Disgruntled Real Electric Car Owner

I use a cable lock around the cord, and through the right rear wheel. They would have to cut either the lock or the charger cord to steal the EVSE, in which case it would be covered under the comprehensive portion of my car insurance, which has a $100 deductible.

 

Image: Blink notices for electric-car owners to use if charging-station parking spots are taken by gas cars, size: 923 x 805, type: gif, posted on: October 26, 2012, 8:02 am - Green Car Reports

 

Some well phrased signs; to the point without being overly nasty.

 

I just put a EV sales brochure under their windshield wiper. Wish I would get a commission.

 

I was in Santa Monica Place this lunch time and all the chargers were taken. 1 tesla, 1 Leaf and 3 Volts. The 6th space was taken up by a Gen II Prius. Parking enforcement was there writing him a ticket.

 

Wannabe.

 

Indeed. This disease seems to be rampant among "real" EV drivers.

 

Awesomely right on!

 

Good, driver of Prius should know better.

 

For those who hadn't noticed, I did finally get a Leaf less than 2 weeks ago. I began a 2 year lease on a '13 Leaf SV w/QC + LED and premium packages. I think my car has been quick charged (via CHAdeMO) once by the dealer as they had to drive it from a another dealer and I picked up the same day. Other than that, I haven't used the CHAdeMO port yet.

I like what's in the premium package but maybe I should've forgone the QC + LED package.

The only places where I charged publicly so far were were there were plenty of free stations. At work, we have an internal voluntary list of PHEVs and EVs to facilitate plug sharing. I sometimes move my car after it's done charging (but finding a new spot can take a LONG time) or move when someone pings me that they need to charge. Other times, I park in a spot where the cable will reach but all the J1772 handles are in use. When a car's done, someone else plugs me in.

We have etiquette @ work that if you need to charge, leave your charging door open, as a signal. Someone will plug you in. Close it when it's done. We also have a list showing how to tell if a EV/PHEV is charging or done charging, since there's no universal standard.

And, EVs have implicit priority over PHEVs and PHEVs will yield in the event of an emergency. And, nobody should go unplugging cars still charging. If it must be done, the owner should be notified.

 

Couldn't help but think of larry david and the handicap toilet when i read this ^

EV stall=Handicap toilet? maybe bit of a stretch.

 

The EV world would be nicer if every BEVs/PHEVs driver can follow the plug sharing rule that your work place has. Why do you think QC + LED package should be forgotten? Is it too difficult to find a QC station?
It is quite often that I see the QC station is on maintenance. The good thing is that QC station is free of charge for now. I heard Blink gonna charge $5 per each QC charge in the future.

 

Yes, there aren't that many CHAdeMO QC stations in my area. To get an idea, go to PlugShare - EV Charging Station Map - Find the nearest location to charge your electric car!, deselect residential and public. Select High Power Stations. Under More Options, only select Quick Charge (CHAdeMO). The Leaf can't use any of the Tesla stations anyway, at least no w/o adapters and for sure can't use SuperChargers.

The Blink DCFCs I hear were pretty unreliable and thus you couldn't depend on them. And, they sometimes get ICEd. As for charging $5 per session, yes, that started not long ago. That really sucks! It should allow for smaller increments and/or be billed by kwh usage.

What if I only need a small boost to get home? From what I understand, once you get beyond a certain point in SoC, the charge rate tapers off a LOT and ends up being just as fast/slow as using L2 charging. I know on L2, the charge rate tapers off near the end. I've seen the realtime graphs on Chargepoint's site for my car (when the charts actually work, that's another story).

Nissan has been busy installing CHAdeMO chargers at dealers, but unfortunately, it's a totally YMMV as to whether the dealer will even allow people who didn't buy their car from that dealer to use them, whether it's working, whether it's available when the dealer's closed, whether the folks "in charge" of the fob to activate the charger are morons, etc.

You can get some idea at My Nissan Leaf Forum • View topic - Dealer charger wide open after hours, but kicked off lot by skimming the last 15 pages or so of My Nissan Leaf Forum • View topic - Nissan To Install 500 More Quick Charge Stations. I've heard horror stories re: random dealers on Facebook on QC usage.

Back to the package, so QC + LED package ha an invoice price of $1414 and MSRP of $1630. Since I leased, it wasn't THAT much more. I recall another dealer telling me adding on the premium package (invoice of $911 and MSRP of $1050) I think would add $20/month onto a 24 month lease (my lease term).

So.... I now wonder how many times I will actually use the QC port vs. Just-Drive-The-Prius(TM) (which Tony Williams seems to have "trademarked" ). I don't regret paying extra for the premium package which includes a better stereo and "around view monitor" (which TOTALLY rocks).

 

Andrew, congrats on getting your LEAF! The CHAdeMO situation is NorCal continues to be disappointing, but that said, it's nice to have this convenience when needed. I remember going to the airport once, and since all level 2 stations were used, I couldn't charge up while I was gone. It was nice to hit the QC at Evernote on the way back. It certainly has removed a lot of the inconvenience from having to stop and wait for level 2 somewhere. The eVgo network should be interesting, once it's available and operational. They were considering putting chargers in a much wider area and potentially making Lake Tahoe accessible as well.