San Diego - Current List of Public Charging Stations

[davewill]

It's now operational...and free, at least for the time being. It has a credit card reader, but never asks for payment. There's still no signage, and is therefore ICEd a bit. I had to ask the landscapers to move their truck this morning before I could use it. One of the guys who works in the kitchen of the Italian restaurant seems to consider it his private parking space, so if you find it ICEd in the evening, the culprit is probably in there. The cord will stretch to the farther non-handicapped spot, but it's tighter than I'd like.

Ran into a new station out of the blue. It's at Torrey Hills Center, which is a small neighborhood mall, and medical building. It's labeled as a "PEP Station" and looks like a simple unit, with a 7" touchscreen and a magstripe reader. Unfortunately, it seemed to be unpowered. It didn't respond to touches, or charge when I plugged in. It's hidden behind an Italian restaurant, in an area most customers would never see it, which makes me wonder whether it's intended for employees.

P.S. Found a link for the hardware: http://www.pepstations.com/PEPPRODUCTS/ ... tures.aspx

Torrey Hills Center
4627 Carmel Mountain Rd, San Diego, CA

[davewill]

It's now operational...and free, at least for the time being. It has a credit card reader, but never asks for payment. There's still no signage, and is therefore ICEd a bit. ...

I used this station this morning. There was a Volt using the main space, so I stretched the other cord to reach the other regular space. I can reach with my LEAF, but I suspect other cars with the inlet in a different location might not manage it.

Anyway, on my way to unplug and leave, I ran into the property manager and the Volt driver. The property manager was tickled that someone was using the EVSE, and asked me to plug back in for a minute so he could take a picture.

We spoke for a few minutes, and asked him about future fees (yes, but he wasn't sure what the rate was going to be), and noted he chose this unit because the fees (to him) were the lowest he could find (a fixed yearly fee, plus a transaction fee). I suggested he consider billing @ 15 minute intervals or smaller, and explained the issues with hourly billing. It made sense to him. He said he's got signs for the parking and will be putting them in soon. He also said that he plans to put in a second unit if this one's successful.

[BestPal]

Dropped my car off for it's annual service today and see that the Mossy Nissan Oceanside QC is up and operational. Talked to the manager, just went only late last week, it's available 24/7 (no FOB required) and is free of charge.

NICE!

Will test it when I pick up my car this afternoon.

I charged at QC Mossy Nissan Oceanside last night. Never tried QC-DC charger before I and LOVED it, in 20 min I was up 50%! I want one of them things at my house now :DDDD
As good as it is, it requires a FOB and it's not available 24/7 - only during dealership business hours! We pulled up a few min before they closed. They last guy was trying to hurry out of there (understandably) but was kind enough to let me borrow his FOB to start charging. He required me to leave my drivers licence with him while I was out with the FOB. Hmm... even though I bought a Leaf from them less than 4 months ago, they won't trust me with a FOB??? Ohh.... K... But other than that, I loved the QC charging station, it's just great to see how the percentage of charge in going up right in front of your eyes.

[eHelmholtz]

I charged at QC Mossy Nissan Oceanside last night.

I'm glad to see Mossy Oceanside has a DC charger; I bought my LEAF from them in 2011. Incidentally, I also got my RAV4 from Mossy Toyota.

[TonyWilliams]

I charged at QC Mossy Nissan Oceanside last night.

I'm glad to see Mossy Oceanside has a DC charger; I bought my LEAF from them in 2011. Incidentally, I also got my RAV4 from Mossy Toyota.

2011 LEAF - Mossy Poway
2012 LEAF - Mossy Kearny Mesa
2012 Rav4 EV - Mossy Pacific Beach

[cbiwww]

Sorry that this is slightly mis-categorized, but I'm specifically looking for SD LEAFers help on this:

I start a new teaching job in a week, and being able to charge only about 2 bars at the school will make the difference between using our LEAF and using our ICE. I know very little about electricity, but know that a lot of you guys are experts!

The school has the outlet below, that I guess used to be used for an RV. Considering I'll need to connect from about 30' away, what's the cheapest way to charge my LEAF? Using the LEAF will save a lot of gas money, so I'm pretty determined to find a way for this work. Doesn't matter whether I charge Level 1 or 2, as I said I only need a bar or two, and will be able to plug in for about 4 hours.

In addition to telling me how to do it, if it requires a custom rig, feel free to quote me a price for you to make it for me. (if you prefer to email me, you can use craig at imageworks.tv.)

Thanks everyone!

(If the photo doesn't load correctly, you can see it at http://www.flickr.com/photos/10896757@N08/9531099699/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
(If somebody wants to tell me what I did wrong on the photo, that would be great. I clicked on Img, and pasted the url between the codes.)

[GRA]

Sorry that this is slightly mis-categorized, but I'm specifically looking for SD LEAFers help on this:

I start a new teaching job in a week, and being able to charge only about 2 bars at the school will make the difference between using our LEAF and using our ICE. I know very little about electricity, but know that a lot of you guys are experts!

The school has the outlet below, that I guess used to be used for an RV. Considering I'll need to connect from about 30' away, what's the cheapest way to charge my LEAF? Using the LEAF will save a lot of gas money, so I'm pretty determined to find a way for this work. Doesn't matter whether I charge Level 1 or 2, as I said I only need a bar or two, and will be able to plug in for about 4 hours.

In addition to telling me how to do it, if it requires a custom rig, feel free to quote me a price for you to make it for me. (if you prefer to email me, you can use craig at imageworks.tv.)

Thanks everyone!

(If the photo doesn't load correctly, you can see it at http://www.flickr.com/photos/10896757@N08/9531099699/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
(If somebody wants to tell me what I did wrong on the photo, that would be great. I clicked on Img, and pasted the url between the codes.)

That's a NEMA 14-50R receptacle, almost certainly putting out 240 Volts at up to 50 amps, and as you guess it's typically used for larger RVs. In order to use this, you'll need to get your portable EVSE (comes with the car) upgraded by these guys:

http://evseupgrade.com/?main_page=index ... lf93p29md7" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

so that it can handle both 120 and 208/240 Volts (only 120 volts stock), and buy the appropriate NEMA 14-50 to L6-30R adapter from them. You should also get a NEMA 5-15 to L6-30 adapter so you can still use it on a standard 120 volt outlet.
[NOTE: this assumes you have a 2013 LEAF. If you have a 2011-2012, then you'll want the model with an L6-20R receptacle, and the appropriate L6-20R adapters instead of L6-30R]. This upgrade will allow you to charge your car at most RV parks at close to the full rate of your on-board charger, and is well worth doing if you think you'll ever want to take your car on shorter road trips.

However, if you want to keep the cost down, I'd look around for a regular 120 volt receptacle that you could use your un-modified portable EVSE with.

[cbiwww]

In order to use this, you'll need to get your portable EVSE (comes with the car) upgraded by these guys:

http://evseupgrade.com/?main_page=index" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... lf93p29md7

so that it can handle both 120 and 208/240 Volts (only 120 volts stock), and buy the appropriate NEMA 14-50 to L6-30R adapter from them. You should also get a NEMA 5-15 to L6-30 adapter so you can still use it on a standard 120 volt outlet.

Thanks, Guy, that does sound like a good solution, although it would cost about $350 and take a while (the company is closing this week for 2 weeks).

Anyone have any cheaper or faster approaches before I go that route?

[walterbays]

Anyone have any cheaper or faster approaches before I go that route?

Not sure, but...

It might be good to check before you spend money on an upgrade to be sure that old outlet is still working, and wasn't turned off a few years ago. As someone else mentioned it would also be worth thoroughly scouting the school to see if there's a 120V outlet you could use, which would be a lot simpler since you only need a few kWh. I'd look around lamp poles, maintenance buildings, landscaping structures, and even inside adjacent windows where a heavy duty extension cord might work fine.

You could also check the plugshare listings. There could be a public charger within easy walking distance of the school; in which case you'd want to be sure you were able to go move your car at lunch time to avoid tying it up needlessly. There could be a public charger within safe and easy bicycling distance of the school, where you could keep a bike chained nearby for the final leg of your commute. Or you might find someone's home nearby who is willing to let EV's charge, and who might really appreciate teachers, and your total semester cost for charging might be a couple of bottles of wine and boxes of chocolate. If the school or PTA newsletter carried an item about the new teacher and his commute, don't you think it's likely that at least one parent who lives nearby would love to help out and to show off to his neighbors the EV parked in his driveway? (I'd offer to pay the electricity cost, whether or not the parent accepted the offer.)

You might even find another route to work off the freeway where you could drive more slowly, that would take you a few minutes longer each day but allow you to make the round trip without charging. If you were cutting it very close it would be better if you also found a quick charger along your route where you could stop on your way home if some circumstance caused you to consume a kWh more than usual. If it's a paid quick charger then you'd have to calculate the cost given the number of times you'd expect to need it. For this plan it would be good to do a dry run to see if you could really make it.

[TonyWilliams]

Guys, there *is* a 120 volt plug that he took a picture of... the NEMA 14-50. It is 120 volt from each hot to neutral.

So, you need a "Tony Special Adaptor (TSA)" plug that will plug into the 14-50 and output to a normal 120 volt (NEMA 5-15) receptacle.

I think I have one in stock for $25. No need to spend $$$$ to upgrade your current cord for 240 volts.