DFW Metroplex

adric22 said:

Couldn't they bake the paint at a lower temperature? For example, 110 degrees? After all, a Leaf here in Texas easily reaches this temperature (or more if sitting in the sun) during the Summer.

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Don't know. The one guy at Trophy Nissan says there's a sticker on the car (somewhere, I didn't press for more info) that says "NO BAKE", but that most people don't know about it or don't pay attention to it. But I have no clue where that sticker would be. I'll try to remember and ask them if I see the same guys when I go pick up my car.

adric22 said:

I had some PDR done to my leaf for hail damage a few months back. Obviously no need to bake. HOWEVER, I got a really nasty scratch on my passenger door recently that is going to require paint work. I haven't yet figured out where I'm going to take it. Do you think they'd normally bake a car just for painting a door?

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I had a (deep) scratch on my driver's door repaired @McKinney Nissan about a year ago and you (still) can't tell it ever happened. Sometimes that sort of work depends entirely on the quality/experience of the person doing it, so it might be worth checking out.

adric22 said:

Couldn't they bake the paint at a lower temperature? For example, 110 degrees? After all, a Leaf here in Texas easily reaches this temperature (or more if sitting in the sun) during the Summer.

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Adric22, I got an answer to your question. Yes, they can bake the car at a lower temp, because that's exactly what they did to mine. Despite my repeated requests to NOT BAKE the car, they did anyway, but they only baked it at 97 degrees. I had a conversation with the Trophy's Collision Center Manager today about this and he said that the 97 degree temp is way below Nissan's recommended temp for auto repairs on the LEAF.

Now here's what's interesting: When I talked to him on the phone, he said that below 120 degrees was Nissan's recommended temp, but then I asked him to put the details about the car baking in writing for me on the online auto repair log, and on THERE, he wrote below 150 degrees was the recommended temp. So now there's a question about what's the recommended temp for applying paint to Nissan LEAFs. However, since they only did 97 degrees, my car should be safe, but the discrepancy between what he said on the phone and what he wrote on the auto repair log has me wondering for any possible future issues in case I ever need to educate someone (like Nissan service techs) in the care of my car.

Thought I would give everyone an update on total EVSEs in the DFW area:

Locations: 149 (151) - two locations are repeated by multiple companies on the same lot: Irving Library has its own solar 120V system for EVs as well as Blink, Frank Kent Cadillac has a GE EVSE and ChargePoint ones.

Total "Plugs": 364 - 40 of these are Level 1's at the Irving library if you want to remove those out of the number.

That aside, we have more locations and more units than both Austin/San Antonio and Houston.

Added, there is probably (rought guess) 750 total plugs in Texas with maybe 300 locations (based on basic numbers from public EVSE suppliers).

Pipcecil said:

Thought I would give everyone an update on total EVSEs in the DFW area:

Locations: 149 (151) - two locations are repeated by multiple companies on the same lot: Irving Library has its own solar 120V system for EVs as well as Blink, Frank Kent Cadillac has a GE EVSE and ChargePoint ones.

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Unfortunately, still not enough. Pretty much anytime I've wanted a public charger the nearest one is usually 10 miles away.

By the way.. I happened to be looking at plugshare the other day and noticed something odd. There is a charging station in Burleson and it says it supports Tesla on it. Is that accurate?

There are (several) new GE WattStations installed at Dallas Cowboy's stadium. I would like to know:
1) How/when can we get access--and I mean when there's NOT football games.
2) Is there a charge/fee?

The picture I saw had SEVERAL EVSE's and they were close to the stadium, but what does that mean for baseball games (or anything else near that complex)? Any drive that you make out to Arlington (at least from the Dallas burbs) would require some measure of charging to get back home.

Final update on the body work from Trophy Nissan in Mesquite:

Overall, I'd say they did an excellent job. Very good communication via Matt Burkley (Collision Center Director), John Trent (Service Advisor) and their online Repair Tracking updates (can also generate automatic emails and texts when updated by the service staff). At this point, barring any unforeseen resulting battery issues, I would use them again for any body work requiring paint.

Here are before and after pictures of the affected areas:

BEFORE:




AFTER:

The Tesla charger is marked inaccurately in Burleson - its an eVgo combo CHAdeMO/J1772 EVSE. It seems the person whom added it didn't know how to add and checked all available options (it looks big enough it could be, haha!) - if you noticed they even checked 120V which, unless there is some random outside outlet, its not true for the eVgo unit.

As for the GE stations at the Cowboy's stadium, I have not seen them come "online" in the system (there are two locations I check through GE for station locations - neither has these located). They could be brand new and haven't been added or not yet turned on yet. I don't know how the stations will work...season passes only? valet parking only? first come first serve? restricted to only plug-ins? available for non-game days, available for rangers games? Since I work like a stones throw there, i can go check them out.

As far I as know, GE does NOT charge nor has a card/fob system associated with their EVSEs (please correct me if someone finds this is not true). That's not to say it will change later, but this is the reason I still include their EVSEs in "independent" section on my map. Now if this changes - I will move them to a separate color to pull them out and identify them.

If you want a stop in arlington - there are a few options, while not as dense as say in Dallas, it has some good places to stop (most are on or near IH 30).

Pipcecil said:

As far I as know, GE does NOT charge nor has a card/fob system associated with their EVSEs (please correct me if someone finds this is not true). That's not to say it will change later, but this is the reason I still include their EVSEs in "independent" section on my map. Now if this changes - I will move them to a separate color to pull them out and identify them.

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I have also found this to be the case for GE EVSE's; nor have I seen restricted access to the lot. For these reason's, I'm very interested in the units @Cowboy's Stadium (not to mention the place is usually empty).

I was able to checkout the EVSE @DFW airport located in Terminal D last week. The good news: it seems to be solid and had no problem with my Leaf. The bad news: you can only access it via Valet Parking, which means you have to rely on them to actually plug/unplug your car (and navigate any timers--or not). Another downer for me (other than the $25/day valet charge) is that it's buried so far underground, the Leaf may not get cell coverage (I check status everyday when I'm traveling).

Full disclosure: the valet guys there were very nice and escorted me down to see (and try) the EVSE for a few minutes, but it's not something I would ever be able to do on a regular basis. They said it was a "trial" that may result in additional units being installed, but unless they put any units OUTSIDE of valet (say in 1 hour parking or something), I don't see how I would ever use it.

The eVgo station in Burleson does have what looks to be a 120 volt outlet on the backside of the column for the security light. It has a cover over it with a three wheel combination lock. I guess you could call for the combination in an emergency or if you have lots of time you could go through all the different combinations until you found the correct one.

Stanton said:

I was able to checkout the EVSE @DFW airport located in Terminal D last week. The good news: it seems to be solid and had no problem with my Leaf. The bad news: you can only access it via Valet Parking, which means you have to rely on them to actually plug/unplug your car (and navigate any timers--or not). Another downer for me (other than the $25/day valet charge) is that it's buried so far underground, the Leaf may not get cell coverage (I check status everyday when I'm traveling).

Full disclosure: the valet guys there were very nice and escorted me down to see (and try) the EVSE for a few minutes, but it's not something I would ever be able to do on a regular basis. They said it was a "trial" that may result in additional units being installed, but unless they put any units OUTSIDE of valet (say in 1 hour parking or something), I don't see how I would ever use it.

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I tried valet recently as well, and was pleased that the car was charged when I returned. I've heard the renovations will include charging stations in some of the other parking areas.

vrwl said:

Final update on the body work from Trophy Nissan in Mesquite:

Overall, I'd say they did an excellent job. Very good communication via Matt Burkley (Collision Center Director), John Trent (Service Advisor) and their online Repair Tracking updates (can also generate automatic emails and texts when updated by the service staff). At this point, barring any unforeseen resulting battery issues, I would use them again for any body work requiring paint.

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I have a ding/scratch in nearly the same location. I'll give them a call based on your recommendation.

Oh.. I tried the Blink station at the Kroger on Lamar st. in Arlington yesterday. One of the stations was ICE'd despite a very good "EV" sign on the spot. I think it was a red Corolla or something. Anyway, I was still able to reach the charger by stringing the cable across the front of the Corolla. when I left the store the Corolla was still there, so I'm sort of wondering if it might have been an employee.

dfwcre8tive said:

vrwl said:

Final update on the body work from Trophy Nissan in Mesquite:

Overall, I'd say they did an excellent job. Very good communication via Matt Burkley (Collision Center Director), John Trent (Service Advisor) and their online Repair Tracking updates (can also generate automatic emails and texts when updated by the service staff). At this point, barring any unforeseen resulting battery issues, I would use them again for any body work requiring paint.

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I have a ding/scratch in nearly the same location. I'll give them a call based on your recommendation.

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Be sure and ask for John Trent when you call. He's the guy who knows about the special needs with Nissan Leafs. Good luck, let us know how it goes.

I really get frustrated with ICE blocking chargers when they are employees. I have had this occur more than once, and even had it blocked by an employee whom left in there overnight and wasn't working the next day (out of ALL the spots in a vacant lot....really?). It really frustrates me when the employer owns the EVSE and controls the parking (like employees need to park in the back, etc.).

Ok for those curious about the stations at Cowboys Stadium:

These are GE Wattstations so they are the more sleek-looking design ones. There are 4 at this location (from what I could find) and are located in the Blue Lot - Lot 2. This lot is at the front of the stadium, you enter at the light across from walmart and take a left and go to the end of the lot closest to the road. Unfortuantely, this is prime parking so for free-for-all parking it will go faster.

There are 4 spots and 4 stations, meaning no sharing or "ICE protection." The stations are NOT marked. No signs, no EV or plug-in only, no nothing. The signs may be added later, but currently, expect them to be ICEd constantly.

The stations are not active. And, it appears you need an account/RFID code/QR code scan to access (and pay?) for then. GE has none of this set up. There is no way to sign up for a card (yet), the QR code takes you to a 404 website, and when you try to register and create an account online, it just asked for your language and thats it - it doesn't take you anywhere (but you can sign in to your non-existant account!).

As for how the parking will be handled? I don't know. If you purchase parking at the stadium for a cowboy's game, they assign you a lot, will you be able to option for EV parking? Will the stadium parking managment reserve these spots for plug-ins or just sell them off as normal? Will parking attendants know not to allow non-plug-ins to these spots? During non-game/event days when the parking is used for other events (like a Ranger's game), will parking attendants keep these open for plug-ins? These are the current outstanding issues that will probably only get answered when they become active are start to be used (or not used and blocked!)

Pipcecil said:

Ok for those curious about the stations at Cowboys Stadium:

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I drove through there a few days ago and couldn't find them. I'll have a look again next time I go by.

How come there are 30+ Blink stations near DFW airport at "Nissan Motor Corporation" ? This is near Rt 635 & Freeport Pkwy. Is this a Nissan dealer ?

What sense does it make to concentrate so many units in one place ? is this available for public use 24 hours a day ?

The stations at cowboys stadium are hard to see from the road. At a station if you look across the street you see the apartment complex next to Walmart. But there are plenty of greenery in between plus they are perpendicular to the road making it more difficult. If you drive into the lot just turn left go to the end and you will see them in this extra nook space for a few extra spots, they are in this nook.

As for the 30+ blink stations, one is Nissan's lending and loan arm of its company and this is the headquarters. The second one next door (southeast) is Nissan corporate for the central us region (if you did the drive event it was here). So it makes sense that big Nissan buildings have many chargers. They are surface lots and always open. On a funny note, the ones to the north (Nissan motor acceptance - the loan and lending) are free, the ones at the regional office cost.