NC Leaf Owners

[muleferg]

Northampton EV Rally competition coming up Oct. 19,20. We will leave after school on Thursday (18th) to Garysburg NC-NCCAR Test Track-near Roanoke Rapids.
West Wilkes EV Team will be there.............. Ashely, teaching ASU students at Boone.

 

[Atebit]

Well, don't take this the wrong way, but I don't buy condoning, explaining away or otherwise apologizing for selective enforcement of the law. Why bother having a law if you just going to look the other way? If you've been parking "in the same space for years", my guess is you would notice it suddenly now has green lines and a big sign that says electric vehicles only or pay $50. But since you're in CA I doubt you've seen a Raleigh PEV parking space. They're pretty hard to miss (unless you decide to be a scofflaw).

And yes, people frequently go to the trouble to put up counterfeit signs & dream up ficticious ordinance numbers to promote their nutty agendas like electric cars. If that's the mindset of our local police force, well then we have bigger issues.

Locally, we all know how frequently ICEing occurs. I'd like to know how many tickets have been written against it so far, after being on the books for what, six months now? My guess: zero.

I guess I don't get it. The sign clearly states the ordanance number & fine, so what else is there to "hear of"? What, did he think you made the sign & hung it there yourself?

Sounds like laziness to me...he could sit there for a while & chill while waiting to supposedly issue a warning, instead of writing a ticket & getting back to work.

Lance, did you say you know people on the City Council...?

That may all be true, although it's actually correct for the officer to not simply take the sign as gospel. The sign may be posted, but the law not valid, or not in force yet. In many places, such signs are placed by private parties, not government. That said, he could have called in and gotten verification of the ordinance.

Also, when signs/laws are new, local police will often be lenient. If someone has parked in the same lot for years and suddenly there's a new sign, it's easy to overlook it. Personally, this doesn't sound like such a case, though, and I would have thought that parking in two spots would have been sufficient evidence that the driver was simply contemptuous of the EV spots.

 

[davewill]

Did you even read my post? Bizarre. I didn't suggest any sort of "counterfeit" sign. Just noting that the sign could be put up prematurely or be incorrect in some other way. I still say it was right for the officer to insist on direct knowledge of the ordinance and that it correctly applied to this instance. Heck, I even agreed that in the circumstances you described, he should have gotten called in, got whatever confirmation he needed and written the asshole up.

As far as the "new" sign thing...I'm glad you never make mistakes or fail to notice every single new sign as soon as they show up in your daily travels. :roll:

Well, don't take this the wrong way, but I don't buy condoning, explaining away or otherwise apologizing for selective enforcement of the law. Why bother having a law if you just going to look the other way? If you've been parking "in the same space for years", my guess is you would notice it suddenly now has green lines and a big sign that says electric vehicles only or pay $50. But since you're in CA I doubt you've seen a Raleigh PEV parking space. They're pretty hard to miss (unless you decide to be a scofflaw).

And yes, people frequently go to the trouble to put up counterfeit signs & dream up ficticious ordinance numbers to promote their nutty agendas like electric cars. If that's the mindset of our local police force, well then we have bigger issues.

Locally, we all know how frequently ICEing occurs. I'd like to know how many tickets have been written against it so far, after being on the books for what, six months now? My guess: zero.

I guess I don't get it. The sign clearly states the ordanance number & fine, so what else is there to "hear of"? What, did he think you made the sign & hung it there yourself?

Sounds like laziness to me...he could sit there for a while & chill while waiting to supposedly issue a warning, instead of writing a ticket & getting back to work.

Lance, did you say you know people on the City Council...?

That may all be true, although it's actually correct for the officer to not simply take the sign as gospel. The sign may be posted, but the law not valid, or not in force yet. In many places, such signs are placed by private parties, not government. That said, he could have called in and gotten verification of the ordinance.

Also, when signs/laws are new, local police will often be lenient. If someone has parked in the same lot for years and suddenly there's a new sign, it's easy to overlook it. Personally, this doesn't sound like such a case, though, and I would have thought that parking in two spots would have been sufficient evidence that the driver was simply contemptuous of the EV spots.

 

[harryjpowell]

Guess theres a new EV BMW x5 in town!

Sat there for an hour at lunch time
Thanks !

 

[Atebit]

So I need to bring my leaf in for a state inspection soon. Should I expect just a safety inspection or an emissions inspection as well? I called NCDOT to ask this question & was told "they will do whatever the system tells them to do".

So I guess that translates to "whatever is in their database for my VIN". Seems a waste to have to pay for the emissions inspection if that's what "the system" tells them to do.

 

[NuclearLeaf]

I got my state inspection in Dec. at the same time I was in for the first year battery check. All at Southern States Nissan, they only charged for the safety inspection, around $10.60 I think. The battery check was all good also. They asked about rotating the tires, and I said I took care of that myself, they did not try to sell me any other services, which I greatly appreciated. Overall a very good service appointment.

 

[harryjpowell]

FYI the left cord at the North Hills Mall charger is broken. I started to plugin and the cord just stuck, turned it around and could see one of the connectors was all damaged. Don't know how that could have happened but there's no # to call on those stations. So just and FYI....

 

[MTNRanger]

FYI the left cord at the North Hills Mall charger is broken. I started to plugin and the cord just stuck, turned it around and could see one of the connectors was all damaged. Don't know how that could have happened but there's no # to call on those stations. So just and FYI....

I just used the right one today and the left was connected to a Volt that was charging correctly.
When the stations were broken last year, I contacted the shopping center's website and they initiated the repair. Here is the info:

http://www.northhillsraleigh.com/contact/

Property Management:
919-719-5404
North Hills Main Number:
919-881-1146

 

[muleferg]

Has anyone got to the Turtle Mode yet?
Mule

 

[nlagnew]

Nope, but I have hit "low battery" twice. Because EVSEs are so few and far between where I drive (the west side of the Triangle, there appear to be many more in Raleigh), I pretty much stick to driving where I know I will make it, or where I know I'll be within a few miles of an EVSE and go make a quick stop if I have to.

don't really want to Turtle, myself personally.

 

[lpickup]

Has anyone got to the Turtle Mode yet?
Mule

As a matter of fact I am ashamed to admit I had to get a tow yesterday.

It was a cold day on my long (70+ mile) trip to/from Durham. I pre-heated the car but figured with the core warmed up I could afford to run the heater for about half of the trip there. I was down a to a little less than 50% for the return trip, but I figured I wouldn't use the heat on the way back and there was that little extra buffer.

I got low battery warning about 12-15 miles out.

I got VLBW only about a mile from my house, but I decided I would be safe and go about 2 miles out of my way to get a sandwich at Harris Teeter and try to explore how many miles after VLBW I had (I've reached it twice, but only as I've been pulling into my driveway). I figured I might have another 5 miles at least.

On the way back, after starting the car I almost immediately lost 4 power dots, but that part was downhill. I did the best I could to coast, but as soon as I started going back up hill is when I hit turtle. Power dots dropped rapidly at that point until I had only 1. I ducked to a side street and made it less than 1/4 mile when the car shifted into neutral.

I was only 1/2 mile from home and literally just around the corner from a house that I saw a LEAF at the day before.

I called roadside assistance and got a tow the half-mile to my house!

So I learned that after VLBW I didn't actually have 5-10 miles, but more like 2-4 (I did have about 10 miles from LBW to VLBW though).

And as I had heard, turtle mode basically means start finding a place to park.

 

[muleferg]

Congratulation! You are now a Turtle Club member Send me your mailing add and I will send you a membership Myrtle the Turtle. I keep one on my dash to remind me.

[email protected]

 

[harryjpowell]

Anyone else get ice here in NC ? Poor connector left in the cold!

And an Ice Beard!

 

[jimmyz80]

Just jumping in to say hello and introduce myself. Today I put down a deposit on a 2013 SL that my local dealer (Cary, NC) has on order. Supposedly it will be arriving in late February, so I'm twiddling my thumbs over here in anxiety. Electrician is coming to quote the installation of a 240v-40A circuit in my garage on Thursday, and I just ordered my Schneider L2 EVSE.

I have no doubts I'll love the Leaf, and hopefully I'll have a chance to meet some of you all in the near future.

 

[lspooz]

Has anyone got to the Turtle Mode yet?
Mule

Am I a member of the Turtle Club?
You bet your sweet @ss I am!
Couldn't pass up an old reference to the Apollo/NASA missions...

Just jumping in to say hello and introduce myself. Today I put down a deposit on a 2013 SL that my local dealer (Cary, NC) has on order. Supposedly it will be arriving in late February, so I'm twiddling my thumbs over here in anxiety. Electrician is coming to quote the installation of a 240v-40A circuit in my garage on Thursday, and I just ordered my Schneider L2 EVSE.I have no doubts I'll love the Leaf, and hopefully I'll have a chance to meet some of you all in the near future
Welcome to Jimmyz80 - given the local drivers, make sure to buy a real horn [see threads about replacing the polite Japanese horn: it is a real safety issue]

 

[MrIanB]

Anyone else get ice here in NC ? Poor connector left in the cold!

And an Ice Beard!

I would have lowered the lid once plugged in and the put a towel over the lid to avoid ice in the charge port and easy removal of the EVSE the next morning.

Ian B

 

[lpickup]

Anyone else get ice here in NC ?

The cool thing is that my wife arrived home the other night and unlike an ICE that has no ice on the hood, the LEAF was covered with ice!

...Lance

 

[LEAFer]

Anyone else get ice here in NC ?

The cool thing is that my wife arrived home the other night and unlike an ICE that has no ice on the hood, the LEAF was covered with ice!

...Lance

:lol: The ICE was ON the hood, not UNDER the hood :lol:

 

[Atebit]

I went to see Spamalot at the Progress Energy Center in Raleigh yesterday. Apparently, ABB is one of the center's sponsors. In the lobby was a Leaf thst was hooked up to a (non-working, obviously) hulking ABB Level III charger. The Leaf had a sign on it that said, "Full charge in 20 minutes!

So I talked to one of the ABB reps for a few minutes before going into the show. IIRC he mentioned that one of their L III chargers cost somewhere around $25,000, and "what a deal it would be" for gas stations to install them. When I asked about the necessary infrastructure required for L III chargers, he agreed that could be a bit of a barrier to adoption in the near term.

This rep seemed to be knowledgable about his product, but not so much about PEVs or EVSE's in general. For instance, when I that Raleigh has done a good job of installing Level II chargers in the downtown area, he didn't know what I meant by a Level II charger. I guess that's fair...you can't expect everyone that works in that industry to be a driver I guess.

Anyway, it was good to see some good publicity around the Leaf, charging, and PEV's in general. There were a lot of folks kicking the tires and asking questions, so hats off to the Progress Energy Center and ABB for helping to raise awareness. I don't know how long they'll be set up there, but if you're in the area & have some time you can stop by and shoot the breeze with the ABB folks.

 

[NuclearLeaf]

I will be traveling to Durham Regional Hospital next month for the birth of my grandson. I would like to be able to drive my Leaf, but will need someplace to get a full charge for the return trip home. I found charging stations listed at The Museum of Life & Science, and I don't mind the walk (looks to be about 1.2 mile). So my questions are:
Other near by places to charge that I'm not aware of?
If I walk from the Life & Science building, is it safe?