Phoenix metro-area

[naterry]

My Leaf is 16 mos old and there's no way I can make 60 miles now.

How many miles have you had? I was thinking to get a 24 months lease and hope next generation will have significant improvement.

I was thinking Focus Electric too but having a feeling that Ford doesn't want to grow this market. There are only 4 FE in Phoenix area. I am also afraid of the bad support from Ford. (Maybe Nissan is not that good either in terms of the battery issue.)

 

[cwerdna]

I went to a dealership today to test drive a LEAP on highway (short) and surface street. I like the car.
...
1. He said 2013 model will come with 6.6 kW charger. I googled everywhere but only found the "rumor" about this. The official launch of 2013 model in Japan last month didn't mention this improvement. Does anyone know whether 2013 model come with 6.6 kW charger?

2. He said the capacity loss issues in hot weather mostly happened in SV trim because SL has slightly different battery package. Does anyone hear this before?

1. It's widely believed that this will be available on the '13. OTOH, unclear if it'll be standard across all trims or not.
2. COMPLETE BULL! NONONO!!! The batteries are the same on the SV vs. SL.

 

[myleaf]

My Leaf is 16 mos old and there's no way I can make 60 miles now.

How many miles have you had? I was thinking to get a 24 months lease and hope next generation will have significant improvement.

I was thinking Focus Electric too but having a feeling that Ford doesn't want to grow this market. There are only 4 FE in Phoenix area. I am also afraid of the bad support from Ford. (Maybe Nissan is not that good either in terms of the battery issue.)

If you decide on the 24 month lease. I have observed, and I believe it is a reasonable assumption that most of the battery degradation occurs during the AZ summers. In this case it would be best to lease in the fall or winter. This will minimize the amount of battery degradation during your lease.

 

[Stoaty]

If you decide on the 24 month lease. I have observed, and I believe it is a reasonable assumption that most of the battery degradation occurs during the AZ summers. In this case it would be best to lease in the fall or winter. This will minimize the amount of battery degradation during your lease.

To put a finer point on it, the amount of battery degradation during your lease will be exactly the same, but it will be shifted to later in the lease than otherwise and thus will probably give you greater utility.

 

[surfingslovak]

If you decide on the 24 month lease. I have observed, and I believe it is a reasonable assumption that most of the battery degradation occurs during the AZ summers. In this case it would be best to lease in the fall or winter. This will minimize the amount of battery degradation during your lease.

To put a finer point on it, the amount of battery degradation during your lease will be exactly the same, but it will be shifted to later in the lease than otherwise and thus will probably give you greater utility.

Yes, agreed, but this is contingent on finding a vehicle with a relatively fresh battery. We have a documented case or two, where a new Leaf was down about 6-7% apparently just from baking on a dealer parking lot. I had friends go shopping with a Gid meter, and they picked the car with the best battery off the lot. Happened to be the showroom floor model. So the offer LEAFfan extended upthread would seem both reasonable and very generous.

 

[myleaf]

If you decide on the 24 month lease. I have observed, and I believe it is a reasonable assumption that most of the battery degradation occurs during the AZ summers. In this case it would be best to lease in the fall or winter. This will minimize the amount of battery degradation during your lease.

To put a finer point on it, the amount of battery degradation during your lease will be exactly the same, but it will be shifted to later in the lease than otherwise and thus will probably give you greater utility.

Yes, agreed, but this is contingent on finding a vehicle with a relatively fresh battery. We have a documented case or two, where a new Leaf was down about 6-7% apparently just from baking on a dealer parking lot. I had friends go shopping with a Gid meter, and they picked the car with the best battery off the lot. Happened to be the showroom floor model. So the offer LEAFfan extended upthread would seem both reasonable and very generous.

A good first level screen could be the manufacturing date. Then the gid reading to confirm.

 

[LEAFfan]

A new GoE3, 40kW DCQC was opened today at a Shell station close to Picacho Peak (68 mi. from me) . Starting tomorrow it will cost $4 a charge for LEAFs/iMiEVs and $12.50 for Teslas. Also, by the end of this month there will be a Blink QC at Broadway/I-10 in Tucson so I'll be able to drive down there. We're making progress!

I added this station to Plugshare.com, but the address I found for a Shell station in Picacho seems to put it not quite at the right location on the map, so I don't know if that's the same Shell station or not. If you know the correct address, feel free to fix it.

Do you need some kind of RFID card to operate this GoE3 DCQC station, like all Blink stations do? Or does it take credit card swipes?

Also, Mapquest says from my house near I10 & Ray to there is about 63 miles. With 2 capacity bar loss on my battery already, I'm concerned whether I can really make the trip or not. I imagine you'd have to be driving about 65 mph on I10 at a minimum since the rest of traffic will be blasting by you at 75-85 mph. For people who come from north Phoenix, the range is going to be much more than 63 miles.

Another concern is that usually DCQC don't usually charge your car to 100% even if told to. I use the PADT Blink DCQC frequently, and usually even if I set it to charge to 100%, it'll stop at 90% on its own meter, which is about 80% on my own meter (10 SOC bars).

I just found out today that the credit card ($4/charge) option will be available sometime today. It's located at exit# 219, Bowlin Plaza (huge gift shop) Picacho Rd., Northeast/left side of Picacho Rd. There's another Shell station to the right, but the QC can be easily seen on the left after you turn left onto Picacho Rd. exiting I-10. There's also a double connector L2 EVSE ($2/hr.) with a 120V socket.

 

[Volusiano]

A new GoE3, 40kW DCQC was opened today at a Shell station close to Picacho Peak (68 mi. from me) . Starting tomorrow it will cost $4 a charge for LEAFs/iMiEVs and $12.50 for Teslas. Also, by the end of this month there will be a Blink QC at Broadway/I-10 in Tucson so I'll be able to drive down there. We're making progress!

I added this station to Plugshare.com, but the address I found for a Shell station in Picacho seems to put it not quite at the right location on the map, so I don't know if that's the same Shell station or not. If you know the correct address, feel free to fix it.

Do you need some kind of RFID card to operate this GoE3 DCQC station, like all Blink stations do? Or does it take credit card swipes?

Also, Mapquest says from my house near I10 & Ray to there is about 63 miles. With 2 capacity bar loss on my battery already, I'm concerned whether I can really make the trip or not. I imagine you'd have to be driving about 65 mph on I10 at a minimum since the rest of traffic will be blasting by you at 75-85 mph. For people who come from north Phoenix, the range is going to be much more than 63 miles.

Another concern is that usually DCQC don't usually charge your car to 100% even if told to. I use the PADT Blink DCQC frequently, and usually even if I set it to charge to 100%, it'll stop at 90% on its own meter, which is about 80% on my own meter (10 SOC bars).

I just found out today that the credit card ($4/charge) option will be available sometime today. It's located at exit# 219, Bowlin Plaza (huge gift shop) Picacho Rd., Northeast/left side of Picacho Rd. There's another Shell station to the right, but the QC can be easily seen on the left after you turn left onto Picacho Rd. exiting I-10. There's also a double connector L2 EVSE ($2/hr.) with a 120V socket.

That's great to hear that we'll be able to charge to a credit card instead of the Charge Point card, since there's only 1 ChargePoint station in AZ at Bookman's as far as I know, so not too many people may have a ChargePoint card.

Anyway, I guess if the distance from Phoenix to Picacho of 60+ miles is out of reach for some LEAF owners (due to battery degration or freeway driving), they can always stop by the Tanger outlet mall at Casa Grande to fill up a bit with the 2 L2 there to make it reach. Although this will add significant time to the trip, and it can be worse if there are other LEAFs trying to top it off there, too.

The distance between the Casa Grande station and the Picacho station is about 24 miles. I wonder if an hour of charge at Casa Grande is enough to get you to Picacho from Phoenix.

It looks like the distance from Picacho to Tucson of around 44+ miles should be no problem, however, even at 80% charge only.

I'd like to hear from whomever makes the first EV trip between Phoenix and Tuscon to see how it goes for them. Thanks.

 

[LEAFfan]

I also found out yesterday that ECOtality is working with Kohls in Casa Grande for them to put in a DCQC. At the end of this month there is supposed to be a Blink at I-10 and Speedway.

 

[Volusiano]

I also found out yesterday that ECOtality is working with Kohls in Casa Grande for them to put in a DCQC. At the end of this month there is supposed to be a Blink at I-10 and Speedway.

Wow, that Kohls for sure will earn my business if they have a Blink DCFC there.

 

[billnsasha]

If you are at 50% or higher on the Blink screen, it will charge to 100% and show twelve bars. Otherwise, you have to restart it to get your 12 bars.

I tried it out at the Sears Chandler mall DCFC and it works like you said. I had 62% and let it charge to 100% and it quit charging at 99% (close enough). I got 12 bars on my SOC reading.

It's probably not worth the time to let it charge to 100% unless you really need to, because it was exceedingly slow in the last 10% between 90-100%. It took me a total of 40 minutes to charge from 62% to 99%. Half of that time could easily have been to go from 90-99%. I only did it because I wanted to see how long it took to go the final 10% and I had time to wait.

I've noticed that too when charging to 100%. I plan on only charging to 80% now unless I really have to go to 100%.

 

[Gonewild]

Hi all.
Have you heard the new 2014 chevy spark is going to have SAE QC is that the same standard on the Leaf?

Have to wait for info on range but the car is far smaller the the Leaf so I the battery is a 20K maybe it will do 100 miles.

 

[LEAFfan]

Hi all.
Have you heard the new 2014 chevy spark is going to have SAE QC is that the same standard on the Leaf?

Have to wait for info on range but the car is far smaller the the Leaf so I the battery is a 20K maybe it will do 100 miles.

Yes, I heard or read that too. SAE L2/L3 will not work with the LEAF. SAE has a duo plug.

 

[Gonewild]

Man just read my post I should read before I send :lol:

 

[phxsmiley]

I took a trip to Picacho Peak to try out the new Quick Charger. There are two L2 chargers and one QuickCharger.

I don't know if you can call it L3, as it is going at a much slower rate than the Blink QC units. My GID meter reading around half-way through the charge read about 14kW charging rate, which seems to be what I read in another article about the unit.

Here are some pictures to give a little more information:
The unit is outside the Picacho Peak Plaza gas station/party store/souvenir store:

https://picasaweb.google.com/107934007891830159224/PicachoPeakQC

Using the Unit:
--------------
The unit supports two connectors, but only the right one, the Chademo connector, is working according to the station attendent. From what I read the left connector is the new SAE combo connector. I had to go inside to request they unlock the unit. He told me that I was the first one to use the unit since their big grand opening ceremony last week.

I followed the touch screen prompts, but the unit reported a fault right away. There is a curious red knob (with a yellow ring) that might be some sort of 'reset', but it didn't do anything that I could tell of. The attendant had to come back out, open up the unit and do a reset of the unit. The screen reported that it was doing a 'safety check', then fans started up and I was charging.

The on-screen display reported that it would take an hour to charge. I forgot to write down my starting Gid count, but I was at two bars. The Gid count ended at 180, which is just under my normal 184 Gid 80% SOC reading.

There was no charge for the use of the meter, probably temporary. It had a ChargePoint reader and logo on the unit, so that looks like how it will be paid for.

Getting There:
--------------
The trip from my house in Chandler was 55 miles, so I was hoping to make it there with a full 100% charge with my 2-bar-down Leaf, but I didn't. Coming up to Casa Grande, I only had 13 miles range and needed 23. In my experience, the GOM is pretty accurate after driving at least 5+ miles at the same speed. I drove 65 mph constantly (speed limit of 75), but my efficiency was pretty bad, at 3.1miles/kwh, because I was facing a 15mph headwind out of the SW and the outside temp was about 55 (dense air) and there were light rain sprinkles. I had the heater pretty low, set to 65, but it was pulling a little power, looked like 500W. I doubt I could have made up the gap by leaving the heater off.

The speed of 65 mph was quite a bit slower than much of the traffic, but it didn't feel unsafe. Because of the conditions, there were some cars in the right lane with me traveling at the same speed. And, the highway was always two lanes wide, and sometimes 3 lanes.

I ended up charging at Casa Grande for 1.5 hours on the way there. With that, I reached Picacho Peak with 2 bars remaining. I had to charge again at Casa Grande an hour on the way back. Efficiency for the return trip was about 3.8 miles/kwh.

 

[TickTock]

Thanks for the trip report. You've got guts trying that! Nice location for a QC, though. I think this brings Tucson within practical range.

I took my daughter to Adam's Family at Gammage last night. Normally an easy round trip, but between the rain/wet roads and not wanting to freeze her I ended up topping off at PADT on the way back and shamelessly cranking up the heat. Besides the wind, what were the road conditions? Wet roads makes a huge difference. Even with the heat off on my trip to Gammage, I only got 3.2mpkWh on a route/style with which I usually get over 5 (6 with effort).

 

[LEAFer]

I took a trip to Picacho Peak to try out the new Quick Charger. ...
...
...
He told me that I was the first one to use the unit since their big grand opening ceremony last week.

I had posted about the opening half hour before your trip report ... http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=8356&start=49" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[LEAFfan]

The QC at Picacho Peak will be 40-50kW in about two weeks. Also, you will be able to use a credit card. The 2 L2s have a 120V receptical on the left side. I drove my LEAF down there nonstop for the opening ceremony. Originally, I was told it would cost smaller packs like the LEAF, $4 a charge, but a recent article said $5, which is still reasonable while traveling.

 

[turbo2ltr]

This weekend i tried the Phoenix art museum L2 chargers...both spots iced. I left passive aggressive notes on both vehicles. I was unable to charge there..luckily i was going to charge just for convienience..

next went to the library at PV mall. One spot was iced when i walked in, all were iced when i came out. Though one was iced because all the handicap spots were taken.

Its unfortunate the signs blink puts up just indicate EV charging, not EV charging only.

Even though i wasnt that low, i decided to try out the new DCFC at sears in the PV mall.
I selected 90% but only got 78%. And i didnt get any emails about it charging. Something weird is going on with my car. Trying to start charging via carwings always fails now. (I've been using it daily up until 2 days ago. ) but charging comlete emails come in every night. So i dont understand whats's going on.

 

[cyellen]

There are four L2 chargers at the Paradise Bakery at the Shops at Gainey Ranch (Scottsdale Road and Doubletree). I was pretty impressed with the signage actually - the two times I've been there (just charging for the heck of it and to say thanks, in my own weird way), all the spaces were open and the place was mobbed. Unless Blink can figure out the parking space thing, the whole model is shot - the chargers can't appear as "available" on the app and then not be available because of something as stupid as parking.