Update on Chloé, Our Nissan Leaf

Chloé, our all electric car, has now topped 1,000 miles. Yep, that’s 1,000 miles without any gasoline. (Put another way, that’s easily over $100 I haven’t given to the evil oil empire.)

Driving it here in Sausalito has been an adjustment because this area has some serious hills. (Since I was raised in Florida, I think of them as mountains!) The hills greatly impact the car’s energy use.

Going down the steep hills generates a lot of electricity and charges up the battery. Going up the steep hills, well, that’s another matter entirely. The car is continuously calculating how much further (in miles) you can drive. When that number starts dropping rapidly (as in drops a mile every quarter mile or so) I get nervous. But then, when you’re driving in stop and go traffic or downhill, the number of miles starts going up, sometimes dramatically. (Chloé really loves stop and go traffic!!)

So, it was time.

Time to drive over the Golden Gate bridge and into San Francisco. It just seems so far! And the bridge itself crests. And the hill coming back to the house is one seriously steep, long, grinding incline. Would I have to push the car home up the mountainside???

I was a nervous wreck!

I drove all the way from Sausalito to one of San Francisco’s furniture stores. It seemed like a long way, but it really wasn’t: just under 12 miles one way. Compared to LA, San Francisco is a tiny town.

Chloé has learned that it lives in a very hilly area; so, it told me that, even on a full charge, it would only go 74 miles. Amazingly, when I arrived at the furniture store, Chloé said it could still go well over 80 miles–further than when I started my pilgrimage.

When arriving back in Sausalito, I still had plenty of miles left; so, we went down the hill to the post office, the UPS store, and then the grocery store!

I’ve also ventured all the way to the Home Depot in San Rafael (the opposite direction from San Francisco). I just love this car!!