Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Nissan's 500 Charger Promise?

Last Friday, I picked up my 2013 LEAF S trim with the charger package.  The dealer had to get the car from Tacoma so it was about a 2 hour wait for the car. The Dealer, Olympia Nissan was blameless in this since I was scheduled to work Friday but due to bad weather, the job was cancelled. (would have been nice to hear about the cancellation before getting to the front door of the business but oh well, still got 2 hours pay plus drive time plus mileage allowance, so not complaining). So instead of getting there around 5 PM, I got there at 11 AM.  So during the time I was waiting for my car to show up, I was talking with my salesman who is the internet sales guy  (I went thru my Corporate intranet to get an EPP discount worth a few grand!) he mentioned they had a fast charger!

I said "What??" How come no one has heard about this? How come Nissan isn't bragging about this like Tesla does?  First thing I did was put feelers out on Facebook (sometimes with my work load I tend to miss stuff) to see if anyone else had heard about this.  No one said they did. In fact, it spurred inquiries from LEAFers in the area to check with their local dealers who returned varying responses (some correct, some not)  and it was verified that several dealers had recently got fast chargers! So many that Steve Coram did a quick road trip to verify their existence finding only one (Tacoma Nissan) who said they did, but didn't.

The thing that concerns me is that he checked on 7 and one didn't have one (Tacoma), one we already knew about (Magic in Everett) but the other 5 were completely unknown. (except maybe Renton) Better yet, 2 of the newest ones; Olympia and Puyallup are true 24/7 access, not locked up at night and no FOB required! 

Charging at Olympia Nissan at 1:30 AM while connected to their wi fi uploading job I had just finished. Two birds with one plug!

Now, maybe its my "cave-like" lifestyle (I don't have cable which means I live  "commercial free")  that is why I have not heard about these new chargers which are so vital to boosting consumer confidence when looking at limited range EVs

But then again, all my Facebook friends (most of them anyway) do have TV and I should know, they ruin just about every cliffhanger episode there is (didn't say I did not watch TV shows, I do. just 6 months after they air on Netflix) Either way, it looks like (once again!) its up to us to update the fast charger map so this is where you guys come in.  We need help verifying whether the dealer has fast charge or not. Now, you could call them but be careful. I received an email response from Tacoma who said they did, but Steve went there and they did not.  And because all these installs are so new, I would not rely on your personal visits in the past unless they were in the very recent past. So best bet, is swing by and ask them. If they say they don't have one but plan to get one soon, get as much info as you can (site,  time frames, etc)

so chargers verified;
Bellevue
Burien
Edmonds
Everett
Olympia
Puyallup
Renton


Ones to check on;


Auburn (rairdon's)

Bellingham
Bremerton
Burlington
Fife
Longview
Pasco
Port Angeles
Spokane
Spokane Valley
Sunnyside
Vancouver
Walla Walla
Wenatchee
Yakima

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