Nissan Expanding Dealership Quick-Charging in Puget Sound Region

It's been a year since Nissan first announced an aggressive campaign to expand CHAdeMO quick charging at its dealerships across the U.S.  Initially, though, there were only a handful of chargers installed; far less than the oft-quoted 500 new units that LEAF drivers salivated for. Inexplicably, the rollout all but stopped in most regions by the summer of 2013.

Fast forward, and Nissan appears to be back in the car charging game.  It is like Nissan miraculously remembered that manufactures must also build charging infrastructure if EV sales are going to shift to mainstream car buying.  This "if we build it, they will come" philosophy was pioneered by Tesla, who continues to aggressively expand its nation-wide Supercharger infrastructure.

Nissan may have also been motivated to expand its dealership network of fast charging stations with the bankruptcy of the ubiquitous electric vehicle supply equipment manufacturer, Blink, during the fall of 2013. This certainly appears to to the case in Washington State's Puget Sound region.

The Seattle-Tacoma corridor regularly lists in the top 3 of Nissan LEAF sales every month.  However, until recently, there was a major gap in reliable quick charging for all of those new (to-be) LEAF owners in Seattle.

Enter redundancy.  Nissan seems to now be fully committed to taking on the burden of providing reliable quick charging in the Seattle-Tacoma region.  With the government-backed West Coast Green Highway prioritizing quick charging stations for longer distance travel outside of the Puget Sound area, Nissan is refocussing the redundancy effort where those Blink quick charging stations so-often disappoint in Seattle proper.

Nissan dealership quick charging coverage is providing much-needed redundancy in the Puget Sound Region.

Today, I set out to try my luck with this maturing Nissan dealership quick charging infrastructure. Living just north of Everett, WA provided me with an opportunity to hit the Nissan dealerships all the way to Olympia to test out their quick charging equipment, and hopefully make it back home without a need for rescue.  

Additionally, and very importantly, I wanted to find out how easy it would be to get those charges at a Nissan dealership.  In my mind, I envisioned the roughest of car sales people booting me from the property because I did not purchase our LEAFs there, or delaying my charge request because of dealership stock blocking the charging equipment.

Everett: Fob Needed/Dealership Hours Only

Edmonds: Fob Needed/Dealership Hours Only

Burien: Fob Needed/Dealership Hours Only

Puyallup: NO Fob Needed/24 Hour Access!

Olympia: NO Fob Needed/24 Hour Access!

Renton: Fob Needed/Dealership Hours Only

Each dealership charging experience was painless! There were no heavies blocking access to the charging stations, and each dealership was welcoming even though I did not purchase our LEAFs from them.

The shocker, though, came from the two newest CHAdeMO installations, at Puyallup Nissan and Olympia Nissan respectively.

Upon pulling up to each of these locations, there was not an RFID card/fob reader on the charging unit.  I simply got out of the car, plugged in the quick charging connector, and pushed the "start" button.  Easy!

For almost a year now, LEAF drivers have simply asked if there could be a way to allow one of the many car charging network fobs or cards to work on the Nissan branded quick chargers.  And for almost a year, there have been plenty of excuses reasons why a fob is needed to activate a charging session at Nissan dealerships.

It appears, now, that Nissan is warming up to the idea of open access at their dealership quick charging stations.

Today's 237 mile drive around the Puget Sound region didn't cost anything to "fuel" my LEAF. The free ride wasn't even the best part of the day. The highlight was in seeing how committed Nissan is to expanding the quick charge infrastructure in my corner of the world.  They are building it, and we will come!

***

Earlier in the day, while driving at sluggish speeds in heavy traffic on I-5 in downtown Seattle, I was initially frustrated with the stop-and-go driving and breathing the diesel fumes from a truck next to me.  Looking around, I saw a Tesla Model S a ways ahead and another LEAF not far behind me. Almost on cue, an early 90's hit song, Right Here, Right Now by Jesus Jones played on the radio.  The lyrics struck me:

Right here, right now

There is no other place I want to be

Right here, right now

Watching the world wake up from history

Breathing the soot from that neighborly diesel truck was not my idea of bliss. Seeing electric vehicles on the road, and driving an electric car myself, did give me a moment of immense satisfaction, though. As we all begin to see more EVs on the road, it is proof that the world is waking up.