Quick Charging comes to Southern California

[Kataphn]

Thanks, Phil and Mike...great to see the pictures. I will be ready for our visit there.

 

[z0ner]

Thanks for the detailed post guys. Was there any discussion on 24/7? I want so badly to check out the facility but like you, I don't want to inconvenience anyone. I understand they're very sympathetic now, but calling out people like gas attendants is going to get old real fast.

If someone wants to accompany me tomorrow around noonish (11a-1p) I would like to get that life-sized icon on the NAV map

 

[Boomer23]

Thanks for the detailed post guys. Was there any discussion on 24/7? I want so badly to check out the facility but like you, I don't want to inconvenience anyone. I understand they're very sympathetic now, but calling out people like gas attendants is going to get old real fast.

If someone wants to accompany me tomorrow around noonish (11a-1p) I would like to get that life-sized icon on the NAV map

Yes, we talked about 24/7 with Moe. We didn't ask him when it was going to happen, we just discussed it, not wanting to be at all pushy. He was apologetic, and said that he didn't know when or even if that would happen. Since they are currently having someone from the staff unlock and re-lock the charger, I don't think that they have made anything close to a decision on 24/7 charging yet.

 

[hill]

Perhaps Nissan will lead on this as well.

. . . . . . . . . hello . . . . . Nissan . . . helo . . . . (crickets)

:?

Anyone know how to add a charging station to the nav WITHOUT having to visit it? I wanted to add the Mitsu QC but can't figure out a way to do so...

I haven't seen anything written about that. It's a guess, but I'm leaning towards, 'it's not likely possible' imo.

 

[hill]

Mwalsh had the great idea of having the two of us coordinate our visit this afternoon to try to inconvenience the nice Mitsubishi people as little as possible. We got there about 2 pm. We parked in visitor parking near the solar canopy, but not underneath it, and went into the main lobby. We asked the receptionist if we could please use the Quick Charger.

She called the key master, Ida, and we also asked her to let Moe Durand, Manager of Product Communications, know that we were here. Moe and Ida walked us out to the Quick Charger, and Moe stayed with us for most of our visit, chatting about our cars, about charging and about their coming introduction of the Mitsubishi i.

The whole experience was very friendly and pleasant. At one point, one of Mitsubishi's web masters, I think his name was Ryan, joined us and took pictures for their Facebook page (link above in mwalsh's post). While mwalsh was charging, I gave Ryan a drive in my LEAF. He was impressed with the torque and feature level of the LEAF. ..................snip

C'mon Phil . . . you forgot the most important thing about the experience . . . actually being able to see the charge gauge MOVING ... ever closer to full ... even as you watch it ... the RUSH of charging up at warp 9 . . . . like a syringe full of ice cold Propofol coursing through the caroted artery ... heading for the cerebral cortex. I'm starting to sweat ... just thinking about it ... ok - I am way too easily entertained.
:lol:

Are the Mitsu folks GREAT? . . . or what? btw ... GREAT photos. Loved the extra shots of the station. I was too high / tunnel vision to notice those screens at the time.

 

[Boomer23]

Mwalsh had the great idea of having the two of us coordinate our visit this afternoon to try to inconvenience the nice Mitsubishi people as little as possible. We got there about 2 pm. We parked in visitor parking near the solar canopy, but not underneath it, and went into the main lobby. We asked the receptionist if we could please use the Quick Charger.

She called the key master, Ida, and we also asked her to let Moe Durand, Manager of Product Communications, know that we were here. Moe and Ida walked us out to the Quick Charger, and Moe stayed with us for most of our visit, chatting about our cars, about charging and about their coming introduction of the Mitsubishi i.

The whole experience was very friendly and pleasant. At one point, one of Mitsubishi's web masters, I think his name was Ryan, joined us and took pictures for their Facebook page (link above in mwalsh's post). While mwalsh was charging, I gave Ryan a drive in my LEAF. He was impressed with the torque and feature level of the LEAF. ..................snip

C'mon Phil . . . you forgot the most important thing about the experience . . . actually being able to see the charge gauge MOVING ... ever closer to full ... even as you watch it ... the RUSH of charging up at warp 9 . . . . like a syringe full of ice cold Propofol coursing through the caroted artery ... heading for the cerebral cortex. I'm starting to sweat ... just thinking about it ... ok - I am way too easily entertained.
:lol:

Are the Mitsu folks GREAT? . . . or what? btw ... GREAT photos. Loved the extra shots of the station. I was too high / tunnel vision to notice those screens at the time.

Take a breath, hill... Now another one. Good.....

I guess I didn't get the addictiveness of Quick Charge, at least this first time. Maybe it was because I didn't need the charge. I drove 40 miles round trip to get 40 miles of charge. If I'd been low on charge like you or garygid were, I'd have been ecstatic about the speedy charge. Check back with me next time I use it. I'll probably be in orbit about it.

 

[mwalsh]

A couple of notes.....

The CHAdeMO plug is not very intuitive. That I was able to get mine to connect pretty quickly, while Boomer was having more difficulty, was more luck than anything. I think we both understand pretty well how it's supposed to work, but the handling of it is a different animal entirely. I think that some more time with it would be key to understanding the procedure properly.

I think we've all been expecting 480v from these units. But after a bit of research on the Internets, I now realize that 3-phase industrial power is actually 400v, and sure enough we're just shy of that for each of our chargings.

Even though the L3 is only available during office hours, the L2 is available out-of-hours. However, that end of the carport is frequently filled with fully charged iMievs. While one of the Mitsubishi guys found this a bit perplexing, I assured him that we could get by - parking on the drive behind the carport and passing the L2 cable over the shrubbery separating the two. Particularly as being out-of-hours, we wouldn't be interfering with traffic flow.

 

[mwalsh]

If someone wants to accompany me tomorrow around noonish (11a-1p) I would like to get that life-sized icon on the NAV map

Z0ner, are you going to go? Gonna add you to the reservation schedule and text the guys at Mitusbishi to expect you, if you are.

 

[z0ner]

If someone wants to accompany me tomorrow around noonish (11a-1p) I would like to get that life-sized icon on the NAV map

Z0ner, are you going to go? Gonna add you to the reservation schedule and text the guys at Mitusbishi to expect you, if you are.

Based on our PM I'm going to team up with 91740 and get there at 2:00pm.

 

[mwalsh]

Based on our PM I'm going to team up with 91740 and get there at 2:00pm.

Noted.

 

[DaveEV]

I think we've all been expecting 480v from these units. But after a bit of research on the Internets, I now realize that 3-phase industrial power is actually 400v, and sure enough we're just shy of that for each of our chargings.

The unit is capable of a maximum of 480V DC. It doesn't matter what the input voltage is, as it's AC and has to be rectified to DC voltage. Charge voltage (and current) is controlled by the car. The voltage you are seeing is essentially the voltage of the battery pack as it charges. That's why you'll see the voltage climb as you charge while the current drops. If you actually saw 480V on a LEAF you should be very worried about the health of your battery pack!

 

[TomT]

I guess the answer is that you can't...

Anyone know how to add a charging station to the nav WITHOUT having to visit it? I wanted to add the Mitsu QC but can't figure out a way to do so...

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Menu settings navigation assess book stored locations add new

 

[mwalsh]

FYI....I guess the key holder's name is actually Ayde (and only pronounced Ida) Diaz.

 

[z0ner]

Anyone know how to add a charging station to the nav WITHOUT having to visit it? I wanted to add the Mitsu QC but can't figure out a way to do so...

You can always copy someone's SD data that has visited.

 

[TomT]

Yeah, I know that but I was hoping there was a way to enter one directly... Apparently another thing that they forgot when designing this stellar nav...

Anyone know how to add a charging station to the nav WITHOUT having to visit it? I wanted to add the Mitsu QC but can't figure out a way to do so...

You can always copy someone's SD data that has visited.

 

[EricH]

I guess the answer is that you can't...

Anyone know how to add a charging station to the nav WITHOUT having to visit it? I wanted to add the Mitsu QC but can't figure out a way to do so...

Well, new charging stations appear periodically as Nissan updates their database and downloads to my Leaf. Anyone willing to put odds on Nissan adding the Mitsubishi HQ station to their database? :lol:

Related question: Would Nissan use a different map icon to indicate QC stations vs. L2 stations? I'd sure like to be able to tell one from the other if planning a long trip...

 

[mwalsh]

Related question: Would Nissan use a different map icon to indicate QC stations vs. L2 stations? I'd sure like to be able to tell one from the other if planning a long trip...

Yes, the QC icon looks like a gas pump with an electrical cord and plug coming out of it.

 

[TonyWilliams]

I guess the answer is that you can't...

Anyone know how to add a charging station to the nav WITHOUT having to visit it? I wanted to add the Mitsu QC but can't figure out a way to do so...

It's easy to add. No need to visit. You can choose any icon for it; the key part is labeling it as a charging station. The three choices are 1) not a charging station, 2) fast charger, 3) normal L2 charger.

When I read about these stations on the forum, I go to Google Maps, and send the address to the LEAF via Car Wings (from Google Maps). I label the stations as "CHARGEthenTheName".

Then, when I jump in the LEAF, I do my Google download, and then go to Settings/Nav/Stored and edit it as a charging station, and assign the appropriate icon.

 

[z0ner]

91040 and I visited our very accommodating friends yesterday afternoon, and it couldn't have gone smoother.

It's very straight-forward, and I can't really add much to the discussion other than Mitsu is behind this 1000%. We were told another CHAdeMO is already in the works (they've dug the trenching and have high voltage in place), but unfortunately 24x7 is not possible. As simplistic as it is to operate, with only three buttons (start, stop, and the huge RED emergency button high up and to the left), stupid people are pressing the upper-left red EMERGENCY shut off button which causes more delay in getting it started for people operating it for its intended purpose. Liability is undoubtedly the main reason. Thank our highly litigious society for that one.

I did open up my LEAF app on the iPhone and got to see a new charge status+color. Note that the entire bottom section of "estimated time remaining" is completely gone. Hopefully that's an app bug, but I think Nissan doesn't want to guess since the 80-100% charging seems to be so unpredictable. AMP ratings seemed to be all over the place:

It was at this point in the charging process, which I guesstimated around 85-90% (sure would love to have one of those SOC thingys ):

Great visit, although because I'm only 15 minutes away I probably won't be using it again. Thanks again to Mike, Phil, and Gary for blazing the trail.