I want to be able to drive from Sonoma County into San Francisco but charging stations seem to be few, far between, hard to find, risky they are not tied up and quite a problem. I've looked at the Coulumb Chargepoint, EV Project, and DOE Alternative Fueling Locator maps below and its tough to know if one is actually a J1772 and if it's not in a pay garage. The pay garages are expensive so if you go in one, it defeats the low cost of electricity and its a fortune and they might have only one. Its also hard to be sure it's usable or there is only one that could easily be tied up. Its also tough because I've not seen any Level 3 for the Leaf and Level 2 takes roughly an hour or 90 miles/7 hours = about 13 miles per hour. Its about 110 miles round trip and it appears I'll run out of charge at about 90 miles driving very carefully and no climate control. That means I'll need about 2-3 hours of Level 2 charging just to make it home. That's tolerable if I can find a usable charger that is available and isn't in an expensive garage and I'm doing something for a few hours. That seems pretty risky until there are Level 3 chargers but the Leaf doesn't use the J1772 Level 3 and there appears to be none anyway. Anybody know of a usable, that they have tried, Level 2 or know if Level 3 that is Leaf compatible any time soon? I hear they are very expensive and may be a while before they arrive.
Chargepoint
http://www.mychargepoint.net/find-stations.php
EV Project
http://www.theevproject.com/charging-maps.php
DOE
http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/progs/ind_state.php/CA/ELEC
Chargepoint
http://www.mychargepoint.net/find-stations.php
EV Project
http://www.theevproject.com/charging-maps.php
DOE
http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/progs/ind_state.php/CA/ELEC