The Big Lap in a first generation Nissan Leaf, with a just-in-case generator

Jeff likes an adventure so when the chance came to drive around Australia in a Nissan Leaf in 2016 he took it. He bought himself a petrol generator at Aldi and set off down the highway.

Three weeks into the trip he got to use the generator for the first time, halfway across the Nullabor when he ran out of charge 700m from the next roadhouse. At that time the only charging available was at roadhouses and they were up to 150km apart, more than the range of his first generation Leaf.

With nowhere to pull over on the left, Jeff ended up rolling off the bitumen on the wrong side of the road. He unpacked his new generator, poured in some petrol and charged the car enough to get to the caravan park at the servo.

While the car was having a feed, so did Jeff. Five hours is a long enough time to eat, sleep and chat to the locals. His routine was to drive for a few hours in the morning, charge in the middle of day for 5 hours, then drive a couple of hours in the afternoon and stay overnight at the next caravan park.

On one long stretch between chargers in WA, Jeff got up at 2 am and drove at 40 km/h to “hypermile” to his destination. Between every charging station, he had to manage the range to suit the plan for the day. He did the maths and got a number 1 rating for energy efficiency in Oceania from Nissan International.

According to the spec sheet the LEAF was supposed to be able to drive for 170km, but Jeff found that on a good day he was lucky get 117 km. So he only planned to travel 100km on a charge, which he could do at highway speeds.

Times have changed and Jeff now drives a Tesla Standard Range Plus, so making the distance between roadhouses would not be a problem. He no longer has the generator – it died at an importune time and Aldi gave him his money back.

Jeff is still having adventures living in Sapphire (Queensland gem fields) so he can meet and converse with a wide variety of fascinating people.  He is waiting for the Covid restrictions to lift so he can go back to Perth from Brisbane and see his family. Can’t wait to hear that story.

You can read the full story here.