Can my 2018 Nissan Leaf make it to Mammoth?

On a recent trip to Los Angeles, we went skiing. We used a plug in hybrid, which kinda became a hybrid for most of the journey. But I kept wondering if my trusty 2018 Nissan Leaf could have made it to Mammoth Mountain ski area. Indeed it can, its a long journey (about 500 km in all), but there is sufficient fast charging available to make the trip.

Plugshare lists several charging stations along the way, unfortunately some are broken, but enough are in good working order to make the trip. There is a four cabinet Chargepoint station in Mojave about 150 km into the journey, with another two cabinet station in Brady’s. Each of the chargepoint cabinets has a CCS and a Chademo plug, making it ideal for my Leaf. Then we have a couple of Electrify America stations further up the road in Coso junction, and in Bishop.

Its worth noting that Mammoth mountain does not offer night-skiing. And since staying in Mammoth, is expensive, its much more sensible to spend the first night in Bishop, about 80 km away. The Best Western in Bishop was in the process of installing destination chargers, four of them to be exact. Adapters exist to get you from Tesla Destination chargers to J-1772, I have one that I use on occasion. If open and working, that would be ideal in my mind, as it shaves 80km of the trip. Should the Best western chargers be unavailable, there is an Electrify America station in Bishop, and a L2 Nema 14-50 plug at a motel in Independence, CA.

Its worth noting that speed limits are higher in California than Ontario. 65 miles/hr is common, sometimes going to 70 or even 75 miles/hr. This equates 105 km/hr, 112 km/hr or even 120 km/hr. During our drive in the plug-in hybrid, even with a 65 miles/hr speed limit, driving a little slower seemed fine, in particular as trucks are often limited to 55 miles/hr (90 km/hr), hence should the Electrify America station in Coso be unavailable, we could stretch it to Bishop from Brady’s (about 200 km), given a mostly full charge in Brady’s.

So, can we make Mammoth Mountain in my 2018 Nissan Leaf, of course we can.