April 9, 2011 So Cal LEAF Branch Meetup

Just a quick post to document the latest and one of the best So Cal LEAF Branch meetups at Cerritos Nissan yesterday.

At 53 miles round trip, all freeway miles, this was the longest trip yet for me and my LEAF.  I charged it to 100% for the first time (the usual practice being 80%, recommended by Nissan for longer battery life). The available mileage gauge showed 104 miles as I backed out of the garage in the morning, and I anticipated no range issues at all.  I found it a bit hard to keep my speed below 75 on the freeway, but I managed to do so.  Without using climate control on this cool morning (perhaps 48 F as I left the house, cold for a Southern California spring day), I was surprised to have used five of the 12 bars of battery charge as I arrived at Cerritos Nissan, 26.5 miles from my home starting point.  Gary said that he'd only used four bars in his 10 mile longer drive, and I attribute that to Gary being a much more conservative driver than I am.  I had not planned to do any charging at Cerritos Nissan during the meetup, but since few others needed to charge, I chose to go ahead and do so (thanks Gordon for swapping to allow me to charge).  I added two hours of Level 2 charging during the meeting, which allowed me to fly home easily afterwards, paying no attention to range, and blasting the A/C in the warmer late morning sun.

Garygid leads the discussion

With about 25 attendees and ten LEAFs, this was the largest group so far.  It is great to see the group grow and to see the number of actual LEAFs finally growing, too. Matt (KeiJidosha) also joined us again in his MiniE, all the way from Simi, and gave test drives to some interested group members.

If I have this right, I think the following LEAFs were there, please correct me if I'm wrong:  The blue ones were mwalsh, drleslie, EricH, myself, Gordon and Brian (sorry, I haven't memorized all of the screen names).  The red ones were malloryk and Adrian, and the two Garys, garygid and hill, brought their new white LEAFs.  No silver or black at this particular meet, as Sparky couldn't make it and Robert would have had a long drive in his new silver former-orphan, so he hitched a ride with garygid for part of the way to Cerritos.

Very fun to see such a nice large LEAF lineup, finally

BIG thanks to John Beard and Anne of Cerritos Nissan.  We were welcomed with a catered breakfast, use of the conference room and the charging docks and John is coordinating discounts on LEAF accessories for us.  Garygid asked to have his lithium battery pack checked as a baseline reading, but there was a problem with the connection with the diagnostic test machine, so Gary was content with a car wash and a promise to test it again at a later date.

Gary provided an interesting and useful lecture on EVSE options, focusing on the Ingineer modified unit and various connectors that Gary brought for show and tell.  Gary appeared really comfortable and proficient in the teaching role.  He covered some other recent topics of interest on the MNL forum.

 Kataphn scores a patch cable from Gary for her future modified EVSE

Robert talked about his experience buying an "orphan" LEAF after having called over 20 dealers within a 50 mile radius and finding an orphan at MSRP at one dealer.  This was of particular interest to a very nice couple who joined us for the first time to listen and learn, and who are interested in getting an orphan, too.

As more of us take delivery of our LEAFs and interest grows as the cars are seen on the streets and in the news, I'm sure that the group will grow steadily.  We might need a hotel ballroom some day.

Here are some more pictures from Saturday:

mwalsh, malloryk and Gordon

Kataphn learning about the 12V battery disconnect from garygid

The group with our hosts John Beard in the center and Anne to the right with Gary

Adrian's plate

hill's plate