Charger blocked ?

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amelsayed

Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2010
Messages
8
Sorry it turned out more formal than can be imagined. I guess I had two hours to wait for a boost charge and used too much of it writing the not so important events (it looked important TO ME at 10 am), but Less important nowt. If it has some value so be it, if not then I apologize. I was concerned for a future direction at dealership to make the ports not accessible during business hours, or hog the stations with a couple of their already charged LEAFs Imagine you are at 2 pm on a workday, where it is unthinkable to block a busy access route and you arrive with your AIT (almost-in-turtle) LEAF with very little charge left at a dealership expecting a rescue 10-20 mile boost charge and find out you are not able to connect without blocking traffic. This is what made me start typing.
Cheers
Al


                                       STATEMENT OF FACTS

Date and time:  Sunday 19Jun2011@10:18
Location: Dirito Brothers of Concord, 1290 Concord Avenue, Concord, CA 94520
Set-up and Problem Issues:
The two-charger L2 unit is placed just to the right of the entry/exit access to the service bay at the white line between two parking spots that would be available to charge vehicles, with a yellow painted eight-inch-high curb to the right and a solid yellow line painted on the pavement to the left marking the left side of the parking spot to the left.
A blue LEAF with a window sticker on the right rear window marked "DEMO" (vin # JN1AZ0CP0BT002466) is parked astride the white line separating the two parking spots available for charge seeking visiting LEAF users/owners.  To the left of the Dealer-demo blue LEAF is a movable orange plastic pillar (the type used to mark a parking spot as unavailabe) filling the space between parked dealer-demo car and the yellow pavement marking line.  The dealer-demo vehicle is plugged with the power chord/plug coming from the left unit.  This very same exact setting was already in place the night before( Saturday 18Jun2011@2234) when I was checking for L2 port availability in planning for my Sunday trip from Vacaville to San Jose.  Although this dealership is closed on Sunday some people were walking into it at 10 am.  I asked if they work for the dealer and one of them said "yes".  I said it would be a good thing to tell the people in charge of the demo car blocking both available chargers parking spots. She replied "I have nothing to do with that" with a pleasant smile on her face.
It is curious that: at Dirito Brothers Nissan of Walnut Creek, 1890 North Main Street, Walnut Creek, CA 94596; when I was checking access to chargers at dealers the night before (18Jun2011@2145) the exact same issues were there too.  The chargers are just to the right of a closed gate, which is an active used access to and from service area, with the dealer LEAF demo vehicle blocking both availabe parking spots.

I am not certain if these hurdles are permitted or explicitly barred in the Dealer-Nissan USA agreement.  However, these obstructive practices are problematic.  If these dealers left a donation box, I would have been willing to deposit some cash for "fair electricity cost" plus a small tip.  Instead they had me write this statement of fact and lose trust in their fairness.

Al m. Elsayed
Written in the City of Concord on 18 June 2011 
 
amelsayed said:
STATEMENT OF FACTS ...
How can you possibly think that belongs in THIS thread? In fact, I'm utterly confused about who this was written to, why, or why it's so formal. What are you expecting by posting it here?

EDIT: It looks like a moderator moved this into it's own thread. So my comment about belonging here no longer applies.
 
Thanks for the prompt reply. I was not able to determine where and if it belongs any particular place that is the reson I asked for help. ;) Sorry it turned out more formal than can be imagined. You are right :p , I guess I had two hours to wait for a boost charge and used too much of it writing the not so important events (it look important TO ME at 10 am, but you are right. If it has some value so be it, if not then I apologize. I was just seeing into the future when it is a work-day at 2 pm and one LEAF owner arrives with very little charge left at a dealership expecting rescue 10-20 mile charge and finds out he/she is stuck.
Cheers
Al
 
It looks like you are ready to file a claim at a small claims court.. go for it!.. its they only way that the facts will come out.
 
I hope you have reported the matter to Nissan Corp. Posting here on the forum will get you some sympathy but not much more. At least now we know this is one charging location we cannot rely on.
 
My wife works near the Nissan dealer in Walnut Creek located here: Dirito Brothers Nissan of Walnut Creek, 1890 North Main Street, Walnut Creek, CA 94596. Our roundtrip commute everyday is 86 miles, so we need to charge for about 5 -10 minutes everyday in order to make it home comfortably without going into turtle mode. We just got our Leaf about 2 weeks ago, so we figured my wife could charge a little at Nissan dealer since it is walking distance, drop it off comeback in an hour pick it up, but boy were we wrong.

The first time my wife tried to drop the car off, they were upset that we did not buy the car from them because they have a huge problem with Nortbay Nissan Petaluma where we bought our leaf, so she was unable to charge. There complaint is Northbay is selling the leaf to cheap so they can't make money on it.

The next few times they let her charge as long as she called ahead or went in and talked to them first. My wife said there were many people trying to charge in the morning or at lunch so they were getting upset. Finally they put a sign up telling people they need to go to the maintenance department first before charging. My wife said they added a switch in a locked box so they can turn off the stations, that way you can't charge when no one is there. In addition they physically unplugged our leaf and said from now on we can no longer charge there, it is only for people passing through not for commuters, locals or people working in the area. The last time my wife passed by it seems their tactics are working well, no one is charging there leaf there.

Suffice to say my wife no longer has any intention of servicing our leaf there. I almost feel like I should have waited for the Honda Fit and the gt-r is no longer a car I would desire. My wife called corporate and they said that each dealer is independently operated, so there is not much they can do.
 
While I haven't been happy with the way that Nissan has handled charging at dealers, making promises they have no power to keep, and have been happy to jump on dealers who turn away LEAF owners who need a charge, I can see why a busy dealer can't or won't accommodate commuters wanting to charge on a daily basis. I think that expecting to leave your car there every day is unreasonable.
 
simeon said:
Suffice to say my wife no longer has any intention of servicing our leaf there. I almost feel like I should have waited for the Honda Fit and the gt-r is no longer a car I would desire. My wife called corporate and they said that each dealer is independently operated, so there is not much they can do.

Nope, you cant force them to let use their charger. Please use YELP to leave feedback about this situation. Hopefully your review will help others in dealership/service center selection.
 
As much as I believe dealers should support the expansion of EV usage ... and as much as I am in favor of and supportive of the LEAF and EVs in general ... I am fully sympathetic with dealers wanting to curb "opportunists" (not opportunity charging), or -- to use a rather strong term -- parasites.

Sorry, but IMHO use of the dealers' EVSEs by commuters on a regular basis should be curtailed. If said commuter actually requires a charging boost to make that regular commute, then said commuter chose the wrong tool for the "job" (no pun intended). In the alternative said commuter should arrange charging at work.

Ideally said commuter would have worked out this issue prior to taking delivery of the LEAF.

(Nothing wrong with (and dealers should be supportive) a rare long-distance LEAF needed a planned or unplanned charge ... or a local LEAF needing a boost in an unforseen (i.e "rare") situation.)
 
Simeon, I can imagine being frustrated by this situation, i can get very angry when i feel slighted and on the other hand planning to charge every day at any particular dealer is a lot to ask. Rather than spending a lot of energy trying to get back at them, i agree with others on this one, probably best to find a way to plug in at work using the charging chord that came with the car. With even just a few hours L1 charging you'll have comfortable breathing room. Probably even more realistic to plug it in all day so you can do the occasional unexpected side errand.
G
 
Too bad the dealers did not work out the access control before
installing the AV EVSEs.

If they were using a card-access controlled EVSE, perhaps one like the
ChargePoint EVSEs, the dealer could probably better handle access
control and even charge money for usage or sell a "patron" subscription.
 
For now problem is solved since wife is able to trickle charge at work. Wife was mainly upset since they would not let her charge for a short time even when the stations were not in use.
 
I have an idea. When we went to use a charging station outside of a Bookman's book store, the charging station was blocked by an ICE. What would be neat is if at charging stations they put a fence around the charger much like you see in parking lots for grocery carts to be stored before they're wheeled back inside. Then put a gate on it that an RFID card would unlock. The cards would need to be controlled, perhaps when you pick up your EV you get issued one. That still would not preclude someone with multiple cars, one of which is an EV, from using the space but I think those that have EVs as second cars would be less likely to do so.
 
I propose an adapter to connect the L2 charger to the parked car chassis, giving it a really big jolt of static electricity that gets discharged when the ICE owner tries to open the door. :twisted:
 
It turns out the best solution is to use the Coulomb charger in the parking garage one block away, much better to pay $.50 per hour than deal with the local Nissan dealer to get $.05 of electricity.
 
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