earther
Well-known member
My poor girlfriend had her first negative experience driving the Leaf today.
Due to an unforeseen event (I got sick and had to take off work), we had an extra 17 miles put onto our daily commuting distance in order take me home this morning. Life Happens sometimes, right? Well, without any intermediate charging, that would put her return round trip home at a total of 85 miles (most of it highway) and we were pretty certain the Leaf wouldn't quite make that. Fortunately, her boss lets her (trickle) charge at work, and so we figured with ~8 hr of trickle, that would make up difference (otherwise, I never would have used the Leaf to come home sick in the first place).
When she gets to her work the dashboard reads "38mi" range, and she needs 35 to get home... but I don't trust that number, especially since there are only 4 bars of soc remaining, and we feel the trickle will alleviate any range anxiety. However, when she goes to plug in her car as she's done before, the boss comes out and tells her that he's changed his mind and won't let her plug in at work anymore. Ugh, today of all days when we're short on range to say this, and without any notice at all!! When she asks why, he says that he received a complaint from a fellow employee that it's unfair that she gets to receive "free fuel" and others don't -- this is despite the fact that my girlfriend by prior arrangement already has the extra electricity cost automatically deducted from her weekly paycheck! But according to the boss, this isn't relevant and it's the perception of favoritism that matters and he doesn't want any bad blood between him and other employees.
Okay, my girlfriend's upset, but not in panic mode. She uses the "charging station" button the steering wheel to see that Stephens Creek Nissan in San Jose is relatively close and she calls ahead to ask them if it would be okay for her to drop by during her lunch hour and use their level2 charger. The person on the phone is very nice and tells her it won't be a problem. However, when she gets there, an Acura (non-EV) is parked in the available charging spot (despite the fact that there are multiple empty spots available in the lot). Now, I don't mean to slam the entire dealership, snice most of the people in the front office were nice and accommodating to my girlfriend and even offered to move the Acura for her so she could charge. But, within a few minutes, an employee named Casey emerged and gave her a hard time about utilizing the charger. He said it was intended for their customers only and that she didn't really have the right to use it since she didn't get the Leaf here. Now, I wasn't there and don't know exactly what he said to her, but whatever it was, it was enough for her to call me on the phone sobbing. So, phooey on you, Casey. In the end, he said that he would allow her to use it this one time as a "courtesy", but that she shouldn't expect to use it again in the future. Is this really the policy that Nissan wants to set? I suppose a given dealership is within their rights to deny their charger to a Leaf not purchased at their site (or are they? Is the charger theirs or Nissans? Regardless, presumably it's the dealership that pays the electricity bill).
Anyway, she's up to a nominal 44 mile range displaying on the Leaf now, so hopefully that's enough to make the true 35mi back home to Gilroy. She has no plans to ever return to Stephens Creek Nissan again (either for charging or maintenance) and since her boss at worked complained, our backup plan is for her to use the level2 charger at the nearby San Jose Convention Center tonight after work if she needs to (does anyone know if you have to pay for parking to be able to access it? chargepoint.net says it's free, but I assume that's referring to the electricity itself and not to the cost to get into the garage, if any?)
Due to an unforeseen event (I got sick and had to take off work), we had an extra 17 miles put onto our daily commuting distance in order take me home this morning. Life Happens sometimes, right? Well, without any intermediate charging, that would put her return round trip home at a total of 85 miles (most of it highway) and we were pretty certain the Leaf wouldn't quite make that. Fortunately, her boss lets her (trickle) charge at work, and so we figured with ~8 hr of trickle, that would make up difference (otherwise, I never would have used the Leaf to come home sick in the first place).
When she gets to her work the dashboard reads "38mi" range, and she needs 35 to get home... but I don't trust that number, especially since there are only 4 bars of soc remaining, and we feel the trickle will alleviate any range anxiety. However, when she goes to plug in her car as she's done before, the boss comes out and tells her that he's changed his mind and won't let her plug in at work anymore. Ugh, today of all days when we're short on range to say this, and without any notice at all!! When she asks why, he says that he received a complaint from a fellow employee that it's unfair that she gets to receive "free fuel" and others don't -- this is despite the fact that my girlfriend by prior arrangement already has the extra electricity cost automatically deducted from her weekly paycheck! But according to the boss, this isn't relevant and it's the perception of favoritism that matters and he doesn't want any bad blood between him and other employees.
Okay, my girlfriend's upset, but not in panic mode. She uses the "charging station" button the steering wheel to see that Stephens Creek Nissan in San Jose is relatively close and she calls ahead to ask them if it would be okay for her to drop by during her lunch hour and use their level2 charger. The person on the phone is very nice and tells her it won't be a problem. However, when she gets there, an Acura (non-EV) is parked in the available charging spot (despite the fact that there are multiple empty spots available in the lot). Now, I don't mean to slam the entire dealership, snice most of the people in the front office were nice and accommodating to my girlfriend and even offered to move the Acura for her so she could charge. But, within a few minutes, an employee named Casey emerged and gave her a hard time about utilizing the charger. He said it was intended for their customers only and that she didn't really have the right to use it since she didn't get the Leaf here. Now, I wasn't there and don't know exactly what he said to her, but whatever it was, it was enough for her to call me on the phone sobbing. So, phooey on you, Casey. In the end, he said that he would allow her to use it this one time as a "courtesy", but that she shouldn't expect to use it again in the future. Is this really the policy that Nissan wants to set? I suppose a given dealership is within their rights to deny their charger to a Leaf not purchased at their site (or are they? Is the charger theirs or Nissans? Regardless, presumably it's the dealership that pays the electricity bill).
Anyway, she's up to a nominal 44 mile range displaying on the Leaf now, so hopefully that's enough to make the true 35mi back home to Gilroy. She has no plans to ever return to Stephens Creek Nissan again (either for charging or maintenance) and since her boss at worked complained, our backup plan is for her to use the level2 charger at the nearby San Jose Convention Center tonight after work if she needs to (does anyone know if you have to pay for parking to be able to access it? chargepoint.net says it's free, but I assume that's referring to the electricity itself and not to the cost to get into the garage, if any?)
