Nissan Leaf Charger Assessment Appointment

Got the email from Nissan yesterday.

My appointment is scheduled for July 5th, between 8-12. Yea!

We upgraded the house to a 200 amp service 3 years ago. There are a few new circuits left over and the old spa circuit should be usable as well. (220 vt, 40 amp)

 

Yep, July 23rd...

 

Haven't gotten it yet. Did it say how much the assessment is?

 

$100.00

As I recall the message, if you end up getting a charger, the $100 will be credited towards the charger installation.

 

I got the email while on Little Cayman. I could not log on because I had forgotten my user name and password, and when I tried "forgot user name" the web site would not work. Back home last night the link in the email would not work, nor would Firefox work on their site, but with Safari I managed to go to the Nissan site and log on to my account.

Upshot, I have an appointment for the end of July for the assessment. I figure the timing of the assessment appointment should not affect my eventual car delivery date. But the fact they are letting me schedule the assessment strongly suggests that Spokane is in the initial roll-out.

 

I just got a phone call from Aerovironment. They are postponing my assessment. Apparently they are sending someone out from California or Seattle, and cannot do so without having several appointments all bunched together.

Mine was scheduled for this Friday, and now it will be mid-August instead. As a compensation, they are cutting the cost in half, from $100 to $50. That won't mean much, because as I understand it, the cost of the assessment is credited toward the cost of installation if you end up getting the thing installed.

 

I had the appointment on 7/9, but haven't received my home bid for install yet. In the meantime, I went to the "Plug-in 2010 EV San Jose show. I am totally impressed with the Leviton Home chargers i saw at the show. They make a level 2 charger, 32 amp that is plug-in ready into a cloths dryer receptacle. Cost will be about $800.00. That's the one I'll probably buy, since I have an extra dryer circuit in my garage already.

 

At least you guys are on track to get your Leafs. I got an email from Nissan a couple days ago that says that here in Oklahoma we won't be able to order our cars until Fall or Winter of 2011.

If the Volt comes through with their attractive lease deals that are on par or better than the Leaf leases, I might be tempted to consider a change. The Chevy dealer and the Nissan dealer are right next to each other and I can see them both from my front yard.

I was going to buy the Leaf outright, but at my age (76) a lease might be the better way to go. At this age "advance planning" translates to "what are we going to do next".

 

Be advised that depending on when your house was built, many clothes dryer circuits are only 20 amps. Mine is... That charger would pop my breaker.

 

Leviton evse is 6-20 - not dryer plug. Dryers are either 10 or 14. I wish Leviton had opted for 14-50, we could have used it directly with dryers and RV parks.

ps : Below is for Tesla - but a good reference on Nema plugs.

 

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I guess I might lease if I was 76. But at 50, buying seems to make sense.

I wouldn't buy the Volt. I think it is over-priced for such a short range on electric mode alone(40 miles max. but get on the freeway, add ac on, and it could drop to 15-20 in electric mode). It is said the mpg on a 300 mile trip could only be 32-35 mpg. The car is basically a short range electric car with an expensive 1.4 liter 4 cylinder generator.

Personally, I'd rather convert my Prius with plug-in for an additional $10-12k.

 

There are 3 different plugs depending on what Level II EVSE you are planning on getting:

6-20R - 240V 16A
6-30R - 240V 24A
6-50R - 240V 32A

Unfortunately - none of them are "dryer" outlets so you will still need an adapter.

They have a lot of info on their site now: http://www.evrgreenchargers.com/Level2Chargers.htm

 

Yes - I've been using 6-20 as an example. I should start writing 6-xx.

 

I was leaning to the Tesla charger (assuming they will have a J1772 cable adapter sometime) since I recall it was a higher Amp charger and was portable.

But now, I am also interested in the Leviton 24A model. From what I saw, it looks reasonably "portable". Just need to invest in a few adapters.

Is there a way to tell how fast a charge could be given this Leviton 24A model for say:
1) Battery @ 10% and time required to charge to full or 90%
2) Battery @ 50% and time required to charge to full or 90%

Thanks.

 

The charger is in the car - 3.3KW. The EVSE doesn't matter. Nissan is supposed to upgrade in a later year model to 6.6kw - which all the EVSEs already support.

 

Ah, thanks for that reminder Evnow. I completely forgot about that limitation.

Isn't there a portable EVSE included with the purchase of the Leaf? Do you know what the ratings are for that unit.

 

That is 120V - so I guess 1.5kw.

 

To clarify, there is no portable EVSE, but the Leaf comes with a 110-volt charging cord. At 110 v it does not need an EVSE. I'm unclear why it needs an EVSE at all. My electric Porsche charges at 220 volts and something like 35 or 40 amps on a 50-amp circuit which is just an RV-style plug. All it needed was a 50-amp breaker and suitably heavy wiring.