SF BayLEAFs - e-NV200 Ride & Drives and Showcase May 28

[gascant]

Mark your calendars for June 4th, which will be the date of the next SF BayLEAFs gathering. Continuing our venue rotation, this one will be in San Francisco. Thanks to inquiries from Phil, Carolyn at Luscious Garage (9th St. near 101) has agreed to host the meeting. As we discussed, SF meetings will be the 1st Saturday of every 4th month to coincide with the Golden Gate Electric Vehicle Association. GG EVA is welcoming us to stay for their meeting as well.

Phil and I discussed starting with refreshments at 9, and having our scheduled session from 9:30 (or so) to 10:45. The GGEVA meeting gets underway at 11. Any brave souls willing to let Carolyn put their LEAF up on a rack?

Stay tuned for further details.
(I'm sure a few of us will be looking to carpool or find a 2-hr charge somewhere on the Peninsula.)

Future Gathering Dates:
July 9th (South Bay/Mtn View/Sunnyvale)
August 13th (Peninsula)
September 10th (East Bay/Fremont/Newark/Hayward)

 

[lemketron]

Wow, that's 42 miles (one way) from Sunnyvale, mostly on 101. Not sure I'll attempt that without a definite plan for catching some charge somewhere, ideally during the meeting... Does Luscious Garage have any L6-20 240V outlets we can tap into with an upgraded L1 EVSE, by chance?

Then again, how many cars can they accommodate? If parking is limited, carpooling might be a good idea anyway (as opposed to "how many LEAFs can we collect in one spot").

 

[ElectricVehicle]

Leapfrog in LEAFs and carpool. So you drive your LEAF to Mountain View or Palo Alto, meet up with a LEAAF owner here, leave your LEAF at their home to charge and then carpool up in their LEAF. Or drive to meet someone in your LEAF, and then take their other car to the meeting. I'm in San Jose, and I'll probably take my Prius and a carpool passenger or two. GIves you some conversation on the way to and back from the meeting as an extra benefit.

Sometimes you want to drive somewhere in your LEAF to show support or prove it can be done, but don't feel obligated to do that for every trip. Do what you're comfortable with. I have driven my (former) GM EV1 from San Jose to Sacramento on a single charge for the CARB hearings - 137 miles one way. I showed support at that key time for that meeting, for other CARB hearings, I've driven the Prius. Have to drive the silly Prius sometime anyway since it gets neglected during the week whne I'm dirving the EV all the time!

 

[Ingineer]

Unfortunately Carolyn will be away and can't make the meeting.

She has 240v outlets, I will find out how many. She wants to install several J1772 charge stations, which may actually end up being a few of my units with the Rev 2 upgrade.

There are about 40 folding chairs and plenty of room. I think there's usually room for around 8 or so cars inside, and more on the street. I will make sure we have as many charge locations as possible. As the meeting date gets closer, maybe we can choose who will need them most. We will need to move any cars out except those that are charging before 11am, and those that stay on charge will have to stay put until after the GGEVA meeting is adjourned.

She does have several lifts, so if we want, we can lift a LEAF for grins. =)

GGEVA wants to encourage BayLEAFers to stay for the meeting.

-Phil

 

[waidy]

Please let Carolyn know about the ChargePoint America program and apply online at www.chargepointamerica.com Here is some info on the ChargePoint America program:

The $37 million ChargePoint America program is made possible by a $15M grant funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through the Transportation Electrification Initiative administered by the Department of Energy. ChargePoint America is currently offering 4,600 both home and public charging stations to individuals and businesses. ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations are available for home and public installation in all ten designated regional metropolitan areas of the US including San Francisco and Bay Area.

The SF/SJ bay area should receive over 200 public stations, awarded to municipalities and businesses. Individuals/drivers purchasing a program EV (Chevrolet Volt, Ford Transit Connect, Ford Focus BEV, smart fortwo electric drive) can receive a free home station. Businesses interested in receiving FREE public charging stations, should apply now, because quantities are limited and installations have to be completed by the end of this year.

 

[Ingineer]

She already looked into it, and doesn't qualify because they will be inside.

Plus they are S L O W. I applied for a public station here in Berkeley at our facility, and it's been months.

It's sad that here in Berkeley there aren't any truly public charge stations!

-Phil

 

[Electric4Me]

It's sad that here in Berkeley there aren't any truly public charge stations!

-Phil

No kidding! My wife sometimes works just south of Powell and when I looked up charge stations for her I was surprised to find nothing!

Bill

 

[Spies]

Please let Carolyn know about the ChargePoint America program and apply online at http://www.chargepointamerica.com Here is some info on the ChargePoint America program:

I don't want to take this off topic but I see that you are in Los Altos Hills. When you have a chance would you be so kind to ask why Los Altos Hills decided to change their Charge Point stations from free to $5 an hour? I called and asked but I did not really get a response but perhaps you will as a resident of the town. At that price I just don't see the point of L2 charging there and at $5 an hour it is the highest rate in the ChargePoint system. It would be shame if these units go unused because of the price they set.

 

[waidy]

I don't want to take this off topic but I see that you are in Los Altos Hills. When you have a chance would you be so kind to ask why Los Altos Hills decided to change their Charge Point chargers from free to $5 an hour? I called and asked but I did not really get a response but perhaps you will as a resident of the town. At that price I just don't see the point of L2 charging there and at $5 an hour it is the highest rate in the ChargePoint system. It would be shame if these units go unused because of the price they set.

Wow! $5/hr!!!! I will email the mayor and councilmen on this right now. I am backpacking on a trip Monday and won't be back June 15. If I get answer before Monday, I will post.

 

[gasmiser1]

Count me in for the SF meeting

NOTE:

I'll be taking CalTrain from San Carlos to SF. Train leaves San Carlos at 7:45am and arrives in SF at 8:36 am.
Then, its only a 1.1 mile, 15-20 minute walk to Luscious Garage.

Also, I have an AV L2 and a dedicated L1 GFI socket if anyone wants to leave there Leaf at my house in the garage and take the train with me.

 

[JeffN]

FYI, there is a newly opened downtown city parking garage (2 weeks ago) in South San Francisco that has 4 240V ChargePoint stations with free EV parking and free charging. I was there last week with my Volt. It's 9 miles South of Luscious Garage. The address is 329 Miller Avenue.

South SF has some good restaurants and a Peet's Coffee so this could be a good option for a late lunch or early dinner recharging spot. The problem, of course, is that others might have the same idea.....

 

[Spies]

It's 9 miles South of Luscious Garage. The address is 329 Miller Avenue.

One could walk to the train from there too. Keep in mind one of the four ChargePoints at this location is a disabled parking spot. Patronizing South San Francisco is a good idea since they went to the trouble to have the ChargePoint stations installed.

I am debating on taking the train or driving the Leaf myself. I have a Blink in the garage and will happily offer a charge to anyone who would like to carpool. There are also two free ChargePoints nearby at the Volkswagen Electronic Research Laboratory in Belmont that I would be willing to pick people up from as well. We could even just go to the train from there or drive in. The options are endless!

 

[lemketron]

Doing a relay (leaving car in San Carlos or Foster City) basically means (for folks coming from the south bay) probably not needing to re-charge at all... but I can't see driving up there, and then spending another hour on the train and walking when it's only a 20 mile drive from there. Ideally, several of us could just leave our cars in San Carlos or Foster City and LEAF-pool the rest of the way to SF and back... (though we'd need to figure out who's staying for the second meeting, etc.)

 

[gascant]

Looks like we are going to have quite an active discussion between now and the 4th for getting folks to the meeting. I count myself among those who will gladly sacrifice showing up in my LEAF in favor of a relay/carpool or train arrangement. Maybe Caltrain to BART, etc? I think there are several from the South Bay that will join in.

 

[ElectricVehicle]

I'll either join a LEAFfrog (a Leapforg of LEAFs) carpool, or take my Prius from San Jose to the meeting with some LEAFfrog passengers. I should be able to arrange some charging at or near my house, near the highway 85 and 87 Guadalupe Expressway interchange, for those that need it. I'm thinking about staying for an hour or so of the following GGEVA meeting. I may even get my LEAF before the meeting.

What's the parking situation going to be at Luscious garage? Paid or free? Onsite or nearby? I haven't been ther yet.

 

[OrientExpress]

I plan on driving from south San Jose to the meeting as a test of my range. My goal is to snag one of the chargers in the train station while at the meeting.

My Blink is scheduled for installation next Tuesday, so by the time the meeting happens, I can offer my charger as well. I am off of 85 and Bernal Rd. in South San Jose.

 

[Spies]

My goal is to snag one of the chargers in the train station while at the meeting.

Please forgive my ignorance but what charging stations do you speak of?

 

[linkim]

Lucious Garage looks like a very interesting place for Prius owners to visit. Too bad they weren't closer to my home so I could take my car there for servicing. Their website showed a link to SF Muni which I used to find a convenient (with a short walk) way from my daughter's home to get to the June 4 meeting. So I will be Leaf-less but hope to see everyone there.

 

[waidy]

I don't want to take this off topic but I see that you are in Los Altos Hills. When you have a chance would you be so kind to ask why Los Altos Hills decided to change their Charge Point stations from free to $5 an hour? I called and asked but I did not really get a response but perhaps you will as a resident of the town. At that price I just don't see the point of L2 charging there and at $5 an hour it is the highest rate in the ChargePoint system. It would be shame if these units go unused because of the price they set.

I emailed the government body at the Town of Los Altos Hills. Here is their initial reply. Unfortunately I will be flying out to Europe backpacking Monday morning and won't be able to discuss with them. I plan to respond in email because of my un-availability. Please post any points/comments here and I will include in my reply.

-----------------
Begin forwarded message:

From: Rich Larsen
Date: May 21, 2011 9:32:59 AM PDT
To: Waidy Lee
Cc: Ginger Summit , Jean Mordo , JohnRadford , Gary Waldeck , CarlCahill
Subject: Re: EV charger fee

Hi Waidy - we need to also consider the costs of installation, electricity demand charges at peak time, and fairness to non-EV drivers. Keep in mind that these are Convenience chargers which are only intended to augment home charging.

I have asked Carl for specific cost information, which we should be able to discuss Monday afternoon.

Thanks, Rich

On May 20, 2011, at 10:21 AM, Waidy Lee wrote:

Dear all, there are lots of complaints in the Nissan LEAF forum on the EV charger fee imposed by the Town of Los Altos Hills. Given the fact that President Obama is promoting EVs and the City of San Francisco announced a few days ago that EV charging is free until 2013, the $5/hr fee charge by the Town of Los Altos Hills is unreasonable.

Let do this simple math here. To fully charge a LEAF is 24kWh at a charge rate of 3.3kW. Therefore, if the LEAF were to completely empty, it would take 7.27 hrs. No one depletes their battery pack before charging and no one is going to wait for 7 hours doing nothing at the Town so to charge their EVs (let's be real).

Let's say the worst case, if some one really wants to juice up their pack on depletion, they will use a maximum of 24kWh of electrons. I am paying $0.11/kWh so if I were to fill it up at home it will cost me $0.11*24=$2.64 in compare to the town which charges $5/hr*7.27hr = $36.35

This is a *BIG* *HUGE* difference in cost of electrons between $2.64 and $36.35. Please re-consider to adjust your charge.

Also the spots (on both locations) are not marked for electric vehicle only and can be blocked by non electric vehicles. I will be glad to buy you the sign.

Please let me know so I could post your reply/decision on the forum.

Best,
Waidy Lee

 

[Spies]

Moderators, the Los Altos Hills EVSE discussion should have its own topic probably under Business / Economy and Politics and should be moved.

Having said that I would not say I was complaining per se about the $5 an hour fee imposed by Los Altos Hills but I just don't see them getting much use at that price. I want to encourage Electric Vehicle and EVSE adoption not discourage it with this type of pricing structure. I certainly won't be using them.

Subject: Re: EV charger fee
Hi Waidy - we need to also consider the costs of installation, electricity demand charges at peak time, and fairness to non-EV drivers. Keep in mind that these are Convenience chargers which are only intended to augment home charging.

If these really are the motivating factors for installing these units and charging $5 an hour I don't understand why they even bothered. Fairness to non-EV drivers? Really? One is located in a park parking lot that does not charge for parking and the other is located at the town hall parking lot that does not charge for parking either.