ICEless in Seattle : Official Pacific NorthWest thread

[LECTRFY]

Hi Everybody,

My wife and I received our Nissan Leaf at the end of September and love it! We are getting our Blink installed next Friday by the EV Project...can't wait!

I've been researching where I can charge up and thinking about where my wife and I travel. One of the main places I think everyone goes is Costco...and a trip can take up to two hours (on a Saturday and if your wife is really in the mood for shopping).

I sent a request into their website asking if they have any plans for EV charging stations. Here was their response:

"We appreciate you taking the time to email Costco Wholesale.
We do not presently have plans to install EV charging stations.
This decision was primarily made because of the non use of the Electric Charging Stations a few years back. Coupled with the fact that sales of the electric car are currently minimal compared to the sales of the traditional gas cars. Once this trend shifts, we will reconsider this decision.
Your feedback has been forwarded to the Executives for their review. Thank you for taking the time to share your comments with us.
Please let us know if there is anything else we may assist you with.

Thank you,

Toby
Costco Wholesale Corporation"

:idea: If you agree that Costco is the right place to have EVSEs, please canvas their Contact Us page with requests and show them that there are more of us out here than just a handful. Maybe we can even sponsor an event at their Issaquah Costco to show their corporate heads the importance of changing over to electricity.

Thanks...

 

[Packet]

There are no quick-charge stations in the area... yet.

Aerovironment is handling installs of quick charge stations along the I-5 corridor in the next month or two, and ECOtality has a bunch they're putting in around the city; some of the ECOtality folks are in the local LEAF community and have shared the map of planned blinknetwork quick-charger locations on Facebook.

Any chance of posting that map here? I don't have a facebook account and could not find a publicly accessable group for Seattle Leaf Owners.

Here is the map and associated comments; according to Facebook, that /is/ publicly accessible without an FB account. If they lie -- a possibility -- let me know and I'll save the page as a PDF or something.

 

[FairwoodRed]

Thanks Packet!

I was able to see that map. The rest of the group is private though. That's a pretty agressive roll out for Level 3 in the Seattle area. I hope that they can complete it by the end of the year.

 

[derekjsmith]

Hi Everybody,

My wife and I received our Nissan Leaf at the end of September and love it! We are getting our Blink installed next Friday by the EV Project...can't wait!

I've been researching where I can charge up and thinking about where my wife and I travel. One of the main places I think everyone goes is Costco...and a trip can take up to two hours (on a Saturday and if your wife is really in the mood for shopping).

I sent a request into their website asking if they have any plans for EV charging stations. Here was their response:

"We appreciate you taking the time to email Costco Wholesale.
We do not presently have plans to install EV charging stations.
This decision was primarily made because of the non use of the Electric Charging Stations a few years back. Coupled with the fact that sales of the electric car are currently minimal compared to the sales of the traditional gas cars. Once this trend shifts, we will reconsider this decision.
Your feedback has been forwarded to the Executives for their review. Thank you for taking the time to share your comments with us.
Please let us know if there is anything else we may assist you with.

Thank you,

Toby
Costco Wholesale Corporation"

:idea: If you agree that Costco is the right place to have EVSEs, please canvas their Contact Us page with requests and show them that there are more of us out here than just a handful. Maybe we can even sponsor an event at their Issaquah Costco to show their corporate heads the importance of changing over to electricity.

Thanks...

Let Costco know you are going to Fred Meyer instead because they do have charging stations, we did.

 

[QueenBee]

Let Costco know you are going to Fred Meyer instead because they do have charging stations, we did.

You may have let them know that but are you really shopping at Fred Meyer because Costco doesn't have them?

 

[Packet]

Let Costco know you are going to Fred Meyer instead because they do have charging stations, we did.

You may have let them know that but are you really shopping at Fred Meyer because Costco doesn't have them?

I'm shopping at Fred Meyer instead of QFC, at least. And I'm far from the only one! (Never mind that they're owned by the same company... it's still a gesture that the Fred Meyer folks have noticed.)

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

Just another heads up about the National Plug-In Day event here in Seattle tomorrow/Sunday:
http://www.pluginamerica.org/pluginday/seattle

"Sunday, October 16 from noon until 3pm.

Where

The North parking lot of Luther Burbank Park on Mercer Island. There will be some speakers at 1pm in the adjacent amphitheater, and most of the cars will be parked along the walking path in the adjacent meadow."

 

[derekjsmith]

Let Costco know you are going to Fred Meyer instead because they do have charging stations, we did.

You may have let them know that but are you really shopping at Fred Meyer because Costco doesn't have them?

Yes we let our Costco card lapse.

 

[IBELEAF]

Any pics from the event?

 

[highcountryrider]

Here are some.

And more.

 

[Boomer23]

Very cool pics, and VERY PNW! Way to go, folks!

 

[badcommand]

When is the next PNW meet up? We pick up our Black SL on Saturday and would love to attend!

 

[Drivesolo]

I'm down for a meet. (as long as it's w/in my range )

May I suggest the 2nd floor of the parking garage at the Landing in Renton? Four Blink L2 charging stations, shielded from the weather, lots of choices of places to eat and easy access to I-405.

 

[saywatt]

Another choice would be the XXX burger in Issaquah. It has an American Grafetti theme and they host ICE events there all the time. It's about time to show EV's to the masses.

If not a good choice for Southenders, I'm game for anywhere within range.

Another idea I have is to invite AAA's roving EV charger for a demo. Seattle area is supposed to have one but I've heard nothing about it. Was it at the Mercer National Plug- in event??.

 

[FairwoodRed]

I didn't see the AAA charger truck at the plugin day event. Sure would like to see it though.

I'm game for a meet up. Just post the details here as I'm not on facebook.

 

[badcommand]

We were able to get an orphan last week but we still have our 2012 Black SL on order. It's slated to come in next month. If anyone would like to guarantee the tax breaks for this year please call Tony at Nissan of Fife. Let him know that you would like to take ownership of Stacia and Max's car.

 

[badcommand]

Has anyone worked with Prime electric for their charging station install? They first estimated the work would be $350, then when they came out to do the install we were told that they had "forgot" to run the work by an electrician so the new bill would be $2200. Can someone recommend another company to do the install?

 

[Packet]

I had McKinstry do my actual install, and they handled it without surprises. I've got a Prime guy here right now working on the EVSE because the Blink is on the blink, but...

 

[QueenBee]

Concurrent discussions on Facebook and MNL are fun

 

[saywatt]

Has anyone worked with Prime electric for their charging station install? They first estimated the work would be $350, then when they came out to do the install we were told that they had "forgot" to run the work by an electrician so the new bill would be $2200. Can someone recommend another company to do the install?

Yes, I worked with Prime Electric for the install on our EVSE. It was an Ecotality install but I wanted to have the EVSE located on the other side of the garage from the service box. When I asked their estimator what it would cost me, I was given an estimate of $150 - $200. The guys they sent did a great job with the install. One guy installed the EVSE and the other guy ran the cable through the attic to the location I requested - took 2 guys about an hour. The problem was when I was billed for my part. The $200 estimate went to over $700 and according to Prime, it took 5 hrs to install. I went back and forth with them over the bill and to make along story shorter, ended up writing a check for what I thought it should have been and mailed it with a detailed explanation. They cashed my check so I consider the case closed.

I think they may have been low bidder on the Ecotality project and may be trying to make up for it by using this tactic. It is too bad this happened - I used to work with Prime on commercial jobs in the past and they always seemed to be a good company to work with.