ALF
Well-known member
I've only had my LEAF for a few weeks, and I have learned a great deal from reading through this discussion Forum. Still, we made some mistakes and near-mistakes when purchasing a charging station; mistakes that would have been easily avoided if we had known more going into the process:
- If we had solely listened to our dealer, we would have purchased an AeroVironment Level 2 charging station at a premium price, and then overpaid for them to install it. Even if we had decided to buy the AV "DIY" model that plugs into a 240v outlet, we still would have paid several hundred dollars more than the cost of the same unit elsewhere.
- There are a number of choices of fairly similar Level 2 chargers available from places like Amazon, Lowes and Home Depot. Although they have various features that distinguish them from each other, the main differences are simply if the station needs to hard-wired versus plugged in, and if the station is capable of delivering 16 amps versus 30 amps. The LEAF's onboard charger can only draw 16 amps, so any station that can deliver more than that is overkill. Still, if you are committed to electric vehicles, it might make sense to get a 30-amp station that will have the ability to deliver a faster charge to future vehicles that will be able to accept that much current. 16 amp stations are only slightly cheaper, so it would seem that the best reason to get one of these would be if you have limited current available at the installation point. We ended up with a Schneider EVLink EV2430WS 30-amp station that is small, simple to operate, and took our electrician less than a half-hour to install. At $800, this unit was about half the price of the AV station for sale at my dealer.
- I had already ordered my charging station and scheduled the installation before I figured out that there might be a possibility for a free station from EcoTotality's Blink Network. Various threads on this forum refer to this possibility, but most of them were old, leading me to think that this only happened for the earliest adopters. The Blink Network website is only slightly helpful in this regard, but I did join the network (if nothing else to use their charging network) and inquired about whether or not I qualified for a free charger. It turns out that I might, and I would have definitely continued sending them the documentation they require if I had not already bought a charging station. I would probably have saved money, even though it would probably have cost me substantially more to have them install the station than the $75 my electrician cost.
- There are numerous threads on this forum about having the Nissan EVSE Level 1 "trickle charger" upgraded so that it can deliver Level 2 16-amps @ 240v to the LEAF charger. If I was going to use this unit as my sole charging option, I wouldn't even hesitate, as, at about $300, this is by far the lowest-cost choice. I decided however, that it was getting tedious to unpack/uncoil/plug and unplug/coil/pack the Nissan EVSE every day. Now that my Level 2 station is up and running in my garage, I will keep my Nissan Level 1 unit in the car for emergencies. If I do find that there are 240v sources out there for me to use, then I will upgrade the Nissan EVSE to Level 2.
- If we had solely listened to our dealer, we would have purchased an AeroVironment Level 2 charging station at a premium price, and then overpaid for them to install it. Even if we had decided to buy the AV "DIY" model that plugs into a 240v outlet, we still would have paid several hundred dollars more than the cost of the same unit elsewhere.
- There are a number of choices of fairly similar Level 2 chargers available from places like Amazon, Lowes and Home Depot. Although they have various features that distinguish them from each other, the main differences are simply if the station needs to hard-wired versus plugged in, and if the station is capable of delivering 16 amps versus 30 amps. The LEAF's onboard charger can only draw 16 amps, so any station that can deliver more than that is overkill. Still, if you are committed to electric vehicles, it might make sense to get a 30-amp station that will have the ability to deliver a faster charge to future vehicles that will be able to accept that much current. 16 amp stations are only slightly cheaper, so it would seem that the best reason to get one of these would be if you have limited current available at the installation point. We ended up with a Schneider EVLink EV2430WS 30-amp station that is small, simple to operate, and took our electrician less than a half-hour to install. At $800, this unit was about half the price of the AV station for sale at my dealer.
- I had already ordered my charging station and scheduled the installation before I figured out that there might be a possibility for a free station from EcoTotality's Blink Network. Various threads on this forum refer to this possibility, but most of them were old, leading me to think that this only happened for the earliest adopters. The Blink Network website is only slightly helpful in this regard, but I did join the network (if nothing else to use their charging network) and inquired about whether or not I qualified for a free charger. It turns out that I might, and I would have definitely continued sending them the documentation they require if I had not already bought a charging station. I would probably have saved money, even though it would probably have cost me substantially more to have them install the station than the $75 my electrician cost.
- There are numerous threads on this forum about having the Nissan EVSE Level 1 "trickle charger" upgraded so that it can deliver Level 2 16-amps @ 240v to the LEAF charger. If I was going to use this unit as my sole charging option, I wouldn't even hesitate, as, at about $300, this is by far the lowest-cost choice. I decided however, that it was getting tedious to unpack/uncoil/plug and unplug/coil/pack the Nissan EVSE every day. Now that my Level 2 station is up and running in my garage, I will keep my Nissan Level 1 unit in the car for emergencies. If I do find that there are 240v sources out there for me to use, then I will upgrade the Nissan EVSE to Level 2.