NASHVILLE TENNESSEE - LEAF

[davewill]

... I've seen some places wanting to charge 'by the hour' which is less favorable to a LEAF owner vs a Tesla owner due to the rating/speed of the charger. Always thought it was a 'odd way' to charge, but if it is illegal to sell electric ...

Here in California, it was specifically made legal to charge for electricity for EV charging, but the trend still seems to be pay by the hour. The 3.3kW charger in the LEAF is a liability in that regard. I think it comes from the fact that the parking spaces are more valuable than the electricity. It probably won't change until the charge infrastructure becomes extremely plentiful, and probably not even then.

 

[fishfool]

I spoke with the local Nashville Ecotality rep. last month about charger fees. He seemed to think there would be a flat fee, he suggested $1, which he said would be split 50/50 with Blink and the contractor/owner of the parking lot.

BTW I saw the power utility today at CB Stewart's Ferry putting in a new power drop for the QC station.

 

[TNleaf]

BTW I saw the power utility today at CB Stewart's Ferry putting in a new power drop for the QC station.

Nice. That's a perfect spot for us when we are headed out that way... although no more Opry Mills makes it hard for an excuse to go that way for us!

 

[JPWhite]

I spoke with the local Nashville Ecotality rep. last month about charger fees. He seemed to think there would be a flat fee, he suggested $1, which he said would be split 50/50 with Blink and the contractor/owner of the parking lot.

$1 for the quick chargers and I'll be more than happy to get an 80% charge for a buck. However for opportunity charging at an L2 charger, I'll probably not bother unless I am really needing the extra to get where I'm going. A typical 1 hour stay for a meal would mean just 2 bars for a $1, i.e. 10 miles of range, which isn't much cheaper than a gas vehicle.

As a business owner I'd want to offer free charging to bring extra business in for less than a quarter, however that doesn't help Blink, they can't survive on a 'free' model. Should Blink make money from selling and installing EVSE's only or try and make money from individual charge sessions?

I got a 5 bar charge at the Holiday Inn on west end this evening. I will pay a $1 for that, its reasonable value and I need the charge by that portion of my journey anyway.

 

[fishfool]

Well fellow Leaf owners I would enjoy the free charging while we can because I know it will be gone one day as sure as cable tv without commercials. I believe in Houston the plan is to lease elictrified parking spaces.

I have posted some CB Stewarts Ferry photos at http://home.comcast.net/~fishfool2/site/.

 

[JPWhite]

Well fellow Leaf owners I would enjoy the free charging while we can because I know it will be gone one day as sure as cable tv without commercials.

Yep, all good things come to an end. Currently 5% of my charging is at public locations. Wish it was more

 

[fishfool]

Good news the QC at Stewart's Ferry is up and running, so is AC pedestal.
I charged today. I got 20% boost in about 14 minutes. Rules:1. Have your Blink RFID card of course. Also make sure card is registered to use QC stations. I have been using the card for over a month but somehow it was not registered. Call Blink # on card if it does not recognize your zip code.
2. Enter your zip code and be patient with the touch screen, backspace x-key may come in handy.
3. Put QC plugin port, it weighs a lot more than a AC charger plug. Then lock plug in port.
4. Enter amount of charge desired, 80%, 90%, 100%. That's % of 10 bars.
5. Press charge button on touch screen. QC plug shows red light when charge begins.
6. Unplug by pressing release lock. Replace plug in receptecle, if you drop it on the ground you might crush a toe.

Observation: QC seems to imbalance Lion cells as after charge 2 circles not available on regen braking, although I had less than 10 bars. Maybe that is why Nissan does not recomend QC more than once a day. Only one car can charge at a time even though there are 2 physical plugs. 2 cars can plug in but one must wait till the other is done to start charging. I'm glad to get the quick boost. Use it, at least to get the bugs out.

 

[JPWhite]

Good news the QC at Stewart's Ferry is up and running, so is AC pedestal.
I charged today. I got 20% boost in about 14 minutes. Rules:1. Have your Blink RFID card of course. Also make sure card is registered to use QC stations. I have been using the card for over a month but somehow it was not registered. Call Blink # on card if it does not recognize your zip code.
2. Enter your zip code and be patient with the touch screen, backspace x-key may come in handy.
3. Put QC plugin port, it weighs a lot more than a AC charger plug. Then lock plug in port.
4. Enter amount of charge desired, 80%, 90%, 100%. That's % of 10 bars.
5. Press charge button on touch screen. QC plug shows red light when charge begins.
6. Unplug by pressing release lock. Replace plug in receptecle, if you drop it on the ground you might crush a toe.

Observation: QC seems to imbalance Lion cells as after charge 2 circles not available on regen braking, although I had less than 10 bars. Maybe that is why Nissan does not recomend QC more than once a day. Only one car can charge at a time even though there are 2 physical plugs. 2 cars can plug in but one must wait till the other is done to start charging. I'm glad to get the quick boost. Use it, at least to get the bugs out.

Cool news. Thanks for the update!!

 

[ralphmc]

Good news the QC at Stewart's Ferry is up and running, so is AC pedestal.
I charged today. I got 20% boost in about 14 minutes. Rules:1. Have your Blink RFID card of course. Also make sure card is registered to use QC stations. I have been using the card for over a month but somehow it was not registered. Call Blink # on card if it does not recognize your zip code.
2. Enter your zip code and be patient with the touch screen, backspace x-key may come in handy.
3. Put QC plugin port, it weighs a lot more than a AC charger plug. Then lock plug in port.
4. Enter amount of charge desired, 80%, 90%, 100%. That's % of 10 bars.
5. Press charge button on touch screen. QC plug shows red light when charge begins.
6. Unplug by pressing release lock. Replace plug in receptacle, if you drop it on the ground you might crush a toe.

Observation: QC seems to imbalance Lion cells as after charge 2 circles not available on regenerative braking, although I had less than 10 bars. Maybe that is why Nissan does not recommend QC more than once a day. Only one car can charge at a time even though there are 2 physical plugs. 2 cars can plug in but one must wait till the other is done to start charging. I'm glad to get the quick boost. Use it, at least to get the bugs out.

Great FishFool for reporting this!

A couple of details, and corrections on your report:

1. the touch screen is very slow in response to your key in entry, so don't attempt to type to fast.
2. Be sure that when you are plugging it into the QC port, due to the wait you tend to force it into the cars socket, make absolutely sure to press the top black button first before you place the final push of the plug into the socket, otherwise the plug's mechanism can actually break - I almost broke it that Wednesday when I attended to test the two car charging process with the BLINK crew while they were doing the final testing on the unit. (yes even in the poring rain - now that is dedication on there part)
3. Not just is the Plug heavier, the cord is thicker and as it gets colder far more stiffer then an equal sized "gas hose", so it will have a mind of its own, as you attempt to point the plug to the socket.
4. Unfortunately BLINK was forced by Nissan to alter the original programming to "not" display any value then 80%, so no 90% and no 100% option on the stations, so you only have 60% 80% as an option to charge too.
But you do have the L2 charger next to it so you could just move the car out of the QC spot, and then plug into the L2 to get the rest of the top-off done.
5. Yes two cars can be plugged in, and the charger will automatically change over to the 2nd in line vehicle once the 1st one finishes the charging either by 80% or by manually disconnecting from the station, terminating the charge.

When I pull off that day from the charger I noticed an alert in the display with a car symbol and an exclamation mark in the middle of it, apparently some sort of an error was thrown as we unplugged the power, and I started the car.

I did not have any issues when I used the first one in Lebanon the other day.

Ralph

 

[fishfool]

Hey Ralphmc,JPWhite and other pioneers,

The software must have been changed on the QC station because yesterday I pressed an option button which gave me the choice of 80% 90% 100%. I used 80% the first time and 90% on the other plug later. If you want 10 bars you would have to use the 100% choice. How much regen is temporarily lost from 100% charge choice I don't know. When I did 90% charge I lost 2 circles of regen.

When I spoke with Blink rep, he said the blink website charger map is not working as well as hoped. No kidding! I Put the new CB QC on the Plugshare site yesterday. Happy charging all.

 

[ralphmc]

Hey Ralphmc,JPWhite and other pioneers,

The software must have been changed on the QC station because yesterday I pressed an option button which gave me the choice of 80% 90% 100%. I used 80% the first time and 90% on the other plug later. If you want 10 bars you would have to use the 100% choice. How much regen is temporarily lost from 100% charge choice I don't know. When I did 90% charge I lost 2 circles of regen.

When I spoke with Blink rep, he said the blink website charger map is not working as well as hoped. No kidding! I Put the new CB QC on the Plugshare site yesterday. Happy charging all.

BTW,

PlugShare http://www.plugshare.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - shows the BLINK L3 charger bright and yellow at the CB location in 3454 Percy Priest Drive, Nashville, TN 37214

This is getting exiting!

Ralph

 

[JPWhite]

BTW,

PlugShare http://www.plugshare.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - shows the BLINK L3 charger bright and yellow at the CB location in 3454 Percy Priest Drive, Nashville, TN 37214

This is getting exiting!

Ralph

Indeed it is. Tennessee is the leading state for DC quick chargers. We have 4, closest state after us is Texas with 2, CA MI NC one each.

We should have 14 by December if they can keep up the install schedule, which appears to be running a little behind. Certainly by Christmas

 

[kelseypost]

LOL i've been totally out of the loop. Does yellow mean it's a quick charge station?

 

[JPWhite]

LOL i've been totally out of the loop. Does yellow mean it's a quick charge station?

Yep

 

[davewill]

I wanted to get a clarification. An 80% charge is 10 of 12 bars. Are you indeed saying that choosing 100% on the Blink QC gets you 100% of 10 bars, or an 80% charge?

 

[ralphmc]

I wanted to get a clarification. An 80% charge is 10 of 12 bars. Are you indeed saying that choosing 100% on the Blink QC gets you 100% of 10 bars, or an 80% charge?

The QC gets you an 80% charge - according to the feedback from the Car's battery management - as you know due to way the batteries are being ballanced - the value is not neccessary 80%. The Car's battery management signals the QC a target charge point reached as soon as one of the 2 pairs of cells (in the 48 Packs) has reached the 80% charge threshold (not and average). Now the charge occured faster then the ballancing of the batteries takes place - so all of the sudden you will see that you drive 1 mile or so - and the indicator on GOM drops down to less then 80%. It will ballance out how ever if you continue on driving for a few more miles.

hope that answer your question.

Ralph

 

[CWO4Mann]

ICE'd at the Cool Springs Cracker Barrel today. I wrote a note on the CB web site. I recommended that they have better signage and paint more distinctive strips on the pavement.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/phot...="500" height="299" alt="ICE'd at CB #2"></a>

 

[ralphmc]

ICE'd at the Cool Springs Cracker Barrel today. I wrote a note on the CB web site. I recommended that they have better signage and paint more distinctive strips on the pavement.

Cwo4mann, and others in the state of TN -

I am working currently intensive with Cracker Barrel to get this issue resolved, they are aware of it, and are currently
attempting to get somewhat of a standard going that they can use across all the stores in TN.

Being very busy with implementing and managing the L3 charger installations the departments in charge for the signage and the painting of the parking spots hasn't had enough time to fix the issue as of yet.

Ralph

 

[CWO4Mann]

ICE'd at the Cool Springs Cracker Barrel today. I wrote a note on the CB web site. I recommended that they have better signage and paint more distinctive strips on the pavement.

Cwo4mann, and others in the state of TN -

I am working currently intensive with Cracker Barrel to get this issue resolved, they are aware of it, and are currently
attempting to get somewhat of a standard going that they can use across all the stores in TN.

Being very busy with implementing and managing the L3 charger installations the departments in charge for the signage and the painting of the parking spots hasn't had enough time to fix the issue as of yet.

Ralph

Thanks Ralph! Appreciate your efforts!

Alles Gute,

Dave

 

[JPWhite]

I believe the next scheduled L3 charger is CB Murfreesboro. Anyone live close by that can confirm progress?

With the Murfressboro location this will create a 'little triangle' of L3 chargers between interstates 840, 40 and 24