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J R Judd

Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2013
Messages
5
I wanted to post this for those of you that are about to buy your Rav-4 EV. There is a program through the state of CA that provides a free level 2 charging station and installation for new buyers of electric cars. This is what I did when I leased my Rav-4. You will have to participate in research for EV Solutions but it doesn't look bad. The only real hitch’s I've seen are:
1) The dealership has to contact EV Solutions at the time you buy your car to register you in the program. If the dealer runs into trouble don't let them give up.
2) They only have around 50 stations per month available so if they are out you are out of luck.
The website below will give more info and shows a counter of the number of charging stations available for the current month. They release the batch of stations for a given month on the first Tuesday of the month.
http://evsolutions.avinc.com/products/cec/what_research_will_i_have_to_participate_in

Some other minor drawbacks.
1) Installation can take some time mainly to get permits and such.
2) You are responsible for permit and inspection fees so there are some upfront fees you need to pay.
So far the contactor we have dealt with has been really good the hangup for us right now is it takes our city forever to issue a simple permit to add at 240 circuit.
 
I took advantage of this last month. Out of pocket cost was just $186. A tip for Rav4 EV owners... ask them for the 25 ft cord (instead of the standard 18 ft cord). It resulted in an extra week delay for my contractor to get the charger, but definitely worth the wait to avoid having to back into the garage to charge.
 
Unless you waited to pick up your car today Tues Aug 6th, you would not have gotten one.

When I first saw a poster mention this back on July 21st on another forum, the counter (availability) was at zero.

The 118 is the new allocation, just set up today, the 1st Tues of the month... it may run out in a week or two or three.. then resets again on first Tues of Sept... etc
 
^^^
I spoke to my saleswoman about http://evsolutions.avinc.com/products/cec/how_to_apply (brought in the PDF flyer) when I leased a '13 Leaf on 7/28/13. She knew about it and said that there's incorrect information that Nissan's been trying to get fixed and Nissan is upset about as it's messing up their sales (as people are holding off until allocation of EVSEs). Basically, she said she'd apply for me. And, they have. I got a confirmation email yesterday. Let's see if it gets rejected.

I went in w/no expectations about getting any free EVSE and I never even spoke to my dealer about it prior to already committing to lease. If they reject it and my dealer's actually wrong, oh well. No biggie to me. If it's gets accepted and I get a free EVSE and install out of it, yay!

I wasn't planning on getting a 240 volt EVSE installed @ home anyway.

I wasn't going to wait until 8/6/13 or later as Nissan's residuals and money factors were good until 8/5/13. I had no idea if they'd stay the same or get better/worse. They'd gotten much worse in the recent cycle.
 
Ones that got this installed, was it a hardwired unit or does it have a 240v outlet plug? I'm just wondering because I would already have my outlet ready and wouldn't mind just getting the charger.
 
Make sure your dealer fills out information on a website and that you get an e-mail confirmation saying shortly afterwords (within 30 min). For some reason, when my dealership called the dealer hotline, all that was asked was my info over the phone. That wasn't enough. It's required that they fill out a form via the net.

Your EVSE reservation e-mail should look something like:

Dear FIRST LAST,
Thank you for providing the information for your application to the CAL Electric Residential EVSE Deployment Program. Your charger has been reserved pending your application approval in the program. Once your application information is reviewed and approved for the CAL Electric Residential EVSE Deployment Program, you will be invited via email to login and start the site assessment / installation process.

This is an automated email which contains important information regarding your account!
Please keep this email for future reference.

ACCOUNT INFORMATION

Username: [email protected]
Password: XXXXXXXXX


Thank you

After registering you will get approved in a day or so if everything is in order. You'll be asked to setup an appointment via AeroVironment's website. Earliest window seems to be at least a week out at this time.

One thing to note is that The charger, if I'm reading the spec sheet correctly, only outputs 30A. The Rav4 EV can take up to 40A. So while this free charger will work perfectly fine, it won't charge it at the vehicle's max input current.
 
The time of your installation can be delayed by permitting issues, even if you have the appointment with EVSE. That appointment is for the site visit that happened very quickly for us but to get the permit in Alameda on average it takes 1 to 2 weeks once applied for. It was two weeks today and it is still not approved. It will have been about three weeks once our installation happens so a little over a month since we got the car. My reading of the specs of the charger is also for a 30A level 2.
 
We had our charger installed today ! We thought it would be a level 2 30 amp but it was a 40 amp. We are very happy
 
We just had ours installed this week. It's an Aerovironment EVSE-RS, a 30A charger on a 40A circuit. Thanks, CEC.
 
Braxus said:
Make sure your dealer fills out information on a website and that you get an e-mail confirmation saying shortly afterwords (within 30 min). For some reason, when my dealership called the dealer hotline, all that was asked was my info over the phone. That wasn't enough. It's required that they fill out a form via the net.

Your EVSE reservation e-mail should look something like:

Dear FIRST LAST,
Thank you for providing the information for your application to the CAL Electric Residential EVSE Deployment Program. Your charger has been reserved pending your application approval in the program. Once your application information is reviewed and approved for the CAL Electric Residential EVSE Deployment Program, you will be invited via email to login and start the site assessment / installation process.

This is an automated email which contains important information regarding your account!
Please keep this email for future reference.

ACCOUNT INFORMATION

Username: [email protected]
Password: XXXXXXXXX


Thank you

After registering you will get approved in a day or so if everything is in order. You'll be asked to setup an appointment via AeroVironment's website. Earliest window seems to be at least a week out at this time.

One thing to note is that The charger, if I'm reading the spec sheet correctly, only outputs 30A. The Rav4 EV can take up to 40A. So while this free charger will work perfectly fine, it won't charge it at the vehicle's max input current.
I received the email on August 6th. I've not gotten any subsequent emails from avinc.com or anyone else affiliated with this, as far as I know. I checked my inbox, trash and spam. Does anyone have an experience as fast as Braxus's or like mine?

Due to my circumstances, I may have been rejected and my Leaf dealer may have been wrong w/their claims. Whatever... doesn't matter that much. I didn't count on or really care about getting a 240 volt EVSE installed @ home anyway. As it stands, I almost never charge at home due to the free L2 juice @ work. :D

BTW, please get the terminology correct, what they're installing is a NOT charger, it's an EVSE. The charger is on-board the car. Please see the diagram at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=262630#p262630. The Rav4 EV has no DC fast charge capability, BTW. DC fast/quick charging is possible on the Leaf via CHAdeMO DC fast chargers.
 
I got a call last week from a electrician in San Jose for an evaluation next week on the 27th. I'm hoping I can sweet talk them into using 6AWG or 4AWG wire so I can future proof the installation a bit as I do plan on eventually putting in a higher rated charger... erm, EVSE.
 
I was approved for one, but don't think I can install it in my current place. I might have to give it up oh well
 
J R Judd said:
We had our charger installed today ! We thought it would be a level 2 30 amp but it was a 40 amp. We are very happy

I think you got a 30 amp. Check the booklet they gave you. It will say 30amp output charging and 40amp circuit breaker. I also got excited when the installer told me I was getting a 40amp charger. Nope, he didn't know what he was talking about.
 
cwerdna said:
^^^
I spoke to my saleswoman about http://evsolutions.avinc.com/products/cec/how_to_apply (brought in the PDF flyer) when I leased a '13 Leaf on 7/28/13. She knew about it and said that there's incorrect information that Nissan's been trying to get fixed and Nissan is upset about as it's messing up their sales (as people are holding off until allocation of EVSEs). Basically, she said she'd apply for me. And, they have. I got a confirmation email yesterday. Let's see if it gets rejected.

I went in w/no expectations about getting any free EVSE and I never even spoke to my dealer about it prior to already committing to lease. If they reject it and my dealer's actually wrong, oh well. No biggie to me. If it's gets accepted and I get a free EVSE and install out of it, yay!

I wasn't planning on getting a 240 volt EVSE installed @ home anyway...
I FINALLY got the approval email today, 8/28/13. The username and password mail I received on 8/6/13.

https://evportal.evsolutions.com/cec/SignIn.aspx does mention that I have to pay for city permits. I have no idea how much it is for the city of San Jose. A quick Google search didn't turn up the answer...

Anyone in my city have it done recently? If it's too high, I might just decline.
 
cwerdna said:
cwerdna said:
^^^
I spoke to my saleswoman about http://evsolutions.avinc.com/products/cec/how_to_apply (brought in the PDF flyer) when I leased a '13 Leaf on 7/28/13. She knew about it and said that there's incorrect information that Nissan's been trying to get fixed and Nissan is upset about as it's messing up their sales (as people are holding off until allocation of EVSEs). Basically, she said she'd apply for me. And, they have. I got a confirmation email yesterday. Let's see if it gets rejected.

I went in w/no expectations about getting any free EVSE and I never even spoke to my dealer about it prior to already committing to lease. If they reject it and my dealer's actually wrong, oh well. No biggie to me. If it's gets accepted and I get a free EVSE and install out of it, yay!

I wasn't planning on getting a 240 volt EVSE installed @ home anyway...
I FINALLY got the approval email today, 8/28/13. The username and password mail I received on 8/6/13.

https://evportal.evsolutions.com/cec/SignIn.aspx does mention that I have to pay for city permits. I have no idea how much it is for the city of San Jose. A quick Google search didn't turn up the answer...

Anyone in my city have it done recently? If it's too high, I might just decline.

Just give them a call and usually they can give you a estimate of the permit. It's not that expensive. It's expensive when the contractor decides that he wants to pull the permit for you and charges you 3 hours of his time to do it. I would recommend telling the contractor that comes to do your install that you will pull the permit yourself as the homeowner. The guy that came wanted to charge me 3 extra hours @ $75 per hour to pull the permit plus the cost of the actual permit. That added a $225 charge for about 30mins of his time.
 
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