G.E. Wattstation & Nissan Leafs

[tonymil]

Some Nissan Leafs have had their onboard charging systems damaged while charging on a G.E. home Wattstation. At least one Nissan dealership has warned its customers not to use these charging stations:

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/201...-s-wattstation-charger-for-some-nissan-leafs/

has anyone had an issue with the G.E. Wattstation? I've seen them at a local ShopRite store but haven't used it yet - and now I might not until this is cleared up. I realize the public station isn't the same as the home station, but still, why risk it?

 

[Jon]

I have a GE Wattstaion and it quits charging when I turn on the remote. At first I thought it wasn't compatible with the car, but turns out to be that stupi... little remote. The wattstation works fine. If, when you turn on your remote your wattstation stops charging turn on the remote again and it will toggle the charge station back to charging.

 

[jray3]

Yep, the car stops charging with every command from the remote, and if the EVSE doesn't automatically attempt a reset, you're SOL. SPX and Blink residential EVSE will reset, but IIRC, the commercial ChargePoint stations may not. I'll try to test this on local commercial EVSE...

 

[MLucas]

No problems with using the remote with a Square D EVSE, works as advertised.

 

[jennrod12]

I have an old Avcon EVSE that I got 10 years ago. It has no bells and whistles, so I like having the remote to program my charging start and stop time. Often, after a command from the remote, the Avcon will stop charging for several seconds (maybe 10-15?). Then it comes back on.

I'm sure it's responding to the car when it does this, because the remote talks to the car, not to the EVSE. It's long enough that the first few times I thought something was wrong, but I've learned to just wait it out now.

Jenn

 

[tonymil]

Has anyone had any problem with a public charging station?

 

[JoeS]

Has anyone had any problem with a public charging station?

Used both ChargePoint and Blink, no problems, but did not try using the Remote while plugged into them. ChargePoint's energy data is nicely retrievable online, whereas Blink has no such provision (but if you call them up they can look it up - which I did as I'm tracking every microwatthour consumed by my iMiEV).

Going slightly off-topic, are there any other chargecards we should get for the SF Bay Area? Blink is at the Palo Alto Ikea store.

 

[JrCRXHF]

I have a blink charger and it is fine with use of the remote.

 

[seangannon]

Hi, this is Sean Gannon from GE. To help clarify the news report you are referring to, GE and Nissan are aware of several isolated instances of Nissan LEAFs experiencing on-board charging (OBC) issues when using certain EV charging units of several different manufacturers. GE's own investigation is nearly complete and our current analysis indicates that the GE WattStation Wall Mount is NOT the cause of the on-board charging issue. Additionally, our charger has not encountered a similar issue with other brands of electric vehicles. We stand behind our WattStation Wall Mount technology and we encourage drivers to continue to use it.

Part of what I just wrote also appears on our website: http://www.ge-energy.com/leaf-wattstation-facts.jsp
We'll also update that page when we have more information.

 

[JoeS]

Sean, thank you very much for posting and drawing our attention to your website. I look forward to reading GE's investigation final report, or at least a synopsis of it, and its conclusions.

 

[seangannon]

Hi, this is Sean again from GE. The problem has finally been resolved -- it's an OBC software issue on the Leaf. We just posted a statement to our website (http://www.ge-energy.com/leaf-wattstation-facts.jsp) but I've also copy and pasted it below.

Nissan and GE have completed their investigation into the instances of Nissan LEAFs experiencing on-board charging (OBC) issues when using certain EV chargers. Nissan has traced the root cause of the issue to the LEAFs OBC software that can allow damage to occur to its OBC components while using certain chargers and in certain instances, such as when a brief under voltage or blackout condition occurs. Nissan is working to address this issue as quickly as possible, and in the meantime is advising customers to avoid charging during times when brownouts or momentary power dips may be likely, such as during electrical storms or high power usage on the grid.

 

[jennrod12]

Thanks for the update, Sean!

Great to see GE and Nissan working together to get to the bottom of this so quickly.

Jenn

 

[tonymil]

Excellent! Even though the MiEV never experienced this problem, I hope Mitsubishi is taking notice and reviewing its own software for any similar issue.