Very kind treatment by a Nissan dealership when I asked to charge my Model S

[artsci]

This weekend I made a 320 mile round trip from Batlimore to Langhorne, PA with a side-trip to New Hope and Lambertville. I arrived in Langhorne with about 160 miles remaining, that after a 25 minute stop at the Delaware supercharger, where I found digitalTim already there charging his Signature Red.

When I got to my hotel in Langhorne, I wanted to add more miles to cover the planned side trips. As Peruzzi Nissan had the only charging facilities in the area (Pennsylvania seems to be especially behind the times in this regard) and it was only 1/2 mile from my hotel, I drove over and politely asked if I could charge. I was given an immediate yes. The sales staff was especially gracious and all came out to look at the Model S. I answered a lot of questions and received many compliments. Their EV was only putting out 30 amps so I was only able to add about 32 miles of range in two hours. But it was enough to cover the miles to New Hope and back.

In New Hope the car attracted much attention. One passerby asked if it was a Maserati or Jaguar. When I told him it was a Tesla he asked the usual "who makes it." When I answered "Tesla" he replied, "Yes, but who's the manufacturer?" I politely set him straight and handed him one of my postcards on the Model S. He then said it was the most beautiful car he had ever seen.

Here are a few photos of the car charging at the Delaware supercharger and Peruzzi Nissan.

 

[Vger]

Good to know. I have not tried a Nissan dealer yet, but they are located in some useful spots.

 

[Babylonfive]

Artsci that car is stunning. STUNNING.

Did you use your CapturePro? :biggrin:

 

[dm33]

Parked in a handicap space? Its awful that they often place EV parking spots next to handicap spots. Has caused me some 'issues'.

 

[jerry33]

I tried the charger at the Nissan dealer in Lincoln, NE and they were great about it. Unfortunately, it only proved that the master charger was bad. Tesla flew in a Ranger and fixed it before the charge totally ran out, so I was never really without the car.

 

[artsci]

Artsci that car is stunning. STUNNING.

Did you use your CapturePro? :biggrin:

I didn't use it, but that was because I hung out in the dealership while it was charging, with my eye always on the car.

- - - Updated - - -

Parked in a handicap space? Its awful that they often place EV parking spots next to handicap spots. Has caused me some 'issues'.

Yes, one of the two spaces for charging was a handicap slot. What were they thinking? But as I was watching the whole time I thought it would be ok.

 

[Colasec]

Man, the MC red with the silver 21"s and pano is gorgeous...

It's great that the Nissan people were so friendly. This car seems to inspire positive things in all areas :smile:

 

[PhilBa]

Yes, one of the two spaces for charging was a handicap slot. What were they thinking? But as I was watching the whole time I thought it would be ok.

I've been seeing more handicapped/charging parking spots. Blink/Ecotality is actually putting "accessible" charge stations in the handicapped spots (they are shorter with the control panel reachable by a person in a wheel chair). There are two spots at the local CC, one handicapped/accessible and one not. Seems like a ridiculously conservative ADA reading. Why not just make all the charge stations accessible and skip designating the parking as handicapped? I don't mind bending down to do the transaction. The whole point of handicapped slots is to allow easy access to the building (or what ever). To make a charge station exclusively for handicapped people is just plain wasting resources.

 

[DLM270]

Glad to hear there are some Nissan Dealers who are open to Tesla charging.

I was not that lucking in the Fresno, CA area where the Nissan Dealer said "Absolutely Not" when I politely asked if I could charge my Tesla at their station. There were no other cars charging and it was mid day on a Saturday. They claimed it was a Nissan Dealer Policy to deny non Nissan charging at their facility.

 

[artsci]

Glad to hear there are some Nissan Dealers who are open to Tesla charging.

I was not that lucking in the Fresno, CA area where the Nissan Dealer said "Absolutely Not" when I politely asked if I could charge my Tesla at their station. There were no other cars charging and it was mid day on a Saturday. They claimed it was a Nissan Dealer Policy to deny non Nissan charging at their facility.

If it's Nissan policy, and not a convenient excuse to deny charging to other brands, then Peruzzi Nissan, to its credit, basically said to hell with policy, let's help this Tesla owner.

 

[adric22]

If it's Nissan policy, and not a convenient excuse to deny charging to other brands, then Peruzzi Nissan, to its credit, basically said to hell with policy, let's help this Tesla owner.

Just a warning about Nissan dealerships. Don't plan a trip around one unless you know for sure they'll let you charge. I've heard of many that will not allow anything but a Leaf to charge there. I've even heard of a few that won't allow Leafs that weren't bought from that dealership to charge. Some are far more generous and will let any EV charge. So it really does vary greatly from one dealership to the next, and even within the same dealership depending on who is working there from one day to the next.

 

[hans]

They claimed it was a Nissan Dealer Policy to deny non Nissan charging at their facility.

Stealerships, who needs 'em anyway?

 

[Iz]

Thanks for the post. Taking my kids to Sesame Place soon. Peruzzi is one of the few charging spots that show up in that area. As adric22 points out however, not all Nissan dealers will allow use of their charger.

 

[artsci]

Thanks for the post. Taking my kids to Sesame Place soon. Peruzzi is one of the few charging spots that show up in that area. As adric22 points out however, not all Nissan dealers will allow use of their charger.

Let us know what happens. It'll be interesting to see if I was just lucky or if Peruzzi is consistently generous about charging.

 

[PwrOutage]

Glad to hear there are some Nissan Dealers who are open to Tesla charging.

I was not that lucking in the Fresno, CA area where the Nissan Dealer said "Absolutely Not" when I politely asked if I could charge my Tesla at their station. There were no other cars charging and it was mid day on a Saturday. They claimed it was a Nissan Dealer Policy to deny non Nissan charging at their facility.

I've seen many Nissan dealerships on the U.S. Depart of Energy charging station locator website and they say "Public". Can anyone find evidence that this is Nissan policy? I bet the dealer just doesn't like Tesla Motors.

 

[stopcrazypp]

I've seen many Nissan dealerships on the U.S. Depart of Energy charging station locator website and they say "Public". Can anyone find evidence that this is Nissan policy? I bet the dealer just doesn't like Tesla Motors.

Most likely BSing, otherwise the Nissan dealers that have allowed Teslas to charge are violating that policy. But it is true YMMV, so don't depend on dealer chargers for anything mission critical even if you call ahead.

 

[ChadS]

It is absolutely not Nissan policy to deny other makes. Or Leafs from other dealers. Nissan corporate gets how charging is supposed to work. I think their official recommendation has something about giving "priority" to customers, but if not in use, the EVSE should be available to all.

But, they don't have much control over the dealers, they can only make recommendations. (And with the L2 stations, the dealers were required to pay for the EVSEs themselves, so it really is the dealer's decision. This is not always the case with DC stations). If Nissan corporate gets a lot of complaints about a particular dealer, they can apply some leverage, so it's worth calling when you find one behaving egregiously.

 

[jeffaa]

My wife needed a charge the other day after she took her mom to a concert in our 60. The only place in her area was a Nissan dealership. She didn't have any problems, they didn't hassle her. She charged for an hour, peeked at the Leafs and came home. Oh and it was at 1am.

 

[jeffaa]

Big shout out to the plug share app (Android for us).

 

[brianman]

It is absolutely not Nissan policy to deny other makes. Or Leafs from other dealers. Nissan corporate gets how charging is supposed to work. I think their official recommendation has something about giving "priority" to customers, but if not in use, the EVSE should be available to all.

But, they don't have much control over the dealers, they can only make recommendations. (And with the L2 stations, the dealers were required to pay for the EVSEs themselves, so it really is the dealer's decision. This is not always the case with DC stations). If Nissan corporate gets a lot of complaints about a particular dealer, they can apply some leverage, so it's worth calling when you find one behaving egregiously.

Another example where the dealers are "providing value" to consumers?