Trickle or Phil it? Part II

It took very little time to get the Revision 1 upgrade back from "EVSE Upgrade.com." I shipped the trickle charger out on a Monday and had it back two days later on Wednesday. Wow, I was expecting to get it by Thursday. UPS ground from SF to Berkeley gets there the next day. The upgrade gets done and shipped that same day, then one more day for me to receive it.


When you get your Nissan Leaf you get a trickle charger that will charge your car with common household 115v at a maximum 12 amps. It takes about 20 hours to charge from a fully depleted battery. The Revision 1 upgrade changes all that, it allows you to use your trickle charger as a 220v 12 amp EVSE. This will cut your charging time more than half.

Yesterday, after two weeks with my upgraded charger, I happened to check EVSE Upgrade.com and noticed that the Revision 2 was now available. As I understand it, the Nissan Leaf can draw up to 16 amps at 220v. The Revision 2 upgrade would up the amperage from 12 amps to 16 amps.


http://evseupgrade.com/styled/ 


The Revision 2 upgrade allows the Leafs charger to draw the highest amperage possible.  Your trickle charger can now replace the $2500 EVSE  from AeroVironment for a mere $287 plus shipping. 


Here's the cool thing about the upgrade from EVSE Upgrade.com, the unit will auto detect the voltage and adjust automatically. You don't lose the ability to trickle charge on 115v at 12 amps. 


I've talked to other Nissan Leaf owners and they are happy trickle charging at 115v. They don't usually deplete the battery and average less than 10 hours to fully charge their vehicles. This means if they plug in their car as late as 10pm on a weekday it will have a full charge by 8am.  


I want to have both. The ability to trickle charge if I'm out and about and don't have access to 220v and the means to fully charge in three to four hours from an average day of driving. Guess where my trickle charger is at - right this minute? It should be in Phil's hands about now, I shipped it yesterday. If I read the website right I should have it home Tuesday with the new Revision 2 upgrade. 


Oh yeah, it's going to cost me $48 plus shipping. Thank you Phil!