT! I had not been minding my speed on the trip home, driving the 70+ mph the entire trip. After a longer than expected charging stop in Centralia (my kids ended up playing at a Burger King Play Place, causing the charging session to last a little longer than the 20 minutes needed), the battery was searing as indicated by a full stack of battery temperature bars on the car's dashboard.

Even with the hassle, I'd rather be at the EV station
 than the Shell gas station across the street.

In Fife, I plugged into the quick charger and turned on the car for some air conditioning...and then the car stopped charging. Uh oh!! A desperate call to Steve fielded answers I did not want to hear. The LEAF stopped charging due to the very hot battery pack. I was not going to get the 90-95% charge needed at Fife to make it 65 miles home home...and I sure was ready to just get home.

I needed to: (1) get a brief charge to make a leapfrog stop at another quick charger in Totem Lake or Seattle, and, (2) I really needed to get the battery cooled down.

After a bit of a break down (by me), I made a plan. I charged the car for another 20 minutes, watching it slowly provide juice to the car. When a LEAF gets that hot, it will automatically slow down a charging session to try and control the heat issue. After I had enough to *hopefully* make it 37 miles to Totem Lake, I decided to run my LEAF through a car wash to help the battery pack cool. The attendant could not tell me if they had an undercarriage washer, so I got the $10 car wash for free. :) I should take the time to mention that throughout this debacle, my children were in the backseat, happily and quietly watching a movie. There was absolutely no complaints--from them at least!

Don't ICE Me!

We pulled into the Fred Meyer parking lot in Totem Lake with a Very Low Battery warning. It was a bit stressful, but I made it! I squeezed into the only non-ICEd (ICEd = when an Internal Combustion Engine vehicle parks in an EV charging space) charging stall, and after some very dirty looks to the people ICEing the other charging spaces, I plugged in. The charge was slow going, but I was able to get the 60% needed in relatively decent time. Again, kids were happy as could be in the backseat. We were all ready to get home, though.

We arrived home about 8 hours after leaving Cornelius, OR. We walked in to a fun surprise on the kitchen counter, a clean house, and a Daddy that was happy we were all home!

Seahawks Swag!!!

I equate our LEAF travels with our France on Foot trip. It can be slow and challenging, at times having to renegotiate our agenda; but, we have learned (again) to slow down and enjoy the trip. Our kids love exploring new towns, finding fun parks and activities. It is what they know. It is what they expect. Stopping to charge is not a big deal...it is an adventure!

Nissan Expanding Dealership Quick-Charging in Puget Sound Region

It's been a year since Nissan first announced an aggressive campaign to expand CHAdeMO quick charging at its dealerships across the U.S.  Initially, though, there were only a handful of chargers installed; far less than the oft-quoted 500 new units that LEAF drivers salivated for. Inexplicably, the rollout all but stopped in most regions by the summer of 2013.

Fast forward, and Nissan appears to be back in the car charging game.  It is like Nissan miraculously remembered that manufactures must also build charging infrastructure if EV sales are going to shift to mainstream car buying.  This "if we build it, they will come" philosophy was pioneered by Tesla, who continues to aggressively expand its nation-wide Supercharger infrastructure.

Nissan may have also been motivated to expand its dealership network of fast charging stations with the bankruptcy of the ubiquitous electric vehicle supply equipment manufacturer, Blink, during the fall of 2013. This certainly appears to to the case in Washington State's Puget Sound region.

The Seattle-Tacoma corridor regularly lists in the top 3 of Nissan LEAF sales every month.  However, until recently, there was a major gap in reliable quick charging for all of those new (to-be) LEAF owners in Seattle.

Enter redundancy.  Nissan seems to now be fully committed to taking on the burden of providing reliable quick charging in the Seattle-Tacoma region.  With the government-backed West Coast Green Highway prioritizing quick charging stations for longer distance travel outside of the Puget Sound area, Nissan is refocussing the redundancy effort where those Blink quick charging stations so-often disappoint in Seattle proper.

Nissan dealership quick charging coverage is providing much-needed redundancy in the Puget Sound Region.

Today, I set out to try my luck with this maturing Nissan dealership quick charging infrastructure. Living just north of Everett, WA provided me with an opportunity to hit the Nissan dealerships all the way to Olympia to test out their quick charging equipment, and hopefully make it back home without a need for rescue.  

Additionally, and very importantly, I wanted to find out how easy it would be to get those charges at a Nissan dealership.  In my mind, I envisioned the roughest of car sales people booting me from the property because I did not purchase our LEAFs there, or delaying my charge request because of dealership stock blocking the charging equipment.

Everett: Fob Needed/Dealership Hours Only

Edmonds: Fob Needed/Dealership Hours Only

Burien: Fob Needed/Dealership Hours Only

Puyallup: NO Fob Needed/24 Hour Access!

Olympia: NO Fob Needed/24 Hour Access!

Renton: Fob Needed/Dealership Hours Only

Each dealership charging experience was painless! There were no heavies blocking access to the charging stations, and each dealership was welcoming even though I did not purchase our LEAFs from them.

The shocker, though, came from the two newest CHAdeMO installations, at Puyallup Nissan and Olympia Nissan respectively.

Upon pulling up to each of these locations, there was not an RFID card/fob reader on the charging unit.  I simply got out of the car, plugged in the quick charging connector, and pushed the "start" button.  Easy!

For almost a year now, LEAF drivers have simply asked if there could be a way to allow one of the many car charging network fobs or cards to work on the Nissan branded quick chargers.  And for almost a year, there have been plenty of excuses reasons why a fob is needed to activate a charging session at Nissan dealerships.

It appears, now, that Nissan is warming up to the idea of open access at their dealership quick charging stations.

Today's 237 mile drive around the Puget Sound region didn't cost anything to "fuel" my LEAF. The free ride wasn't even the best part of the day. The highlight was in seeing how committed Nissan is to expanding the quick charge infrastructure in my corner of the world.  They are building it, and we will come!

***

Earlier in the day, while driving at sluggish speeds in heavy traffic on I-5 in downtown Seattle, I was initially frustrated with the stop-and-go driving and breathing the diesel fumes from a truck next to me.  Looking around, I saw a Tesla Model S a ways ahead and another LEAF not far behind me. Almost on cue, an early 90's hit song, Right Here, Right Now by Jesus Jones played on the radio.  The lyrics struck me:

Right here, right now

There is no other place I want to be

Right here, right now

Watching the world wake up from history

Breathing the soot from that neighborly diesel truck was not my idea of bliss. Seeing electric vehicles on the road, and driving an electric car myself, did give me a moment of immense satisfaction, though. As we all begin to see more EVs on the road, it is proof that the world is waking up.