LEAFs in Tennessee Get Parking Spaces With Overhead Solar Recharging: Pulaski which is in the LEAF’s home state of Tennessee, opened the south’s first solar assist charging car park this month. The 20 kW solar array can “generate enough electricity to power approximately four homes.” Why they chose this comparison to illustrate the amount of power generation over say, cars…I don’t know, but the station should average over 90kWh of power per day, which works out to be about $500 worth of power per month. Price tag for the station? $180,000. The state will bring 16 more ‘park and charge’ stations to life over the next three years. (WSMV)
Sure the Fiat 500 EV Is Coming to the US, But How Far Will You Have to Go to Pick It Up? The Chrylser-Fiat alliance brought news that the Fiat 500 EV (a 100 mile, $32,000 electric vehicle-sound familiar?) would be arriving in the US for 2012…but will you be able to find a dealer nearby to sell it to you? Chrylser-Fiat has scheduled a meeting with its dealers on Monday, and they are looking to choose, and by choose I mean sell, the notion to at least 200 dealers that it is a good idea to spend ‘up to a million dollars’ to have a separate showroom, staff and identity for the Fiat brand-which for North America consists of exactly one stand alone car, the Fiat 500. /tough sell (WSJ-sub)
First of the “Innovation For All” Ad Campaign from Nissan to Feature the LEAF: Click play…enjoy!
Tesla Forgets Some Paperwork, Gets Fined $275,000: Apparently to sell a electric vehicle in the US, you need a Certificate of Conformity from the EPA (along with about a zillion other things designed to make sure no one new ever builds cars), and Tesla had one of those, only apparently they don’t auto renew or something, because for most of 2009 they didn’t have a valid one…and the EPA got all up in their face.
Like everything, a big bag of money makes everything better, and Tesla disclosed in their 10-Q to the SEC that they had, “…entered into an Administrative Settlement Agreement and Audit Policy Determination in which we agreed to pay a civil administrative penalty in the sum of $275,000″ (ABG)
Wait, your mad because I didn’t do what? GM and GM-Volt.com had a little tiff this week because GM-Volt.com reported what they saw from a controlled GM test drive, a readout on the Volt’s dash putting the MPG at around 27 (gm-volt.com) Obviously 27MPG isn’t 50MPG, so GM’s Phil Colley (who tends the social media flock…which is kind of a oxymoron) then got all upset because no one checked with him first to explain why GM’s hand-picked/controlled test drive was misleading.
Hey, I understand that at the end of the day, mistakes happen, and GM had a reason to maybe be none too pleased with the press that came out of their media test drive. However, rather than deal with the issue directly and get it fixed right up, straight away, (as webmaster Lyle Dennis certainly would have), he (Phil Colley) ran to plugincars.com to complain, “…other stories yesterday and today show a complete lack of understanding of the process and are quite frankly, lazy reporting… if any of you had called us to ask…the numbers you, Lyle and others based your “calculations” on were completely and totally irrelevant.”
Take that, web site that only has promoted us faithfully every day for the last four years! So the whole thing got blown way out of proportion and invariably got picked up from one end of the internet to the other.
They patched everything up in the end, and the disclaimer quickly went out that the Volt was going to get more than 27 MPG, thereby bringing balance to the force…but it could have been a total non-issue. /this is why big corporations can’t do social media
Could it be we are going to get 2 big disappointments from GM:
The Price
CS Mode MPG.
Ooops I forgot this is a leaf site.
Jay started it!
GeorgeS(Quote)
Bear with us this weekend, we are having some trouble with the front page thumbnails and graphics.
Jay (Statik) Cole(Quote)
Wait, your mad because I didn’t do what?
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LOL. That part was so funny I had to read it twice. . Thanks.
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/ The llamas are not paying attention to you today statik because they are watching that guy try to put his bicycle on the roof.
RB(Quote)
The llamas are KILLING me, they don’t want to appear on the main page as a thumbnail. Thanksfully I have now at least gone from the very unprofessional ‘X’ to the slight amateur-ish ‘Image Pending’ icon.
/big fail on the upgrade…but the site is running wicked fast now, lol
Jay (Statik) Cole(Quote)
Llamas are a shy fickle creature… Wait.. Oh no!! Agh rabid llama attack everyone run away!!!
Crookieda(Quote)
If you see the llamas lay their ears down, you might want to backup.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My_ro10PjFU
Carcus(Quote)
Who is ordering on Tuesday (or is it Monday)??
GeorgeS(Quote)
Solar Recharging — How long does it take to charge at the Tennessee site? It appears it can take 12 cars, based on parking spots under the solar panel. But is it 20 minutes, 1 hour, more? I am a chemical engineer, and never delve into EE territory. I suspect there would be a way to calculate based on the information provided.
Jimza Skeptic(Quote)
Reportedly: The system uses a new charging station from EV-Charge America which features two level one plugs and two level two, J1772 plugs.
This array is tied to the grid. Get yours here: http://www.outpostsolar.com
John Es(Quote)
Regarding Solar Charger in Tennessee; Thanks for the link. Drilling down in the information it says that each 9 foot space is 1.85kW. The way I read this, is it is only good for parking all day (work) and giving a boost. This set up would benefit VOLT more than Leaf owners. That said, at a rough cost of $15,000 per parking spot, I don’t think many employers will be jumping on this train any time soon.
Jimza Skeptic(Quote)
Talking about Phil Colley losing his cool – I’ve to admire Perry. He seems to answer anything & everything with a smile …
evnow(Quote)
Agree – unfortunatly solar is way to expensive. I have severl quotes for PV units over the past 5 years. Payback was 13years but now has dropped to 10years. Way toll long in my book.
James(Quote)
Hi BillR,
I know you will be busy trying to hurry and get your order in but I would like to ask a favor.
When you select a dealer for an RFQ could you see if the system will allow you to select a dealer out of state.?? I know that as of right now we can. I have selected a dealer out of state as my preferred dealer.
I am hoping the system will still allow us to do that when we get the OK to put in an RFQ.
PS-I am not asking you actually select a dealer out of state but just to see if the option is available. I don’t order till Sept.
Thx-GSB
GeorgeS(Quote)
George – i chatted with the Nissan website on friday and they confirmed that it will be okay to order out of state. I asked two local dealerships to match the price. Tehy both came back and said I will lose my place in line if I select out of state. I then contacted Nissan again and they said that I will receive my LEAF 3-4 months after my order is accepted as long as the dealership is in a roll out state. Actualy even if I did lose my place in line but I saved $1500 it will be worth it.
Also, are you goign to opt for the L3 fast charge port? I read it is onaly available on the SL trim and is a $700 on top of that.
James(Quote)
So for the SL w/ L3 port upgrade it is an extra $1700.
solar panel (only worth bragging rights)
backup camera (not needed on a little car)
cargo cover (I have had one before and it gets in the way)
auto lights (this is nice)
fog lights (not needed in AZ)
L3 fast charge port (I will not use the LEAF for trips)
Only upgrade that I will get is the $25 cargo net. (items sliding around in back drives me nuts)
James(Quote)
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Don’t believe them. The “place in line” is either dependant on reservation time and order time. Not on dealer.
evnow(Quote)
Thanks evnow – and I meant Thay not Tehy. I am a victim of spell check. =)
James(Quote)
Rumor control … er, ahh, rumor instigator, I guess.
Found this over at a ‘sister’ forum:
The Leaf actually has a 32 kwh battery. (!?)
If true, it would explain the admirable 200ishwh/mile is actually a more standard 250wh/mile…. it’s just that they have more kwh’s available than anyone’s been accounting for.
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1029
“Nissan employees have confirmed that we use the ‘middle’ 80% charge between 10 and 90%. A gent very familiar with lithium that saw the car in DC during the tour confirmed that full pack capacity is 32kWh.”
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11892&start=15#p238131
/anyone else heard this one before?
Carcus(Quote)
I’m all for PV charging and using the panels for parking shade, but the math doesn’t work out so well for solar charging. 20kW of PV would produce about 66kWh/day, which would charge only about three LEAFs to 80%. My estimate may be a little low, but not by that much.
Aleph5(Quote)
Are you in WA? I think Campbell Nelson Nissan is matching prices. You have to contact some guy directly. Might be easier if you are in WA and you’d presumably get a loaner is needed since that’s in his tagline. LOL
DonC(Quote)
Where I am a 20 kW system would get you over 100 kWh for most of the year. That would be good enough for 10 Leafs assuming they needed about 8 kWh. On the other hand solar charging BEVs is one of the least sensible things I can think of.
DonC(Quote)
On the 32 kwh rumor … (that I’m starting, no…. spreading)
(it’s probably all BS, but fun to speculate)
- It would explain the jump in reported pack weights from 480 lbs to 660 lbs
- It would explain Nissan’s confidence in a 8/100 warranty
- It would explain (in part) the 3500 lb curb weight of the car
Carcus(Quote)