Video: Nissan LEAF Charging Station Home Inspection in Detail

By Nick Chambers · August 07, 2010

AeroVironment Nissan LEAF Home Charging Station

So you've put your $99 reservation money down on a Nissan LEAF and gotten your place in line. If you're like the majority of folks out there, the next step in the process is a visit from your local AeroVironment certified technician to make sure that a charging station can be installed and determine how much it's going to cost. To do that, you need to plunk down another $99.

What do you get for that extra $99? I figured that might be a question that many folks had, so, when AeroVironment decided to send out their technician to my place, I asked if they wouldn't mind my filming the whole process to illuminate the pre-installation home inspection for those of you that haven't yet gotten it, but are planning to at some point. I hope the resulting video is informative. My intent was to provide an inside look at how the process goes, as well as answers to questions such as warranty, rental/condo concerns, cable length, and safety.

AeroVironment conducts a home charging equipment pre-installation inspection for PluginCars.com contributor, and future Nissan LEAF customer, Nick Chambers.

To AeroVironment, or Not to AeroVironment? That is The Question.

Of course, at this point we know that Nissan will be allowing people to use non-AeroVironment, SAE J-1772 compliant, Level 2 charging stations if they've already had them installed or want another company to do the installation (after all, there are now a plethora of home charging solutions available). Hell, Nissan has even said they'll let people buy a LEAF if they only want to charge from a standard 120V home outlet (also known as Level 1 charging). In both cases, you'll have to sign a form that says you understand the problems that can arise from trickle charging or using equipment that hasn't specifically been tested to work with the LEAF.

But I'm guessing that they vast majority of early LEAF purchasers will choose the path of least resistance and just go with the AeroVironment equipment and installation. Going that route gets you a 3-year warranty on the equipment and installation, the knowledge that your new charging equipment is guaranteed to work with the LEAF, as well as access to emergency equipment replacement if anything should go wrong. Plus, according to both Nissan and AeroVironment, you'll be able to roll the approximately $2,200 worth of installation and equipment costs into your LEAF lease or purchase.

About the author

· Nick Chambers

Nick is a tireless and passionate next generation car enthusiast. Since 2007 he has written hundreds of posts for outlets such as The New York Times, Motor Trend, Scientific American, Popular Mechanics, AutoTrader.com, The Daily Green, HybridCars.com, and Gas 2.0.

Follow Nick on Twitter @ecochambers

Nick has ...

Full bio · 588 posts

Comments

· Christof Demont... · 1 year ago

Nick,
Could you please clarify what you mean by -->

"Plus, according to both Nissan and AeroVironment, you'll be able to roll the approximately $2,200 worth of installation and equipment costs into your LEAF lease or purchase"?

What exactly does this "rolling in" look like? Does it mean $2,200 off the sticker price for purchasing a LEAF? Cutting your monthly lease payments by X dollars per month, etc?

· Nick Chambers · 1 year ago

Christof,

I'm afraid it's nothing so exotic (or lucrative). What that simply means is that you will be able to add the ~$2,200 to either the purchase price of your LEAF and finance it along with the car purchase (making one monthly payment for both), or you will be able to add the purchase of the station on to your lease payment, so that, for a bit more money every month you won't have to up-front the cost of installing the station yourself. Nissan and AV are unsure how that will exactly happen at this point, and all I'm going on is what they've both told me independently, so I'm afraid I have no more technical details at this point.

· Barbara (not verified) · 1 year ago

Hi Nick - thanks for this info. I called the general Nissan Leaf phone number last week after getting my install estimate and was told that if I use another electrician to install the AeroVironment charger that Nissan would void the charger warranty!! Does this sound like anything you have heard?

· Nick Chambers · 1 year ago

Barbara,

According to AeroVironment, to get the 3 year warranty on their station you have to have it installed by and AV certified electrician. I think you'll find that every home charging station solution provider is going this route. I'm not sure if there is some minor warranty on the actual physical equipment that you get even if you have some other electrician install it (e.g. 90 days on the equipment or something), but I'd imagine you get some kind of assurance that the equipment itself is not broken prior to you installing it. Actually, it doesn't seem that unreasonable to me to say that you only get a 3 year warranty if their trained technician installs it.

· Victor Caballero (not verified) · 1 year ago

I have so far not had a good experience with the Nissan Leaf site assessment process. Nissan contracts with AV, and AV contracts with electrical contractor, the contract wants $$$, so they do whatever they can to charge additional $$$. I just got my estimate and they are want about $2500 to modify my panel and install the charger.. this is crazy!
I think I will cut my losses on the $99 assessment and wait or buy a CODA.
Nissan get your act together.

· Derek (not verified) · 1 year ago

I've just received the quote for a custom installation myself and my quote ended up being $2500 with an installation cost of $1400, while the equipment cost is at about $750. (the rest are permit fees and tax)

I do feel like I'm about to be one of those individuals who's buying a $2000 flat screen TV and paying $200 for a Monster HDMI Cable while others know the picture will just as clear with a $5 generic cable. :) It's not a fair comparison of course but can't help to think that the early adoption premium is painful.

Installing electrical wires is far from high tech and many consumers are talking about alternatives that can cut the installation cost by 2/3. I'm just following the discussion and balancing the cost versus peace of mind.

· ex-EV1 driver · 1 year ago

Derek,
Is that quote through Nissan/AeroVironment or some private electrician?

· Anonymous (not verified) · 1 year ago

Exactly what is the problem with trickle charging at 120 V. If I'm only driving 20 miles a day and have the time to charge it for 12 hours does it really matter?

· abasile · 1 year ago

We are planning to avoid the expensive AeroVironment route and just trickle charge at 120 V to start with, which should be perfectly fine since we won't be using the entire range every day.

It probably won't be all that long before we can purchase a Level 2 charger by itself for a few hundred bucks, maybe online or at Best Buy or Home Depot. :-) Then, in most cases, get it installed by any reasonable electrician for a modest fee.

· abasile · 1 year ago

I'm sorry; I didn't mean "Level 2 charger". It's a Level 2 EVSE (or "charging station"). A 3.3 kW charger is built into the car...

· JRREAD (not verified) · 1 year ago

You should look at the BLINK system by Ecotality. It is far smarter, offers great user interface, connectivity to utilities and will have a broad public charging network. It is also part of the $230m DOE program being launched in key U.S. markets.
www.blinknetwork.com . Aerovironment is not the only or best option by any means!

· abasile · 1 year ago

Thanks, JRREAD. The more-capable Blink EVSE (electric vehicle supply equipment) will apparently retail for $1,199. Compared to AV, it would indeed be cheaper to buy one of these and hire an electrician to install it. And you still get to take a tax credit equal to 50% of the total cost, provided you don't have an issue with AMT.

http://blogs.forbes.com/velocity/2010/07/27/another-stylish-electric-veh...

· Marc (not verified) · 1 year ago

My experience with the assessment so far has been HORRIBLE. First I had to confirm if the guy was coming days before - they did not call me which I found odd. Then they pulled a no-show. When I called to ask where the guy was, I got some half baked "oh yea" response and I had to wait the entire day before someone showed up (Linclightingelectrical.com was the contractor).

Then I had to wait over a week and got a quote for about $2000 which is a total ripoff and not at all what I was expecting based on what the assessor said. I have a 50A 240VAC junction box already in my garage; No conduit, no wire runs needed - just tap into the junction box. The quote I got included adding breakers in the panel, running conduit, and doing all sorts of crap that wasn't necessary.

I called to complain and my assessment is now "under review" - will report what happens. Definitely skeptical at this point.

· Anonymous (not verified) · 1 year ago

This does not sound promising!!!!!!

· Tom Moloughney · 1 year ago

Marc,

If you already have the electric in your garage why can't you just buy a wall charger (any with a J1772 plug will work) and have your own electrician install it. Nissan will let you buy a LEAF without the wall charger as written above. There are bound to be bumps in the road in the beginning. These chargers are really simple devices, I think it won't take long before they work out a good system and competition brings down the installation cost. I had a 50amp Clipper Creek wall charger installed for $350.00 by my electrician when I refused to allow the contractor hired by BMW do the installation because he wanted over $1,000.

· Buzz (not verified) · 1 year ago

I've had the AV assessment at my home. It's overpriced. The electrician said my install was the easiest he's seen. I've already owned an EV so there's proper 240 breaker at the panel and a box 12 inches away from where the charger will mount. It's literally a 10 inch conduit run and bolt to the wall. $1500 including the charger. AV says I can buy the charger and have my own electrician install, it will be under warranty but must be mailed in for service. I think they're rolling a service contract into these install prices (3yrs, come to house, fix or replace). I may buy the unit outright for $780 or go with Levitron.
Nissan screwed up using a defense contractor for in-home EVSEs.
AV should give a real cost breakdown for their over-priced installation fees.

· Marc (not verified) · 1 year ago

Thanks Tom!!

Status Update:

The revised quote is $2434.28! Criminally overpriced, since I already have 100 AMPS of 240 VAC to a junction box in the garage ONE FOOT from where the charger goes; it's a 10 minute job!

I'm shocked. I checked out www.clippercreek.net - I think that will be the best option. Plus they have a 100A charger I can take advantage of. Great suggestion!

· TechExplorer · 1 year ago

I think the EV Charging Equipment Tax Credit for 50 % of installation / Purchase up to $ 2000.00 has to be inservice by 12/31/2010 ,if i'm reading the regs correct ?

· Tom Moloughney · 1 year ago

Marc,

You should know that I got the charger for free so my $350.00 was for installation. BMW provided and installed a wall charger for free to all the MINI-E trial lease participants. They then offered a second charger for anyone that wanted one. I accepted so I could install it at my job (I own the building so I didn't need permission!) The deal was they would give you the charger but you had to pay for the installation. I just didn't want you to think that I bought and installed it for $350, as that isn't possible, not yet at least!

· Tom Moloughney · 1 year ago

Also, the Clipper Creek units are very well made and can be used indoors or outdoors. The only criticism I have heard is that they look "too commercial" and aren't as visually appealing as some of the other EVSE equipment. Who cares?

· Marc (not verified) · 1 year ago

Another update....

I believe AV is reading these posts... or, Nissan passed on my evaluation which was not flattering. Who knows. Either way, I got a call back from EV today and they had revised my quote again. This time, $1591 total.

$721 for the dock, $700 for install, $50 for permit, $50 for S&H, rest is tax. Plus the guy was much nicer on the phone.
Still rather high for a 1 hour job, but the warranty benefits (not 100% sure what they are yet) may make the deal worth the premium.

I do not yet know what warranty issues Nissan has with using your own charger... this is the wild card.

· Charlie#1300 in line (not verified) · 1 year ago

As a prospective leaf owner in 2011(or 2012) when my number comes up, I am shocked by the video and tales in the comments. Nissan has been pretty good about being good to the consumer in this rollout, but the deal with AV just shouts out RIP-OFF! Where do I beigin?

$99 assesment - look in your yellow pages under electricians and you will see that they use another phrase for this type of work - FREE ESTIMATES!

$1400 for a "standard install" . As the "standard install" is described in the video, your local electrician, doing his free estimate would mutter under his breath a different description -"what a piece of cake! I can knock this off in an hour!" Then he gives you his $400 estimate.

Special training - Come on, this is basic residentail wiring and install of a 220V appliance, like a clothes dry, electric range, hot tub,etc. Electricians do this every day. I think the special training is mostly how to convince the customer that they should pay the overpriced fee.

The extra cost is to cover the 3 year warranty - OK, that is worth something- how much?
If you buy an appliance at home depot, lowes, sears, etc they will offer an extended warranty, which is roughly about 15% of the purchase price per year. For the $750 charging station that comes out to $338 for three years. Doesn't exactly make up the difference. Note that you could buy two charging stations, have you local electrician install one, have him replace it with the spare if the first one fails, and still come under $1400. Not that I would recommend this extreme soltion, but it just show how out of line the AV pricing is.

· Saaa (not verified) · 1 year ago

Mine tops it all at US$3,187.85. Not sure what is wrong with AV. I already have a 100AMP circuit and 240V for my dryer. Why do they have to be sooooooo expensive? The assessor had told me that my quote will much cheaper if I allow them to pull romex wires in the crawling space instead of conduits on the wall. Here is the breakdown:

custom installation * 1 2,099.68 2,099.68
charging dock, wall mount 15' cable * 1 721.12 721.12
installation permit and processing 1 250.00 250.00
shipping and delivery 1 49.95 49.95
sales tax * US$67.10
total US$3,187.85

Do we have some good alternatives ?

· ex-EV1 driver · 1 year ago

@Saaa,
While loose Romex will probably work, today's codes generally require high power circuits to run through conduit since it protects the wire a lot more. I can see how AeroVironment and Nissan wouldn't risk their names and livelihood installing anything that could possibly start a house fire and destroy the safety image of the products that they are counting on.
You can probably go ahead and get your electrician to string Romex through the crawlspace and install your J-connector EVSE yourself but then you and your electrician will assume the risk, not AeroVironment and Nissan. J-connector EVSEs can be purchased directly from AeroVironment or from many other manufacturers today.

· Saaa (not verified) · 1 year ago

@ex-EV1 driver ,
Sorry I should have been more clear in my post. The quote (3187.85) is for Romex as proposed by the technician. So it appears that they are already risking names and livelihood.

· ex-EV1 driver · 1 year ago

I guess I misunderstood. I thought that you had a different person quote you a loose Romex solution. Running conduit certainly is expensive. The cost will be determined by the length of the run as well as any expected difficulties. We installed a dual Nema 14-50 240V/50A box on the side of our house last year. That set us back about $2000 without the cost of a charging dock and permit processing. We ran the conduit through the crawl space clear across our small house. I can see how a larger house and wall mounted conduit could be a lot. You certainly could get your own electrician to quote the job. There's nothing involved that any reasonably good electrician can't handle.
Alternative charging dock manufacturers today include:
Clipper Creek
AeroVironment (without installation)
EcoTality
Parkpod
Coulomb
and there will be a lot more in the near future.

· dukemd (not verified) · 1 year ago

product/service description quantity unit price line total
Custom Installation 3,244.58
Installation Permit and Processing 150.00
Charging Dock, Wall Mount 15' Cable 721.12
Shipping and Delivery 49.95
Total(before tax) $ 4,165.65
Sales Tax $ 63.85
Total US $ 4,229.50

Your quote details
Pull permit. Install (1) 40 Ampere 240 Volt circuit breaker in existing utility panel. Install 85 feet or less of feeder
from utility panel to wall mounted Charging Dock. Feeder (Conduit or Romex wire) will be mounted to existing
surfaces or run through crawl space or attic. Charging Dock will be installed on customer preferred location and
will be fully tested and certified with proprietary service tool. Customer will be trained on operation and
troubleshooting and inspector will be called for verification.

So what do you think of this quote I received from a AV contracted electrician? It is coustom because it is farther than 15ft from the electric box and I wanted it installed on the outside aspect of my garage. Just have to cut the hole on the other side of the wall. What a fricken joke.
Two of my electrician patients are going think this ridiculous. Its is a simple run of the wire through a easy open attic, from a brand new box, slide wire down the hole and cut exterior wall hole.
Good job Nissan lets encourage people to spend $4000 extra....at least I qualify for a rebate.

· ex-EV1 driver · 1 year ago

@dukemd,
I don't know whether AV is a good deal, especially for the 'custom' stuff. If you do want the AV EVSE at the 'standard installation' price, you could get a quote from your own electrician to run the wire. Then you could probably then have AV come out and do a 'standard installation' from there.

· Cheng (not verified) · 26 weeks ago

my quote is..
(distance from car to the wall (1.5 feet)

standard installation 1 1,296.68
charging dock, wall mount 25' cable * 721.12
installation permit and processing 1 420.
shipping and delivery * 1 49.95
"NOT FREE" assessment 100.00
sales tax US$67.47
total US$2,655.22

ARE THESE PEOPLE KIDDING ME. I've contacted 3 alternate solution and just REFUSE to get rip off by these people.

· JC (not verified) · 26 weeks ago

Hey Everybody,

It is AMAZING that No....Body so far has mentioned SolarCity EV services:

See - http://www.solarcity.com/residential/electric-vehicle-charging-stations....

I learned about them AFTER-The-Fact.

And had to go with AV (at a whopping $2,400) because I just recently got my Leaf and didn't have a chance to "shop around" (Wish I did! :-(

Anyway, I heard that SolarCity has a recent offer (Google this), where if you buy, lease and install their Solar PV systems then you can get a GREAT Deal on their EV charging station (at around $1,500 bucks). I didn't even know they (SolarCity) had these services!!! Again, Google this for the article/info/details.

Sounds like the Best Deal Yet - Check it out everyone!

· ex-EV1 driver · 26 weeks ago

@JC,
Solar City is installing Clipper Creek charging stations. These are essentially the gold standard in EV charging stations. Clipper Creek has been making them since the mid-1990s and many of the older style that were installed in the public back then are still working, despite over a decade or neglect.
They aren't probably as cheap as some of the other ones but they have a great track record.

· JC (not verified) · 26 weeks ago

@ex-EV Driver (and all).

Frankly, I am MORE excited bout the "new" Technology coming out that uses INDUCTION (Wireless Power) to charge EV's.

See this at - www.Evatran.com

MAN!, I wish they had this out when I started this!!!

Evatran allows for "True" wireless power.

I personally believe this will be the "Next Great Step" in the EV proccess, primaily because of "convenience" (where the Standard proccess of daily "Plugging In-&-Out" can get a little monotonous and tedious with the J-plug everyday.)

So Everyone PLEASE push for "WireLess Power" :-)

· JC (not verified) · 26 weeks ago

Sorry, @ex-EV1 Driver (I got your name misspelled in the last post).

· ex-EV1 driver · 26 weeks ago

@JC
These wireless inductive charging schemes are always coming up and they all suffer from the same flaw: The transfer of wireless energy goes down with the square of the distance between the transmitter and receiver, making them very inefficient.
They are also hazardous considering that you have a huge magnet that can affect pacemakers, erase credit cards, and cause other mayhem.
It sounds enticing but one really doesn't want that much energy flowing freely around. Its generally best to let a wire contain the flow of energy.
Remember even electric toothbrush and cellphone chargers that use induction expect contact between the charger and the device and they push only a very small amount of energy.
No worries about the name miss-spelling.

PluginCars

Nissan LEAF

Video: Nissan LEAF Charging Station Home Inspection in Detail

To AeroVironment, or Not to AeroVironment? That is The Question.

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