Los Angeles Metro Area Leafers

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
The Sumitomo QC unit installed by LADWP at its west 3rd Street building downtown between Bixel and Beaudry is now operational.

I stopped by today and noticed the display on the unit was illuminated for the first time, inviting me for "Quick Charging." Both adjacent parking spots were ICE'd, but one of the cars, belonging to DWP, was occupied by its driver, who leaned out his window and asked if I wanted to charge. He gladly moved and I pulled in, connected, pressed the start button and started charging. It charged to 86% before I pressed stop, so the unit is not programmed to stop at 80%, like some Nissan dealer QC's.

The DWP QC's, of which this is the first, are free to use and require no attendant other than the driver - just push the start button to operate. No signage at this time to limit parking to EV's, but I expect there will be in the near future. My experience suggests this facility, while gated, will be open and accessible seven days a week until at least 8:00 or 9:00 pm. It is a good location, just a block or so west of the Harbor freeway downtown, so it can serve as a vital range extender for travelers en route through downtown Los Angeles.
 
Sure did opt for the Quick Charge port :D

It's good to know that I'm surrounded by various levels of charging stations. I currently use the PlugShare app so i'll definitely be on the lookout for the charging stations you mentioned.

I'm pretty lucky that I can trickle charge my LEAF at both of my employment locations (Panorama City and West Los)...also Glendale Nissan is a nice backup for when the juice gets low.


timhebb said:
Hope you opted for the CHAdeMO (Quick Charge) port on your SV, as you are comfortably close to the highest concentration of QC stations in SoCal: Glendale Nissan, where I'm guessing you acquired your LEAF, is the nearest to you. But in the heart of LA there is the friendly Downtown Nissan dealership; the Blink QC on Mateo St.; and the soon-to-be-operational LADWP QC station at 3rd St. and Bixel, just west of the Harbor Fwy. And sometime in the near future Universal Nissan will he installing a QC station, if they haven't already, just a few miles north on the 101.

You picked a good spot to join the Metro LEAFers - you have QC locations in most directions all around you!
 
^^^ Btw, I hope you leased. Congrats, if so. I bought, and the whole battery debacle is getting on my nerves lately with capacity bars starting to disappear...
 
Yeah I leased...reading through the various threads helped me get to that conclusion. This is the first time I've ever leased a car.

Valdemar said:
^^^ Btw, I hope you leased. Congrats, if so. I bought, and the whole battery debacle is getting on my nerves lately with capacity bars starting to disappear...
 
I did stop by again to the DCQC at the DWP building on 3rd St. The address is 1230 W. 3rd St. It is a nondescript 4 story white office building. It used to be a medical lab until DWP took it over. They use it for training classes and admin. It is very obscured on 3rd St. by very large ficus trees on the sidewalk. The numbers for the address do not face 3rd St. so you cannot see them as you drive by. I talked with the security officer at the front desk. She did not know anything about hours/days of access to the station.
Right now, you enter the large open parking lot next to the building by way of an open driveway. There is no gate or person controlling access to the driveway. However, per the officer, that may change to a card controlled system for employees. You exit by way of an adjacent driveway. There is a security officer on duty at the building until 11 pm weeknights.
The station is operational. I did not need a fob to use it. I charged successfully from 66% to 94% when I stopped it on my own. It appears set to charge to 100%. There is no signage related to EV around the machine nor are there any markings on the ground. It is located in the open parking lot, against the side of the building. The lot has 2 levels so you have to wind your way around first left then right to reach the station.
 
Stopped by the DCQC at the DWP building on Monday.
Posted EV only signs with 30 min parking limit.

Worked great. Went from 26% -86% in 30mins. Manually stopped it and left.
Lots of DWP employees were coming back from lunch and asked about the car and the charger.
 
Re: PlugIn Day September 28

Anyone interested in staffing a booth to provide practical information about your experiences, apps, after market devices and modifications? Would like to do this at Long Beach in the morning and AQMD in the afternoon.

If so, I will coordinate this.

Event: Long Beach
Day: Saturday, September 28th, 2013
Time: 9:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Location: California State University Office of the Chancellor
401 Golden Shore
Los Angeles/Long Beach, CA, United States
http://www.pluginday.org/event.php?eventid=54" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Event: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and SB Co.
Day: Saturday, September 28th, 2013
Time: 1:00PM to 5:00PM
Location: South Coast Air Quality Management District
21865 East Copley Drive
Diamond Bar, CA, United States
http://www.pluginday.org/event.php?eventid=91" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
One of the first Quick Chargers to appear on the west side of L.A. is now operational just east of the Playa del Rey/Marina del Rey area.

TBWA\Chiatt\Day, Nissan's advertising agency, has installed the unit along with two Aerovironment L2 EVSE units just outside their multi-story parking garage at 5353 Grosvenor Blvd., just west of Centinela and north of Jefferson Blvd.

The QC unit there is not the compact sleek Nissan-branded Sumitomo unit found at dealerships, but is rather a clunky-looking, hulking red box which seems to predate the stylish newer style units. It more resembles the giant Blink QC boxes, but with even less appeal. It looks like something out of Stalinist Russia, actually.

But it works. When I pulled up to it tonight around 7:30 the display showed some kind of fault and failed to budge when I plugged in and tried to charge. So I switched off the Metropolis-inspired throw switch, and then back on. The behemoth rebooted itself and, when I pressed the Start button, it began to charge my Leaf. It continued well past 90% before I powered it off with the Stop button.

The agency's parking lot and garage entrances are wide open to the street and have no gates at all, so the charging units are technically accessible 24/7. No security guards were to be seen except for one uniformed figure seated behind a large observation window in a guard roost on the second floor of a separate building looking over the parking areas. He did not appear to notice or be concerned about my activities if he did.

This promises to be the first of several more QC installations on the west side of town, including QCs at or near UCLA, LAX and in Venice on Abbot Kinney Blvd. (unrelated to the Nissan ad agency).
 
This is a rather touchy feely description of the Aerovironment charger. It is large And square it is also remarkably dependable and the real bonus, unlike those Fujitsu chargers at the dealership the electronics are well shielded and you can actually listen to the radio while you are charging
 
iluvusweetleaf said:
... unlike those Fujitsu chargers at the dealership the electronics are well shielded and you can actually listen to the radio while you are charging
The dealership chargers are actually manufactured by Sumitomo; they deliver up to 44kW maximum. Fuji Electric's FRC series of DC quick chargers take a bit longer to charge a LEAF - about an hour - as they supply a 25kW charge.
 
Thanks for the heads up. Looking at the link again, I see several "coming soon" that will really help me out. I've been using the Camarillo Outlet mall and am looking forward the the Thousand Oaks Mall, Warner Center and Tarzana locations.

Also, I see that Nissan has come through with DCQCs at the Oxnard and Simi Valley dealerships. Now if we can get one along the 118 in the San Fernando valley and one in Malibu, I'll have a huge expansion of EV range to places I occassionally commute. This is good to see (albeit I'd prefer to see the build out happen faster). This will definitely help me do more with the EV and use my ICE less.
 
The problem is that you must have enough range - or an alternate plan - in case one of those QCs is unavailable... Otherwise you are faced with at least a major inconvenience...

DarthPuppy said:
Thanks for the heads up. Looking at the link again, I see several "coming soon" that will really help me out. I've been using the Camarillo Outlet mall and am looking forward the the Thousand Oaks Mall, Warner Center and Tarzana locations. Also, I see that Nissan has come through with DCQCs at the Oxnard and Simi Valley dealerships. Now if we can get one along the 118 in the San Fernando valley and one in Malibu, I'll have a huge expansion of EV range to places I occassionally commute. This is good to see (albeit I'd prefer to see the build out happen faster). This will definitely help me do more with the EV and use my ICE less.
 
What eVgo is getting right is location. Close to freeways, mostly at malls, with plenty to do if there is a wait. Better that they are late than nowhere.
 
TomT said:
The problem is that you must have enough range - or an alternate plan - in case one of those QCs is unavailable... Otherwise you are faced with at least a major inconvenience...

Actually, I factor that in. For instance, at the eVgo in Camarillo, they have 1 QC and 3 level 2s located in different sections. So if the QC is down, the level 2s should still be good. In theory, I can make it to Santa Monica and back without a charge. But I want the ability to stop at multiple points on the way if needed (precisely in case there is a problem with one). 30 minutes on level 2 will be enough boost to get me home safely.

So the QC actually is just more convenient and helps me to decide to take the trip ICEless. However, if I'm really tight on schedule and the consequences of being late to destination are high, it would be the ICE.

And when planning such a trip, I can check the status online before taking the Leaf. Yes, it could change before I get there and need the charge, but I figure I've mitigated the risk to a reasonable level.
 
Back
Top