Questions for San Diego Leaf Owners

[tl01]

We got our Leaf back on Memorial Day weekend and are enjoying it so far.

We are excited because we just got our Blink charger installed and are waiting for our second meter to be put in as well. Hopefully in the next 5 days we will up up and running with our new charger. Does anyone know what the current monthly charge is for the 2nd meter from SDGE?

Also, has anyone tried to drive from SD to LA? Is there a charging point that is available to the public in South Orange County?

Thanks!

 

[mwalsh]

We got our Leaf back on Memorial Day weekend and are enjoying it so far.

We are excited because we just got our Blink charger installed and are waiting for our second meter to be put in as well. Hopefully in the next 5 days we will up up and running with our new charger. Does anyone know what the current monthly charge is for the 2nd meter from SDGE?

Also, has anyone tried to drive from SD to LA? Is there a charging point that is available to the public in South Orange County?

Thanks!

Where approximately in SD and LA?

If Laguna Beach is reachable, there are a couple of Chargepoints there, and a Nissan dealer as a backup plan.

 

[tl01]

From Scripps Ranch in San Diego which is 92131 to Beverly Hills which is 90210.

 

[haykinson]

Also, has anyone tried to drive from SD to LA? Is there a charging point that is available to the public in South Orange County?

I got my car at Mossy Kearny Mesa in SD, and I live in Santa Monica. The distance was 129 miles for me, so I drove 55 mph all the way to OC Nissan in Irvine. Got there with 20 miles to spare, charged there for a few hours until I hit 9 bars, and then made it home with 20 miles to spare again. If I couldn't have done OC Nissan in Irvine there were a few more options that were within range.

As a piece of advice: please make sure you do this within business hours, and call ahead to let the intermediate-stop dealer know you're coming.

 

[mwalsh]

Laguna Beach would be doable. Driving carefully, you might also be able to make the CPs at South Coast Plaza (80 miles).

 

[TonyWilliams]

From Scripps Ranch in San Diego which is 92131 to Beverly Hills which is 90210.

Ok, that's WAY up there. I drove to San Juan Capistrano (the south end) from here, and that was 140 mile round trip. You can read about that here.

I show your trip at 136 miles, plus whatever extra miles to get to your actual destination, plus driving around looking for a recharge station. I think I'd plan a stop in Laguna Beach (73 miles), or Newport Fashion Island (80-ish miles), or South Coast Plaza (85 miles), all of which have a L2 charging, and a place that you might want to stop at for hours.

If you start at 100% charge, you should be able to make South Coast at 50mph. You should be able to make Laguna Beach at 60mph. You definitely want to know where all the Nissan dealers are, which should be in the Navigation database, as a backup charge location.

Where you would charge up in the 90210, I have know idea, but if you go 80 miles, you'll need about 5 hours just to get back up to 80% charge of the battery, which should get you the rest of the way, or about 7 hours for a full charge.

There is an L3 charger at Mitsubishi headquarters, about 100 miles from here, that MAY be available Mon-Fri during working hours. The only problem is that you can't reach that without SOME charge enroute. If there's a problem with the single L3, they do have L2 chargers.

Mitsubishi L2/L3 Chargers

You could hang out in Laguna/Fashion/SoCoast for just a few hours (use about 12 miles per hour charging on L2), enough to get you comfortably to Mitsubishi with reserve for a backup plan. Then knock out an 80% charge there in under 30 minutes, which will get you all the way to BevHills.

Speed and elevation kills range.... Here's a chart to judge your speed for the trip.

Do you have a place to plug in at your destination? Do you have the Charge Point card??? The Blink card? An L3 charge port on your car?

 

[tl01]

Thanks for all the info! This will be quite helpful. I guess we need to figure out if getting to LA in the Leaf is really a feasible option.

Does anyone have a second meter from SDGE? I'm wondering if we have to pay all the taxes and fees like we do on our first meter but on our second meter... and if so, how much does that portion run? We are in the experimental program.

 

[mwalsh]

Thanks for all the info! This will be quite helpful. I guess we need to figure out if getting to LA in the Leaf is really a feasible option.

Quick Charge @ Mitsubishi could make all the difference time-wise, assuming a week day AND if you can get to Cypress with the least amount of L2 you need to reach there from someplace in south OC.

 

[ttweed]

Does anyone have a second meter from SDGE? I'm wondering if we have to pay all the taxes and fees like we do on our first meter but on our second meter... and if so, how much does that portion run? We are in the experimental program.

I got a second meter installed for my Blink charger through the EV Project and was not charged anything for it. There is no monthly fee for the meter, either, at least until the end of the project, as far as I know. They haven't charged me anything for it the last 3 months, anyway. When the experimental rates end in 2013, it is possible they will go back to charging for the second meter, which I think was about $4/mo. under the older EV-TOU rate schedule.

As far as the non-meter-related taxes and fees go, I have been billed about $1.50-2.00 each month on my EV electric consumption, which has been in the neighborhood of 300+ kWh/month. This consists of a City of San Diego Franchise Fee Differential, a Franchise Fee on Electric Energy Supplied by Others, a State Surcharge Tax and a State Regulatory Fee, with the SD Franchise Fee Differential being the bulk of it. The rest are just pennies.
HTH,
TT

 

[kevin672]

Does anyone have a second meter from SDGE? I'm wondering if we have to pay all the taxes and fees like we do on our first meter but on our second meter... and if so, how much does that portion run? We are in the experimental program.

I got a second meter installed for my Blink charger through the EV Project and was not charged anything for it. There is no monthly fee for the meter, either, at least until the end of the project, as far as I know. They haven't charged me anything for it the last 3 months, anyway. When the experimental rates end in 2013, it is possible they will go back to charging for the second meter, which I think was about $4/mo. under the older EV-TOU rate schedule.

As far as the non-meter-related taxes and fees go, I have been billed about $1.50-2.00 each month on my EV electric consumption, which has been in the neighborhood of 300+ kWh/month. This consists of a City of San Diego Franchise Fee Differential, a Franchise Fee on Electric Energy Supplied by Others, a State Surcharge Tax and a State Regulatory Fee, with the SD Franchise Fee Differential being the bulk of it. The rest are just pennies.
HTH,
TT

In addition, you'll be charged and credited a $15 electric service establishment fee. I guess if you normally have a second meter installed it's $15 but since we're in the EV Project they then credit you the $15. Also, I seem to recall a $0.17 per day minimum fee once the EV Project ends, but no second meter fee. I guess the 17 cents a day minimum is basically a second meter fee.

 

[stanley]

Just returned from a trip to Laguna Beach from Rancho Santa Fe. 53 miles each way. Drove at 58 MPH. Arrived in Laguna with 4 bars and 32 miles left on the guess-o- meter. Charged back to 100% at Laguna Beach. It took 4 hours to recharge. Upon return home had 4 bars left and 40 miles.

 

[tl01]

Does anyone have a second meter from SDGE? I'm wondering if we have to pay all the taxes and fees like we do on our first meter but on our second meter... and if so, how much does that portion run? We are in the experimental program.

I got a second meter installed for my Blink charger through the EV Project and was not charged anything for it. There is no monthly fee for the meter, either, at least until the end of the project, as far as I know. They haven't charged me anything for it the last 3 months, anyway. When the experimental rates end in 2013, it is possible they will go back to charging for the second meter, which I think was about $4/mo. under the older EV-TOU rate schedule.

As far as the non-meter-related taxes and fees go, I have been billed about $1.50-2.00 each month on my EV electric consumption, which has been in the neighborhood of 300+ kWh/month. This consists of a City of San Diego Franchise Fee Differential, a Franchise Fee on Electric Energy Supplied by Others, a State Surcharge Tax and a State Regulatory Fee, with the SD Franchise Fee Differential being the bulk of it. The rest are just pennies.
HTH,
TT

Which rate plan were you assigned?

 

[ttweed]

Which rate plan were you assigned?

I am on the high-ratio EPEV-Z schedule.

TT

 

[jcesare]

Does anyone have a second meter from SDGE? I'm wondering if we have to pay all the taxes and fees like we do on our first meter but on our second meter... and if so, how much does that portion run? We are in the experimental program.

I'm under the X-rate(Low Spread) and it's about .133 kW/h Super Off Peak. This includes distribution, generation and transmission. In addition there will be charges for DWR Bond, Nuclear Decommissioning, Public Purpose Programs, etc. which are negligible.

Here is the summary of my last month's bill (I was on vacation for 2 weeks and didn't use my Leaf, my regular monthly cost is about $35)

Electricity Generation 5.64
DWR Bond Charge .73
Transmission 2.36
Distribution 11.48
Public Purpose Programs .13
Nuclear Decommissioning .06
Competition Transition Charge .01
Reliability Services .15
Total Electric Costs $20.56

 

[LEAFguy]

Also, has anyone tried to drive from SD to LA? Is there a charging point that is available to the public in South Orange County?

The Nissan dealerships should show on your nav system. Call ahead to make sure it's okay to plug in, as a previous poster suggested.

One of the best sources that I've found for charge station info is carstations.com. I have no affiliation with them, but I've found that the info provided there is the most intuitive and up-to-date as users can update the site with info, pictures, etc. Make sure to filter by J1772 so you know which will work for you. I just pulled it up on my iPhone, and it works fine on a mobile device also. Other sites that exist and may improve over time can be found here.

Also, the "Update charging stations" info on your LEAF will only provide Nissan dealership info at present. We are still holding out hope that it will update with non-Nissan stations at some point in time, but that doesn't seem to be happening yet.

Good luck, and have fun in your new LEAF!