Carwings Charge Station Map Update...

[RickR]

It is becoming increasing clear that Nissan appears to be as clueless about getting the infrastructure in place as the idiots in Washington are about the debt issues. After talking to 4 different departments within Nissan, I got 4 different answers about how to update charging stations, etc. As was previously noted, the Carwings only get updated quarterly. The website leafcharging stations.com is attempting to provide the most current information but, this site has inaccuracies; specifically, Southern California Costco's that have the old EV charging stations installed have not been converted yet. There has been a lot conversations that these units would be the first ones to be converted but that is not the case. In talking with the local Costco manager, they have no idea when this will happen and/or who the vendor will be to make the switch over, i.e. Blink, ChargePoint, etc.

Bottomline: the Nissan Leaf has to remain in a 30 mile radius of your home and even closer if you drive on the freeway at speeds in excess of 60 mph.

Agreed. All we get on the onboard charge locations map are Nissan locations. The lack of comprehensive info on charge station locations is a MAJOR disappointment with Nissan and Carwings. Other info is also needed, e.g., level 1/2/3, connector, fees, access, etc. We found one charge station in San Francisco via Google - but it had some kind of paddle connector - they thought it was for a Honda or Prius. A couple of SF locations are at hotel garages - figure $40/50 per day to park there!

Nissan - HELP!?

 

[rwherrick]

Two weeks ago, my Leaf updated, and said "31 charging stations added" (versus perhaps 7 before). Santa Cruz county went from zero to 3 locations (out of 5-7 valid locations I've found from internet searching). I was assuming the Navteq user update interface was the reason, and that people had added stations they use or know about. While this is still only a fraction of the 50-70 locations I should be able to see within my driving radius, it's still a huge improvement.
Am I the only one seeing the improvement? I'm hearing only complaints from others.

- Bob

 

[BlueSL]

The notion that "Carwings is useless when it comes to finding charging stations " is a very legitimate beef.

I am going to add it to the Nissan Engineers Coming to Visit on December 3 thread. Can't believe I did not think of it before.

 

[LEAFfan]

Bottomline: the Nissan Leaf has to remain in a 30 mile radius of your home and even closer if you drive on the freeway at speeds in excess of 60 mph.

You must have looked at a different range chart than I did. According to Tony's Range Chart, you should get at least 75 miles of range @ 65, not 60 miles.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Bottomline: the Nissan Leaf has to remain in a 30 mile radius of your home and even closer if you drive on the freeway at speeds in excess of 60 mph.

You must have looked at a different range chart than I did. According to Tony's Range Chart, you should get at least 75 miles of range @ 65, not 60 miles.

Was the 60 miles for an 80% L3 charge?

 

[davewill]

... I was assuming the Navteq user update interface was the reason, and that people had added stations they use or know about. ...

The Nissan nav doesn't share charger info entered by users. It's maintained (and badly) by Nissan, or whoever they are paying to do it.

 

[bigdogldr]

Nissan contracts with a 3rd party supplier to do the updates and they only do it quarterly (per a Nissan customer service rep). They only update with their approved charger supplier which does not include Blink and others. This continues to be a "fly in the ointment" for Nissan and the growing number of Leaf owners who continue to be plagued with that dreaded phobia of "range anxiety"........which is not covered by any health care policy.

 

[TomT]

I'm sure the 3rd party supplier would do updates as often and with whatever breadth of chargers Nissan specified, if asked and paid for that. I have to assume that Nissan has simply not asked for either, and/or is unwilling to pay the likely additional cost...

Nissan contracts with a 3rd party supplier to do the updates and they only do it quarterly (per a Nissan customer service rep). They only update with their approved charger supplier which does not include Blink and others. This continues to be a "fly in the ointment" for Nissan and the growing number of Leaf owners who continue to be plagued with that dreaded phobia of "range anxiety"........which is not covered by any health care policy.

 

[EricH]

Agreed. All we get on the onboard charge locations map are Nissan locations. The lack of comprehensive info on charge station locations is a MAJOR disappointment with Nissan and Carwings. Other info is also needed, e.g., level 1/2/3, connector, fees, access, etc. We found one charge station in San Francisco via Google - but it had some kind of paddle connector - they thought it was for a Honda or Prius.

All the stations listed on Carwings are Level 2 or 3 (the Level 3 icon is different). There's little point in showing L1 "stations", since you merely have to carry a long extension cord to plug in L1 almost anywhere you park. If you want to know availability of stations, or non-Nissan stations, you have to pull over and use the ChargePoint app, or the Recargo app (Recargo doesn't show availability, but does show recent usage/condition, and often has photos of the stations; you can set Recargo to only show J-1772 stations, which avoids the 'paddle problem' you noted).

I have to think Nissan is concerned about liability from Carwings guiding you to inaccessible, non J-1772, or other "problem" stations, so they are restricting it to the stations they know of or can "vouch for" (Nissan dealers plus ChargePoint stations, at least here in SoCal).

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

my Carwings shows me about 50-60 stations but about 30-40 are ones that i recorded manually. i also see random messages that Carwings has updated X stations, but i never see them. occasionally i will see a few added like Puyallup about 2 months ago and so on but i decided early on, if i want stations recorded, i need to do it myself. it would be nice if there was some way to add them without actually having to go there and plug in, but oh well, its MUCH better than nothing

 

[pawsouth]

I found that caring only has Nissan dealers ( which most of the time full with new of service cars) and municipal charges ( which are most likely some kind of charge such as parking or use fees). Charge point and Blink only have chargers in their network. PlugShare has a lot of residential but I don't want to disturb them unless absolutely necessary and some of the public / corporate charges are really private or not for public use. EV Charger Finder is not up to date. Recargo seems to be the best one for ios is best for me, what are your thoughts?

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

I found that caring only has Nissan dealers ( which most of the time full with new of service cars) and municipal charges ( which are most likely some kind of charge such as parking or use fees). Charge point and Blink only have chargers in their network. PlugShare has a lot of residential but I don't want to disturb them unless absolutely necessary and some of the public / corporate charges are really private or not for public use. EV Charger Finder is not up to date. Recargo seems to be the best one for ios is best for me, what are your thoughts?

i have a smartphone so i use them all; chargepoint, recargo, plugshare, and carstations.com (the last two are droid apps)

all have strengths, weaknesses, but combined, it aint bad

 

[davewill]

i have a smartphone so i use them all; chargepoint, recargo, plugshare, and carstations.com (the last two are droid apps)

all have strengths, weaknesses, but combined, it aint bad

Chargepoint and Blink also have droid apps.