Spoke with supervisor at Nissan EVs today

[Boomer23]

Nothing really new to report, but I know how starved we all are for anything new to discuss.

I was in touch with Nissan to clear up the matter of my accidentally having reserved two Leafs due to early issues with AmEx cards on the web site. I was unaware of the double booking and had certainly not done so intentionally, so we easily resolved the issue and I am left with one reservation, showing my April 20 booking. At least in my case, they were clearly checking their records to prevent double bookings, which should reassure most of you, at least, and worry a few of you (joke).

I asked her when we will receive the next email about contacting Aerovironment to book an appointment for a visit. She said that those emails are being prepared now and we'll get them in the next few weeks, before June 30. I know, nothing new here, as I said at the top, but reassuring to hear something,

I asked her about dates in August when we will be directed to begin working with dealers on the purchase process, since I'll be traveling in early August. She said that I was well informed, that her group hasn't been given any date information for August, but that I should be fine if I stay in touch by email as I travel. Again, nothing new here.

Lastly, I asked her for information about how the prioritization will be handled in California, that is, San Diego vs everywhere else in California. Any guesses? Correct! She has no information about that.

Okay, that's my report. If any of you have nothing new to report, please post here.

 

[planet4ever]

Lastly, I asked her for information about how the prioritization will be handled in California, that is, San Diego vs everywhere else in California.
Any guesses?
Correct! She has no information about that.

Okay, that's my report. If any of you have nothing new to report, please post here.

Well, I have nothing new to report, so here I am. :mrgreen:

But you put your finger on a point that has been bothering me. The Nissan open reservation announcement said:

The Nissan LEAF begins rolling out to select markets in December, with increased availability beginning in spring 2011, and full market rollout in 2012. Consumers who have made reservations will be sequenced in order for their particular market.

So what is the definition of "market"? I live 70 miles south of San Francisco. Am I in a San Francisco market? or a Bay Area market? or a San Jose market? or an "Other California" market? And of course even the answer to that is not of any value without knowing the rollout dates of the various markets. I know I got my reservation in pretty quickly on Apr 20, so I should have a good position within my market. But what's the market?

 

[Jimmydreams]

So what is the definition of "market"? I live 70 miles south of San Francisco. Am I in a San Francisco market? or a Bay Area market? or a San Jose market? or an "Other California" market? And of course even the answer to that is not of any value without knowing the rollout dates of the various markets. I know I got my reservation in pretty quickly on Apr 20, so I should have a good position within my market. But what's the market?

I interpret that to mean the entire US market...no target cities, no more phased roll-out....any Nissan anywhere in the US can order one.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

considering the restriction "only one reservation per address allowed" i would have to think they would have simply ignored the duplicate request. now would that of meant that you would have a $200 deposit applied or what, i dont know.

i guess, if orders are prioritized by the sequence in which we registered, then i would have to guess some would have issues with the orginal registration process. since i sat at home waiting for my email which arrived 5 minutes before the END of the original registration time period.

now, how i rank with others in my area, i dont know. i do know from facebook that many in other areas were getting their registrations 2-4 hours before me.

 

[Boomer23]

Regarding our "position in line" being somewhat affected by the time and date when we registered, I've been told several times by supervisors at Nissan EVs that it doesn't work that way. The supervisor yesterday reiterated that point. If we were in the first group, April 20 through mid-May (I forget the date), we are supposed to be considered equally and the rollout is not governed by a place in line related to the registration time and date. She even pointed out that the reservation numbers are not sequential, and in fact some begin with a letter, others with a number. So I have to assume that the rollout sequence will be governed by other factors, known only to Nissan.

That's the sum total of my knowledge on that point, so consider this information as you will, I know as much as y'all do.

 

[palmermd]

So I have to assume that the rollout sequence will be governed by other factors, known only to Nissan.
That's the sum total of my knowledge on that point, so consider this information as you will, I know as much as y'all do.

my reservation number starts with 7, so I believe that means I'm going to get the 7th car off the line. HaHa. Its true that it is hard to know what to believe. I'm not sure that Nissan has completely finalized their design on the roll-out. What I was told at the Nissan tour with the ToC, was that the reservation number we have is a reservation for a reservation. The original number does not mean very much, but they do have some record of order. At a minimum, based on the leaf reservation site they know what day I placed the reservation. What he told me was that in July or August we would be given the opportunity to finalize our options choices and put down a larger refundable deposit. We will have a chance to drive the cars after this larger deposit is placed. Since the deposit is still refundable this should not be a problem, but the larger deposit will signify a stronger commitment to purchase. At the time of the larger deposit we will be given reservation numbers that are meaningful for delivery dates. We will get the delivery dates at a later time, but the numbers will be in an order that they can sort based on whatever criteria they like (nationwide, state, region, city, dealership...whatever).

There's my input the the non-informative and un-reliable rumors. I'm not sure if I believe what I was told, but at this point all we have to go on is a bunch of separate discussions with people who are guessing at how this is all going to work. I hope we know more reliable information in the next month when we receive the next "release" of information.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

as long as i take delivery by Dec 31st, i really dont care. i was first in WA to get 2010 Prius, so have probably used up all my early delivery luck.

i need the sales tax waiver that WA State is giving for the purchase. that is more than $2500, not a minor chunk of change.

another thing to look at is that the initial registration was not restricted by geography, but initial launch is. so people not in the stated areas would have to either buy from the area and truck it home or wait until later when it is available in the area. so even for them, being pre-registered would still be an advantage. i am guessing an extended waiting list for the Leaf will last at least a few years not unlike the Prius gen 2 launch. i waited 6½ months for my first one. would have waited 6-8 weeks for my 2nd one 30 months later had not someone dropped out at the last minute reducing my wait time to 3½ weeks.

 

[cinmar]

I also need my Leaf by December's end to benefit from tax breaks.

Has anyone tried to crack the code of their reservation number? Mine is the number 9, letter C, then 6 numbers. I'm wondering if the "C" represents California. 9 is the last digit in my area code, but it could mean nothing. The other numbers don't really mean anything to me....maybe coded based on region in California, then number in line? Hmmm...

 

[rokibler]

Has anyone tried to crack the code of their reservation number? Mine is the number 9, letter C, then 6 numbers. I'm wondering if the "C" represents California. 9 is the last digit in my area code, but it could mean nothing. The other numbers don't really mean anything to me....maybe coded based on region in California, then number in line? Hmmm...

Based on the fact that my reservation number contains the letters BDD and yours has a C, I suspect the reservation number is actually a hexadecimal number.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

LOL!!! omg, i should be getting mine in about 30 years?? my "hex" number converts to 23 Billion decimal... hopefully its a series of numbers put together.

i suggested at PC that we post our reservation #'s in hopes of discerning some sort of pattern based on time registered, geography, etc. most there felt it posting credit card #'s was safer.

 

[cinmar]

A hexi whatee? Just kidding, I can google. My number is a gazillion. Hopefully it doesn't mean I have to wait forever. I reserved on 4/20 just within 3 hours of the first e-mail going out, which I received at 2:27pm PST.

 

[johnr]

My reservation code is six numbers followed by the letter C and the number zero at the end.
I'm in California which is one of the initial markets so I'll get the car in December, but I'm not in one of the "EV Project" cities so I won't get a free charger.

 

[garygid]

It is not clear that anybody outside the EVProject areas will get a car in 2010.

 

[cinmar]

It is not clear that anybody outside the EVProject areas will get a car in 2010.

That was exactly my thought. How do we know? I would think if the DOE is investing $$ into infrastructure in San Diego, they're going to "encourage" Nissan to get the cars out to those in San Diego first.

But, maybe Nissan has other ideas. Maybe they want the exposure of Leafs driving all over the state to help with marketing. Word of mouth and neighbor envy is a pretty powerful marketing tool, especially for those people who won't take the step to reserve until they actually see a *real* :roll: electric car driving around their neighborhood.

 

[johnr]

Those in the "initial markets" will get a car in December, as long as they don't run out of course...and the entire state of California is actually one of those initial markets. Let's not confuse the "initial markets" with the "EV Project cities" as they're two entirely different things. It was confusing to me at first, too, so I had chatted with a Nissan Leaf rep to confirm, and I asked the local dealer as well. They both confirmed that the entire state of California is one of the initial markets where the Leaf will be available statewide this December, so I'm confident I'll get a car in 2010.

 

[evnow]

There was quite a bit of discussion on what reservation numbers mean when reservations started - there is just no pattern. The reservation codes seem to be just random characters.

This doesn't mean internally some sequence is not stored (infact most databases would use a sequence as the key).

 

[planet4ever]

There was quite a bit of discussion on what reservation numbers mean when reservations started - there is just no pattern. The reservation codes seem to be just random characters.

This doesn't mean internally some sequence is not stored (infact most databases would use a sequence as the key).

They aren't just random characters. Everybody has 8 characters and they are all either digits or the letters A through F, and the digit vs. letter positions vary. To anyone with programming experience that means they are clearly a 32-bit field expressed in hexadecimal. Because of the huge range of values if converted to decimal, they can't be a simple sequence number. And they don't work out as the internal stored format of a date/time stamp, either. I think the inescapable conclusion in that they are multiple values packed together in a single computer word.

My guess is that there is a 16-bit unique identifier in there somewhere, probably a sequence number, and 16 bits of flags and codes that represent information you gave them, such as location, miles you drive, etc. Depending on computer architecture, the 16-bit sequence (if that's what it is) could be byte reversed. I think there are too many combinations to try to guess where it is.

Besides, we should have some really meaningful information from Nissan by the end of the month.