New free eTEC charger survey?? (ECOtality for SF Bay Area)

[Ready2plugin]

Just got an email from Nissan on a separate account about the project coming to the Bay Area. Has anyone else gotten it? Seems odd to me that they are asking to call or use live chat.

I got it too. Just salt in the wounds for me.

 

[EVDRIVER]

Just got an email from Nissan on a separate account about the project coming to the Bay Area. Has anyone else gotten it? Seems odd to me that they are asking to call or use live chat.

I got it too. Just salt in the wounds for me.

I got it, it's a huge blunder. They send out an email about being able to qualify for a program with no link to the info or a survey. The email asked customers to call them and when I do they don't know what to do and have no info other than to wait and see if you get a link later (24rs to a week) So they load up their CS center with calls that can't be answered rather than send an email with a link or one that says to look for one coming. More brilliant communication and time wasted on both ends. :roll: :roll:

 

[Brian]

I got it, it's a huge blunder. They send out an email about being able to qualify for a program with no link to the info or a survey. The email asked customers to call them and when I do they don't know what to do and have no info other than to wait and see if you get a link later (24rs to a week) So they load up their CS center with calls that can't be answered rather than send an email with a link or one that says to look for one coming. More brilliant communication and time wasted on both ends. :roll: :roll:

Just called as well. On hold for 47 minutes. They said I shouldn't expect to see a survey link yet (though I guess some folks already have the eTec link?) and to look for a survey link in the next 24-48 hours. If it doesn't show up, then I should call them back.

 

[IBELEAF]

I already had someone contact me several times and ask me really obvious questions that should be all in my profile already. In any case, I am thinking if I do qualify would I be able to sell my AV charger...

 

[planet4ever]

I got it, it's a huge blunder. They send out an email about being able to qualify for a program with no link to the info or a survey. The email asked customers to call them and when I do they don't know what to do and have no info other than to wait and see if you get a link later (24rs to a week) So they load up their CS center with calls that can't be answered rather than send an email with a link or one that says to look for one coming. More brilliant communication and time wasted on both ends. :roll: :roll:

Just called as well. On hold for 47 minutes. They said I shouldn't expect to see a survey link yet (though I guess some folks already have the eTec link?) and to look for a survey link in the next 24-48 hours. If it doesn't show up, then I should call them back.

Well, it may be a blunder to load up the CS center (and I was on hold for quite a while), but the person I spoke to certainly led me to believe that he had scheduled a change to my dashboard. I got the same "24-48" spiel that Brian did. It sure would be nice to get rid of that "home assessment: quote pending" nag I've been staring at for the last six months.

Ray

 

[DaveNagy]

I believe to qualify for a free L2 charger and a free QC upgrade, your LEAF must have QC option installed so that you can take advantage of the 30 or so planned L3 chargers to be installed in the Bay Area. This is the reason why Zack is calling so that we qualify for the EV project. I said yes for the QC, so that would be a free upgrade if I qualify.

Well, I guess it makes perfect sense that one cannot qualify for a "free QC upgrade", unless you actually have one on your car. I'm just worried about whether the fact that I'm unable to take advantage of the free QC port also puts me out of the running for a free L2 charger. If so, that's kinda like adding insult to injury!

Even if I had been given the opportunity to accept a free L3 port, I would have likely never used it. So, they wouldn't gotten much useful data from me. Conversely, I would regularly use in-home L2 charging if they wanted to gimme one of those, so hopefully they'll still consider me for that part of their program.

BTW, I also got that email from Nissan about two hours ago.

 

[electriclarry]

Last week I got the call from Zack and at NO TIME did he mention if I bought the QC I would qualify for a free charger!!!
Today I did a text chat with Patrick of Nissan who said because I live in zip code 94015 I would NOT qualify for a free charger

What gives here?

 

[EVDRIVER]

CS, scheduling people for a survey, very funny. Script reading.

 

[trentr]

Today I did a text chat with Patrick of Nissan who said because I live in zip code 94015 I would NOT qualify for a free charger

I would call Ecotality directly, bypass Nissan for now. is Ecotality even done compiling all the Bay Area zipcodes that will qualify?

 

[planet4ever]

Last week I got the call from Zack and at NO TIME did he mention if I bought the QC I would qualify for a free charger!!! Today I did a text chat with Patrick of Nissan who said because I live in zip code 94015 I would NOT qualify for a free charger
What gives here?

HUH :?: Since when is Daly City, which shares a boundary with San Francisco, not part of the San Francisco Bay Area?

 

[ElectricVehicle]

I called both ECOTotality and Nissan yesterday. Apparently the EVProject is part of a DOE (Department Of Energy) program to collect data on EV charging. The goal of the program is apparently to understand EV charging and it's impacts better, so the primary goal of the program is to collect data on EV charging, not to get a free charger to everyone. That's also why the fast charge port matters so they can learn about fast charge usage. A secondary benefit and sub goal, as long as it is consistent and an efficient use of limited with the first goal, is to seed residential and public EV Charging. But there's not the funding for every EV owner over the coming year to get a free charger, so they have some hard decisions to make.

The program is very specific to Zip Code which is an easy way to specify the geographic area and the electric utility. The program is a cooperation of many stakeholders - DOE, our air quality board BAAQMD, the vehicle supplier Nissan, and probably others.

It's going to be hard to accept a few seemingly arbitrary conditions for the program - like one zip code is eligible and another isn't. I don't know if I'll be eligible or not. When I talked to ECOTotality, I learned that they had the program in the Los Angeles area, but Orange County wasn't eligible for the program, that may have been based on the electric utility. Obviously, EV buyers in Orange County were very disappointed about this.

Similar things may happen here, where some get it and some don't. I'm keeping an open mind in that this program is really to benefit the broad rollout of EVs, beyond initial early adopters, so I'm happy the program exists, regardless of whether I get a reduced or no cost level 2 EVSE. I'd actually like to self fund mine and participate in the study if they determine I'm not eligible because I want to contribute data to their study and the Blink charger is a pretty nice EVSE. Something worth closer to what you pay for it.

I don't see the same value for my money in the AV dumb EVSE product, especially since Smart Grid compatibility in the future has the promise of a more reliable electric gird, lower emissions and lower costs for the electricity we use in our EVs. Smart Grid can be a big win win for all parties if it rolls out with reasonable tariffs and costs. The AV or other dumb EVSE's can't do that. Though Nissan might partner later with utilities and allow that kind of Smart Grid interaction via CarWings using dumb EVSE.

I do look forward to more information in this thread!

 

[ElectricVehicle]

More on the Ecotality Blink EVSE: http://www.pluginamerica.org/accessories/ecotality-blink-evse
I called ECOTotality and found out the residential wallmount version can be purchased for $1195, exclusive of installation.

Some of the more interesting, select features:
Convenient, user-friendly touch screen display: Charge status, statistics, history
Programmable start/stop timing to use electric utility on/off peak time of use rates
Find charging stations away from home - Not part of the EVSE UI
Internal energy meter to monitor energy and demand usage
Supports energy usage data evaluation Supports electric utility EV billing when certified to ANSI 12.20 and IEC standards Tamper-evident seal placed in highly visible location

Nuisance-tripping avoidance and auto re-closure
Certified energy and demand metering, Wireless IEEE 802.11g, LAN capable, ZigBee SEP 1.0 capable, AMI interface capable
Web-based bi-directional data flow
Smart Phone Applications for status charges and notification of completion or interruption of charge
Controllable output to support utility demand response requests
Multiple input current settings to conveniently accommodate electric service capabilities
Communication systems, multiple modes of communications including wireless, cellular, LAN and Zigbee
Input Voltage: 208 VAC to 240 VAC +/- 10%
Input Current: 30 Amps (maximum); 12A, 16A, 24A available
Breaker Size: 40 Amps; settings at 15A/20A/30A available

 

[Ready2plugin]

I can no longer sign into my Dashboard, so I'm hoping that is a good sign that they maybe updating my account for the ECOtality program. One can dream can't they :?: .

 

[csriram45]

This price is awesome compared to the AV one I suppose. I will keep that discussion to the other forum though.

 

[DaveNagy]

Man, what a mess.

I just finished Live Chatting with "Jesse" at Nissan. First, he apologized about the email confusion, and told me to watch my dashboard for that survey. So nothing new, there.

Then I asked if my quick-charge-less car would disqualify me from participating in the free charge-dock half of the offer. He said yes. I was sad.

Then he said he could put through a request to change my order, even though my build had started. It would cost me some time, but they would endeavor to get my car back into the pipeline ASAP. Since I wasn't really expecting my car until Summer, and I just received an April delivery date this week, I said sure, go for it.

So that's where things stand right now. Kinda in limbo. And of course it sounds like I could be arbitrarily "denied" participation in this program anyway. At that point, I'll be fairly ticked off, since I'll have spent $700 and delayed my car, all for an L3 port I doubt I'll ever use.

Still hoping for the best, though.

 

[Spies]

This price is awesome compared to the AV one I suppose. I will keep that discussion to the other forum though.

You mean free right? Last time I checked the cash and carry price for the AV unit was $721.12 plus $49.95 shipping. ElectricVehicle mentioned the Blink one is $1195 and no mention of shipping. That is still a difference of $473.88 not including shipping and tax. Perhaps the extra features on the Blink are worth it?

 

[Long4Leaf]

Then he said he could put through a request to change my order, even though my build had started. It would cost me some time, but they would endeavor to get my car back into the pipeline ASAP. Since I wasn't really expecting my car until Summer, and I just received an April delivery date this week, I said sure, go for it.

.

I admire your courage. BTW, OT, has TRONZ found his car yet? :lol:

 

[linkim]

I received and email from Nissan regarding the EV Project, part of which said:

"Recently the Bay Area Air Quality Management District announced that it would participate with
ECOtality and the US Department of Energy (DOE) to bring The EV Project to the Bay Area.
As a result, you could qualify to receive a Blink™ Residential EV charging station (EVSE) and a credit
of up to $1,200 toward its installation. That also includes receiving a complimentary DC Fast Charge
port on your Nissan LEAF™.
But more importantly, the data collected from this project will foster the historic expansion of EV
infrastructure throughout the entire country — and you'll be helping.
As this is a limited-time offer, please call 877-NO-GAS-EV or join the Nissan LEAF™ live chat soon to
see how you can qualify."
===========================

It is interesting to me that I could receive a credit of $1200 _ complementary Fast Charge (I ordered one for my SL). I had AV do the home assessment and was planning to go ahead with the install (gave them CC number). However with the delay in delivery (now April), I have dragged my feet in moving ahead. Has anyone else received a similar email about the credit. From I have read, a free install has been mentioned but not the credit. I called Nissan phone and sent email to Nissan chat - phone call indicated someone should respond to me in 24 hrs. Still holding my breath.

 

[trentr]

The program is very specific to Zip Code which is an easy way to specify the geographic area and the electric utility. The program is a cooperation of many stakeholders - DOE, our air quality board BAAQMD, the vehicle supplier Nissan, and probably others.

If you have taken the survey from the dashboard, does that mean you are in the zip code that is considered in the program? It doesn't make sense to take the survey and find out that your zip code is not in the program, but who knows if this is another mistake in the system.

 

[EVDRIVER]

If anyone gets an update to this please let us know. I'm not holding my breath as well.