Chicagoland area

[willnotbuygas]

...delivery date still says "month of December, 2011" I think I'd be January based on when I ordered but I reserved very early so maybe that helps. Or, maybe, they're using different VIN series for SL versus SV?

Delivery date now says "week of December 20, 2011"

....I think we're going to get a Leaf for Christmas!!! 7;^)

 

[willnotbuygas]

One more thought as I ride the high of now having a delivery date. I did some digging on Illinois "electric vehicle" plates. My dealer, of course, hasn't heard of them. I found a current pub that lists them as one of the many plates Illinois issues:

http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/publications/motoristpub.html#licenseplates" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...look about halfway down the page for VSD 789 License Plate Guide, open (it's a pdf) and look on page 9. I will forward this to my dealer so he knows they are available (they're not much to look at though..... 7:^(

Can any of you point me to the document, reference etc. that speaks to the annual fee for renewing said plates?

 

[willnotbuygas]

I think the electric vehicle plates option for Illinois is dead / over. Consider this record of the 97th general assembly @ http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=1866&GAID=10&DocTypeID=SB&SessionID=76" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Removes the requirement that the Secretary of State issue distinctive license plates for electric vehicles...." and the bill mods are effective 1 January 2010.

Boooooooo.......

 

[redLEAF]

I think the electric vehicle plates option for Illinois is dead / over. Consider this record of the 97th general assembly @ http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=1866&GAID=10&DocTypeID=SB&SessionID=76" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Removes the requirement that the Secretary of State issue distinctive license plates for electric vehicles...." and the bill mods are effective 1 January 2010.

Boooooooo.......

Sent you a PM, program is definitely still alive; you'll need to get the forms from SOS and I sent you their contact information -- only $18/yr versus $99/yr so worth the effort

 

[radryan]

Chated with CS today and they indicated that my car was in Port(Long Beach) as well. They indicated that they needed to inspect it then it would be loaded on the truck for the dealership.

Also, they were careful to say that the car could arrive the 7 days before, the 7 days after, or the day of my dashboard.

Anybody have info on the average time it takes to inspect cars in the Long Beach port? It looks that is the bottleneck. I would assume once inspected it would just take 5 to 7 days to drive it crosscountry.

 

[Bzzzzz]

Sorry that I haven't checked in for awhile, guys.

My delivery date is now showing December 13th to Mid City Nissan in Chicago. I have an SL in Super Black.

And I have a VIN.....150XX.

 

[redLEAF]

Not simply to create more posts but might be good to recap those here in Chicagoland (including our friends throughout IL which are always welcome) who have their VIN's which may (or not) be the closest to taking actual delivery; hopefully soon this will switch to "Chicagoland LEAF sightings"; as some are infrequent posters I may send a PM to see if they'll respond (listed not in any particular order), by all means post an update here if your status has changed; this is also NOT to slight those who do not have their VIN's yet but just to see where we're at as I only count 8 VIN's so far:

chijayhawker -- bowed out
bigtlb -- no VIN
dutchinchicago -- no VIN
dino -- VIN !!!
joleta -- (only 2 posts -- assume no VIN)
bzzzzz -- VIN !!!
leafinthepark (appears to be from MN, not IL)
lukati -- VIN !!!
prolix74 --- no VIN
YashuV -- VIN !!!
scottf200 -- Volt owner
wcbrauneis --- VIN !!!
radryan --- VIN !!! - Bloomington, IL
ualdriver -- Volt owner ?
portableal -- few posts ??
Tardis -- VIN !!!
tech01 -- no VIN
redLEAF --- VIN !!!
willnotbuygas -- no VIN
benleafexpert -- Thomas Nissan Joliet, dealer rep

If we missed some 'lurkers' make your first post if you're getting close !!

8 with VIN's waiting now ... thanks bzzzzz for checking in ...

 

[Ramesh]

Got our VIN a few weeks ago. Expecting our Car the 1st week in December.

 

[portableal]

I e-mailed the illinois secretary of state about elec. car plates here is thier response:
MESSAGE:
are there special lisence plates for electric cars. specificaly, the all electric Nissan "Leaf".
and how much do they cost per year.
Response:
Thank you for directing your questions to the Office of the Secretary of State via the Internet.

The reduced fee Electric Vehicle license plate is an optional license plate for vehicles that are powered entirely by electrical power. (batteries) The 2012 Nissan Leaf qualifies for an Electric Vehicle license plate. The plate is a 2 year plate, at a cost of $35. The fees are pro-rated depending on when you purchase the vehicle. There are no restrictions on the use of a vehicle with this license plate. You may apply for the plate through the dealership that you purchase the vehicle from. Let the dealership know that you are requesting an Electric Vehicle License plate. If you have further questions, please contact the Vehicle Services Department at 217/558-6148.

 

[redLEAF]

Got through to SOS IL and their title section needed to pass me along to another contact who while I got right through I needed to leave a message with. Once I get more details I'll pass them along --- again, so few EV's have been registered in IL I'm not really surprised that this process isn't more mainstream. The main contact did say that there is an application and certification that it's an actual electric powered vehicle (sounds more like for electric conversion vehicles but that's OK, the LEAF is really a breakthrough with so few Tesla's registered as well). As again we all have a few months, this should all be detailed here for future IL LEAF owner's to follow --- more later.

UPDATE -- hey, they called back a little while ago, apparently these plates are only available out of Springfield so they are mailing me an application. The IL Nissan dealer would give us a temporary license plate tag and then the plate would come direct from Springfield SOS office. They haven't gone past the 3-digit mark yet even though that series goes to 4-digits with the 'EL' suffix -- no vanity series are currently available and the plate is NOT required to register an EV. The contact I spoke with said that some owners want vanity tags and have opted to not get the series but of course regular fees + vanity plate fees apply to those 'regular' plates. The 'EL' plates are quite plain but definitely a low numbered series; they are good for two years and the end of the last two-year series is this December ($18/yr; $35/ 2 years); she had mentioned that the state will be increasing their stock of these with the LEAF being available soon so those who want one should be able to get it (this link shows a picture of EV series):

http://www.illinoistollway.com/portal/page?_pageid=73,2442212&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

If you're in IL and want one of these PM me and I'll send the SOS contact name and number as I believe they will probably only take an original form and not a photo copy -- this also answers the question about the Nissan LEAF I saw on cars.com -- they didn't NEED to use these plates so registered it under regular plates, of course they bought it from out of state and brought it in so they weren't eligible anyway (car needs to be purchased in-state from an IL dealer). Now we all know ... one more footnote, as these 'early adopter' LEAF's will arrive during the 4th Qtr, IL 'pro-rates' the annual plate to $9 + new title charge as well as requires an 'affirmation for EV' form to be completed; no question now as well as these plate forms are serialized (unique number scheme) so you need an original from SOS

Sorry but this is old news (had to go back, posted in August) I PM'd to those who wanted the IL SOS contact, she was unavailable this past Friday as it was a holiday but you should be able to reach her this week. The above would still apply for those whose cars actually do get registered before year end. More important is the IL EPA rebate; purchased cars only NOT leases -- please look back through this thread for additional details, some Nissan dealer's will know the details on both the EV (IL EL series) plates as well as the rebate but many do not.

 

[redLEAF]

Got our VIN a few weeks ago. Expecting our Car the 1st week in December.

'Ramesh' -- I see this is your first post so welcome!
Assume that you're also in the greater Chicago area?
If so we'll add you to the list who have VIN's above, just please confirm here or via PM if you prefer --

 

[willnotbuygas]

Got through to SOS IL and their title section needed to pass me along to another contact who while I got right through I needed to leave a message with. Once I get more details I'll pass them along --- again, so few EV's have been registered in IL I'm not really surprised that this process isn't more mainstream. The main contact did say that there is an application and certification that it's an actual electric powered vehicle (sounds more like for electric conversion vehicles but that's OK, the LEAF is really a breakthrough with so few Tesla's registered as well). As again we all have a few months, this should all be detailed here for future IL LEAF owner's to follow --- more later.

UPDATE -- hey, they called back a little while ago, apparently these plates are only available out of Springfield so they are mailing me an application. The IL Nissan dealer would give us a temporary license plate tag and then the plate would come direct from Springfield SOS office. They haven't gone past the 3-digit mark yet even though that series goes to 4-digits with the 'EL' suffix -- no vanity series are currently available and the plate is NOT required to register an EV. The contact I spoke with said that some owners want vanity tags and have opted to not get the series but of course regular fees + vanity plate fees apply to those 'regular' plates. The 'EL' plates are quite plain but definitely a low numbered series; they are good for two years and the end of the last two-year series is this December ($18/yr; $35/ 2 years); she had mentioned that the state will be increasing their stock of these with the LEAF being available soon so those who want one should be able to get it (this link shows a picture of EV series):

http://www.illinoistollway.com/portal/page?_pageid=73,2442212&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

If you're in IL and want one of these PM me and I'll send the SOS contact name and number as I believe they will probably only take an original form and not a photo copy -- this also answers the question about the Nissan LEAF I saw on cars.com -- they didn't NEED to use these plates so registered it under regular plates, of course they bought it from out of state and brought it in so they weren't eligible anyway (car needs to be purchased in-state from an IL dealer). Now we all know ... one more footnote, as these 'early adopter' LEAF's will arrive during the 4th Qtr, IL 'pro-rates' the annual plate to $9 + new title charge as well as requires an 'affirmation for EV' form to be completed; no question now as well as these plate forms are serialized (unique number scheme) so you need an original from SOS

Sorry but this is old news (had to go back, posted in August) I PM'd to those who wanted the IL SOS contact, she was unavailable this past Friday as it was a holiday but you should be able to reach her this week. The above would still apply for those whose cars actually do get registered before year end. More important is the IL EPA rebate; purchased cars only NOT leases -- please look back through this thread for additional details, some Nissan dealer's will know the details on both the EV (IL EL series) plates as well as the rebate but many do not.

I talked with Diane today. She was very helpful and friendly, some additional info:

*** Tesla Roadster & Nissan Leaf do * not * require the "electric vehicle affirmation" form 'cause they're manufactured new as 100% electrics.
*** If you want it, PM me, I'll send it to you as Diane was gracious enough to e-mail me a Word version of it.
*** Your dealer can request an electric vehicle plate by filling out the normal form and writing "electric vehicle plate" in the appropriate box.

Hope this helps y'all. Thanks redLEAF for the phone # !!!

p.s. Please mark "willnotbuygas" as VIN = yes... whoever's keeping that list... -166xx

 

[lukati]

Your dealer can request an electric vehicle plate by filling out the normal form and writing "electric vehicle plate" in the appropriate box.

Did I understand this correctly? I can go and buy/pick up my LEAF with only my driver's license and no other document/form, and all the necessary paperwork for the EL plates can be done at the dealership. If this is the case, I was once again correctly informed by my dealer. Amazing.

 

[redLEAF]

Got through to SOS IL and their title section needed to pass me along to another contact who while I got right through I needed to leave a message with. Once I get more details I'll pass them along --- again, so few EV's have been registered in IL I'm not really surprised that this process isn't more mainstream. The main contact did say that there is an application and certification that it's an actual electric powered vehicle (sounds more like for electric conversion vehicles but that's OK, the LEAF is really a breakthrough with so few Tesla's registered as well). As again we all have a few months, this should all be detailed here for future IL LEAF owner's to follow --- more later.

UPDATE -- hey, they called back a little while ago, apparently these plates are only available out of Springfield so they are mailing me an application. The IL Nissan dealer would give us a temporary license plate tag and then the plate would come direct from Springfield SOS office. They haven't gone past the 3-digit mark yet even though that series goes to 4-digits with the 'EL' suffix -- no vanity series are currently available and the plate is NOT required to register an EV. The contact I spoke with said that some owners want vanity tags and have opted to not get the series but of course regular fees + vanity plate fees apply to those 'regular' plates. The 'EL' plates are quite plain but definitely a low numbered series; they are good for two years and the end of the last two-year series is this December ($18/yr; $35/ 2 years); she had mentioned that the state will be increasing their stock of these with the LEAF being available soon so those who want one should be able to get it (this link shows a picture of EV series):

http://www.illinoistollway.com/portal/page?_pageid=73,2442212&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

If you're in IL and want one of these PM me and I'll send the SOS contact name and number as I believe they will probably only take an original form and not a photo copy -- this also answers the question about the Nissan LEAF I saw on cars.com -- they didn't NEED to use these plates so registered it under regular plates, of course they bought it from out of state and brought it in so they weren't eligible anyway (car needs to be purchased in-state from an IL dealer). Now we all know ... one more footnote, as these 'early adopter' LEAF's will arrive during the 4th Qtr, IL 'pro-rates' the annual plate to $9 + new title charge as well as requires an 'affirmation for EV' form to be completed; no question now as well as these plate forms are serialized (unique number scheme) so you need an original from SOS

Sorry but this is old news (had to go back, posted in August) I PM'd to those who wanted the IL SOS contact, she was unavailable this past Friday as it was a holiday but you should be able to reach her this week. The above would still apply for those whose cars actually do get registered before year end. More important is the IL EPA rebate; purchased cars only NOT leases -- please look back through this thread for additional details, some Nissan dealer's will know the details on both the EV (IL EL series) plates as well as the rebate but many do not.

I talked with Diane today. She was very helpful and friendly, some additional info:

*** Tesla Roadster & Nissan Leaf do * not * require the "electric vehicle affirmation" form 'cause they're manufactured new as 100% electrics.
*** If you want it, PM me, I'll send it to you as Diane was gracious enough to e-mail me a Word version of it.
*** Your dealer can request an electric vehicle plate by filling out the normal form and writing "electric vehicle plate" in the appropriate box.

Hope this helps y'all. Thanks redLEAF for the phone # !!!

p.s. Please mark "willnotbuygas" as VIN = yes... whoever's keeping that list... -166xx

*** Originally posted list has been updated by redLEAF
*** Hopefully the 'affirmation' is no longer needed but she sent it with the form back to me when I requested the plate form a few months back ... does she have a disclaimer or something that covers this change?
*** True on the last statement but few dealers are aware of the existence of an 'EL' series plate or even what to charge for it, she filled these in on my form so the dealer's staff can simply submit it

On lukati's f/u ... don't count on your dealer knowing what to do ... you could wait for a long time and the application could get rejected if not submitted correctly

 

[redLEAF]

Not simply to create more posts but might be good to recap those here in Chicagoland (including our friends throughout IL which are always welcome) who have their VIN's which may (or not) be the closest to taking actual delivery; hopefully soon this will switch to "Chicagoland LEAF sightings"; as some are infrequent posters I may send a PM to see if they'll respond (listed not in any particular order), by all means post an update here if your status has changed; this is also NOT to slight those who do not have their VIN's yet but just to see where we're at as I only count 10 VIN's so far:

chijayhawker -- bowed out
bigtlb -- no VIN
dutchinchicago -- no VIN
dino -- VIN !!!
joleta -- (only 2 posts -- assume no VIN)
bzzzzz -- VIN !!!
leafinthepark (appears to be from MN, not IL)
lukati -- VIN !!!
prolix74 --- no VIN
YashuV -- VIN !!!
scottf200 -- Volt owner
wcbrauneis --- VIN !!!
radryan --- VIN !!! - Bloomington, IL
ualdriver -- Volt owner ?
portableal -- few posts ??
Tardis -- VIN !!!
tech01 -- no VIN
redLEAF --- VIN !!!
willnotbuygas -- VIN !!!
Ramesh --- VIN!!!
benleafexpert -- Thomas Nissan Joliet, dealer rep

If we missed some 'lurkers' make your first post if you're getting close !!

Now 10 confirmed ...

 

[scottf200]

Chicagoland EV club:
http://www.fveaa.org/content/view/5/3/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, November 14, 2011 12:40 PM
Subject: FVEAA Newsletter Published

Hi Folks,

This month's FVEAA newsletter has been published.

The PDF version is here: http:/www.fveaa.org/docs/newsletters/2011/FVEAA_newsletter_2011_11.pdf
The HTML version is here: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhrrhx2d_139vvzp4chk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Reminder: Friday's meeting will start at 7pm (doors open at 6:30pm).

Thanks,

Keith Baubkus
Newsletter Editor

 

[YashuV]

I cancelled my Nissan Leaf today, I saw bmwi3 and I will just wait another year for it.

Personally: "If electric cars should be the future, let them look like it"

I hope someone else got my Nissan Leaf ;-) muah!

 

[dutchinchicago]

My delivery date has changed to Dec 13 from Dec 5. No Vin or carwings yet.

I am a bit jealous of the people who get calls from their dealer about their car status. I went with Martin Nissan based on reviews I found on-line but it usually takes me days to get hold of their ev-specialist. She never returns calls. She made me drive down two weeks ago to evaluate my trade in (45 minute drive) and then their trade in specialist refused to come outside to look at the car because it was still a month till delivery. Really bad service. Avoid Martin Nissan.

Also getting a bit of range anxiety. I am starting to realize that there are no chargers anywhere outside the city so I will not be able to make my regular trips to Wisconsin anymore.

 

[Tardis]

According to the us dept of energy website. There are a few charging stations outside the city. True, it is spotty at best.

http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/progs/ind_state.php/IL/ELEC" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[lukati]

I cancelled my Nissan Leaf today, I saw bmwi3 and I will just wait another year for it.

It will probably cost you more (plus some dealer markup), but the battery thermal system will be first class. In addition to everything else.