SF BayLEAFs - e-NV200 Ride & Drives and Showcase May 28

[grommet]

My plans deviated, and I'll likely need to leave (Leaf?) #5 early... but I'll be appearing, at least to buy/pickup the group buy sun shade I promised to pickup.

 

[Turbo3]

For those needing a charge there are two EV charging posts (120v) at my old office building across the street from the "Fitness Center" (as marked on the HP campus map) on Tantau. This is the Panasonic building with one charging post in the front left side of main entrance and one on the north side in the back near the building transformer.

Last time I checked the one in the front was not active but the one in the back worked fine. If you have a Quick 240v setup you can even plug into two outlets and get a 240v charge using it and Phil's upgraded charger. I have not tried it but I did measure 240vac between two outlets in the back charging post which has four breakers.

 

[gascant]

Thanks to all who attended and made the meeting a success. Minutes and more photos from today's meeting to follow once I get some emails from members--we are grateful to Ron and H-P for hosting us today.
Official Attendance was 57 (and maybe a few that did not sign in)
Unofficial LEAF count 36, 3 RAV4 EV and 1 Corbin Sparrow

First ever group photo and highest attendance ever.

 

[waidy]

Thanks so much for organizing the meets. Learn a lot today!

 

[RickJ]

thanks much for a great meeting....
.
some photos are at http://www.nissanleaf.shutterfly.com
.
RickJ

 

[gasmiser1]

Excellent turn-out at the meeting. I heard there were 44 Leafs counted by another member :mrgreen:

Thanks for organizing it

I look forward to the next one!

 

[gascant]

Official Minutes from Gathering #5 as compiled by linkim with thanks.
Thanks, again, to Ron from H-P (and EAA, PIA) for arranging the meeting venue--it was spacious and comfortable with great parking and charging for 6 or more. We'll look to go back at our next South Bay Gathering.

Another successful meeting with 44 LEAFs + 3 RAV4 EV and 1 Corbin Sparrow in attendance. This represents the largest gathering of LEAFs at any of the 5 SF BayLEAFs meetings. The main focus of the meeting was centered on discussion of the car. Many of the topics have been discussed extensively on MNL, but there were many news owners attending so it is helpful for their benefit. There was a good cross section of attendees, some of which have many months experience with their LEAFs and about 10-12 who have had theirs for less than 2 weeks.

Here are brief summaries of the discussion topics:
Charging/Infrastructure:
CA Senate bill 209 –affects condo/apartment residents who have difficulty with installing charging stations. EV advocates should support the bill. PIA has link that automatically generates a letter to your state legislator.
Costco (Almaden, San Jose) is planning to install chargers this fall. To enhance the installation of chargers at Costco and Whole Foods, we should put comments in their respective suggestion boxes advocating for their participation in charger installations. Also, letters to the editor at Costco encouraging tthat they install chargers is helpful.
BayLeaf members have a private charging network in its early stages. PM gascant if you would like to be on it.
Clipper Creek has state funding to convert old charging docks (e.g., SPI) to J1772.
Brief discussion on availability or lack thereof L3 chargers, Japanese CHAdeMO and SAE standard in the future – Mitsubishi may have a L3 installed in southern California, but nothing working so far in northern California
Adapters for EVSE is a popular topic-ElectricVehicle showed his J1772-(14-50) box, extension cord with male and female L6-20 connectors are available for use with Ingineer’s modified EVSE

Electricity Usage:
Gascant discussed his experience with changing from PGE’s E-1 rate to E-9A. With a commute of about 60 miles/day, his analysis suggested a driving cost of about 2.76 cents/mile with the LEAF, compared to 8 cents/mile with his Prius. Orient Express who converted from E-1 to E-9A reported a 15% savings in his total electricity cost.

Leaf Accessories/Modifications:
Gasmiser1 discussed his efforts with the LEAF involving modifications and accessories:
- key fob cover
- headrest (moving not modifying)
- horn (swapped out for FIAMM El Grande--$17)
- added seat covers -FH seat covers ($75) for the front, rear seats and head rests ([email protected])
- car cover ($60) with lock
- shorter antenna (3 inch) from PEPBOYS (easier to use car cover)
- lock for EVSE
- floor mats from COSTCO

OrientExpress discussed his replacement of lights in the LEAF with LEDs from SuperbrightLEDs (http://www.Superbrightleds.com); he had list from the company of available LEDs for the LEAF

Public Charging Stations:
CPUC regulations requires that the charge for electricity cannot exceed the prevailing rate, otherwise the supplier will be regulated like a utility. However, charging stations may be exempt from this regulation. Sites that charge excessive fees for charging will ultimately lose out as the charging infrastructure builds out.
What is the cost of a public charging station? If parking space is required, it costs about $15K-20K, which must be added to actual cost of the charger itself.
Estimated cost for L3 charger from Nissan is about $17K for Nissan dealers.

Energy Consumption:
Several opinions were expressed on how to have air circulation through the vent without AC or heating. One approach is to set the temperature low, 60F, with AC off, then adjust the fan setting.
Regenerative braking to charge the battery is one way of extending range, but what is the best way to capitalize on this opportunity? Is coasting or braking better? Both work, but may depend on the driving situation. This is discussed on the MNL forum. Christopher gave an example of cruising South on Hwy 17 from the Summit to Santa Cruz, saying that he was able to get regen nearly all the way and grow SOC bars.

State-of-Charge (SOC):
LEAF owners in southern California have progressed with developing SOC meters that will display digital results to replace the analog bars. Ingineer is also working on a SOC meter.
Several BayLeafers volunteered to set up a separate group (for example, Yahoo Group) to monitor the SOC meter development, and to consider using the information to build the meters or make group purchase, if the meters are available.

Horn Upgrade Installation:
The final event was the installation of new horns (FIAMM El Grande) in a LEAF. Gascant installed the horn in his LEAF with the guidance of OrientExpress and the kibitzing of a large group of interested bystanders. With all this attention, he completed the task in about 30 minutes, working from the top down without dropping a bolt or clip fastener. The new horn is a big improvement over the stock one. Please see the separate thread started by Orient Express. We decided that we will conduct a "horn clinic" at every LEAF gathering given the ease with which it can be upgraded.
Gathering #6 will take place August 13th on the Peninsula at a place to be determined--suggestions are welcomed. Please see RickJ's posted site for some candid photos of the gathering, http://www.nissanleaf.shutterfly.com

A record-setting group of attendees for Gathering #5 in Cupertino

 

[waidy]

Great report! thank you.

Did I miss-read or was it a mistype: "Gathering #6 will take place July 13th on the Peninsula at a place to be determined--suggestions are welcomed."

July 13? I guess everyone must like LEAF-gathering..

 

[gasmiser1]

Actually, next meeting is Aug 13 (not July 13)

 

[gascant]

Actually, next meeting is Aug 13 (not July 13)

Yep--fixed in the summary, above. Only the Southern California bunch is enthusiastic enough to meet more than once a month.

 

[TEG]

I had to leave a bit early, so I missed the horn install and group photo, but here was a parting photo of the parking lot:

Seems I was the only black one there.. (And no Gudy...)

Also, there were more Leafs parked around the corner at the charging area.

 

[Boomer23]

Official Minutes from Gathering #5 as compiled by linkim with thanks.

Sounds like a great gathering. The turnout and the slide show information shared are impressive. You guys really have a great organization going. Thanks for sharing your progress and pictures.

 

[Lee]

Official Minutes from Gathering #5 as compiled by linkim with thanks.
Thanks, again, to Ron from H-P (and EAA, PIA) for arranging the meeting venue--it was spacious and comfortable with great parking and charging for 6 or more. We'll look to go back at our next South Bay Gathering.

Thanks so much to you and Ron for organizing this meeting. Good group, good pictures, and very informative. I learned a lot and look forward to August 13.

 

[gascant]

Official LEAF participation count just went to 45--Turbo3 informed me that one attendee left his at the closest Nissan Dealer for a charge during the counting.

Thanks to all who are posting pics. If you email some to me, I will make a slide show that we can run on the projector while we assemble for future gatherings.

 

[surfingslovak]

Great event, thank you for organizing it. I look forward to the next gathering. I believe that I was the last one to arrive and put a few impressions of the parking lot up on Picasa: https://picasaweb.google.com/surfingslovak/BayLEAFsJuly92011#slideshow/5627769889067342514

 

[GoingGreener]

Hi. I was one of the newbies at the July 9th gathering (yesterday) and joined the forum today. I just wanted to say "thanks" again to Gas Miser for letting me know about this meeting and the forum. Thanks also to everyone who made the meeting so successful and to the individuals who reached out to make me comfortable there. I'm bad at remembering names, but I do remember each of you and your kindness. Awesome group! Maybe I can get lucky with a Leaf in the near future and keep up w/y'all! Take care.
Oh, I got to watch "Who Killed the Electric Car" yesterday. Wow, I would have never thought, a documentary about cars can well up the eyes...

 

[JohnP]

Thanks to all who attended and made the meeting a success. Minutes and more photos from today's meeting to follow once I get some emails from members--we are grateful to Ron and H-P for hosting us today.
Official Attendance was 57 (and maybe a few that did not sign in)
Unofficial LEAF count 36, 3 RAV4 EV and 1 Corbin Sparrow

First ever group photo and highest attendance ever.

Great meeting. I learned a lot more about the car and met some really nice people who love the car. Thanks for organizing this and I look forward to many more meetings as we grow to over 100 participants. John

 

[Kataphn]

Actually, next meeting is Aug 13 (not July 13)

Yep--fixed in the summary, above. Only the Southern California bunch is enthusiastic enough to meet more than once a month.

So true, we just can't get enough of each other! Plus we like to eat! :lol:

 

[Kataphn]

Would love to see some pics from your next gathering of your personalized license plates!

 

[gascant]

Would love to see some pics from your next gathering of your personalized license plates!

Will make a note of it--for this meeting, well over half the LEAFs still had their dealership cardboard inserts in place.