How often have you charged away from home?

[adric22]

I wish I could create some kind of multiple-choice poll. But I'm curious how many Leaf owners have charged away from home. I remember when I was dreaming of getting a Leaf that I was trying to think of all of the places I could plug in, such as at family and friends' homes, etc. However, now that I've had a Leaf for 6 months I have actually plugged in outside of the home a total of 2 times.

• Once at a family members house that was a bit far away. I probably had enough power to get home, but just to be on the safe side I plugged my L1 EVSE into their front-porch outlet for about 3 hours.
• Once at a public charger at a McDonald's just for the heck of it. I didn't need the charge at all, but since I'd never used a public charger I thought I'd give it a try.

So in neither case did I really need to plug in. And in fact, I'm sort of surprised after 6 months that it has not been necessary.

I'm also curious if anyone has ever actually used PlugShare (or similar applications). I am on the database, but nobody has ever called me and I have never called anyone else.

 

[Stoaty]

Exactly 3 times in 3 months of ownership... but I plan to do it weekly now that I am comfortable going from West LA to Claremont and back.

 

[mwalsh]

In 9 months:

Once on a public charger because I needed to
Once on a public charger as a demonstration
About a half-dozen times at work because I needed to
Once at work as a demonstration

 

[EricH]

I charge at work more often than I've charged at home. Have also charged at South Coast Plaza once, and Wet Okole (once, using L1, during seat-cover installation).

I would probably use the L2's being installed in Huntington Beach.

 

[mark13]

Other then at the dealer there are no chargers around..Maybe a year from now most will of done it..

 

[smkettner]

About once a week somewhere.

 

[ericsf]

Every weekday at work. Almost never on the weekend.

I could do my round trip on a single charge but I want to reduce the depth of discharge I put on the battery (2 times 30% discharge is better than one 60% discharge).

 

[surfingslovak]

I'm probably an outlier in this thread, since I mostly charge away from home. This is mainly due to the astronomical installation cost I was quoted by both AeroViroment ($6,000) and ECOtality ($12,000). Even if I used my own electrician, I'd be looking at several thousand dollars.

ChargePoint shows a total of 53 sessions since delivery in early June. There were about as many L1 sessions in that timeframe and started to increasingly rely on legacy Avcon stations. While Coulomb stations are often taken in popular locations like downtown Palo Alto, Avcons are hardly used. I miss the reporting and analytics ChargePoint provides though. It's quite useful.


Click to view image

 

[highcountryrider]

Never, so far.

 

[dday]

At work every Wednesday for 6 weeks. Had to travel a total of 70 miles after work. Its 30 miles to work.
Most fridays at work, just because you never know what your doing.
Hit all the public chargers in town (3) just so they would show up on the map.

 

[shay]

Twice for the novelty.

 

[ElectricVehicle]

In finest Captain Kirk voice:
Must.... have.... 6.6 kW, wait 12 kW... on............ board.... charger....

Imagine.......

A galaxy.... where EV chargers are.... common....

Ok Kirk just asked for more money to continue.. (Hmmm... if Scotty is such a genius with DiLithium crystals, imagine what he could do with our LEAF Lithium batteries! )

In 3 months, I've charged once at a friend's party, trip was 50 miles one way, 70 mph, with A/C. We were at the party for 6 hours, and at the 3.3 kW charge rate of the LEAF we needed most of that time. A 2 hour party would have been out of the question since the charge time would be too long.

Update: I charged 3 days in a row at SAP Labs, Palo Alto, while I was attending the Charged 2011 Plug In Vehicle conference, just getting an extra hour of L2 charge made the round trip to San Jose in the commuter lane no worries, when it otherwise would have been at the limits of the range and I would have had to drive 55 instead of 65. I also like arriving home with 2 or 3 bars, it's a bit conservative, but I've never been stranded and it leaves a little more leeway in case you have to detour a few miles around an accident, make a wrong turn, whatever.

Update: Charged at a another LEAF owner's home in Los Altos Hills when they requested I stop by to check out a solar system when I was in Palo Alto for another meeting. The unplanned stop was pushed the trip outside my range but charging L2 at their home for an hour gave me enough range to complete the trip. Wasn't waiting on the charge since we were busy checking out the solar system.

I'd like to take the LEAF to SF (120 mile round trip at 70mph) for trips, but without a faster charge rate and greater charger availability, we fire the 2002 Prius up and take it. It's also about having chargers that are relatively convenient - say less than a 10 minute walk to the destinaiton. Quick Chargers would be nice, but I doubt they will be as common as a 10 minute walk from most popular destinations and the family isn't going to go for a special trip to the QC station just to charge the car when we have no other need or desire to be at that QC station for 30 minutes.

I do charge in public once every few weeks. It's a good way to let others see the possibility of EVs, and share what they are great for and what they are not suited for. Besides, I just get a little thrill every time I plug in!

 

[TangoKilo]

I charge away from home every day of the week. As a matter of fact, I charge more away, than from home... Some of you people need to get out more often...

 

[aqn]

Never, so far.

Ditto.

 

[TonyWilliams]

I infrequently charge away from home, but mostly because there's no charger available where I am. Also, I'd like to be able to drive longer trips, but alas, no quick chargers.

Many days, I travel over 100 miles, and have to return to the house to charge.

 

[planet4ever]

Five times in just under five months.

• 3 times at a Nissan dealer because I had to.
• 1 time at a Nissan dealer because it looked like it was going to be close.
• 1 time at a ChargePoint because it looked like it was going to be close.

Two of the dealer charges were overnight, more than 80 miles from home.
The other three charges were each less than an hour.

Ray

 

[fooljoe]

I've never had to, but I try to as often as I can just for fun. Although after 3.5 months the novelty is kinda wearing off. So far:

• Once at a Chargepoint in the Seal Beach lot, after the opening festivities and only for about 15 minutes.
• Whenever I go to lunch at the Costco near work I plug in at the Nissan dealer next door - probably 2-3 times a month.
• I've used L1 5-10 times at work, but going forward won't use it anymore unless I need it, as it's an inconvenient setup.
• Occasionally at my parents', using my homemade box to get 240v from two 120v circuits. They're only 5 miles away but I like the novelty of charging off their solar panels, since I don't have solar yet.
• Once at a friend's on L1, even though he lives about 1/2 mile from my house.
• And, most recently, once at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach (L1), but that didn't last long as when a new prototype Rav4-EV plugged into the same cluster of outlets apparently it tripped a breaker.

 

[ttweed]

In 6 months and 6,000 miles of driving, we have only charged away from home 4 times, twice because we might not make it home without a little extra juice, and twice for the novelty, just to try out the Blink card at the public stations at Torrey Pines and Balboa Park.

TT

 

[garygid]

About 7 times in 5 months.

Once at a friend's house to add some margin to finish an 86 mile trip.

Once at a QC (and later at an L2) to facilitate a 120-mile RT to LAX.

Several times to try it out, or "record" a charging location.

But, several times (like a 150-mile RT to San Diego, where my destination had no nearby charging), I took the Prius.

One well-located QC at the North end of San Diego (about 60 or 65 miles away) would greatly facilitate trips down there: QC once to be able to get around down there, and QC again later in the day to get back home.

 

[Mx5racer]

3 times in 4K miles

once on the drive home from oceanside to orange county
once at south coast plaza - to "check it out and try my chargepoint card
once at Cerritos Nissan, while picking up parts - for a little extra security to get home. (I left without a full charge)

If I am in a situation where I can't make it from 100%, I will take the ICE