Inoperative Fast-Charge Stations at Nissan Dealers

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ridera

Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2013
Messages
6
I recently planned a trip from No. Virginia to Va. Beach, 220 mile trip, using Plug Share and Nissan EV Services, it appeared, ideally, I could fast charge at the mid-point of my trip, the intersection of I95 and I295. Upon checking I found that all DC3 charging stations between Fredericksburg on I95 and East Kent on I64, are inoperative. And, have been for many months and approaching one year for one of them.

The only operational charger on I95 was Leckner Nissan. Pohanka Nissan, Mack-Service Center, Hart Nissan are all inoperative. I called all three and they told me that they have been requesting service from Nissan for months with no success. If you look at I95, it is THE major interstate on the east coast. I295 is a bypass around Richmond, Va. to save people from traveling through Richmond. Nissan customer service claims the charging stations are not Nissan's. However, everyone at the inoperative stations told me Nissan installed them and should service them. The front of the charger at Leckner says "Nissan" in big bold letters and it had a Nissan Corporation tag on the rear.

To complete my journey, I was forced to charge at Leckner Nissan and then at an independent charging station, East Kent, on I64, which meant that I had to charge twice because of the inoperative stations closer to Richmond.

Seems to me, it should be a top-level priority for Nissan to have WORKING fast-charge stations if they intend to sell Leafs. If nothing else, I imagine the two dealers are having a tough time explaining to prospective Leaf buyers they can't even get a fast-charge there at the store.

Nissan Consumer Affairs brushed me off blaming the dealers, even though I told them the dealers had repeatedly requested the stations needed repair,
 
I believe the DCFCs at Nissan dealers are not very good quality. And when they're broken the dealers don't seem to want to repair them. One dealer, Nissan of Garden City (NY), has a DCFC that barely works. After I asked them about getting it repaired it was taken off Plugshare. They still have L2s on Plugshare. I just checked and someone reported the DCFC still broken on 11/3 (reported on the L2 checkins).
 
like2bike said:
I believe the DCFCs at Nissan dealers are not very good quality.
Someone ought to do a study on why EVSEs/chargers break so damn often, if that's not just my warped perception from reading PlugShare too much.
 
wmcbrine said:
like2bike said:
I believe the DCFCs at Nissan dealers are not very good quality.
Someone ought to do a study on why EVSEs/chargers break so damn often, if that's not just my warped perception from reading PlugShare too much.

Iirc, some of the units Nissan uses, are prone to filter-clogging. High-maintenance equipment doesn't fare well in a "not my job" environment.
 
Nubo said:
Iirc, some of the units Nissan uses, are prone to filter-clogging. High-maintenance equipment doesn't fare well in a "not my job" environment.
Yes, the original slim Nissan-branded CHAdeMO DC FCs (https://web.archive.org/web/20140323161510/http://nissanqc.com/) do need periodic filter cleaning. Someone uploaded the guide on cleaning the filters that don't require a licensed electrician to do the work at https://www.facebook.com/groups/BayLeafs/permalink/691792637545067/.

I also found filter cleaning at https://www.fleetcarma.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Eaton-DC-Quick-Charger-Installation-Manual.pdf on page 27, for Eaton DC FCs. They may have gotten out of that business as there are multiple reports they're not longer in the L2 EVSE business, at least in the US.
 
ridera said:
If nothing else, I imagine the two dealers are having a tough time explaining to prospective Leaf buyers they can't even get a fast-charge there at the store,
That is the point: the dealerships do not sell enough LEAFs to bother to check whether they have a service contract or care enough to spend the money themselves.

As for Nissan ? read the battery replacement threads. The LEAF is on minimal life support, as low as Nissan can go without breaching contract.
 
SageBrush said:
The LEAF is on minimal life support, as low as Nissan can go without breaching contract.
In Japan, Leaf sales still seem to be on an upward trajectory: https://insideevs.com/nissan-leaf-sales-japan-2nd-generation/

Leaf's doing ok in Europe: https://cleantechnica.com/2018/09/29/the-porsche-cayenne-phev-soars-to-3-in-europe-electric-car-sales-up-42/. In the YTD portion, you've got spots 1, 2 and 4 being covered by the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance.
 
As much as it looks like Nissan is trying to get away with selling and servicing the bare minimum amount possible when it comes to the Leaf, my local dealership is at least trying to maintain their chargers. It seems to be a running joke that the screen on the CHAdeMO is buggy and doesn't work most of the time. I haven't had any issues yet, but they have said they've contacted a tech and had them come out to service the unit multiple times. It does seem like they wouldn't pursue the matter too hard if the unit stopped working completely since no one is ever sure if a tech actually shows up or if the unit just isn't acting up for once.
Nissan and other companies aren't going to push EVs too hard. It doesn't make them as much money as ICE cars since they don't need regular service like ICE cars do. However, they will keep selling the small amount to look like a progressive car company and getting the positive press for offering a fully electric car. Broken chargers work in their favor when trying to push customer towards ICE/hybrid by telling the customers that not only is the battery technology not there yet, but the charging stations aren't reliable. It's simple for them to tell a prospective customer that they've been having issues with the chargers and can't get a tech out to fix it or the tech can't seem to fix it even though they aren't actually pressing anyone to fix the thing.
At the end of the day most car companies are probably seeing EVs as something that is going to cost the dealers money. There's no guarantee that the customer will actually use the dealer for the small amount of things that actually need service on the car (tires, brakes, etc). However, it is a guarantee that the customer will likely use the charging station since it's free. The dealer has to pay to maintain and power the station. Also, non-Nissan cars use the stations too... Which means they are just bleeding money from these things. Why keep them working? It's more cost effective to let them break and then barely attempt to get them working again.
 
cwerdna said:
SageBrush said:
The LEAF is on minimal life support, as low as Nissan can go without breaching contract.
In Japan, Leaf sales still seem to be on an upward trajectory: https://insideevs.com/nissan-leaf-sales-japan-2nd-generation/
uc


As I mentioned when the 1.5 Gen LEAF came out, the first couple months of sales are best ignored due to the new-kid-on-the-block effect. Since then sales have been pretty consistent at around 1500 a month. I don't see any upward trajectory.
 
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