First QC...not impressed.

[pointlomadave]

Used the DC fast Charger at the Best Western in Escondido, CA, which was free btw. When I pulled in, I had 19% with two other Leafs parked in front of the charger. Only one car can charge at a time even though there are two ports. 1st person was almost done. After a 5 min wait, 1st car left, second car got their's charging after another few minutes, and they started at 13% and set it to charge up to 90%? I guess maybe higher level models with Carwings have that option? ANyway, it cut-off charging her car at 50% and after getting out her Blink card, unplugging and re-pluggin back in, was back to charging. We waited patiently, chatted a bit, rolled down the windows, etc. When it was our turn, I moved the car into the left spot as the right spot is officially a Handicapped spot. After struggling a bit to get the DC fast charge plug fully seated, got it up and running.

Approx 1 hr, 10 mins after pulling up, I was up to my 80% and drove away.

Now, my car with the 6.6KW charger charges at the L2 Blink stations at a rate of 30-32% per hour, meaning that I wouldn't have taken much longer just heading to the mall (destination) to charge and would have actually had things to do there rather than sit and wait while killing my car's battery pack slowly. Lol

Oh well, I wanted to try it. I can see using it when it's necessary, but I think it's a bit over-hyped. Really depends on your situation. I guess if you're leasing and confident of not returning the car, why not use it if it can work to your advantage. It's just that to go from 20-80% only takes 2 hours anyway, time that I can easily kill at a coffee shop, restaurant, beach, etc.

Even the fast charger seems kind of slow when you're staring at the numbers. True what they say about a "watched pot never boils!"

 

[Arvind]

Approx 1 hr, 10 mins after pulling up, I was up to my 80% and drove away.
...
Even the fast charger seems kind of slow when you're staring at the numbers. True what they say about a "watched pot never boils!"

I thought the L3 charger could take you to 80% in 30 minutes. No?

 

[mwalsh]

Approx 1 hr, 10 mins after pulling up, I was up to my 80% and drove away.
...
Even the fast charger seems kind of slow when you're staring at the numbers. True what they say about a "watched pot never boils!"

I thought the L3 charger could take you to 80% in ~30 minutes. No?

It should. Something is not right there.

 

[planet4ever]

Read what he said. He's counting the time he had to wait. But before you say that is cheating, he has a point. I have yet to hear of any QC location which can charge more than one car at a time. Compare that with Tesla Superchargers, which are already popping up four, six, or perhaps even more at a site. How efficient do you think it would be if all gas stations had only one pump?

Ray

 

[DeaneG]

I thought the L3 charger could take you to 80% in 30 minutes. No?

The OP spent most of the time waiting to charge.

 

[mwalsh]

Ah, well that makes sense. But shouldn't be counted as charging time. I've never pulled up on a DCQC (yet) and had someone ahead of me. Not that it isn't going to happen.

 

[eclecticflower]

Ugh, some thread title. S'pose you could change it? "First QC - not impressed" would be more appropriate...

 

[adric22]

I like the idea of DCFC. However, the OP has a point that in many cases the 6.6Kw charging upgrade is more practical and useful. With my 2011 SL I can't charge any faster than 3.3Kw. Same with our Volt. But so far it has served me well for the last 2 years despite the slower charging.

 

[TonyWilliams]

I thought the L3 charger could take you to 80% in 30 minutes. No?

The OP spent most of the time waiting to charge.

The buzz words from two years ago from Nissan was LBW (about 17%) to 80% in 25 minutes. That requires a 48kW (not all are that rate) or greater charge rate and a warm battery. A cold one will charge much, much slower.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

Ugh, some thread title. S'pose you could change it? "First QC - not impressed" would be more appropriate...

+1 and then some.

While I can only imagine what the first time would feel like, certainly having to wait for others to finish would be anti-climactic.

 

[mwalsh]

While I can only imagine what the first time would feel like, certainly having to wait for others to finish would be anti-climactic.

Isn't that good manners anyway?

 

[davewill]

Of course you could just as easily had to wait at an L2 EVSE somewhere. Now THAT would have been a wait. Seriously, the big problem is that there just aren't enough of them.

I did a trip to Riverside this week, also my first foray into DCQC. Used that very station in fact. The problem I had was the the distance from there to the McDonald's in Riverside is 67 miles, with altitude gain, and my 2yo degraded battery (still 12 bars) can't really make that distance without charging in the middle, so I had to add an hour of L2 (tried to get by with a half hour in Temecula, but couldn't quite make it to the McDonalds, and had to bail for another half hour at Raceway Nissan (nice people, BTW, who are trying to get their own DCQC installed). I also took some bad advice to drive back roads, but I think they added more distance

If Quality Nissan (or any place else in Temecula) would only get a DCQC, it would be a very easy single stop to DC charge to 80% in Temecula for me.

Instead I have to:

1. Charge to 100% at home.
2. Drive 15 miles to the Escondido DCQC. It's mostly uphill, so I'm at 70% or so.
3. Top up to 95% or so. Once the battery level is high enough that the QC is slower than L2, (what level is that anyway?) it's better, both in time and in battery wear, to stop, and get up to Temecula and charge a battery that isn't so full on L2.
4. Stop in old town Temecula, and charge on L2 for at least an hour, maybe more (enough to cover the remaining 40 miles to the Riverside DCQC). (My error was getting impatient and stopping too soon).
5. Charge at R'side McDonalds so I can get to my hotel, and run around town.

Coming back, a 90% charge in R'Side and a half hour in Temecula were enough to get back to Escondido since you lose altitude in that direction.

 

[DaveEV]

Yeah, it's pretty clear that most of these QC stations really need more than 1 at them because of the dumb sequential design of the Blink QC (I bet it's cheaper to install two 25 kW CHAdeMO stations rather than one dual-hose Blink) and the fact that inevitably there is some issue with the QC station so having backup is critical. Also as you note, it's also very important to have at least a couple L2 stations near by for the cases where there is a queue or the QC station is FUBAR - even the Blink L2 stations appear to be far more reliable than Blink QC stations.

 

[toasty]

Ive only used a QC 5 times, i've set it to 100% each of those 5 times. most of the time it cut off after about 80/82%, i had to unplug and try again. , only once it actually went to 100%. (Blink TN chargers).


but overall my experience was good.

I tried to use the QC at the nissan plant in TN, but there was a line of 2+ leafs waiting for it, so i left.
(and the next QC charger was only 8 -/+miles away)

 

[LEAFfan]

If you have an '11-'12, you're below 50% on the Blink QC screen, it will stop around 80% no matter the % setting. However, the '13 won't stop and it will charge to 90% in 30 mins. or less. At least mine does.