West Coast Electric Highway - 2018 Leaf incompatibility

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Astros

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 11, 2017
Messages
186
Location
Seattle, WA
Those of us who live in Oregon and Washington and bought a 2018 Leaf have probably discovered by now that most of the public fast charging infrastructure is incompatible with the new Leaf. The problem appears to be confined to AeroVironment chargers that have had their charging connectors replaced in the last couple years, but unfortunately that's most of the West Coast Electric Highway system. Neither AeroVironment or Nissan have released a list of the chargers that will work with the new Leaf, but someone on the Seattle Leaf facebook group has started compiling a map of working chargers (reposted by permission):

Because of the AV fast charging problems with the 2018 Leaf, I've made a Google map of West Coast Electric Highway chargers that are known to work with the new Leaf, and those that are known to not work. Sadly, most don't work! There are still many chargers that are unknown, so please check in on PlugShare if you try to use a charger, and feel free to update this map (or post here) with any new information. Thanks!

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=13ULeC8fCVvCXn5btWTDIxsu2295n8NoJ&hl=en&usp=sharing
 
The ChaDeMo standard has been around for what, 10 years? And still a major EV manufacturer and EVSE provider can't get their products to work together. Pathetic.
 
Yes, the Aerovironment CHAdeMO DC compatibility problem has been discussed a bunch on the Seattle Leaf FB group. And, there are these threads:
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=25351
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=25372
 
AV's charging network has been sold but essentially had an absentee owner for years. They did send people out to fix stations when they broke but their pace of "innovation" was super slow. The original stations had handles that customers simply could not figure out how to use properly so they failed.... A LOT. It took 2+ years before AV decided it would be easier to use the same handles most other DCFCs used for familiarity over sending techs to the same locations 2-4 times PER MONTH.

I was one of the first to report to AV about the incompatibilities and ran into an AV who was checking out the situation. He was unable to speak freely but implied they found the issue quickly and told Nissan and are now waiting for Nissan to act. This issue was also further complicated by the fact that Nissan did not comply with AV's request to receive a 2018 for testing.

But the fact remains that a half dozen or so AV stations do work with the 2018 so why can't AV simply make the other ones work? This question is not as easy as one thinks in the light of the fact that the 2018 has other stations it is not compatible with including level 2 stations which is simply inexcusable.

At this point, we can only hope the new owners take charge (pun intended) of the situation and get us back online.
 
Yes, I understand this issue is far from new, but I think it gets much less attention than it deserves! I bought my 2018 Leaf at the end of April when the problem was already known, but only became aware of it later when I saw a passing reference to it in another comment on this forum. I found this map to be a very useful visualization of the problem, and good for planning our longer trips. The Leaf is our only car and we travel from Seattle to various parts of Oregon quite frequently, but now it looks like those trips will require *more* planning than they did with our 30kWh Leaf!

In any case, I have also contact the just bought AeroVironment's chargers, Webasto, and hopefully they will have a more informative reply than Nissan or AeroVironment has made so far.
 
*UPDATE* AeroVironment has started upgrading the chargers, and they say they will finish upgrading every OSDOT and WSDOT charger by the end of July.
 
Curious if the update is firmware, hardware, or both. It sounds like it is some sort of failing in communication, just two wrong assumptions. And AV is being proactive versus Nissan and making it compatible. I would guess firmware update but why can't that just be pushed OTA to all the stations?

Hopefully Nissan, moving at their usual glacial pace, doesn't also come out with a "fix" a year from now that breaks it again...
 
Isn't it awesome how cool new owners are! Within weeks of taking over they already have a fix and have taken care of all the Chargers in my area. Now let's get central Washington and Highway 2 squared away and we are set for the summer!
 
2k1Toaster said:
Curious if the update is firmware, hardware, or both. It sounds like it is some sort of failing in communication, just two wrong assumptions. And AV is being proactive versus Nissan and making it compatible. I would guess firmware update but why can't that just be pushed OTA to all the stations?

Hopefully Nissan, moving at their usual glacial pace, doesn't also come out with a "fix" a year from now that breaks it again...

Hardware. If I had to "guess" I would say they changed the value of a component involved in determining the presence of the car when plugged in...

But its just a "guess"

I can confirm Tumwater is now fixed.
 
As of this week, all of the AV-now-Webasto DC fast chargers in Oregon and Washington have been upgraded and are compatible with the 2018 Leaf.
From a Webasto technician:
Hello Nissan Leaf 2018 drivers,

Thanks again as we continue our upgrades in regards to the Nissan Leaf 2018 occurrences of incompatibility. We are happy to inform you that we have completed our upgrades. We appreciate all your patience and understanding. Enjoy your travels and please notify other Nissan Leaf 2018 drivers.
 
Now I can do a 900 mile trip!

http://daveinolywa.blogspot.com/2018/07/webasto-and-oregon-coast-or-i-fought.html

http://daveinolywa.blogspot.com/2018/06/changing-of-guard-webasto-road-trip.html
 
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