Nissan Offering Free Charging - "No Charge to Charge"

[pkulak]

Man, I'd love to buy one of these cards.

 

[cgaydos]

This article: http://www.plugincars.com/nissan-promises-common-card-all-public-ev-charging-129654.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Suggests that Nissan will not be paying the fees if it can help it, but asking station owners to allow free charging. ChargePoint will publish map of participating stations.

In addition, there is a suggestion on the LEAF Facebook page that Nissan will be making the charge cards available to existing LEAF owners (presumably for a fee) and there is another comment suggesting that Nissan is rolling out charge collections on their dealership QCs.

This makes me wonder if this is Nissan's answer to Nissan dealers who keep people from using their charger unless they bought the LEAF there. I'm speculating based on limited data, but what Nissan may be saying to dealers is: If you want into this program that will help you sell LEAFs you must make your chargers open for a fee, but free to people (LEAF-drivers) with these cards.

To be more clear, when I said "there is a suggestion on the LEAF Facebook page that Nissan will be making the charge cards available to existing LEAF owners" that was posted there by the Nissan LEAF staff. Given that they never post anything that is not approved in triplicate by management I'd say that is a given.

 

[Graffi]

As of April 5, 2014 the L3 DCQC at the dealer we got our Leaf from 7 months earlier, and were told would be available for free charging, was taken over by NRG eVgo and is NO LONGER FREE. As it was, even when I was in the area, if I did not need a charge to get home I would not waste 15 to 20 minutes of my time to save $1.00 of home electricity. Now I will NEVER use it again because the only time I need public charging is if I drive out of the area so a membership to eVgo will not help and the cost of single use is more than the cost of gas for the ICE, plus the time savings by not having to charge.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

I am not thrilled about this simply because of the scarcity of L3 units. It my opinion, it pushes off the installation of home chargers from the time of vehicle purchase until expiration of the free charging period. That means more cars trying to use the few L3 we have.

I currently rely on 2 of these to complete my daily commute. They are about 50 miles from my start points (each direction). I usually stop for less than 15 minutes. Since the initiation of Aerovironment's monthly fee, I have only had to wait for another LEAF one time.

I am not looking forward to waiting while someone sits there charging on a L3 trying to top it off because the GOM is down to 50. Some new owners believe that means they are at 50% and many more will sit there toasting their batteries. It doesn't matter to them because the car is being leased.

It may sell a few more cars, but I think it will be detrimental to the drive times of early owners. We have gone from no L3 units, then they were free, to now a fee, (unless we buy a new car).

How about just making them free for all again (Nissan's subsidy - tied to Vehicle is fine) and then the playing field will be a bit more even?

My experience with free charging

http://daveinolywa.blogspot.com/2014/04/nissan-offering-2-years-of-free-charging.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nissan is not instituting a fee structure at the dealerships...at least not directly. they are allowing the dealerships to make their own decision on what they do. now as far as free charging; most dealers still allow cars purchased or leased from them to charge for free. how this is being handled varies from dealership to dealership so if you have any concerns, call them.

as for me, free charging at the closest fast charger to my house is something i rarely have a need for. would i use it simply because it was there? absolutely!!

would i continue to charge when someone else was waiting to use it?

NEVER

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

This article: http://www.plugincars.com/nissan-promises-common-card-all-public-ev-charging-129654.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Suggests that Nissan will not be paying the fees if it can help it, but asking station owners to allow free charging. ChargePoint will publish map of participating stations.

so Chargepoint is up in the air (they have literally zero fast chargers so not an issue. besides as the article stated, most are still free in my neighborhood) its AV and Blink that need to be on board for me. Sema would be nice but again, they are primarily L2 and not all that conveniently located

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

CP networks some Eaton QCs here, and it'll grow. The fees, if any, are chosen by the station owner. Some do have a fee. All the Nissan QCs are free at the moment.

 

[pkulak]

Now I will NEVER use it

Yeah... that's the point. Why were you quick charging instead of home charging to begin with? Quick charging is for longer trips or rare occasions when you need to drive more than 70 miles in town. I'm sure all the people that need that charger to get where they're going will be happy you're not hogging it any more.

 

[Graffi]

Now I will NEVER use it

Yeah... that's the point. Why were you quick charging instead of home charging to begin with? Quick charging is for longer trips or rare occasions when you need to drive more than 70 miles in town. I'm sure all the people that need that charger to get where they're going will be happy you're not hogging it any more.

To my credit I NEVER was hogging it. I did wait a couple of times, but almost always it sat empty. Almost all of my DCQC charging was in the beginning, and only when we were in the area (we live 15 miles from the dealer). Then one day while I was sitting in the car while being charged I realized that I was only getting about $1.00 of electricity and said to myself, "Listen up you idiot, your time is more valuable than this "FREE" charging." From that day until now I have not gone out of my way to do any public charging unless I needed some juice to get home.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

This article: http://www.plugincars.com/nissan-promises-common-card-all-public-ev-charging-129654.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Suggests that Nissan will not be paying the fees if it can help it, but asking station owners to allow free charging. ChargePoint will publish map of participating stations.

In addition, there is a suggestion on the LEAF Facebook page that Nissan will be making the charge cards available to existing LEAF owners (presumably for a fee) and there is another comment suggesting that Nissan is rolling out charge collections on their dealership QCs.

This makes me wonder if this is Nissan's answer to Nissan dealers who keep people from using their charger unless they bought the LEAF there. I'm speculating based on limited data, but what Nissan may be saying to dealers is: If you want into this program that will help you sell LEAFs you must make your chargers open for a fee, but free to people (LEAF-drivers) with these cards.

To be more clear, when I said "there is a suggestion on the LEAF Facebook page that Nissan will be making the charge cards available to existing LEAF owners" that was posted there by the Nissan LEAF staff. Given that they never post anything that is not approved in triplicate by management I'd say that is a given.

So, the card allows you to use multiple networks, but if you're an existing owner, you still have to pay whatever the station fees are?

If you're buying/leasing after 4/1, the fees may be waived if the station owner signs on to the program, but you still have to pay them if they don't sign on, plus you're limited to a half hour on QC, or one hour on L2, after which you then have to pay? But are those time limitations "per day"? Or can you stop the session, re-plug, and get another free charge?

The only station I use frequently is at work, and it only charges $0.40/hr, so it wouldn't make that much difference.

 

[JasonA]

Having more people use chargers is always a good idea - even if it causes temporary congestion.

This would prompt more infrastructure to be built.

I agree, and we had this discussion last week at the mtg when Gary needed a QC to get home and couldn't because the local dealer he was used to switched over to EVgo or whatever now. But he made it to Mitsubishi to charge and then home.

However, I'll just leave this little tidbit here for you guys to chew on as now the prototypes are out in the open.. they are being tested... and TONS of Model S owners are anxiously awaiting their arrival.

Now how would you like to be stuck behind a S85 on a 45kw charger and the dude has taken off for lunch and there's nothing you can do about it....

P.S. I don't have CHAdeMO so BLAH! :lol:

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

CP networks some Eaton QCs here, and it'll grow. The fees, if any, are chosen by the station owner. Some do have a fee. All the Nissan QCs are free at the moment.

that moment has passed

 

[TRONZ]

Nissan is making their QC access pretty messy. Last I heard, the dealer QC's were still only available during business hours. No solution here. Also, if NRG is "taking over" dealer QC's, then do these count against new QC's they now don't have to install in CA??? Time will tell who gets what. The real issue though seems to be that Nissan is simply not interested in taking command of their QC infrastructure or doing anything to increase the number of stations. Contrast this against Elon's all inclusive approach. Ghosn claims the one thing holding back "their" EV's is "a lack of places to fill them up". Facepalm! A QC fob is a nice talking point for car salesmen and maybe a small nudge for early Leaf owners to "upgrade" into a new Leaf but Nissan has been pretty much coasting on EV's for two years now. I HOPE its because they have some amazing stuff on the way... but concerned it's simply because they just don't know how to lead on big new radical things. Not unusual for typically conservative Japanese Corporations. People are still in shock that Sony owned music labels/catalogs, produced portable music devices, produced computers and DID NOT invent iTunes!

Meanwhile, Tesla is building a huge Supercharge station just over the hill from me.

 

[cwerdna]

Also, if NRG is "taking over" dealer QC's, then do these count against new QC's they now don't have to install in CA???

Re: your statement above, see http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15867" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Now the request and offer out to the dealers that Paul posted above makes perfect sense in relation to this new offer.

 

[sdmike1]

2 years of free charging for new leaf owners starting July 1, 2014 in 10 markets. Will be retroactive to all purchases or leases after April 1, 2014. More here:

http://nissannews.com/en-US/nissan/usa/releases/nissan-launches-programs-to-make-leaf-charging-free-and-ez" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is great since I just got my new leaf on 4/18.

 

[DaveEV]

I also fear this will cause the already weak charging network to become overburdened...

On the contrary I think it will make the 4 charging companies stronger. They will have a steady stream of income from Nissan and they will use that new income to expand the charging network. This is a win win for everyone.

unless they double the number of fast chargers and put them in key areas, they will continue to struggle

Putting them in key areas is the trick.

Having more people use chargers is always a good idea - even if it causes temporary congestion.

This would prompt more infrastructure to be built.

But will it? So far it seems that very little regard to utilization is given when it comes to deciding where additional infrastructure is built. If you look at the Blink network, they're still struggling just to keep the stations they have already installed operational!

The best spot to install more infrastructure from an infrastrucuture point of view (enabling highest utilization with lowest chance of having to wait) in many places will be installing stations where there are already stations.

But are the networks smart enough to do that? So far they all seem to insist on installing a single QC per location.

 

[dgalvan]

Cool! But I'm bummed that Los Angeles is not one of the participating market areas. :|

 

[Randy]

The press release says there will be more markets added, and you have to think that LA would be in that group...

 

[aarond12]

Interesting caveat: L2 charging is restricted to ONE HOUR. So that will give us 12 or 24 miles of range for the 3.3kW and 6.6kW chargers respectively. Hmmm... it's free, but one hour of charging could be quite a limitation.

 

[eHelmholtz]

Interesting caveat: L2 charging is restricted to ONE HOUR. So that will give us 12 or 24 miles of range for the 3.3kW and 6.6kW chargers respectively. Hmmm... it's free, but one hour of charging could be quite a limitation.

Where does it say that?

 

[Randy]

Interesting caveat: L2 charging is restricted to ONE HOUR. So that will give us 12 or 24 miles of range for the 3.3kW and 6.6kW chargers respectively. Hmmm... it's free, but one hour of charging could be quite a limitation.

Where does it say that?

I've read it in a couple of different places, but here is one example...

http://www.carcharging.com/about/news/all/carcharging-joins-nissans-ez-charge-charge-charge-programs/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;