We recently completed a 550-mile trip to Grover Beach and San Luis Obispo from Bakersfield in our Nissan Leaf, an electric vehicle (EV). It’s not as far as many have driven, but it’s far more than most owners of EVs. That was one observation we came away with after the excursion.
There’s an urgent need by owners of consumer-oriented EVs for a DCFC station either at the base of the Grapevine or at Lebec. Similarly, there’s an urgent need for a companion station in Valencia.
When we got our recent bill from Pacific Gas & Electric Co., I thought I’d take a look at hour our Electric Vehicle (EV) was affecting our consumption.
For those of us who live in the San Joaquin Valley, getting to and from Los Angeles in an Electric Vehicle (EV) is a challenge. Southbound, the last charging stations are in Bakersfield. Then it’s a long 30-mile run across the valley floor before Highway 99 and Interstate 5 make a steep climb over the summit of the Tejon pass.
The City of Tehachapi plans to install a Level 2 commercial charge station near City Hall sometime this summer, says Chris Kirk, assistant city manager. When installed, the station will double the number of charge locations in Tehachapi.
It was a beautiful day and there was a report of abundant wildflowers on the road to Woody. Glenville is beyond Woody and we thought we’d test our Leaf’s range once again in the foothills east of Bakersfield.
On Sunday Nancy & I drove our car to Tehachapi from Bakersfield, California. That in itself isn’t significant. Thousands of cars and trucks climb the 4,000 feet from the San Joaquin Valley to the Tehachapi Pass everyday. What is unusual is that we drove the 45 miles in our 2015 Nissan Leaf, an electric car.
Recreational Vehicle (RV) parks with NEMA 14-50 receptacles are popular with drivers of Electric Vehicles (EVs) where no EV-specific chargers exist—as is the case between Bakersfield and Mojave, California. These outlets provide 240 volts at up to 40 amps of continuous current, equivalent to that from EV-specific chargers.
Ok, it wasn’t quite mail order. Most of the transaction was done over the phone and via email, but we bought a car, an Electric Vehicle (EV), in a very untraditional manner.
We’ve been driving our 2015 Nissan Leaf for two months now and it was time to take it on a road trip—a short one, mind you, but one long enough to test our range anxiety. We set out Monday morning to visit friends on Bird Springs Road, in the Sierra Nevada foothills east of Bakersfield. Of course that doesn’t tell one much about the route or the location.
2023 © Wind-Works by Paul Gipe