Florida

[N1ghtrider]

I am disappointed to report that my wife was kicked-out of the Publix parking lot in downtown Fort Lauderdale 5 minutes after connecting to the L2 charger there because the parking lot security guard saw her leaving the lot with her briefcase to go to the courthouse (1 block away) instead of grocery shopping. This was her first road trip in the LEAF, from Coral Gables to Ft. Laud. and back, while I am in trial in Orlando with the ICE.

I have charged at the Publix 6 or 7 times while going to court in Ft. Laud. and never had a problem. I never see another electric car there. Publix should be more forgiving. She was going to shop there after finishing her court case, but the guard would not let her stay in the lot.

 

[jrreno]

Is the charger free or is it a pay charger? The chargers around here in Publix lots are all Coulomb Chargepoints with a cost of 2.49/hour.

Would the guard have kicked an ICE out of the lot if they did the same?

 

[derkraut]

Is the charger free or is it a pay charger? The chargers around here in Publix lots are all Coulomb Chargepoints with a cost of 2.49/hour.

Would the guard have kicked an ICE out of the lot if they did the same?

$2.49 an hr, eh? I can drive a big BMW cheaper than that.

 

[N1ghtrider]

Is the charger free or is it a pay charger? The chargers around here in Publix lots are all Coulomb Chargepoints with a cost of 2.49/hour.

Would the guard have kicked an ICE out of the lot if they did the same?

It is free. I guess he would have kicked-out an ICE, but the roofarea where the L2 is located always has dozens of empty ICE spaces and the charger s always available so there really is no need to be hard nosed.

 

[jrreno]

We had a business meeting yesterday in Tampa and decided to see if we could make the trip in the Leaf. The meeting was about 67 miles from our house and much of the route is interstate type highway. I decided to stop in St Petersburg on the way for a little additional charge to make sure we made the meeting. I charged up to 100% before we left and headed down the highway with cruise set at 59mph and the AC at 78 degrees ( our normal setting).
All went well and the Nav system got us to the charger at Straub Park. After paying the parking meter and calling Chargepoint ( don’t have my card yet) and getting the station activated ( electricity is free, parking not so much) we headed over to the Bistro on the marina for lunch. On the walk we took after lunch I checked Carwings and discovered the car was not charging. Rookie mistake on my part, I thought I hit the timer override button but must not have. Bottom line was we got about 1/2 hour extra charge instead of the 2 hour I had planned. Not to worry the GOM had 28 miles and it was 16 to the meeting.
We made it to the meeting with 13 miles on the GOM. Afterwards we drove the 3.5 miles to AAA that had 2 Chargepoint chargers with free juice. When we arrived a black volt was plugged in to one and I pulled up to the other with 6 miles on the GOM. The Chargepoint rep informed me he was having no luck activating my charger. The status on the Volt’s charger was completed/paused. The rep let me know we couldn’t use the other charger because a card was used to activate it and needed to be swiped to end the session. After much insistence on the necessity of my obtaining charge from this location and many minutes on hold the rep got my station to respond. Plugged in and started charging ( I made sure this time).
We walked the block and a half to the International Mall and spent the afternoon shopping and topped it off with a nice steak dinner. Got back to the car a little early needing another hour of charge and sat and read. We decided to leave before full charge so we had 92% charge (11 bars) and 98 miles on the GOM. It was about 8:45 at night when we left and the Volt was still there.
The trip home was almost all highway driving and again I set cruise at 59mph with the AC on but ran in ECO mode. Uneventful trip home and we pulled into the garage with 7 miles on the GOM. Total round trip 140.3 miles, total charge time after leaving home 5.5 hours. The Leaf performed great!

 

[spike09]

I got a phone call yesterday from Weston Nissan letting me know that they were blowing out the 2012 Nissan Leaf by offering a two year lease for only $189 a month with no money down. I told them I already bought a Leaf over 7 months ago.

I can't find anything on their website but I did find out Bommarito Nissan in St. Louis had the same offer. In fact their offer is now $171 a month for two years with no money down.

Here is the ad http://findnsave.stltoday.com/Local-Ads/a-22981/Bommarito-Nissan/12531452-12531505

I also found out why some GM dealers are selling Volts below invoice or offering leases below the standard $249 GMAC offer.
"GM is giving each dealership a target number of Volt sales between May and September. And if that dealership sells triple that number, the dealer gets a $2,500 credit towards future floor product purchases from GM on EVERY Volt they have sold during this period. The wind down of this program is September 4th."

Here is the InsideEV article http://insideevs.com/best-sales-month-ever-for-volt-over-2500-sold-in-august-and-here-is-why/

 

[evenoelle]

Is the charger free or is it a pay charger? The chargers around here in Publix lots are all Coulomb Chargepoints with a cost of 2.49/hour.

Would the guard have kicked an ICE out of the lot if they did the same?

It is free. I guess he would have kicked-out an ICE, but the roofarea where the L2 is located always has dozens of empty ICE spaces and the charger s always available so there really is no need to be hard nosed.

Ooo - I am so glad I popped in over here. We've been in Europe for the past month...hope everyone had a great summer. Anyhow...am planning my longest trip so far today - from way down here in Kendall to Mom's in Wilton Manors. Was planning to use that Publix charger but now may have to change my charging plans based on what Roy wrote.

Anyone getting that musty AC smell when you start the car? I seem to be getting it for a few seconds but only in the morning when I start the car - never in the afternoon. Weird, yes?

 

[N1ghtrider]

Was planning to use that Publix charger but now may have to change my charging plans based on what Roy wrote.

Eve:

I think you will be okay charging at Publix if you walk into the store from the parking lot and then out the other door, so anyone monitoring the lot sees that you are a "shopper." I have done that several times without a problem. My wife's problem was that she exited the lot with her briefcase in hand and did not go into Publix even for a minute.

 

[evenoelle]

I think you will be okay charging at Publix if you walk into the store from the parking lot and then out the other door, so anyone monitoring the lot sees that you are a "shopper." I have done that several times without a problem. My wife's problem was that she exited the lot with her briefcase in hand and did not go into Publix even for a minute.

I was too nervous to try....ended up L1 charging at my mom's for 11 hours. :shock:

 

[spike09]

XM radio is free for the next two weeks!

 

[spike09]

Eight months and finally my first LEAF sighting in the wild! While driving home from work tonight westbound on I-395 there was another Silver LEAF two lanes over . I honked but a few seconds later the other LEAF took the Biscayne Blvd exit. It was eerie since both our cars were Silver.

 

[spike09]

XM radio is free for the next two weeks!

Seems the promotion started at the end of August because the free satellite radio is gone. I wonder what changes are in store when Liberty Media takes full control of SirrusXM?

 

[mirko]

I just found out about this today.

THE FLORIDA ALTERNATIVE FUELED VEHICLE ROADSHOW
http://afvroadshow.com/

City of Delray Beach - September 18th 9am - 12N
Miami/Dade - September 19th 9am - 12N
Tallahassee - September 20th 12:30PM - 4PM
Jacksonville - September 21st 9am - 12n
Tampa - September 24th 9am - 12N
Sarasota County - Venice September 25th 9am - 12N
Orange County - Orlando September 26th 9am - 12N
Daytona International Speedway(R) - September 27th 9am - 12N

 

[spike09]

I just found out about this today.

THE FLORIDA ALTERNATIVE FUELED VEHICLE ROADSHOW
http://afvroadshow.com/

City of Delray Beach - September 18th 9am - 12N
Miami/Dade - September 19th 9am - 12N
Tallahassee - September 20th 12:30PM - 4PM
Jacksonville - September 21st 9am - 12n
Tampa - September 24th 9am - 12N
Sarasota County - Venice September 25th 9am - 12N
Orange County - Orlando September 26th 9am - 12N
Daytona International Speedway(R) - September 27th 9am - 12N

Looks like the Alt Fuel vehicle roadshow is geared to the business crowd.

Don't forget this Sunday, September 23rd, is the second annual National Plug-In Day.

http://events.pluginday.org/

Anyone going to any of the 6 events in Florida?
Tallahassee?
Sarasota?
Tampa?
Lakeland?
Kissimmee?
Orlando?

 

[spike09]

Such a shame there isn't even one National Plug-In Day event for the Gold Coast! Go figure no local Nissan dealers took advantage of such a great marketing opportunity. Maybe next year.

Is anyone up for an impromptu meetup this Sunday?

How fun would it be to get several owners driving our LEAFs together around town.

Here are possible places we could go parade. I'm thinking afternoon time frame. 1pm or later.

Main Street - Coconut Grove
Ocean Drive - South Beach
Downtown Hollywood
Las Olas - Ft. Lauderdale
Mizner Park - Boca
Downtown Delray Beach
Clematis Street - WBP

 

[spike09]

- It was interesting to find out about FPL's charger program. There are several qualifications to meet, but what we were basically told was that the program offers a free charger for those who own their home and who purchase the LEAF. We signed up for more information so I will share anything new that we learn.

It is an FPL pilot program to monitor the effect of EV charging on the grid. The initial phase monitored the Leaf and Volts that FPL uses internally. They just expanded it to the public two weeks ago. The FPL rep told me they only plan to give away 40 chargers.

Nissan also just started a "Home Charging Dock Sweepstakes". They are giving away 50 charges, 5 a week for the next 10 weeks, but you only need to enter once. Here is the link http://nissan.promo.eprize.com/sweeps/ in case you did not get the email from Nissan.

If I am one of the lucky ones I will either sell my old one or find a local business who would install on the condition they not charge money to use it.

Congratulations to Jenny L. of Port St Lucie and Jonathan S. of Valparaiso, the two Florida winners of the Nissan LEAF Home Charging Dock Sweepstakes!

NY and CA had 6 winners; MA had 4; TX had 3; FL, VA and AL had 2; OR, DC, GA, HI, IL, CO, WA, NC, SC, OH, PA and NH had 1 each. all these Grand prize winners won an AV EVSE with free installation!

 

[jrreno]

We are driving in the EV parade in Sarasota that ends at St Armands Circle on Sunday the 23rd. The captain said he was happy to have a Leaf, evidently a lot of Volts, Teslas and even a Fisker.

The slogan is "Electrify the Cirle!"

I just found out about this today.

THE FLORIDA ALTERNATIVE FUELED VEHICLE ROADSHOW
http://afvroadshow.com/

City of Delray Beach - September 18th 9am - 12N
Miami/Dade - September 19th 9am - 12N
Tallahassee - September 20th 12:30PM - 4PM
Jacksonville - September 21st 9am - 12n
Tampa - September 24th 9am - 12N
Sarasota County - Venice September 25th 9am - 12N
Orange County - Orlando September 26th 9am - 12N
Daytona International Speedway(R) - September 27th 9am - 12N

Looks like the Alt Fuel vehicle roadshow is geared to the business crowd.

Don't forget this Sunday, September 23rd, is the second annual National Plug-In Day.

http://events.pluginday.org/

Anyone going to any of the 6 events in Florida?
Tallahassee?
Sarasota?
Tampa?
Lakeland?
Kissimmee?
Orlando?

 

[BrainDonor]

Today I saw my first i-MiEV on the road. So now I have seen 1 Nissan LEAF, 1 Fisker Karma, about 8-10 sightings of Chevy Volts (including one who lives down the street), and 1 Mitsubishi i-MiEV. No Ford Focus EV or Prius Plug-In (yet).

On a separate note, the other day my wife stopped by the Bankers Row lot in Delray to charge. There was a cop there writing tickets to several cars that were parked in the designated EV only spots.

 

[evenoelle]

Today I saw my first i-MiEV on the road. So now I have seen 1 Nissan LEAF, 1 Fisker Karma, about 8-10 sightings of Chevy Volts (including one who lives down the street), and 1 Mitsubishi i-MiEV. No Ford Focus EV or Prius Plug-In (yet).

On a separate note, the other day my wife stopped by the Bankers Row lot in Delray to charge. There was a cop there writing tickets to several cars that were parked in the designated EV only spots.

Must be EV sighting day - I saw a silver LEAF in my neighborhood (behind Baptist Hospital) - this is the second time I have seen a silver one here, so I am guessing it is the same one I saw last time. I just need to scout her out one day! As for the i-MiEV - I'm not sure I even know what those look like - I'm off to the Mitsubishi website to take a look.

On another note...my daughter just started high school at TERRA which the first "green school" of it's kind. They give preference for the limited parking spaces there to EVs and hybrids. Now she is asking for a LEAF. :shock:

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

On another note...my daughter just started high school at TERRA which the first "green school" of it's kind. They give preference for the limited parking spaces there to EVs and hybrids. Now she is asking for a LEAF. :shock:

I was reading somewhere there's a dealer moving a lot of Volts, one angle they are using is with parents is get your kid this, and you'll know they're only going 40 miles otherwise they have to ask you for gas money. Kind of silly, obviously you could just check the odometer on any car, and kids could get gas money from friends or whatever, but no sillier than 90% of what is said in car showrooms.