Driving on Empty

A long time ago in a galaxy, far, far away (aka two weeks ago), I used to drive a gas-driven vehicle. At that time, I thought that ICE stood for In Case of Emergency. It still does. But it also stands for Internal Combustion Engine, which is now what ICE means to me. Yet, when I drove an ICE, the only time I thought about my driving range was when the gas needle dropped to right around E.

Now, my LEAFable life is always on E. Let me explain. In the ICE age, I would fill my tank with gas at around $3.75 a gallon. I would drive about 14 gallons worth, and my gas meter would start to glow yellow, signifying that the tank was close to empty. If I tuned on the onboard computer, I would visually see an estimation that I had 75 miles to go whenever the yellow E light came on. I also knew, because I tested it many times, that even when the range finder zeroed out, I still had about 15 miles to go to empty. Despite numerous attempts to almost running out of gas, I never did. So, I never truly ever learned exactly how many miles I had left in the tank for yellow light to dead engine.

What is different now, post ICE-age? I'm always on E. That is to say, I'm always less than 100 miles away from a dead engine. It's actually an odd revelation. I used to never really pay attention much to how much range I had--now, I pay attention to it all the time, and I'm virtually on E all the time. I have to say, I'm having a tough time relaxing into my E. I have to learn to trust that what I where I need to drive, Electra will get me there and back.

Today I got the chance to "test" Electra, my 2012 Nissan Leaf. I had two things to do; take my daughter to a birthday party and go to the mall to return some clothes. Round-trip, the mileage sat at 84 miles. With a full charge, driving in ECO, and with the A/C on, Electra designated a 101 range this morning. The problem? A good portion of the 84 miles was highway driving at 75 mph or greater. Would Electra make it?

My daughter and I headed out; I dropped her at her party and drove to the mall with ECO and A/C. By the time I got to the mall, I had 48 left on range. I had left my charger at home, and there were no charge stations in sight. What's an EV driver to do? Well, to start off with, I turned off Electra's A/C. Fortunately, today the temp topped 80, a nice indicator of the coming Fall. I cut my spend on the interstate down to 70, and I made my way north. At the point I had to get off the interstate to stop to pick up my daughter, I had 15 miles range left and 14 miles to drive. Would I make it?

At the stop light, I looked up AAA's phone number just in case I'd need a roadside charge. But then the goodness of Electra kicked in! Slowing down to a stop, starting, stopping, and driving on surface roads to get my daughter pumped up my range to 17 rather than dropping it! I picked my daughter up and had 9 miles range to my 7 miles of driving left to do.

Flash, flash, flash went the range number on my display. The yellow warning light popped. The yellow plug-in shined. The navigation screen showed low battery. I have to say, Electra, there was no way to miss that you were low on energy. But we made it! With two miles left on my range, we pulled into my garage, and I plugged Electra in. We all sighed relief, and I wondered, humm, at what point will the turtle pop up? Exactly how far can I push Electra to really using up all her juice? Was 2 miles range left on the display really just a hint that I had 10 miles left for real? Hummmm....