BMW i3 REx Declared Winner in the Road Trip Marketplace

BMW i3 Loaded to the Max for Road Trip Duties

What is the perfect road trip vehicle?

As a teenager and young man, I formulated my vision of the ideal road trip vehicle based upon my fantasy desires of high-performance exotics. Reading about Brock Yates' and Dan Gurney's record-setting race from coast to coast in a Ferrari Daytona, with Gurney famously quoted, "at no time did we exceed 175mph," left me with an early impression that a proper road trip was best done in a vehicle wholly capable of destroying as much pavement per hour of travel as imaginable.

I maintained the Cannonball Run road trip ethos until I got married. My views of pleasurable travel were not forcibly changed by the fact that my wife was an attorney, and that I would be looking at a post-nuptial agreement faster than I could've said, "Isn't a hundred miles per hour fun?!?" No. My opinion of the perfect road trip vehicle changed because I found somebody that I wanted to enjoy the traveling with! For the first time in my life, I wanted more from road tripping than just notching the broken speed laws on my belt.

With a new bride, I bought the perfect road trip vehicle: a Nissan Xterra. The Xterra was fantastic, and lived up to its marketing mantra, "everything you need, nothing you don't." We traveled to Yellowstone, and across America.

Yet, the Xterra wasn't perfect. It consumed gas. So much gas, actually, that we had to make tough concessions on our trips:

Wife: "Crater Lake is beautiful! Do you want to do the Rim Drive?"
Me: "No way. That is like ten bucks in gas!"

And so it went with the Xterra. There were amazing trips, but sights unseen.

Years passed. The Xterra was long gone, and the road trip gas budget was replaced by the expenses of having two kids. We bought two all-electric Nissan LEAFs, which served our daily needs wonderfully. In the Pacific Northwest, we were able to travel easily along the I-5 corridor in Washington and Oregon to see family and have fun day-excursions. What was missing, though, were those family road trips that my wife and I, as newlyweds, pinky promised to do once we had kids.

Team "Crazy Daddy" getting ready to depart on the BC2BC EVenture!

In 2013, I decided to give the LEAF a shot at road tripping. I convinced my wife to let me take our then 5-year-old daughter on a 17-day road trip from Canada to Mexico. It was a 3,500 mile trip of mostly pain and little pleasure. First generation Nissan LEAFs were just not ready for West Coast road trip duties: too little charging infrastructure in California and Nissan's lack of active battery thermal management were two primary limitations.

What the Corams needed for our family road trips was a perfectly compromised vehicle. A balance between a gas guzzling, no-fun SUV like a Nissan Armada, and an ultra-eco canyon carver Tesla Roadster.

Fortunately for us, BMW seemingly took these two vehicles and morphed them into an experimental Venn diagram, and came up with the i3 REx as the overlapping output:

BMW i3 REx = Best Road Trip Vehicle?

So, what is a road trip in an i3 REx like? We traveled from north of Seattle, Washington to Anaheim, California, and back, in 14 days with two nights in each Morro Bay and Calistoga, California, and three nights' stay in Disneyland.

That sounds like a typical gas-powered road trip, with many sights seen and several overnight stops. Conversely, the similar trip in our LEAF two years ago resulted in very little sight seeing. Basically, my daughter and I had just the time it took to charge the car to get in our "touristy" moments.

For the 3,000 mile trip in our i3, which included a colossal 580-mile "RExing It" travel day, we averaged an impressive 69 mpg-e. "MPG equivalent" is quoted because the BMW i3 REx is not a typical plug-in hybrid vehicle. Instead of a Prius-like hybrid all-the-time 50 mpg, the i3 REx is an EV until the battery is drained, then operates as a series hybrid, with a two-cylinder gas-powered generator charging the battery pack.

While the i3 REx is the best road trip car imaginable on the market today, it is not without its deficiencies. Obviously, it is a small car. Instead of packing a trunk full of clothes, we did laundry six times on the trip to allow for us to pack light.

Another limitation is BMW's use of the Combined Charging Standard (CCS) on the i3. For a trip like ours, we should have used a fraction of the 43 gallons of gas it took because there is not a mature CCS infrastructure up and down the West Coast. BMW, please support CCS infrastructure deployment and/or provide i3 owners with a CHAdeMO adapter solution! Having a CCS quick charge plug on an i3 in the Pacific Northwest is as useful as the male nipple.

The EV landscape is quickly changing. In just a few short years, there will be many capable road trip plug-ins on the market. Some will be all-electric, and some will be larger than the i3. For now, though, the i3 REx reigns as the road trip king, providing enjoyable driving dynamics with long-range capabilities for its patrons.

There were many more pictures taken of the trip! For more i3 photography of this EV Road Trip, click here.

BMW i3 Road Trip: In Pictures

Driving Bliss on the Mulholland Highway!

@ Sterling Vineyards

@ Casa di Amorosa

The Redwoods, Baby!

Our Airbnb Overnight Charging Solution

Carson Mansion: Eureka, CA

Emergency charge when we ran out of gas, and the pumps were closed, in Lakehead-Lakeshore, CA

Madonna Inn, San Luis Obispo

Classic EV road trip lunch!

Morro Bay, CA

The Mother Ship

EV Purist No More--Enter the REx!

This EV is unlike the others!

Hi! My name is Steve, and I was born electric on August 15, 2012.

You highly intelligent, super savvy readers may be questioning my sanity. Or, at the very least, fact-checking. And those dubious thoughts are spot on. The above picture is me putting gas into a new kind of EV: a BMW i3. And those understanding of the i3 know that, in 2012, the i3 only existed as an internal tension at BMW between the maniacal engineers that thought a mass-market car could be made extensively with carbon fiber and the bean counters that believed BMW i was a financial money pit destined to ruin Team Bavaria. Eureka!

EV Bloodline

Our first three EVs were all-electric Nissan LEAFs. 

Back in the summer of 2012, we started replacing our gasoline-fueled family hauler fleet. The second LEAF came eight months later, making us an all-EV household. My wife and I defiantly and definitively proclaimed that we would never again visit a gas station. Then in 2014, I traded my beta test 2012 LEAF for a ready-for-market 2014 LEAF.  We were seemingly set with two very capable EVs in our garage: a 2013 Nissan LEAF SL and a 2014 Nissan LEAF SL. 

Then the electric vehicle market expanded +1 in Washington state. BMW started selling its i3 in the State the latter half of 2014. By Christmas, I had one on an extended test drive. When we turned the i3 back over to the BMW dealership, we were conflicted. The i3, with its onboard gas generator, or Range Extender (REx), was far more capable as a transporting vehicle. However, Nissan's LEAF, with its CHAdeMo-equipped quick charging, was far more capable as an EV. 

Fallen LEAF

Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) Passenger Cell

Unless you are a bot scouring the Interwebs, you have correctly surmised that we ended up buying an i3. On March 12, 2015, we traded in my wife's 2013 LEAF for a BMW. The i3 is unlike any vehicle on the road: carbon fiber, suicide rear doors, and series-hybrid purity.

The features and headlines that make the i3 such an emotionally appealing vehicle are all present in our bimmer. Yes, there are plenty of bits to get excited about with the car. However, the deciding factor in selling a LEAF for the i3 was the REx option. 

For the past three years, we have traveled far, but not wide, in a LEAF. We have shown that all-electric travel is quite possible the 1,500 miles between Kamloops, British Columbia and the U.S.-Mexico border. But EV travel (sans Tesla EVs) is only practically doable in a narrow 200 mile east-west corridor along the entirety of the West Coast.

Road Trip! A Coram Family tradition.

My wife and I have a long history of road trips...long before we had EVs, long before we had kids. Now that we have EVs and kids, we have naturally invoked our parental obligations of perpetuating traditions with our Littles. And, we've all but exhausted the territory that we can travel to by LEAF. From here on out, the i3 will be taking over as the primary road trip car. With that in mind, I wanted to prepare a day trip for the i3 that would serve as a suitable first, of many, REx adventures.

One of the great tests for EVs lies in day-tripping to the Olympic Peninsula from the Seattle area. I've done this trip twice with my children. The first attempt, ended in failure. The second a success, as we made it to Hurricane Ridge, a spectacular mountain region south of Port Angeles. What makes EV day travels to the Olympic Peninsula challenging is that the last ferry on the Kingston-Edmonds route departs at 11:00pm. In addition, there is not DC quick charging support, and only a limited number of Level 2 charging stations in the region. Basically, the furthest west a current generation LEAF can go in a day, from where we live in Lake Stevens, is Port Angeles.

The i3 REx faired much better. This is our report...

Topping off the 1.9 gallon gas tank! 

We pulled out of the garage at about 7:00am, and made the ferry crossing and drive to Port Angeles by mid-morning. And after charging at a Sun Country-branded Clipper Creek High-Amp Level 2 (HAL2) charging station for a bit over an hour, we topped off the gas tank and continued west: Destination Cape Flattery 70+ miles away.

We made it to Neah Bay after about two hours of driving; WA-112 is not an interstate. The typical travel speed was about 45mph, and we had to watch out for the occasional herd of elk!

A herd of a few dozen elk crossed the road we were driving on!

The Makah Tribe, in the Neah Bay region, have started supporting electric vehicle tourism with several recent EVSE installations. The first, a HAL2 and dual Tesla High-Power Wall Chargers (HPWCs) are located in the town of Neah Bay. The second, another HAL2 and dual HPWCs are located at the Hobuck Beach Resort.

Both locations are glorious, in scenery and in EVSE support. In between these two gems, is a marvel in its own right: Cape Flattery. The Cape Flattery experience is second to none. It provides quintessential Pacific Northwest ocean views and kid-friendly hiking abound.

So, after trekking around Cape Flattery in the early afternoon, we let the kids play on the mile-wide Hobuck Beach, which has sand more reminiscent of a Hawaiian coastline than the typical pebbled Northwest affair.

Hobuck Beach: End of the road

By late afternoon, we were heading back east, towards Port Angeles, the Kingston-Edmonds ferry, and eventually home. Pulling into the garage at just past midnight, we were all exhausted, with both kids soundly asleep in the back of the i3. What was different about this trip: We covered 340 miles in a day (using less than 5 gallons of gasoline), and the kids were dead-tired because we had so much adventure outside of traveling in the car.

Tuckered out after a day of fun.

Road trips will forever be different for us, now that we have an i3 with REx. Whereas before, with a LEAF, every moment of the trip was in service of charging. The motto, "if it ain't movin', it better be chargin', " was not coined by somebody driving a hybrid, or Tesla for that matter.

With the i3, we will be able to drive all-electric, all the time. Or, if we wish, we can utilize the REx to take us where no Coram has gone before. Now, that sounds like an EVenture!

We love our new i3!

Nissan LEAF Crosses Mountains, and Journeys Through Life

Tipsoo Lake at the summit of Chinook Pass.

Five years ago, my family drove to Yakima to celebrate the marriage between my, then 85 year-old, grandfather to his beloved gal, Lorraine.

Grandpa and Lorraine make a remarkable story; somehow the two of them found each other after laying to rest their lifelong spouses years and years before. And they, the spunky, full of life folks that they are, decided to get married!

We wanted to forego the doldrum of driving Interstate 90 to get to their wedding. This was before EV Life, so the adventure of covering long distances in an electric vehicle hadn't presented itself yet. In the forefront of our minds, then, was a desire to drive over the fantastically beautiful Chinook Pass. It was an early July trip, with snow still on the ground in spots at the 5,430ft. crossing. That drive, in the summer of 2009, really stuck with us...

Chinook Pass is a mountain road like few others. From Enumclaw (750ft.), the elevation climbs steadily for 35 miles. Then, over the next 10 miles, the drive is equal parts white-knuckled and jaw-dropping. The altitude increases so rapidly over this last section before the summit that the ear popping seems like Pop-Its being dropped incessantly inside the car. And the view? Well, Mt. Rainer, the most glaciated mountain in the lower-48, looms less than 12 miles away. Yes, Chinook Pass is bucket list worthy.

***

Now in their 90s, and both with deteriorating health, I knew that time was waning in seeing Grandpa and Lorraine. We would be heading over to celebrate life, similarly like we had celebrated love with them on the trip in 2009. The symbolism of driving across Chinook Pass to see Grandpa and Lorraine for possibly a last time seemed so fitting. I just had to figure out how to make a successful trip in my all-electric Nissan LEAF.

I've heard rumors of somebody driving their LEAF in the Mt. Rainer region, but had not talked with anybody who had successfully driven the 100 mile west-to-east trip from Enumclaw to Naches (both on their respective ends of Chinook Pass). 

The trip was surprisingly simple! We charged to 100%, via a combination of DC quick charging and Level 2, at a Blink charging station in Auburn, WA. Then, drove 15 miles to the last EVSE (electric vehicle supply equipment) in Enumclaw for a "top-off." 

Ford to the Nissan rescue!

There are two documented public EVSE in Enumclaw, but only one being user-reviewed on the ubiquitous PlugShare app. That EVSE, located at Art Gamlin Motors, is a 15 amp unit. Even though I only had to recover about 20% of the battery charge, doing so at 15 amps sounded dreadful in my 30 amp capable LEAF. So I gambled and headed to Fugate Ford in Enumclaw, and was pleasantly surprised to find a great 30 amp Level 2 charging solution!

From Enumclaw, we had that magnificent 45 mile drive to the summit of Chinook Pass, then another 32 mile drive east of the pass before arriving at Squaw Rock Resort & RV Park (which, itself, is about 20 miles from Naches). I had fortunately reached out to the management at Squaw Rock before leaving, and they were very much open to the idea of an EV charging at a vacant RV plug-in site. 

Squaw Rock Resort & RV Park

At Squaw Rock, our kids played with some other children at a small playground there in the campground while I walked around a bit to take in the scenery. The flora of Washington state east of the Cascade Range is noticeably different than that seen on the western slopes where we live. Take the ponderosa pine needles seen in the above picture; those needles must have been at least 10 times the size of the Douglas-fir needles that we are accustomed to!

And after about an hour of charging, when a wicked storm started blowing through, it was those pine needles that started becoming tribal blow darts whizzing by with every gust. We quickly took refuge in the car, and ended up departing soon thereafter with a 40% charge.

We drove into Yakima without trouble, and soon went to visit Grandpa and Lorraine at their assisted living home. They just loved seeing the kids, and it was a very special moment for us all. I am so grateful for having those moments with Grandpa, Lorraine, and our family. 

Best burgers in the west: Miner's!

After our visit with Grandpa and Lorraine, we decided to eat dinner at Yakima's finest eatery--Miner's. Miner's is an interesting story. There is seemingly only two kinds of folks who know of the burger joint. Those people from Yakima, and those who travel to Yakima for sporting events. Yes, with its unbelievable capability of serving voluminous servings of food to voluminous numbers of costumers, Miner's has carved itself a niche market for feeding every single soccer, baseball, basketball, and marching band group that passes through town. The spectacle of watching so many people herded through the burger joint is only second to how delicious those MASSIVE hamburgers are.

Canyon Road, Connecting Selah and Ellensburg, WA

The next day, I decided to take a more leisurely drive home via Ellensburg and Snoqualmie Pass on Interstate 90. We've driven this route several times, and frankly, it is a rather easy drive in an electric car, as it can be driven with the sole use of DC quick charging stations the entire trip. 

From Yakima, a Nissan LEAF driver would have to be suicidal to drive along I-82 into Ellensburg. The high speeds of desert travel, coupled with range killing hills that also serve as speed ramps for the largest of tractor trailers--wherein it is a sport for them to gather as much speed as possible on the downhill sections to provide the big rigs momentum to make it easily over the next large hill--make this roadway quite dangerous. Seeing that the hill cycle repeats, again and again, over 30-plus miles, makes I-82 completely out of the question for current technology EVs. Actually, it would be suicide-by-EV to drive I-82. 

The alternative was to drive the splendid Canyon Road connecting Selah (Yakima) and Ellensburg. It is an awesome drive, that just so happens to be easy on the battery pack charge too. 

Once in Ellensburg, though, the driving plan changed for us. Instead of cruising along I-90 to the DC quick charging station at Suncadia Lodge in Cle Elum, the pull of The Drive directed me to take State Route 10 that parallels the interstate highway. A first for us, driving WA-10 became one of the highlights of the entire driving weekend. With a forest of deciduous trees on both sides of the road, the fall colors illuminated our afternoon drive with a multitude of oranges, yellows, and gold.

While cruising along in beautiful silence on the 16 mile stretch of WA-10, it hit me. I was intentionally driving slower than the freeway speed option over on I-90. I was intentionally prolonging our return home. I was intentionally driving like EV driver! 

Driving like an EV driver? EV driving will, for some time, carry a negative connotation that is (was) associated with driving a first generation modern electric vehicle. That view, believing that driving the byways and side streets of America is a recipe for driving insanity is simply one perspective of the experience. And to further explain why I have grown to love the EV driving experience, our next destination on the trip demonstrated that pleasure perfectly.

Roslyn: A Northern Exposure Oasis

When we arrived in Cle Elum, I again decided to take a different path. Instead of driving right to the charging station at Suncadia Lodge, we diverged to Roslyn. Roslyn is a great destination in of itself, gaining rise in popularity with the loyal viewers of the early-90s T.V. show Northern Exposure. After cruising the town, I put in Suncadia Lodge into the car's navigation. Surprisingly, the "Shortest Route" directed us through uncharted roadway. The LEAF's battery charge was getting low, but not to the point that I had to navigate the off-map areas. However, the adventurer in me was all in!

I seem to always end up on "primitive roads!"

When the pavement ended, I stopped the car to have a moment of reflection. With a low battery charge, I could not afford to drive too far on the primitive road if we had to eventually back track to make our destination. With a snapped picture and high-fives to the kids, we set out on the gravel roadway.

Harvest Festival Extravaganza!

In a complete surprise, we came upon a field full of festivities for families. Who needs to charge a car when such fun can be had?!? So, we pulled over and played. It was awesome! 

With the EV Driving Experience, stumbling onto an event like this is not as rare as one may expect. We have come across many cool activities such as the one found on this particular day. Which leads me to the "True Life: I drive electric vehicles" reality. Driving current-technology EVs affords drivers the experience of living the life of a traveler, not the "mileage hero" road warrior. 

Life is being lived by people everywhere, and there certainly are visual wonders of nature that are off the beaten path. When one is traveling, there is an intense appreciation in experiencing those moments, those cultures, those wonders along the way. That is the EV Experience for the time being. Going all-EV means to go all in. The EV Experience is not about making time, it is about experiencing life in all of its wonderful beauty and differences. 

***

Nuts & Bolts: Chinook Pass Data

Slow Speed is Key to Mountain Driving

The above graph is a rough visual showing the elevation, speed, and GIDs (1 "GID" equals 80Wh) between charging stops in Enumclaw and Naches (Squaw Rock). 

The driving plan was quite simple: Drive no more than 35mph from Enumclaw to the summit. 

Once the steep downhill started on the eastern slope of Chinook Pass, I would shift into neutral to build speed. Then, at about 10mph over the speed limit, shift into either Drive or Brake mode, depending on how steep the gradient was. When the brake regeneration slowed the car down to about 5mph below the speed limit, shift once again into neutral and do the cycle again. Once the elevation flattened out, rendering the "shift neutral" technique useless, cruise control was set to 50mph to finish out the leg to Squaw Rock. 

The 45 mile trip from Enumclaw to the summit consumed about 17kWh of charge, and the 32 miles from the summit to Squaw Rock consumed about 1.4kWh of charge.

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!

The (Unadvisable) Way to Break In Your New LEAF

I bought a new Nissan LEAF this week.

Almost two years ago when I purchased my first EV, a 2012 Nissan LEAF, I was planning on driving the car until it either died or 10 years...whichever came first. Understanding that there were so few mechanical bits that could wear out or break, I figured that I was in a long-term relationship with my Nissan LEAF.

Fast forward to this week. Being at a car dealership is a different experience than before LEAF ownership. With Nissan's deployment of DC quick charging stations at its dealership network, I am at a Nissan dealership at least twice a month to use the charging infrastructure. On this particular day, though, I was at a local dealership as part of my duties as vice president of the North Sound Electric Vehicle Association picking up informational and promotional items for an upcoming EVent.

With the 2015 LEAFs on the way, whatever 2014s that are on the lot can be had at good prices. It didn't take me long to be convinced that I wanted needed a new LEAF. With all of the upgrades and additional appointments, Nissan quite nearly released LEAF 2.0 with the 2013, and later, LEAFs as compared to the early-adopter 2011/2012 LEAFs.

My new ride: 2014 Nissan LEAF SL

With my new Nissan LEAF now in the garage, I started thinking about how to most-appropriately break in my new ride. The gears in my mind started grinding away when I looked at the LEAF Spy data a couple hours after getting the car home. LEAF Spy showed that my new car was a bit sleepy with only 63 AHr available from the car's battery pack. A new Nissan LEAF can be expected to have 66.25 AHr when new.

In my experience, the easiest way to "wake up" a Nissan LEAF's battery pack is to quick charge the car--usually with successive DC quick charges. I now had #1 on my list of breaking in my new LEAF: quick charge the car A LOT. The funnest way to get successive quick charges in would be to go on a road trip. That led me to what #2 would be on my LEAF's break in schedule: road trip the LEAF to a location, far and away, that has never been accessed via a Nissan LEAF before!

The eerily-majestic, Mt. St. Helens

One such location that I've had my eye on for about a year now, is Mt. St. Helens. Mt. St. Helens is the youngest and most-active volcano in the Pacific Northwest's Cascade Range. It last erupted in 1980, blasting more than 1,300 feet from its peak, and destroying life and property for many square miles on its northern side. The challenge of making it to the Johnston Ridge Observatory in a Nissan LEAF lies in its remote location and in the inevitable elevation gains in driving into the mountains. 

After leaving our house at 5:40am, my daughter and I pulled into Castle Rock, WA four hours, and three quick charge sessions, later. With one more quick charge in Castle Rock we were ready to start driving east of the I-5 corridor and into the Cascade Range. 

New battery pack no longer! With just 200 miles on the odometer, this pack is having hot beginnings.

Mt. St. Helens' Johnston Ridge Observatory is located 52 miles east of Castle Rock, with an elevation gain of more than 4100'. Even with a brand new LEAF, making a 104 mile round trip drive would be difficult. Coupling this 100+ mile drive with the elevation gain, I knew that I would need to find charging opportunities somewhere along the way to prevent being stranded in the mountain's dead zone with a dead EV battery and no cell service. 

After contacting several of the tourist stops along the drive on WA-504, I connected with a business not just open to the idea of me plugging in, but enthusiastic to help make Mt. St. Helens more accessible to Nissan LEAFs. 

Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Center at Mt. St. Helens

The Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Center is located halfway between Castle Rock and the Johnston Ridge Observatory. When we arrived, we were encouraged to plug into a 120v outlet at the helicopter pad. It was an awesome location, and I loved seeing my new car right there with the tour helicopter! There was plenty for my daughter and I to do during the two of hours of trickle charging: we had a great lunch while eating burgers and watching the helicopter flights take off and land. We also had fun throwing a Frisbee (my daughter's kids meal was served on the underside of a Frisbee--how fun!), and checking out the exhibits.

With this being a "first ever" trip, I decided to drive very conservatively and slow. It is never fun to drive slow in a car that is so much fun driving fast. However, I was motivated by that little voice in the back of my head saying, "dead battery in a dead zone." There are many pullouts and wide shoulder areas on the drive up to the Johnston Ridge Observatory, so driving slow wasn't much of an impediment to traffic either.

First Nissan LEAF to make it to the Johnston Ridge Observatory at Mt. St. Helens!

We spent some time at the Johnston Ridge Observatory to learn more about Mt. St. Helens and the May 18, 1980 eruption. The U.S. Forest Service has done a remarkable job at providing informative and interactive exhibits, making this a fantastic family-friendly EVenture!

After making our way back down to Castle Rock, I started mapping out our trip home. My new Nissan LEAF had chalked up two accomplishments: 1) The battery pack was now reading 67.3 AHr (more than 100% of expected capacity), and 2) had made a "first ever" trek (very important for The Coram Family EV Fleet). However, I was still missing something. My new LEAF was just not quite christened yet. While charging there in Castle Rock, I noticed that it was almost exactly 100 miles from Tumwater, WA and our house. If I made the DC quick charge in Tumwater the last charge of the trip, I could stretch it home and make this new car break in complete. And so I did!

The 100-Mile Club, Baby!

So here is the formula for the (unadvisable) way to break in your new Nissan LEAF:

• "Bake" the battery to increase the AHr
• Take the LEAF on a "first-ever" EVenture
• Join the 100-mile club

EV Scenic Byways: Coulee Corridor

Have you ever heard of the Missoula Floods? Up until a month ago, I hadn't either.

It was during a conversation with my school's two sixth grade science teachers last month that I first heard of the floods and got excited to explore eastern Washington's Coulee Corridor. Stretching from Omak to Othello is a region of channeled scablands and coulees (steep-sided ravines and gorges) formed from massive Ice Age floods some 15,000 years ago. An ice dam at Lake Missoula broke dozens of times, resulting in a series of catastrophic floods that carved out a large region of eastern Washington.

Dry Falls: When water flowed, it was five times the width of Niagara Falls!

Getting excited for a road trip is easy. Going on a road trip that is a first-ever documented journey in an all-electric Nissan LEAF is the tough part. For example, the only EV plug on a 175-mile stretch from Ellensburg to Spokane, Washington is in Moses Lake, at 68 miles from Ellensburg. We would not be driving as far east as Spokane this time, but there still was a need for charging solutions to cover the hundreds of miles that we'd be touring on this EVenture along the Coulee Corridor.

From western Washington, I decided to take a northern route, driving across Stevens Pass to the town of Pateros, 55 miles north of Wenatchee. A partnership between Plug-In North Central Washington and the Pateros Lakeshore Inn resulted in a high amperage Level 2 charging unit in this town, at the base of the Cascade Mountain range, within the past year. "Level 2" charging will provide most new Nissan LEAFs a complete charge in about 3-4 hours.

There was much fun to be had while charging in Pateros--what a beautiful area!

After departing Pateros, the only charging opportunities that we'd have access to for the next two days would be 50-amp service at RV campgrounds. Our first night's stay in the Coulee Corridor was near the Grand Coulee Dam, at an RV campground called the Grand Coulee RV Park.

EV Fear Factor

At about the halfway point from Pateros to Grand Coulee, I pulled our LEAF over to take in the vastness. Our previous charge was way back along the Cascade Range (background of the above picture). Seeing the mountains disappearing in the rearview mirror was a bit disheartening!

Beyond the impressiveness and fear factor of the views, this section of the Columbia Plateau has other "discoveries" that took our minds off of the charging situation. Massive boulders, known as glacial erratics, randomly scatter the landscape on the plateau; another indicator of the flooding that took place in the region thousands of years ago.

I knew that we could make the 55-mile drive from Pateros to Grand Coulee. However, no amount of planning and reassurance will prevent EV drivers from feeling occasional wisps of terror when driving in an EV Badlands area, where there is nowhere to plug into for dozens of miles all around. To make a comparison: It was like we left Pateros in a Toyota Prius with a gallon and a half of gas in the tank.

RV Park Charging

The owner of the Grand Coulee RV Park was very receptive to discussing pricing options for future EVs. While EV drivers typically prefer to pay for a Level 2 charge by the kWh (1,000 watts in an hour's time), metered RV campground receptacles are uncommon in the Pacific Northwest due to inexpensive electricity rates. Conversely, in California, many RV campgrounds have meters at every 50-amp receptacle.

Grand Coulee RV Park accepted a very reasonable alternative: A flat $5.00 EV charging fee for up to four hours of use at one of the bountiful 50-amp RV hookups. If travelers want to stay the night, the RV park will include the EV charging for free--just pay the nightly $20.00 fee for tent camping.

Electric Remote Controlled Helicopters

The owner of the Grand Coulee RV Park was excited to talk shop...about all kinds of EVs! It turned out that he is an electric RC helicopter enthusiast. We spent some time talking about battery technology and body frame materials. Like EVs, the RC helicopters are powered with lithium batteries. And like new EVs (read: BMW's i3), the RC helicopters had a carbon fiber frame.

With battery capacity/density continuing to increase and costs decreasing, we'll undoubtedly continue to see battery technology displace and/or replace the established energy sources in all aspects of our lives...our hobbies...our transportation.

Grand Coulee Dam: Enough Power Generated to Charge a Nissan LEAF more than 875 Million Times in a Year!!!

Truly a structure that must be seen to be appreciated, the immensity of Grand Coulee Dam cannot be easily described. Let me try to do it some justice, courtesy of Wikipedia:

• The Grand Coulee Dam is the largest power station in the U.S. and 7th largest in the world.
• The third power plant (added in 1974), alone, produces twice the electricity as Hoover Dam.
• The dam has enough concrete (12 million cubic yards) to build a road from Seattle to Miami.

Steamboat Rock

Our second day of the EV road trip was filled with some of the greatest and grandest sites to be seen along the Coulee Corridor.

The first stop was at Steamboat Rock State Park. One of the benefits of going on a road trip during the off-season is that, by definition, there is hardly anybody else there. I took full advantage of this by plugging into one of the many unoccupied RV 50-amp service hook-ups at Steamboat Rock State Park (and later in the day at Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park). With the car charging, we had an excuse to take our time and enjoy the sites. And enjoy we did!

My daughter. Oh, and the largest waterfall in history: Dry Falls.

The drive in between Steamboat Rock State Park and Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park was actually one of the highlights of the day for me...the driver. This goes back to it being the off-season for tourism and there being nobody to share the road with. For 50 miles, from Steamboat Rock State Park to Ephrata, I knew that I could use as much of the battery charge as I pleased (remember, there was plenty of charging opportunities at the state parks). So, ECO mode was turned off and Steve's "Fun Mode" switched on.

Driving along Banks Lake, with 700-ft. basalt cliffs on either side, my senses tuned into a singularity. I only focused on the rush of wind as the car zipped along. There was no engine noise or exhaust rumble coming from our LEAF, which in turn, made the wind noise the one focus. It was glorious!

Bad daddy moment at Lenore Lake Caves--that's our son at the far left of the picture, wondering freely.

Along the shores of Lenore Lake are a series of seven caves accessible via a 1.5 mile roundtrip hike. For our six-year-old daughter, the rock climbing and scrambling was no problem. For our two-year-old son, the terrain was impassible in many areas. So what is a prudent dad to do? I put him on my shoulders, of course!

A little backstory: I am 6'11" tall.

Hiking and scrambling along with a 35-lb. child on my shoulders effectively made my center of gravity somewhere between my collar bone and chin. It was a miracle of all miracles that I did not fall to my death, along with my son, on the Lenore Lake Caves hike.

Lenore Lake Caves

Here is another view of the Lenore Lake Caves. These caves formed during the Missoula Floods when the igneous rock layers gouged away with the tremendous power of water.

Oops! I almost ran out of juice. Here, trickle charging in Quincy, WA.

At the end of our second day, I had planned on us camping and over-night charging in Quincy. When we pulled into town in the early evening hours, I still had plenty of charge remaining in our LEAF. I wanted to charge at a local golf course, Colockum Ridge Golf Course.

Before leaving on the trip, I had attempted to contact public relations folks at the Port of Quincy, who own/manage Colockum Ridge Golf Course. My inquiries with the Port of Quincy were never returned. I was not worried, though, because I figured that I could establish phone contact with the golf course manager, or even somebody in the pro shop, while on the trip.

Unfortunately, for two days, I had no cell service. In this age of The World is Flat, I was unable to get cell service or a data connection in hundreds of miles of driving. We were very much traveling in civilization, though...driving through many towns along the way. However in an era of being connected at any time and anywhere, I felt completely isolated from the civilized world.

Colockum Ridge Golf Course

After driving an additional five miles from downtown Quincy, we arrived at Colockum Ridge Golf Course. I immediately saw that the camping situation would not work because there were no restrooms accessible after hours. We returned to Quincy, as I remembered seeing a sign for RV camping earlier. Within moments of pulling into the "campground," I realized that we would need to find an alternative.

Those ten miles of extra driving out to the golf course, and back, had hammered my range, though. So we pulled in at a local grocery store and trickle charged for an hour.

Ultimately, we ended back at Colockum Ridge Golf Course. It would be a great spot to charge an EV while playing golf, but overnight tent camping was not ideal.

The Feathers

The Feathers are basalt columns located between Vantage and The Gorge Amphitheater. This is seemingly a popular location for amateur rock climbers, as there are numerous safety hooks bolted into the rocks throughout.

Rock climbers in training.

Our EV road trip's last destination was at the Wild Horse Wind Farm. The wind farm is Puget Sound Energy's second largest in Washington, and capable of generating 273 megawatts of electricity every year. The site also has one of the Northwest's largest solar power arrays, with more than 2,700 solar panels that are capable of producing 500 kW of electricity.

Wild Horse Renewable Energy Center

The purpose of this trip was to see some of the spectacular sights along the Coulee Corridor with my daughter and son. It was after leaving the Wild Horse Renewable Energy Center that I thought how fitting for the Coulee Corridor to be bookended with two clean power generating sources, with the Grand Coulee Dam at the north end and the Wild Horse Wind and Solar Farm at the southeast corner. And what better way to experience Coulee Corridor than to be in an all-electric Nissan LEAF!