Frustrations with Public Charging Stations

[jusgetalong]

Very good points from everyone. I tried to take a short trip from Jupiter, Fl. to Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. airport. There are 3 Nissan dealerships in between with DCFC's. So no problem right. Both Delray and Ft. Lauderdale dealerships were down and have been for quite some time per Plugshare. Any one else with this experience?

[salyavin]

My office has L2 which is another good place for it, if I am going to be there for quite some hours that is fine. It gets use too from various people even Tesla owners. I am thinking one other use for L2 is apartment renters or people who otherwise may not install a charger, perhaps they park in walking/biking distance from home at some Whole Foods or Walgreens or something with an L2 overnight to charge, or maybe an extreme penny pincher (hey I have work charging for that . Very much agree for road trips when one has a 200 mile range one is probably on a road trip and wants a quick top up for lunch or such.

[jlv]

Both Delray and Ft. Lauderdale dealerships were down and have been for quite some time per Plugshare. Any one else with this experience?

I learned early on after getting my LEAF that you cannot depend upon CHAdeMOs at Nissan Dealerships, period. You can't even depend upon them if they aren't marked broken on PlugShare.

[jusgetalong]

I really like the Leaf. I hope the dealerships don't end up killing the car.

[salyavin]

I like/prefer the Leaf as well. The original poster has some good points on standardization. Do we have a Tesla (Ford) gas station and a Voltzwagon (CCS) gas station? That is really annoying. I actually like Chadamo for a a couple reasons: it allows vehicle to rid power (backup power usage) which one can see in Japan (where I split time), it is a simpler protocol than CCS and it was a standard. I do think CCS has a good chance in Europe and the US due to Volkswagen pushing so hard so Nissan needs to think about that, maybe an adapter so they can keep vehicle to grid? I remember the bad old days of phone chargers, cars are like that now. At least the Electrify America network has Chademo for now though it does take longer to change than CCS.

[WetEV]

I learned early on after getting my LEAF that you cannot depend upon CHAdeMOs at Nissan Dealerships, period. You can't even depend upon them if they aren't marked broken on PlugShare.

This one has been very reliable:

https://www.plugshare.com/location/1577

Other dealerships have been reliable as well. Others have not.

[DaveinOlyWA]

Very good points from everyone. I tried to take a short trip from Jupiter, Fl. to Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. airport. There are 3 Nissan dealerships in between with DCFC's. So no problem right. Both Delray and Ft. Lauderdale dealerships were down and have been for quite some time per Plugshare. Any one else with this experience?

I use Nissan dealerships as a last resort. I have found them to be the

1) Busiest with people who live locally topping off on DC
2) More of a hassle to get started frequently requiring someone to start charger or unlock it or move a car, etc.
3) In use by the dealership to charge a car for delivery
4) Broken .

[danrjones]

Very good points from everyone. I tried to take a short trip from Jupiter, Fl. to Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. airport. There are 3 Nissan dealerships in between with DCFC's. So no problem right. Both Delray and Ft. Lauderdale dealerships were down and have been for quite some time per Plugshare. Any one else with this experience?

I use Nissan dealerships as a last resort. I have found them to be the

1) Busiest with people who live locally topping off on DC
2) More of a hassle to get started frequently requiring someone to start charger or unlock it or move a car, etc.
3) In use by the dealership to charge a car for delivery
4) Broken .

I second this list. When I took my leaf in for service a month ago, I needed to fast charge to get back home. The fast charger at my Nissan dealer is broken and they said they have no plan to fix it. So I went across the street and fast charged at a Honda Dealer. Now, I will say my dealer was nice and when they were not working on the car, plugged into a Lvl2 in their back lot to finish the charging for me. But still...

[Lothsahn]

I second this list. When I took my leaf in for service a month ago, I needed to fast charge to get back home. The fast charger at my Nissan dealer is broken and they said they have no plan to fix it. So I went across the street and fast charged at a Honda Dealer. Now, I will say my dealer was nice and when they were not working on the car, plugged into a Lvl2 in their back lot to finish the charging for me. But still...

Can't speak for others, but the L2 charger at my dealership has 2 spots. 1 is always open. Never been broken. The other is sometimes filled by a dealer Leaf, but I'm sure they'd move it if I asked. Their layout was actually pretty good--the other charging location isn't technically a parking spot (it's part of a double-wide roundabout), so nobody would park there unless they're charging a Leaf. For that reason, the spot never gets ICEd.

Granted, I live in Missouri, not LA, where things are very different. We have a huge network of charging stations built by the local utility, and 80% of the spots are free at any given time. They're often ICEd, but it doesn't matter because there's still a spot. Only once in 2 years have I taken the last charging spot at any location.

[DaveinOlyWA]

I second this list. When I took my leaf in for service a month ago, I needed to fast charge to get back home. The fast charger at my Nissan dealer is broken and they said they have no plan to fix it. So I went across the street and fast charged at a Honda Dealer. Now, I will say my dealer was nice and when they were not working on the car, plugged into a Lvl2 in their back lot to finish the charging for me. But still...

Can't speak for others, but the L2 charger at my dealership has 2 spots. 1 is always open. Never been broken. The other is sometimes filled by a dealer Leaf, but I'm sure they'd move it if I asked. Their layout was actually pretty good--the other charging location isn't technically a parking spot (it's part of a double-wide roundabout), so nobody would park there unless they're charging a Leaf. For that reason, the spot never gets ICEd.

Granted, I live in Missouri, not LA, where things are very different. We have a huge network of charging stations built by the local utility, and 80% of the spots are free at any given time. They're often ICEd, but it doesn't matter because there's still a spot. Only once in 2 years have I taken the last charging spot at any location.

After 2012, I never use L2 at dealerships. You do have it made as E. Kansas/MO is an oasis of charging. Our public utility despite having much greater resources is still dragging its feet limiting us to a handful of L2's at a few of its offices and free/discounted EVSEs...

They are getting into the game but the pace is ridiculously slow. They just started a charging monitoring program complete with reduced rates when you charge your EV.