TomHuffman
Active member
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2013
- Messages
- 40
I recently damaged my EVSE, so while I waited for a new Clipper Creek LCS-25P to arrive I needed a charge. So I thought I would go to my local Nissan dealer from whom I had leased my 2013 Leaf.
When I arrived I noticed that the pavement next to the two level-2 chargers was painted with white stripes, which usually means no parking. However, I pulled in at an angle next to one of the chargers. I immediately noticed that the chargers were not active. When I inquired about this I was told that they have to be turned on from a switch inside the service bay. They turned them on for me, but the service tech wanted to re-park my car. He parked it lengthways so that my car blocked both chargers. As long as I was there, no one else would be able to charge at the other unoccupied charger.
I asked the service tech if the chargers were only available during business hours. I asked because they had to be turned on from the inside. He asked me to wait a minute while he went to confer with the service manager. When he returned he first asked me if I had obtained my Leaf from them. I said I had. He replied that in that case if I were to call ahead they would leave the chargers turned on for me for after hours access and assess me a fee of $5 an hour to charge. I did a quick calculation and realized that this would be roughly equivalent to buying gas at $5 a gallon.
Forgetting for a moment the cars themselves, this is why Tesla is doing so well selling an electric car to a much, much smaller potential customer base. Tesla is invested in the success of electric cars. The mainstream car companies--at least at the dealer level--are just not. My dealer has chargers for the Leaf but they have done just about everything possible to make using those chargers extremely difficult and/or impractical for the consumer.
As a footnote, the Clipper Creek LCS-25P EVSE is a great buy. For $485 you get a 4.8 kW EVSE that, although theoretically slower than the 6.6kW the Leaf is capable of--gave me a full charge from a 220v 30-amp L6-30 outlet in about 4 hours. It just plugs into an electrical outlet so requires no fancy installation. I have a EVSE Upgrade Panasonic unit that performs about the same. I shipped the latter unit back to the EVSE Upgrade folks for repair. Helpful hint: Avoid dropping your EVSE on a concrete garage floor.
When I arrived I noticed that the pavement next to the two level-2 chargers was painted with white stripes, which usually means no parking. However, I pulled in at an angle next to one of the chargers. I immediately noticed that the chargers were not active. When I inquired about this I was told that they have to be turned on from a switch inside the service bay. They turned them on for me, but the service tech wanted to re-park my car. He parked it lengthways so that my car blocked both chargers. As long as I was there, no one else would be able to charge at the other unoccupied charger.
I asked the service tech if the chargers were only available during business hours. I asked because they had to be turned on from the inside. He asked me to wait a minute while he went to confer with the service manager. When he returned he first asked me if I had obtained my Leaf from them. I said I had. He replied that in that case if I were to call ahead they would leave the chargers turned on for me for after hours access and assess me a fee of $5 an hour to charge. I did a quick calculation and realized that this would be roughly equivalent to buying gas at $5 a gallon.
Forgetting for a moment the cars themselves, this is why Tesla is doing so well selling an electric car to a much, much smaller potential customer base. Tesla is invested in the success of electric cars. The mainstream car companies--at least at the dealer level--are just not. My dealer has chargers for the Leaf but they have done just about everything possible to make using those chargers extremely difficult and/or impractical for the consumer.
As a footnote, the Clipper Creek LCS-25P EVSE is a great buy. For $485 you get a 4.8 kW EVSE that, although theoretically slower than the 6.6kW the Leaf is capable of--gave me a full charge from a 220v 30-amp L6-30 outlet in about 4 hours. It just plugs into an electrical outlet so requires no fancy installation. I have a EVSE Upgrade Panasonic unit that performs about the same. I shipped the latter unit back to the EVSE Upgrade folks for repair. Helpful hint: Avoid dropping your EVSE on a concrete garage floor.
