Nissan LEAF Owner Put Behind Bars Over Unapproved 20-Minute

[clovi]

Checking news yesterday , this came up.
http://www.plugincars.com/leaf-owner-put-behind-bars-over-unapproved-20-minute-charge-129023.html
Pretty tough situation!
As far as you know , US is the country known by "zero tolerance" on the law.
Interesting.
Months ago , I found one spot to park my Bianco in Frederick, MD called Utica Park.
This park belongs to this town and near there , they have nice spots to ride my road bike.
The park is distant 35 miles from my house , what means , if I want to go somewhere is tough, with 3 bikes on the rack plus 3 guys on the car, driving on the 50/ 65 mph highway.
I got home the first day, but needed to drive slow.
I notice on that day, on this park , the light posts had an 120 V outlet, where I could charge!. I tried to find somebody from the park to ask if I could plug in.
Did not find anybody. So , just in case , I did not plug in, to avoid problems.
Got home , wrote a special request to the park , and , 3 weeks later, I received the approved letter to plug in there, with, of course, some exceptions (like leave overnight etc...).
Now , if I want to ride my bike on the "Mountains of Frederick MD", I can do it and I'll have my Bianco been charged. I know , ~ 0.7 kWh (120 V, 8 amps) is not that much , but give me enough to go to the town and have something to eat after 3 to 6 hours of bike ride, without the need to drive like turtle.
So, please, to avoid this situation , use your judgment and ask first :idea:

 

[PV1]

One of the biggest problems is with public perception. For some reason, a decent percentage of people think that plugging in an EV requires a huge amount of power that doubles or triples your electric bill. Driving 25 miles a day with heat on lately, I still haven't added $15 to the monthly electric bill. I've been close, but haven't broken the $15 mark. 20 minutes of plugging in level 1, which is 12 amps for the LEAF, is only .48 kWh. I don't know what commercial rates are, but at 7 cents/kWh, that is 3 cents worth of electricity. Still, though, .48 kWh is <2 miles of range, which isn't worth getting the cord dirty, in my opinion.

But, like some have commented, ask before you plug in. I was tempted to use an outlet 2 feet from my car when I was on the fringe of my round-trip range, and I almost needed it in hindsight, but the hassle of dealing with any fallout wasn't worth it for less than a kWh.

Pre-plan and call ahead for any charging locations.

(On the other hand, do you have to pay for water you drink at a fountain?)

 

[Don]

I know , ~ 0.7 kWh (120 V, 8 amps) is not that much , but give me enough to go to the town and have something to eat after 3 to 6 hours of bike ride, without the need to drive like turtle.

IMO, this is how free public charging should work - Take just enough to get you home where you can charge on your own dime and not rely on the taxpaying public to fuel your car for free. If EV'ers abuse this privilege, we soon won't be allowed to plug in anywhere. It is much like the taxpayers giving us free gasoline and there's nowhere ICE drivers are getting that

(On the other hand, do you have to pay for water you drink at a fountain?)

Apples and Oranges. The water is put there for 100% of the public to 'use' and not just the few who own a 'water powered car' - Plus, the sip of water costs a small fraction of a penny and not the 10 to 15 cents per hour that L1 charging costs the public. 3 to 4 hours plugged into a public socket is 50 cents, more or less - You wouldn't drink that much water from a public fountain in a year or two, but charging there once per week would be $25 by the end of the year and somebody has to pay for that

Don

 

[clovi]

IMO, this is how free public charging should work - Take just enough to get you home where you can charge on your own dime and not rely on the taxpaying public to fuel your car for free. If EV'ers abuse this privilege, we soon won't be allowed to plug in anywhere. It is much like the taxpayers giving us free gasoline and there's nowhere ICE drivers are getting that. Don

I agree. Another day, spoke with a Leaf folk parked at a free charge. This guy told me that he does not plug at home, because there, charge is free, so can do his round trip without plug in at home!!! He leaves his car there for the entire day, plugged in!! Come on , this is a public station on a retail complex parking lot, what suppose to be used for a kick charge wile you are shopping !! If you work there, as I do sometimes, charge and move your car, so other EV drivers can plug in!!!! I told him that, and his expression was . So , if you see something like that, IMO we need to we have to educate these people to do the right thing!!! I would like to keep my free charge network on the future :!: :!:

 

[JoeS]

Before we get carried away with this one, be sure to read the rest of the story. For example, here's a summary of the response from the police:

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/show...of-juice/page5?p=515618&viewfull=1#post515618

IMO, amidst all the rants on the blogosphere over this incident, there is some good news associated with this: it highlights and has widely publicized how inexpensive it is to recharge and operate our electric cars.

 

[clovi]

Before we get carried away with this one, be sure to read the rest of the story. For example, here's a summary of the response from the police:

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/show...of-juice/page5?p=515618&viewfull=1#post515618

IMO, amidst all the rants on the blogosphere over this incident, there is some good news associated with this: it highlights and has widely publicized how inexpensive it is to recharge and operate our electric cars.

Yes JoeS, I think you're right.
It is inexpensive and they don't know, as my boss didn't when I ask if I could plug in at my work before buy the car. When I told him, how much it cost, he did not believe. So I need to come with the math to prove.
After that, he agreed, so I bought the car and I can go back home without problem.
The point on this is just alert people to ask before, just to don't get in trouble.
Basically , does not matter who is telling what on this particular "theft of electricity".
Another alert! Our 120 v 8 amps connector (US version) , the same as the automotive journalists excessively criticize, is safe to plug in almost any outlet (they are doing yourself a favor, so you don't want to cause them any problems) what I could not say the same thing about 120 v 12 amps (Leafers)