Level 3 maps inaccurate (Illinois)

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sp4rk

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 30, 2012
Messages
104
Location
Schaumburg, IL
For those in NW suburbs of Chicago, IL, the level 3 charging map is not accurate.

Not on the 350green.com site.

To wit:

Whole Foods, Schaumburg, is not even functional yet, despite the fact that it LOOKS active. Apparently WF have to relocate it so that it can get a cell signal.

Neither of the Des Plaines Oasis (E 1-90 or W 1-90) are working ... both give error message ... Emergency Stop.

Calls to Charjit this weekend ... operator couldn't be nicer but information he supplied basically useless as none was available to him. He claimed that WF is not online but other two oasis ones are yet attempts to reset them from his end do not work. And calls were always on a return basis. Sounds like one person is handling customer service for an entire nationwide network.

Talking about being guinea pigs.

Is it like this in, say, California?

(Level 2's seem to work fine but no need as I have one in my garage.)
 
sp4rk said:
Is it like this in, say, California?
Click to expand...
350Green only has one Efacec DC unit in California at Stanford Mall. (It's been reliable, only one big-time failure... but it does sometimes stop charging early, requiring a call to get a charge credit.)
 
Looks like, from the map, Illinois has more than anyone; wonder if any of them work?

Is there another brand I should look for?
 
Yeah tried the WF Level 3 today with no joy. Would be nice if they posted something that it didn't work. Went there just to try out a Level 3.

Used a level 2 there and had a slight glitch. Started charging, went off to shop, got a message in about 15 minutes that said my car was drawing little current. Returned to find that the car wasn't charging. Hit the quick charge in the car and it started right up and it charged for about 1 1/2 hours without any further problems. Don't know why it stopped. The Leaf's charging light was blinking when I left it the first time. An hour and a half in Whole Foods for me is a problem. It cost me a fortune. Anyone need any granola? I have a bunch of different flavors. :)
 
Ok ... I am missing something ... the quick charge button?

Whole Foods, when I talked to their manager this AM about it, they said they would put a sign back up on it.

I am (3 weeks) new to all this and am unaware of one?

Do you drive a red one?

I saw a red leaf today at Hicks and 14; honked at it, but given the pathetic sound it gave off, the other Leaf probably thought a bird has sh1t on their car!

If there are any other Leaf owners here in the Schaumburg area, PM me.

Oh, and ... how much do you want for those granola bars? Flavours?
 
My Leaf is White so it wasn't me. Haven't seen any other Leafs in the wild here (only in Calif). I have seen a number of Volts. There was a red one parked in the other level 2 charger at WF when I was there.

When I tried to used the Level 3, it said "Card not authorized". I pushed all the buttons to no avail.

If they need a cell signal in the basement of WF, they could just install a repeater. Cell repeaters have gotten pretty cheap and I'm sure it would be cheaper than moving the charging station. The charge stations in the basement will be nice when the weather is cold.

I got the alert from the Chargepoint app and not from the Leaf Carwings. I'll know to check the Chargepoint app a little closer as it seems to give a near real time update on the charge the car has taken.
 
You may want to read this thread http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=8486" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Three chargers that are not working for you may not be the chargers.
 
jamesanne said:
You may want to read this thread http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=8486" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Three chargers that are not working for you may not be the chargers.
Click to expand...

jamesanne ... were you replying to me?

This cannot be a fault with my car as I had not gotten past the point of swiping my Charjit card on their machine.

Can it?
 
Attempted to try out the two QCs in Palatine and found them both to be non-functional as well. I'm 0 for 3 on QCs as well now. Tried this on Saturday so at least 350Green customer service was in. He was very apologetic and will have his boss contact me on Monday to update me on what is happening. This is not a problem with my car as there was no power to the QC units themselves.
 
I emailed 350green today to find out wt* is going on.

NONE of them in this area work yet. Closest I found was north side Chicago.

Walgreens (on MW Highway) tole me theirs had been physically installed in November and they'd been hounding them ever since.

Mind you, who puts a Level 3 in, around the other side of the building from the Level 2's? 350green probably lost it!

I don't really care as the only time I'd use them if someone called and said meet me here (where here is out of current range) and I was out of juice.

Until then ... where DID I put that third phase for my garage? :D
 
I missed this from last week. “We're at a period where we have to let our funding sources catch up.” I guess that explains some of the current mess:

"Possible Investigation Into Chicago Electric Car Charging Project": http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/15/possible-investigation-into-chicago-electric-car-charging-project/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
It would help if the Trib article had a date on it!

Personally, I have little faith that 350green will complete installation now that I have read that.

Would also be helpful if you could sign into the 350green web site and be notified when stations do open up.

Could also explain why, especially on weekends, there's little or no customer support ... one person who, if he's on the phone, has to call you back. Very nice, but no information. Then again, ring ChargePoint and get an offshore call centre ... enough said.
 
350green posted this response to the possible investigation: https://350green.com/2012/06/statement-chicago-electric-car-charging-project/. They claim to have installed 26 (3 of which I know don't function) QC boxes (out of 73 they were contracted to provide). They have taken $1.7 million of the $1.9 million Chicago contract. So they have installed 36% of the QCs of their contract and claimed 89% of the money due them.

I'm really not buying any of their argument that they haven't finished what they were contracted to do due to slow EV sales. This infrastructure build out was supposed to be done with essentially $0 revenue from EV charging. That was known up front. Sounds like an investigation is definitely in order.
 
I am also reading that this could GM at work to prevent the installation of the rest of them.

To force us to use SAE when our cars do not have the socket!
 
Ok, today 350Green told me that someone (expletive deleted) had gone around (what a waste of time) to "all" the L3 chargers and "jammed" the Emergency Stop buttons.

I went by 3 today which had failed in the past and sure enough by twisting HARD on the Emergency Stop button had them working.

These were Jewel on Western, and E and W Oasis at OHare.
 

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