DFW Metroplex

[Pipcecil]

I saw a fisker the other day as well, such a pretty car, so sad it catches fire (tee hee) and has deplorable range via battery and gas engine...but dang, it's beautiful!

I thought about adding the proposed stations, but they seemed to be more "in flux" and sometimes were just removed from the list. Additionally, my work only wanted the existing stations, so since the map has become duel purpose (i.e. my own personal venture and work related), I need to comply with work's request.

BUT have no fear, here is David's map from Blink showing were the potential locations of the stations are. I will caveat that sometimes there are descrepancies between David's map and the offical Blink map - both have stations that the other doesn't, which makes my job a bit more complicated, but that's just the way it is:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=210 ... f165&msa=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Pipcecil]

Well time to rejoice for all you non-eVgo CHAdeMO equiped Leafs in DFW - Blink has its first pending DC fast charger coming soon to the Bass Pro Shop in Garland (off of IH 30 on the west side of Lake Ray Hubbard near the terminus of PGBT).

[vrwl]

Well time to rejoice for all you non-eVgo CHAdeMO equiped Leafs in DFW - Blink has its first pending DC fast charger coming soon to the Bass Pro Shop in Garland (off of IH 30 on the west side of Lake Ray Hubbard near the terminus of PGBT).

Great news!

[Stanton]

Did you guys know there's an EV/AltCar "expo" at the Plano Civic Center Nov. 2-3 (http://www.altcarexpotexas.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)? Also, you need to start coming to the North Texas Electric Auto Association meetings the 3rd Saturday of every month (http://www.nteaa.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). Someone brought their Tesla Model S to the one last weekend and it was super cool (I got to ride in it)!

[adric22]

Did you guys know there's an EV/AltCar "expo" at the Plano Civic Center Nov. 2-3 (http://www.altcarexpotexas.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)? Also, you need to start coming to the North Texas Electric Auto Association meetings the 3rd Saturday of every month (http://www.nteaa.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). Someone brought their Tesla Model S to the one last weekend and it was super cool (I got to ride in it)!

Didn't know about the expo. I'll check that out!

[vrwl]

An FYI for those of you in the North Dallas area...

The Nissan dealership in Richardson appears to be VERY inexperienced in LEAF body repairs. They didn't seem to know about the special needs our cars have regarding paint and paint booths (and not baking the battery). I was originally told they have a body shop there by the dealership in McKinney, so I went over there to see about getting my car fixed. (A guy slammed his car door into my rear quarter-panel and dented it pretty good. Luckily we witnessed the event and I was able to get the guy's insurance information so I could get my car fixed.)

After the fiasco in Richardson, I went back to Nissan of McKinney to see what we could do to get my car fixed without killing my battery in the process. After speaking with their LEAF specialist and also having them phone the body shop they use, they told me that it would probably be a much better move on my part if I took it to Trophy Nissan in Mesquite where they have an enormous body shop there on the premises and have experience in fixing LEAFs.

So today I took the car to Trophy Nissan and talked to the guys there. They have done paint and body work on 4 LEAFs prior to mine and have a special paint booth set up for the LEAFs. Essentially what happens is that instead of baking the car in the booth for a couple of hours, they let it sit in the booth with NO HEAT for 48 hours. It means repairs involving paint take longer to do, but hey, that's ok if they're not baking the battery. The guys I talked to (primarily John Trent) appeared knowledgeable about the LEAF and I felt comfortable leaving my car with them to get the work done.

So if you need any body/paint work done on your LEAF in the Dallas area, Trophy Nissan in Mesquite (at this point) seems to be the best bet for our special needs car.

[adric22]

So if you need any body/paint work done on your LEAF in the Dallas area, Trophy Nissan in Mesquite (at this point) seems to be the best bet for our special needs car.

I had some PDR done to my leaf for hail damage a few months back. Obviously no need to bake. HOWEVER, I got a really nasty scratch on my passenger door recently that is going to require paint work. I haven't yet figured out where I'm going to take it. Do you think they'd normally bake a car just for painting a door?

[vrwl]

So if you need any body/paint work done on your LEAF in the Dallas area, Trophy Nissan in Mesquite (at this point) seems to be the best bet for our special needs car.

I had some PDR done to my leaf for hail damage a few months back. Obviously no need to bake. HOWEVER, I got a really nasty scratch on my passenger door recently that is going to require paint work. I haven't yet figured out where I'm going to take it. Do you think they'd normally bake a car just for painting a door?

If you don't take it to a Nissan body shop, you need to BE SURE whoever does the work understands they cannot bake the paint job. I tend to think "paint" and "bake" go hand in hand. One of the guys at Trophy told me that most body shops have a hard time complying with the request because it delays the shop's entire work load if they only have one paint booth and have to wait for 48 hours for the paint on your car to dry/cure naturally, then it screws up their entire line of work by delaying everything. That's why I checked ahead of time to find out what can (and would) be done to help protect my battery. Luckily Trophy has one paint booth somewhat dedicated to LEAF repair work, or so I was told, so it doesn't throw a monkeywrench into their other repair jobs.

I just dropped the car off today, so hopefully, within the next week, I'll be able to report back and let you know how the job was done. One other thing I like about this dealership... they have an online repair tracker, where you can log in and see what step your car is at in the repair process. I REALLY like that, so I don't have to call and bug them about it. So far, based on the conversation I had with them today and their online repair tracker and their automated email notifications of the progress, I'm fairly impressed.

[Pipcecil]

I do find it funny/ironic that when the Leaf's first came to texas, there were numerous reports that Trophy Nissan had bad tactics and to avoid buying there at all cost (there were a few complaints on this board).

Funny that they are now the super knowledgeble Leaf repairs guys. Its just goes to show how each side (sales vs repairs) can be totally different.

[adric22]

Couldn't they bake the paint at a lower temperature? For example, 110 degrees? After all, a Leaf here in Texas easily reaches this temperature (or more if sitting in the sun) during the Summer.