I WISH THAT THE I-MIEV WOULD LOCK IN PARK WHEN IT WAS PLUGGED IN!
I think it's the biggest flaw of the car.
I was heading to work, it was 6:30 am, put my bike on the rack, put my lunch and raincoat in the back seat, got in, started the car and reversed out of the driveway. I have a Bosch L2 with a ridiculously short cable (12') so it's pretty tight when I'm plugged in. The port being on the other side of the car, it's not staring me in the face. As soon as the car moved I heard the cracking sound of the connector breaking. I thought after the first time I did this last year I would never do it again, but here I am. Obviously it didn't start, but for some reason I didn't clue in. The lack of slack in my cable resulted in zero opportunity for my tired brain to prevent the disaster.
The pistol grip snapped at the collar that surrounds the pin, the locking latch snapped off, as did the collar on the inlet port. All the pins in the inlet bent. I was left with a useless charger and a useless charging port. Worst possible outcome.
I've managed to bend the pins back, and have tried to glue the inlet port together. Neither types of glue have worked but when I finally get it glued it should work fine. It is workable now but when I unplug it the collar comes off and I swear a little.
I had to poach the cable from my L1 brick and install it in the L2 box. At least I have a longer cable and can now back in so I see the charge port when I approach my car.
I no longer have a working l1 charger, and often need to charge at work to complete my day. My commute is 80 km return, mostly at 90-100 kph and if I often have kids sports or errands after work.
My biggest expense with this car is going to be repairing parts of the charging system. Last time was $160 for a new pistol grip and 25' cable, this time It will be a new cable for my L1 and a new inlet. I will purchase a replacement inlet as I want to have one waiting for when this happens again.
I figure I've started this car at least 2000 times, and only twice I've forgot to unplug, but It's probably going to happen again.
At least the dust cap didn't break!
Aliexpress has some ports with cables but I'm not sure I can deal with the connectors as the imiev harness has special ones.
Does anyone know if the charge port can be replaced without removing the pins?
Sandage, $1000, ouch! that's worse than I imagined. Are you planning to keep your spare inlet or would you consider selling it?
Thanks everyone