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Hey y'all!

Proud new owner of a 2013 red Leaf SL here. Just got it yesterday. Got a great deal at a used car dealer in Durham. It had less than 10,000 miles on it, too. He has about 20 more if you know of anyone else looking. I think only one other SL, but several SVs and a few Ss. They were all leased and all in red, white, black, and silver. I'm, guessing they were fleet/motor pool vehicles. He said they came from Georgia so not NCState colors.

So far we're loving it. Got a 240V charging station on order which should come in later this week or next.
 
Welcome LeafyNC!

There isn't a lot of traffic here these days. If you are in the Triangle area, feel free to join us over on the RTP EV Fan club page on Facebook:

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Hello
Proud new owner of a CPO 2012 white Leaf SL. Got it two weeks ago and still reading up on the car. I think 13.5k is a great deal on an extremely low mileage, let me know what you guys think. I don’t have L2 charging for it yet but I don’t have to charge often at home since I can charge it at work. Well my employer doesn’t allow charging but another company down the street has 10 L2 charging stations open to the public and free to charge. I had new car before but this one I absolutely love to drive and can’t stop talking about it to my coworkers. I’m hoping to take it out to RTP or Asheville, just a bit nervous about range and availability of charging station.
 
Just wanted to report in that we successfully road tripped from the Triangle to Ocracoke in the Leaf! It actually worked pretty well. We charged at 3 quick charge locations.

The first one was North Hills in Raleigh, which is a free Eaton charger in the parking lot near the Exxon. A Tesla was there when we first got there so we had to wait a bit, but there's plenty to do around there. We walked over to Starbucks.

After we got charged there we headed to the Nissan dealer in Wilson, NC. They were super nice and this was probably the best overall charger. Very quick and efficient.

Then we headed to Greenville and the dealer there. I had called ahead and the sales guy told me the quick charge was not working, so I was expecting to hang out in Greenville for 2 or 3 hours while we did a Level 2 charge, but turns out the sales guy I spoke to didn't know what he was talking about. The quick charger was working and a manager helped us get hooked up. This was not a great charger. It kicked off the breaker and the staff was obviously not that familiar with it and seemed a little scared of it. The manager guy gave us a little monologue about high voltage and having to be careful. I think the more they use it the more comfortable they will be. Once they reset the breaker we did get a full charge. We had to go almost all the way to 100% on this leg because the next stop was the Swan Quarter Ferry (which we had to get to by 4:30 —last ferry for the day, so range anxiety and timing anxiety). That's 79 miles and out in the middle of nowhere. If we didn't make it we'd probably be stuck sleeping in the car!

Headed out of Greenville we slowed to about 50mph once we got on the smaller highways. Luckily for us, it was an unseasonably cool, cloudy gray day in the high 70s/low 80s and the sun was hiding, so no AC needed. We hypermiled all the way there, but we did make it in time for the ferry and had just gotten the "Low Battery Warning" when we got there. It did not go to "Very Low Battery" so we did pretty well. We made it time-wise, too, but I don't think we would have if we'd had to rely on the L2.

Once we got to Ocracoke we trickle charged at our rental. No more range anxiety. We also rode bikes and walked a lot.

On our return, by the time we got off the ferry at Swan Quarter it was a hot sunny day and we had that 79 miles to go, so we had to creep along at 50 w/o using the AC very much. Got pretty stuffy, but we rolled down the windows at stop lights and did cycle on the AC when we couldn't stand it any more. We got the "Low Battery Warning" again, but did make to Greenville. There's a Fresh Market about .5 miles away so some of us walked over there, but we left one person manning the quick charger. It did kick off again, but we finished on the L2. Didn't have to charge all the way this time since Wilson is not too far away — just about 46 miles.

We basked in the AC and speed on our way to Wilson. The staff at Lee Nissan were awesome again. Great stop if you're headed up 95 or down east.

We briefly thought about trying to make it home (71 miles) without the stop at North Hills, but decided we liked driving faster and cooler more, so we stopped for a brief quick charge there again, so we could keep riding in air conditioned splendor. I think we probably could do it without the stop, but it just didn't seem worth it to induce more range anxiety.

All in all it was a great trip!
 
Getting delivery next week, from Atlanta, of a 2013 SV. We live about 3 miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway and wanted to make that our 1st "road trip". Anyone know if the US Park Service has any charge stations on the Parkway?
 
manich said:
Getting delivery next week, from Atlanta, of a 2013 SV. We live about 3 miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway and wanted to make that our 1st "road trip". Anyone know if the US Park Service has any charge stations on the Parkway?

Welcome!

The best way to search for charging stations is plugshare.com

Offhand I didn't see any right on the BRP, but there are a couple that aren't too far off the road.
 
Hi all,

Leaf veteran but new to the area. Living in Youngsville just north of Wake Forest. Looking to see if anyone has any recs for an electrician to install a EVSE. Easy to google tradespeople at least but would prefer someone who has done it before. Thanks much,
 
EvansvilleLeaf said:
Hi all,

Leaf veteran but new to the area. Living in Youngsville just north of Wake Forest. Looking to see if anyone has any recs for an electrician to install a EVSE. Easy to google tradespeople at least but would prefer someone who has done it before. Thanks much,

I've used two, and both I would recommend. CMC Electric installed 30A EVSE wiring in the garage, and Ralph's Electrical Service installed the wiring and conduit for my outdoor EVSE in the driveway. CMC is a big company, and Ralph is a one-man-band, but both did great work and pricing should be fairly comparable. Both are on Angies List, since that's how I found them.

You'll have to check whether either do work out in your area though, since I'm down in Apex.
 
EvansvilleLeaf said:
Hi all,

Leaf veteran but new to the area. Living in Youngsville just north of Wake Forest. Looking to see if anyone has any recs for an electrician to install a EVSE. Easy to google tradespeople at least but would prefer someone who has done it before. Thanks much,
(Joe) Parnell electric service installed the line and plug for my EVSE. Did a good job and reasonable rate.

I had problems with Ralph's electric service. He wanted to run the cable in a way that couldn't work. He wasn't going to discover that without causing some structural damage to my house. He didn't react well when I pointed that out.

Angies list can be a questionable place. I've seen multiple vendors raise their price to accommodate a "coupon". There is definite pay for placement and not just based on reviews.
 
Interesting to hear about your problems with Ralph. I always kept a close eye and made it clear what I did or did not want him to do/try. CMC was very cautious in everything they did, and I would certainly trust them with any job. I don't feel like they needed any oversight, at least the crew they sent to my job.
 
Does anybody know if the NC zoo has chargers or the Asheboro Nissan dealer will be getting their level 3 up soon? Just made a trip from Chapel Hill to Charlotte on 85 (charged at the Burlington Nissan dealership and the Salisbury Nissan dealership), but I think we could make on just one charge if we could get one in Asheboro and I'd prefer to go the back way anyway. I also saw on Chargepoint's site that they said they had a charger in Denton, NC at the farmer's mkt (Level 2), but it wasn't noted on Plugshare so felt sketchy to count on that. Burlington and Salisbury were great.
 
Not that it's interesting in and of itself but being in the far northern exurbs none of the recommendations would come out to me. Jackson Superior up here though did an excellent job the day after I called, installing my L2, a new outlet for my wife's CMax Energi's L1, and fixing a dining room light within a couple hours for a reasonable fee. He even knew to run 8ga instead of the "textbook" 10ga for 30A without my prompting.

So if anyone on the northern end needs an electrician rec any time, that would be my endorsement.

On the better news front, after driving EVs in the backward wastelands for nigh 4 years with not a sniff of a public charge station, I was pleased last week to find free L2 stations within my severely-limited cripple guy walking range from my favorite bar in downtown WF. While the extra $100 EV fee seems like a bit of a scrooge-y welcome to NC, free charges that will cover the vast majority of my driving more than make up for it. My very first non-home charge after being one of the first wave of depositors back in 2010!
 
Are you talking about the charging stations by the Town Hall? There are also new chargers by the power company too. Pretty convenient when we go downtown.
 
MTNRanger said:
Are you talking about the charging stations by the Town Hall? There are also new chargers by the power company too. Pretty convenient when we go downtown.

I believe so yes - the two GE Wattstations next to the big people lifter in the parking lot on Brooks Street. Can't say I know where the town hall is yet though - it's always dark when I et there and I have to look down to avoid tripping! I think my wife checked out the others but a further walk.
 
MTNRanger said:
Are you talking about the charging stations by the Town Hall? There are also new chargers by the power company too. Pretty convenient when we go downtown.

I should also ask - there was a blue Leaf charging there when she scoped out the stations. Yours? Only other Leaf I've seen in the area so far is a black one going past the brewery's window on White Street a few times in the evening. Mine's the red one currently with IN plates for a couple of weeks still if you ever come across it.
 
MTNRanger said:
I'm not a Leaf owner; I had a leased Volt for three years. I'm waiting for the Bolt to be available next year.


Yes the Bolt looks very interesting. I have a max 60 mile day so will be a while before my Leaf can't make it even without charging but if the Bolt can accommodate my unwieldy carcass (I found the Volt ergos decidedly offputting but with my mobility problems I am not typical) I could be persuaded.

Incidentally another charging station on S. White Street itself - the parking lot N of the coffee shop - just popped up in the last week or so on Plugshare for an even shorter walk. Not signed EV only (hopefully that is coming) but managed to grab it a time or two.
 
Hi, I'm Brad. Fort Bragg resident and Military spouse that's a Leaf driver. I drive a pearl white 2012 SL. My ChargePoint home station is available for anyone who may need it while on Bragg. I'm listed in PlugShare.
 
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