Happy Plug In Day to all my fellow EV'ers! (and Volt'ers ;) ) Another year has passed and what a year it has been! Things are looking much different now than it was on Plug In Day 2012.
In 2012; nearly all public plugs were free but scarce. The sales were dismal and huge sections of the country were not even aware that a 100% highway capable EV even existed. Huge incentives to buy or lease were being offered and people were getting 2012's for practically nothing in areas where state incentives were higher than normal.
Georgia was one of the best examples where high residuals combined with a $5,000 state perk allowed some LEAFers to lease at nearly break even prices. It took a while to catch on but now, Georgia and the Atlanta area is now in the same category as EV hotbeds, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland.
2012 was also the start of the very ugly battery degradation issue as many LEAFers entering their 2nd Summer were starting to lose their 2nd, 3rd and 4th capacity bars. The ugliness was mostly caused by Nissan's initial response.
At first they claimed surprise stating various tests they had performed that showed a robustness that we owners were not seeing. The fact that they had a test center near Phoenix (the center of the heat issue) did lend credence to their statements but increasingly, too many people were reporting losses and as the word got out and more became aware of it; the geography expanded from the ridiculously hot areas to places that were simply warm.
Accusations, lawsuits, threats and several other nasty things were soon flying all over the net. But Nissan's response? Silence...
and more silence....
and more silence....
Finally, they admitted that "further investigation was needed" and took 5 of the earliest reported LEAFs from the Phoenix area for in depth testing at their Arizona facility. They were gone a week or so and some actually came back with capacity bars restored (but most disappeared soon afterwards.) Nissan stated the instrumentation was a bit off and work on better software was the next step.
But sales remained tepid at best. They remained decent on the West Coast but still too many reports of people having to go 1-2 states away to get one elsewhere.
Then the 2013's came out. Reputed to have more range thru software tweaks, power train changes, etc but still the same ole battery pack. Tests later proved that they "might" have more range under special driving conditions but for mainstream commuting? Nada!
But the 2013's did have options including a cheap entry level S model (not a Tesla mind you! but can't help but wonder about the motivation behind the designation?) faster charging, more efficient heaters, etc along with finally an SOC gauge. Many cried it wasn't enough due to its simplicity but the gauge has proven to be relatively accurate. But that did not help us 2011/12 owners but that is ok. We have learned long ago, if we want something we just get er done! So Jim from AZ devised his own software to monitor the LEAF and now we have nearly everything! voltages, charge level, battery temps, etc!
But not all was rosy with the 2013 launch. Unexplained delays, widespread shortages, and incompatibility with public chargers hampered the 2013's. Nissan was able to sort it out eventually and with continued deep cuts on lease programs, they were selling every LEAF they could make.
After several months of record or near record sales, the "no brainer" lease deals became "good deals". But Atlanta with its awesome GA credits soon led the way overtaking both San Francisco and Seattle (although they were still doing very very well themselves) but the factory output has been slow to respond which means very limited selections if you were not lucky enough to be in the above mentioned areas.
By now; public charging has been going for as much as 2 years or more. But AV; who only was supposed to offer free charging for a few months is still free. Their website states a $2.50 fast charge session fee but that has not happened and persistent communication problems between the charger and their headquarters is probably part of the problem. But for the role they were to play, they have done very well at least in WA and OR in completely those sections of the West Coast Green Highway Project.
Ecotality on the other hand has been hit with various problems including compatibility with their level 2 chargers and the 2013 LEAFs with 6 KW charging capacity. Their solution was to turn down the power which was not a popular decision but did not generate nearly the bad juju as their announcement to start charging a flat $5 fee for fast charger use.
Personally I was more than a bit shocked at this decision. for one thing; the role out of the charging stations had been VERY slow and the few that were there (and working) had huge waits most of the time. (I am sure free had something to do with it) But a flat fee meant that many would charge longer than they needed to "get their money's worth" making lines longer and others who only needed a small boost would be unfairly treated. I am in the latter camp. In my QC sessions; 60% of them were 15 mins or less. The other 40% includes several "full charge" tests that were more experimental than need. In these tests, I have aborted the tests 8 times due to someone else pulling up after 15 minutes and I did not want them to wait since I did not have a need to charge. So in reality; my need for more than 15 minutes of charging is probably more in the line of ¼ of the time or less.
With the immediate feedback; Ecotality backed off a bit. In high electricity rate areas, they went ahead with the flat fee but delayed it in the Pacific Northwest and I think the reason for that is our much cheaper power. Eventually they came up with a scheme that they would use various rate plans and we could "vote" for our choice with our usage but the flat fee went into effect anyway for us as well. I have yet to vote when I did not need an 80% charge or better having opted for the $1 an hour L2 charge 5 times so far. Still no word from Ecotality when and what the other "votes" will be...
Something that might be affecting that is Ecotality announcing bankruptcy. They had basically not met the Feds guidelines for the EV Highway Project and had missed several deadlines and the Feds pulled funding and now Ecotality has nearly no revenue. They were still able to open up a few more fast chargers after the announcement but the future of the company (and the chargers) is uncertain at best.
What will most likely happen is someone else will take over the chargers and then we will have to see what happens from there.
SemaConnect has made a lot of installs in the area as well mostly at Walgreens. They actually sell the charger and maintenance package to the hosts. Up until a few months ago; charging was free and by far the easiest. although cards were issued, you did not need to use one. But then they came out with a 49 cent/kwh charge nationwide. To be honest with ya; that is ok with me. It is a bit steep compared to other companies but its based on what you receive which is how gas, electricity, etc is treated by EVERYONE else. In this respect; Ecotality's buck an hour is much cheaper! But Sema does provide other options (and competition especially when now Walgreens is like "Charge City" where we have Sema's L2's along with Ecotality's L2s AND Fast Chargers to choose from!
Anywho; that is the year in a nutshell. So what's next? As I see it; we really need to get this public charging fiasco resolved. I have blogged several times that the states should pick up the slack. the West Coast Green Highway Project was genius and really helped to encourage people to get out and about in the LEAFs! This is a perfect tourist tool!
Now; I am not suggesting we put these chargers out for free. This would only cause a 4 car line at Tumwater like what happened on Labor Day Weekend. Charge for Charging! Make it reasonable. Put the chargers on routes to destinations that need tourist dollars. Too many people wishing they could go to the beach. Ocean Shores is reachable but only a half dozen of us are willing to take the risk. Harbor Paper near Aberdeen, WA was supposed to help revitalize the struggling economy in Gray's Harbor County but they are on hard times. This is just plain wrong! The state could help by putting in stations in the area. Power cost is very low there and this will help direct more tourist dollars when people have to stop for 20-30 mins to get a boost. This does not happen when driving gas car when you fill up in Seattle and drive straight thru Aberdeen or Montesano without stopping!
The other thing we need to look at is employee charging. There are a handful of companies providing stations but too many that are not. Once again; the easiest thing here is a state mandate requiring employers to step up. Several good things have come with a bit of arm twisting and a gentle shove in the back and this needs to be one of them. Kudos to WA State and others for now making "ICE'ing" illegal and fineable!
What else do we need to work on?? Post your suggestions!
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