What I Wish I had Known about Charging Stations

[ALF]

I've only had my LEAF for a few weeks, and I have learned a great deal from reading through this discussion Forum. Still, we made some mistakes and near-mistakes when purchasing a charging station; mistakes that would have been easily avoided if we had known more going into the process:

- If we had solely listened to our dealer, we would have purchased an AeroVironment Level 2 charging station at a premium price, and then overpaid for them to install it. Even if we had decided to buy the AV "DIY" model that plugs into a 240v outlet, we still would have paid several hundred dollars more than the cost of the same unit elsewhere.

- There are a number of choices of fairly similar Level 2 chargers available from places like Amazon, Lowes and Home Depot. Although they have various features that distinguish them from each other, the main differences are simply if the station needs to hard-wired versus plugged in, and if the station is capable of delivering 16 amps versus 30 amps. The LEAF's onboard charger can only draw 16 amps, so any station that can deliver more than that is overkill. Still, if you are committed to electric vehicles, it might make sense to get a 30-amp station that will have the ability to deliver a faster charge to future vehicles that will be able to accept that much current. 16 amp stations are only slightly cheaper, so it would seem that the best reason to get one of these would be if you have limited current available at the installation point. We ended up with a Schneider EVLink EV2430WS 30-amp station that is small, simple to operate, and took our electrician less than a half-hour to install. At $800, this unit was about half the price of the AV station for sale at my dealer.

- I had already ordered my charging station and scheduled the installation before I figured out that there might be a possibility for a free station from EcoTotality's Blink Network. Various threads on this forum refer to this possibility, but most of them were old, leading me to think that this only happened for the earliest adopters. The Blink Network website is only slightly helpful in this regard, but I did join the network (if nothing else to use their charging network) and inquired about whether or not I qualified for a free charger. It turns out that I might, and I would have definitely continued sending them the documentation they require if I had not already bought a charging station. I would probably have saved money, even though it would probably have cost me substantially more to have them install the station than the $75 my electrician cost.

- There are numerous threads on this forum about having the Nissan EVSE Level 1 "trickle charger" upgraded so that it can deliver Level 2 16-amps @ 240v to the LEAF charger. If I was going to use this unit as my sole charging option, I wouldn't even hesitate, as, at about $300, this is by far the lowest-cost choice. I decided however, that it was getting tedious to unpack/uncoil/plug and unplug/coil/pack the Nissan EVSE every day. Now that my Level 2 station is up and running in my garage, I will keep my Nissan Level 1 unit in the car for emergencies. If I do find that there are 240v sources out there for me to use, then I will upgrade the Nissan EVSE to Level 2.

 

[smkettner]

Yea the magic is fading fast. Just an appliance any electrician can install.

 

[planet4ever]

The mistake I made was keeping the Nissan trickle charging EVSE "for emergencies" and getting a second one upgraded. In 18+ months there haven't been any emergencies and I doubt if there ever will be. My EVSEupgrade is effectively permanently plugged in at home as my one and only home charging station. If I had upgraded the one that came with the car, then in the rare event that I might be traveling somewhere that a charging emergency could arise with no 240v stations in the area, I could simply unplug it and take it with me. I wouldn't want to do that every day, but a few times a year? No problem.

Ray

 

[KJD]

You seemed to have missed the fact the the Blink stations are poorly designed, piece of garbage that are not worth the time to install.

Any other EVSE you can pick will give you better service. The Blink service for brocken units is also horrible. The one public Blink station in SLC has been down for over a month now. I have called the service line at least 5 times and it is still brocken. I get a different song and dance every time I call.

There is just nothing good to say about Blink hardware. It is total garbage. Avoid it at all cost.

 

[KJD]

We ended up with a Schneider EVLink EV2430WS 30-amp station that is small, simple to operate, and took our electrician less than a half-hour to install. At $800, this unit was about half the price of the AV station for sale at my dealer.

You made a good choice here, it will serve you well.

 

[ALF]

I too looked at getting another Nissan EVSE upgraded to Level 2, but the cost is equivalent to getting a Level 2 station. After looking inside a Level 2 station, I can't figure out what the heck is in there that could cost so much. I'm having an even tougher time understanding why a Nissan Level 1 EVSE costs nearly the same thing!

I don't know about the quality of Blink residential charging stations, but the Blink public stations that I've seen 'on the Blink' are not at all reassuring. I'm not second-guessing my final decision to buy a station and have it installed by my electrician.

I really like my LEAF, but if my experience is typical, then Nissan dealers are probably losing sales as a result of their charging station marketing. Perhaps Nissan and AeroVironment have some sort of exclusive marketing arrangement, but it doesn't seem to be working in Nissan's favor. They are offering these great end-of-model-year leases on 2012 LEAFs, but it gives someone pause when they are told that they are also going to need to shell out at least $2,000 more for a charging station.

 

[mitch672]

You can build you own for a little more than $400, if you are comfortable with a soldering iron and some simple electrical work:

http://code.google.com/p/open-evse/wiki/EVSE_by_mwolrich" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Herm]

All this fear and confusion could have been avoided from the git-go if Nissan had simply called the "charging station" a "charging cord".. if you want to be fancy about it just call it a "safety charging cord" :mrgreen:

I still think even $800 is outrageous..

 

[ALF]

Folks might pay $1,000 for a 'station', but they're not going to pay that much for a 'cord'.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

ALF; first of all, welcome to the World of EV!!

2nd of all; in any new emerging business; the best option will (because it should) change weekly.

3rd of all; you could have waited a few months for something better (as i am sure something will come) or take what is available now.

as for me; when i got my LEAF, I thought it was outrageous to pay that kind of money for a "cord". I talked to my electrician friend who stated it was "nothing more than a few hundred if you wanted to get elaborate" and his statement (made back in 2010) was based a bit on my giving him incomplete information and he now states it could be done for less than $500 and be "forward compatible"

so that is the reason I balked at what had been available at the time which was practically nothing. Having had experience similar with my Prius, I figured that someone would come up with a better idea and now we have a couple great options whether its Phils EVSE upgrade or simply hooking up two 120 plugs to work its what I had somewhat envisioned in the first place.

 

[ALF]

Dave,

Hooking up two 120v circuits to make a 240v circuit is fine, but that has never been my problem. My electrician added a new 240v circuit to the sub-panel in my garage for little more than the cost of the parts.

The EVSE upgrade is certainly a cost-effective solution, but the cost of a Nissan EVSE, plus the upgrade cost is pretty much the same as a Level 2 station.

I am somewhat reassured that apparently an open EVSE unit would cost about $400 in parts. If that is indeed the case, then it may justify a commercial unit costing twice that much.

 

[planet4ever]

The EVSE upgrade is certainly a cost-effective solution, but the cost of a Nissan EVSE, plus the upgrade cost is pretty much the same as a Level 2 station.

Which is why I said near the top of this thread that doing that was a waste of money for me. I think it's fair to say that most people don't really need an emergency trickle charger in the car on a daily basis. The major exception is someone who has a long commute and access at work only to an outlet, not a charging station. If that is not your situation, take the plunge and get the charging cord that came with your car upgraded. Do get the 120v adapter for it, so you still have something you can use in that rare situation where you know you might need public charging and could be somewhere with no 240v access of any kind. So far that has happened to me once in 18+ months.

Ray

 

[Caracalover]

The EVSE upgrade is certainly a cost-effective solution, but the cost of a Nissan EVSE, plus the upgrade cost is pretty much the same as a Level 2 station.

Which is why I said near the top of this thread that doing that was a waste of money for me. I think it's fair to say that most people don't really need an emergency trickle charger in the car on a daily basis. The major exception is someone who has a long commute and access at work only to an outlet, not a charging station. If that is not your situation, take the plunge and get the charging cord that came with your car upgraded. Do get the 120v adapter for it, so you still have something you can use in that rare situation where you know you might need public charging and could be somewhere with no 240v access of any kind. So far that has happened to me once in 18+ months.

Ray

I lived with an upgraded EVSE for the first year, and only took it with me on Sunday when I drove to my weekend "job" with the felines.

Problem with that was after a long night out and an early morning drive, I forgot to grab the cord! Didn't realize it till I was at the destination, 65 miles away and almost to or at the LBW. Drove 34 miles to the Nissan dealer and ran out of charge at the driveway that had the charger! Pushed it for about 50 feet and plugged it in. Sad thing was I had the same home unit the OP bought sitting in my garage, uninstalled. I was waiting for the LADWP to make use of the rebate they offer so I hadn't installed it yet. Now the upgraded EVSE lives in the car. I also gave up on the LADWP program, since they wanted a seperate meter that would cost me $8 a month. I hate monthly bills that could rise in the future, so I did the same as the OP.

My unit has shorted out a couple of times with no obvious reason. I turn the power off, open it up, jiggle the main cord or box and put it back together and it works fine again. This is something the EVSE upgrade never did.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

lucky that i a decent public charging network building up so dont need to take my EVSE other than a handful of camping trips and during our winter storm when we had no power so had to take to plug into my in-laws house.

its a great deal and not sure why anyone would want 2 of them. although the EVSE was designed to be hauled around in case of emergency...I never use it for that

 

[KillaWhat]

There is just nothing good to say about Blink hardware. It is total garbage. Avoid it at all cost.

I Had a Blink installed under the "free" EV project thingy.
Took down an AV L2 to install it.
I had also heard stories about reliability of the Blink units, but I'm a Wh&%$re, and free is free.

So, I sent my trickle charger to Phil, and got it fully upgraded.
I also installed a 220 20 amp twist lock outlet outside in a weather tight (while in use) housing.
I can still charger 120, but if the Blink goes south, I am still up and running at Level 2 with no interruption.

Getting the thing upgraded is never a bad idea.

Good Luck

 

[tps]

I have an upgraded Nissan/Panasonic EVSE, which I keep in the car with some plug adapters. I have a Leviton 16A EVSE permanently mounted at home. Both units seem to be very reliable. 9 months in now, and no problems to report.

 

[Randy3]

22 months in after buying the LEAF and I've used the EVSE Upgrade pretty much since the beginning. It's worked great, was the least expensive option, and is the most versatile option since I've been able to use it at RV parks. I don't need to take it out of the garage often, but when I do, I sometimes write reminder notes to be sure I take it with me.