Official EV Project / Ecotality / free charger thread

[Volusiano]

Will say this in favor of Ecotality, after I e-mailed them yesterday about my car not charging and having to power cycle to get a charge, they sent someone out to check out the Blink this morning.

I've found Blink to be be both responsive and helpful when problems are reported. At least they have that side of their business running well. Hope they get your issues resolved soon.

The thing that surprised me the most is that their customer support line is open 24/7.

 

[TEG]

So I unplug my Blink from the Leaf and I notice some gooey yuck on the J-socket.
Looking closer I see that a big spider got squished when I plugged it in.
I then realized that the J-plug in the Blink "holster" isn't well sealed and insects can crawl in there and hide out. The Nissan portable EVSE has a rubber cap on the J-plug to prevent this sort of thing.

I had the old Avcon in the same spot for years with never a problem. Seems like the J-plug has gone downhill in terms of insect resistant design. The squished bug mess inside the plug head is going to be hard to clean out too.

Lesson: examine inside your J-plug before you plug it into the car. Possibly hard to do at night though.

 

[JPWhite]

So I unplug my Blink from the Leaf and I notice some gooey yuck on the J-socket.
Looking closer I see that a big spider got squished when I plugged it in.
I then realized that the J-plug in the Blink "holster" isn't well sealed and insects can crawl in there and hide out. The Nissan portable EVSE has a rubber cap on the J-plug to prevent this sort of thing.

I used a Chargepoint station recently and they have a dummy socket for the plug to fit into when stowing the cable. That will reduce the likelihood of foreign objects getting in there.

 

[honkbahh]

I ordered the 2012 SL trim, and show pending with the eTec application. I know the SL includes the quick charge port, but does anyone know if this is partially subsidized as it was for the 2011 (ie $700 back) I should I just be happy enough with the possibility of a close to free install & charger?

 

[EricBayArea]

I ordered the 2012 SL trim, and show pending with the eTec application. I know the SL includes the quick charge port, but does anyone know if this is partially subsidized as it was for the 2011 (ie $700 back) I should I just be happy enough with the possibility of a close to free install & charger?

I am pretty sure that the $700 rebate is a factor of EV Project acceptance, and not the model year car. EV Project will only be accepting participants up to a certain number, regardless of model year. Call EcoTality to confirm.

Additionally, the current contract for the EV Project says that participation is required through the end of 2012, so less of a commitment is required.

 

[JPWhite]

I am pretty sure that the $700 rebate is a factor of EV project acceptance, and not the model year car. EV Project will only be accepting participants up to a certain number, regardless of model year. Call EcoTality to confirm.

Media have reported in Tennessee that Ecotality are still looking for people to join the program.

 

[SharonaLA]

Will say this in favor of Ecotality, after I e-mailed them yesterday about my car not charging and having to power cycle to get a charge, they sent someone out to check out the Blink this morning.

Did they find anything?

We found that the blink was not connected to the wifi. We rebooted the router and reconnected.

People on the mynissanleaf have been discussing the possibility that, after the latest software upgrade, when the wifi network goes out, the blink fails to charge. It used to charge just fine, even with no connectivity or a huge error message on the screen.

 

[wsbca]

Media have reported in Tennessee that Ecotality are still looking for people to join the program.

Here in San Diego I just now got an email directly from Nissan with the subject "Nissan LEAF: Incentives Still Available" which said "based on where you live you may qualify for your home charging unit and installation as part of the U.S. government's EV Project."

We already have our Project-provided EVSE, but I guess that info isn't synced up with the list they used to send the email (the boilerplate on the mail says "This e-mail was sent in response to your interest in Nissan LEAF™ and will provide you information about the status of your reservation.")

Regardless - hopefully more prospective Leaf buyers will be able to get in on the Project as well as the refilled California rebate - I'd like nothing better than to see piles more Leafs on the road around here. I'm seeing new ones every day or so on my bike commute and just recently saw one in the parking lot next to my office. Just occurred to me I haven't seen a red one in a while though.

 

[jvcleaf]

Additionally, the current contract for the EV Project says that participation is required through the end of 2012, so less of a commitment is required.

My Blink was installed recently and the contract has it running to 30 April 2013.

 

[Eric9610]

I live in the orange county area and noticed that we are not included in receiving the free charging stations. Has anyone had any luck in getting the stations installed in orange county?

 

[thejabrother]

Hi, just bought my leaf a couple weeks ago. Salesman thought I'd be able to get $700 discount and free home charger from ecotality but I signed up on the website and it said I didn't qualify. Anyone know anything about this? Thanks for your help!

 

[JPWhite]

Hi, just bought my leaf a couple weeks ago. Salesman thought I'd be able to get $700 discount and free home charger from ecotality but I signed up on the website and it said I didn't qualify. Anyone know anything about this? Thanks for your help!

The first email I got was to say I didn't qualify. So no sweat there.

However you already have your leaf. To be part of the Ecotality project the car must have a fast charge port which isn't biled to you at time of sale. I haven't heard of anyone joining the Ecotaility project AFTER they purchased the car. Call Nissan to ask, but my guess is that the salesman was thinking outside the box.

For faster charging at home look at converting the EVSE that came with the car
http://evseupgrade.com/styled/ That's cheaper than buying an EVSE.

Alternative is to purchase an EVSE from Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0069VTGPE
or
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004G6ZSZG

 

[oakwcj]

Hi, just bought my leaf a couple weeks ago. Salesman thought I'd be able to get $700 discount and free home charger from ecotality but I signed up on the website and it said I didn't qualify. Anyone know anything about this? Thanks for your help!

I don't think Visalia is in one of the EV Project's territories. See the map at http://www.theevproject.com. A lot of people were accepted into the EV Project in the Bay Area after they got their cars, provided they were SL models. We got $700 checks from Nissan later.

 

[foobert]

Ecotality's chosen electrician has just lost them a customer. He claims that he cannot install a 40 amp circuit without upgrading my panel and never bother to show the load calcs to back it up. He justified this by adding up all the breakers saying, "look, you'll be over 100 amps", which is just flat wrong and he knows it.

So, his bid was $3470 to change the main 100 amp service breaker to 125 amp, and run <5 feet of conduit in my garage.

His quote included $640 of "administrative time", plus $279 of "permit preparation and time to submit and inspection" (that's in addition to the actual $310 paid to the city).

Unbelievable that he thinks he can fleece his pockets like that. :evil:

 

[coolfilmaker]

Ecotality's chosen electrician has just lost them a customer. He claims that he cannot install a 40 amp circuit without upgrading my panel and never bother to show the load calcs to back it up. He justified this by adding up all the breakers saying, "look, you'll be over 100 amps", which is just flat wrong and he knows it.

So, his bid was $3470 to change the main 100 amp service breaker to 125 amp, and run <5 feet of conduit in my garage.

His quote included $640 of "administrative time", plus $279 of "permit preparation and time to submit and inspection" (that's in addition to the actual $310 paid to the city).

Unbelievable that he thinks he can fleece his pockets like that. :evil:

That's pretty stupid. If he's going through the trouble why not go to 200 amps and be prepared for faster charging cars in the future?

 

[hd172]

I put my application in on the 7th. The contractor is coming out on the 17th. I'll post my updates.

 

[quinnlee]

Ecotality's chosen electrician has just lost them a customer. He claims that he cannot install a 40 amp circuit without upgrading my panel and never bother to show the load calcs to back it up. He justified this by adding up all the breakers saying, "look, you'll be over 100 amps", which is just flat wrong and he knows it.

So, his bid was $3470 to change the main 100 amp service breaker to 125 amp, and run <5 feet of conduit in my garage.

His quote included $640 of "administrative time", plus $279 of "permit preparation and time to submit and inspection" (that's in addition to the actual $310 paid to the city).

Unbelievable that he thinks he can fleece his pockets like that. :evil:

I got the same "administration time" $640 and $279 of "permit preparation". There are some price fixing going on with Ecotality's chosen electricians. They are benefiting from tax payer's money along with us. Should we complain? :lol:

 

[Rat]

Ecotality's chosen electrician has just lost them a customer. He claims that he cannot install a 40 amp circuit without upgrading my panel and never bother to show the load calcs to back it up. He justified this by adding up all the breakers saying, "look, you'll be over 100 amps", which is just flat wrong and he knows it.

So, his bid was $3470 to change the main 100 amp service breaker to 125 amp, and run <5 feet of conduit in my garage.

His quote included $640 of "administrative time", plus $279 of "permit preparation and time to submit and inspection" (that's in addition to the actual $310 paid to the city).

Unbelievable that he thinks he can fleece his pockets like that. :evil:

Is it Sprig? They fleeced me like that, but I did get Ecotality to force them to reduce their bid. I ended up out about $2700 or so but got a new main panel.

 

[JPWhite]

Ecotality's chosen electrician has just lost them a customer. He claims that he cannot install a 40 amp circuit without upgrading my panel and never bother to show the load calcs to back it up. He justified this by adding up all the breakers saying, "look, you'll be over 100 amps", which is just flat wrong and he knows it.

So, his bid was $3470 to change the main 100 amp service breaker to 125 amp, and run <5 feet of conduit in my garage.

His quote included $640 of "administrative time", plus $279 of "permit preparation and time to submit and inspection" (that's in addition to the actual $310 paid to the city).

Unbelievable that he thinks he can fleece his pockets like that. :evil:

Is it Sprig? They fleeced me like that, but I did get Ecotality to force them to reduce their bid. I ended up out about $2700 or so but got a new main panel.

Did you ever consider simply getting the L1 EVSE that comes with the car converted to 240v volt operation for $350?

 

[madhaus]

Hi, just bought my leaf a couple weeks ago. Salesman thought I'd be able to get $700 discount and free home charger from ecotality but I signed up on the website and it said I didn't qualify. Anyone know anything about this? Thanks for your help!

The first email I got was to say I didn't qualify. So no sweat there.

However you already have your leaf. To be part of the Ecotality project the car must have a fast charge port which isn't biled to you at time of sale. I haven't heard of anyone joining the Ecotaility project AFTER they purchased the car. Call Nissan to ask, but my guess is that the salesman was thinking outside the box.

For faster charging at home look at converting the EVSE that came with the car
http://evseupgrade.com/styled/ That's cheaper than buying an EVSE.

We bought a LEAF right off the lot at Nissan Sunnyvale (Northern California/Silicon Valley) and the dealer gave me the contacts for Ecotality and all the incentives. There was a little back and forth on how soon it would take but yes I was accepted to the EV Project within a week and a half, then Ecotality referred us to an electrician who called me and came out the same day to do the survey. I got a check for the $700 QC port after the Blink Charger was installed at our house.

The problem in getting it done quickly wasn't Ecotality, Nissan, or the contractor. It was PG&E, our local electric utility. They wouldn't return the electrical contractor's phone calls and what should have taken 2 weeks ended up taking 7. One PG&E tech said "Oh, I don't handle EVs" when the issue was whether the neighborhood electrical lines could handle an upgrade from 100 to 200A panel (our 100A panel was completely maxed out and no room for more circuits either). Second one never returned calls. Finally contractor called a supervisor and was given a third PG&E engineer who came out immediately and confirmed we were good for 200A upgrade. Then another week and a half for the electrical work to get scheduled, because it required PG&E to turn power off for panel replacement.

So we bought our car 12/9, and got our EVSE 1/25. I'm sorry that the OP cannot join the EV Project, but the issue wasn't buying the LEAF before applying. Nissan told me that people who already have their LEAF are moved up the queue and I have to say the process went pretty smoothly other than dealing with PG&E.