Hi Bruce, I have a bit of experience in transporting a Leaf, since my first Leaf was picked up in SoCal (only 1 mile away from the Mexican border, literally exit 1 on highway 5, where the lot of an insurance company had it stored) and so when I went to get it, I borrowed the light truck from a colleague, attached the tow dolly that I had bought a couple months earlier since I had been picking up 2 Prius'es in the previous months as well and the great thing of a second hand tow dolly is that there is no cost: you can sell it at the same price as you buy it, there is no registration needed and you can tow it with any vehicle you like, unlike U-Haul who are very strict with what type of towing vehicle is used, besides charging you a good chunk of cash. Anyway, I drove 500 miles south with the empty tow dolly, slept a few hours in a Motel 6, picked up the Leaf and drove another 500 miles north with the Leaf in tow. LA traffic made my trip many hours longer than hoped for, but within 30 hours of leaving I made it back with Leaf.
So, in my opinion the best way to transport an EV long distance is to come with a vehicle that has a 2" ball hitch, you may or may not bring a tow dolly, and return with the EV on a tow dolly, it is probably worthwhile to compare the options with different vehicles regarding fuel cost and sleeping arrangements. Since I still have a tow dolly and do not care too much if I keep it or sell it with the Leaf, that is likely the most cost effective way to transport *if* you are not counting your own time. Else, a transporter is likely the most efficient and cost effective, but I have not priced that out. When I needed to pick up the Leaf, it was a deal that essentially went like: can you come tomorrow? OK, then the car is yours. So, I went. Cor. -----Original Message----- From: EV [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of brucedp5 via EV Sent: Friday, May 26, 2017 5:43 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [EVDL] Drive Leaf EVs from CA,exporting to NC : Low-mileage Leaf EV glut -Ask for volunteer drivers to take them from California to North Carolina. That would be quite an adventure.- I envision two sets of volunteers, one would have a way to tow to NC (Truck& flat bed) and the other would be some really brave souls with plug in hand, a fat wallet to empty, and way too much time on their hands. Lets assume two volunteers decide to take Cor's Leaf EVs to N.C. And they pony up for all expenses ahead of time including some cheap transport back home, to be reimbursed by the buyer. Also lets assume Cor's Leaf EVs are no slouch, and have L3 DC CHAdeMO and L2-6kW charging ability (other Leaf EVs available cheap do not). While the trek might sound thrilling (it perked my ears up, but doubt I would fit in a Leaf for a long journey), like the 1971 movie Vanishing Point https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanishing_Point_(1971_film) To maximize range you likely would keep it to a boring 55mph or less (the cops won't be chasing you), and you would be spending a whole lot of L2 charging time, over and over and over. Remove the thoughts the movie brought of drugs, sex, and rock-n-roll, and add paying full price for an RV space to get a charge overnight 9and you would still need to find a nearby motel to sleep at). Nope, looking a plugshare.com and only enabling the CHAdeMO L3, j1772, and the 14-50 charging points, there will still be large gaps between charges that you have to overcome. Looking at plugshare's map, no mater which route you chose there are gaps, here is one of many: https://goo.gl/maps/NYU6XU6Gc8Q2 Going south from Cor's to LA would be straight forward, but the map shows the distance between Mojave and Barstow is ~78 miles Somehow achieving that, and continuing on i-40 east, the next hardship is from Barstow to Needles https://goo.gl/maps/mFRJWhyEunk a gap of ~150 miles I will stop at this point, because not only do I think you see my point, it would not be an adventure unless you wanted to write a book on why not to buy an EV. I do want to point out others have already crossed the U.S. and you just need to network with them to know the who, what, where, when, how they did it. Terry Hershner is one of those, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Hershner https://www.linkedin.com/in/electric-terry-hershner-20361423 https://www.youtube.com/user/gasfreeearth but remember he has a 300mi range e-motorcycle. To read about specifically how a ~75mi Leaf EV has done it, see https://www.google.com/search?q=q=electric+leaf+travel+across+U.S. IMO, I think the buyer should go check Cor's Leaf EVs both online and then also travel to his place to complete their decision and the transaction. Then arrange for transport to N.C. (last car transporter cost quote was $1,400). For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ {brucedp.neocities.org} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/Re-Low-mile age-Leaf-EV-glut-tp4686878p4686884.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
