Chicagoland area

[brianchi73]

A sad day for those who are doing something about not polluting the environment by driving electric cars.

Not here, that is, at Whole Foods in Northbrook, IL

Perhaps it's their new jingle.." Shop at Whole Foods and there will be no charge for you."

That is sad. I wish we could post big signs like this at every Nissan dealer in the city and suburbs, so they would get some skin in the game on this. It's so opposite of Tesla's model of providing the entire infrastructure and making sure it works. Grrrrr.

This would be a great picture for the paper. I was quoted in an article by Julie Wernau from the Trib, and I think I still have her contact info. I should forward these pictures to her. I also have been in touch with Brian Howe of JNS Holdings, and it sounds like they will gain control of the chargers AND systems soon. I hope so but that was kind of the news about a year ago and everything's been tied up in litigation.

I did successfully use my Charjit card recently (Walgreens at Broadway and Ridge), but I have no way to add charges or see how many I have left. I was kind of surprised that it worked at all. I know that people have not been able to get those cards for over a year, and now if you had one it would be pretty much useless anyway.

Also I like the name of your photo files.

Thanks.

Send it along to the Tribune. Good idea. Glad you have the contact.

Maybe they will do an investigation on the issue and bring it to the public's attention.

E-mail sent...

[redLEAF]

Brief update on EV scene at the Chicago Auto Show ... most significant, odd ball one off has to be the Honda FCEV 'fuel-cell-electric-vehicle' .. this is its best side



They had two LEAF's at the Nissan display, no Fiat 500 EV, no MBZ B-class EV (but they did bring the smart ed), no presence at all for Tesla!!, no Audi A3 hatch e-tron (just the S3 and A3 in sedan trim), Chevy brought a few Volt's but no Spark EV, Mitsu had an 'upgraded' MiEV (leather interior, matte finish, and waaay too many LCD displays in it) but no Outlander EV, VW had a nice looking blue (of course, what other color would one use for an EV) eGolf and Ford had (finally) a factory Focus EV that was unlocked and open along with a C-Max with solar panels on the roof (goofy, it replicates a 120V charge) ... still fine with our choice of our '12 LEAF but Chevy has indeed stepped up a bit from the late prototype Volts we sat in when the LEAF was just coming into the market at the same time. If this winter gets any worse I can see why some of our early adopters here have switched to a Volt. Having that flexibility of extended range and not worrying about how much you use the heat are definite pluses for it. The fit & finish seems to have improved (at least from the '14's we saw on display) ... luckily for us we're a multiple car family and the LEAF stays warm in the garage when we get all this snow and cold stuff; funny thing was, we drove the LEAF to take the train downtown from the NW 'burbs to the show, when we returned while it was nice to pre-heat it on our way back we're sliding all over the place as we got another few inches of snow --- needed to switch to my 'winter' car (a '13 VW Touareg) for the rest of our errands yesterday; perhaps the Volt isn't that much better but would think it might be. Like I'm sure a lot of the rest from Chicagoland, can't wait for spring but it's still aways off ... just don't expect a BIG presence of EV's this year as you'll be disappointed; still something fun to do in the winter though. The 'few 'upgrades' to the LEAF (leather interior, a bit more luggage space, etc.) were nice to see as well but not enough to trade-in for a newer one either. I was really hoping to see a VW CrossBlue Coupe (concept still) which could be my Touareg's successor but VW is only committed to building the 6-passenger CroosBlue that looks like a Dodge Durango or Jeep Grand Cherokee so no thanks ... its' a big event with more than 1,000 cars so bring your best walking shoes

[greengate]

Come to te Go Green Wilmette's environmental fair, (goinggreenmatters.org) , and you will see some of what is in the area.

On display will be a Ford CMax, Jetta hybrid diesel, Leaf, Smart Car, Prius V plug-in, Cadillac ELR, Tesla and either a Volt or an Mitsubishi IMIEV.

Am looking for someone willing to show either of these two cars..only room for one of them.

March 9th from 1-4, at The Women's Club of Wilmette, (10th and Greenleaf Ave.) There are also many displays of environmentally friendly products and services. All Free.

[greengate]

I know a great "tinter" located in Palatine.

PM me if you want details.

[brianchi73]

FYI...the Whole Foods at Halsted and Waveland also has the signs up on their L2 (Chargepoint) and L3 (Charjit) chargers indicating that they will no longer be operational after 2/5. From what I can tell the L2s would probably still work. The L3 hasn't worked in over a year so no loss there. The sign indicated that you could contact management with any questions.

And so I did. I called yesterday and talked to a Store Manager. She indicated that they want to have EV chargers and that they are dedicated to this, but they cannot get any service for the existing chargers. According to her Whole Foods tried to find an alternative but could not find one so far, so they are disconnecting them for now.

I told her that I was happy to see that they WANT to have them. I also let her know that based on my experience that the L3 is the more important charger to have especially in a place where I would likely only spend less than 30 minutes.

I have to admit that I did have this concern as I was dragging a power cable through the snow and ice to my Leaf at the Walgreen's on Ridge and Broadway. Since 350 Green, Car Charging Group and JNS Holdings are all suing each other it does raise the question of who is responsible for these chargers.

[Falco]

A sad day for those who are doing something about not polluting the environment by driving electric cars.

Not here, that is, at Whole Foods in Northbrook, IL

Perhaps it's their new jingle.." Shop at Whole Foods and there will be no charge for you."

I was there on February 4, 2014 and was able to charge. The same day I did send an e-mail to the store, however, I have not received any answers. It s a sad day indeed.

I just talked to Charge Point. This stations appear as disconnected. The owner of the stations is 350Green and Charge Point was just servicing them. According to them there are two scenarios:

1. 350Green or whoever bought the assets is renegotiating the lease etc or
2. Charge Point is going to pick them up as their stations.

It is possible that 350Green has never paid Charge Point for the units and the installation. I tried calling Brian at JNS (847) 577-3795x12 for more details but he was not available.

[IrvingHarlem]

I recently bought a Black Nissan Leaf S and wanted to share my range experience in this frigid weather. Yesterday it was about 0 degrees. Fortunately, I park in a heated garage. I started with a 100% charge and drove 64 miles from northwest Chicago to Woodridge, back to my work in Chicago, and finally to home on city streets. Mostly I drove at highway speeds around 65 miles per hour.

When I got home the meter told me I still had about 10 miles and about 15% battery. Since I was nervous about my range I wore my long underwear and hardly used the cabin heat or the heated seats or steering wheel. Once or twice the windows fogged up and I used the defrost for a couple of minutes to clear them.

Being properly dressed I was impressed with how warm I could be without using the heater.

[hicorrie]

Irving, FYI, the heated seats and steeering wheel use very-very little power. You do not need to turn them off even when you are trying to conserve heat. It's the reason Nissan put heated seats in the front and back and the heated steering wheel as standard in all Leafs -- using them helps make drivers/passengers warm without using much battery.

[r1234567]

Irving - if you have to make that trip again, there is an EVSE at the Ikea in Bolingbrook.

[brianchi73]

That's right. The heated seat(s) and steering wheel use the small battery which is recharged when the car is plugged in and trickle-charged through the solar panel on some models.