JOLT charging at Ferntree Gully Station

I charged up again using the JOLT Charge at Ferntree Gully Station, while doing some work on my laptop.

While there, a Nissan Leaf pulled up next to me.

The driver, Tony, told me that he wanted to try out the Jolt charging for the first time. He bought his Nissan Leaf two years ago as a “grey” import for $18,000. It’s a 2014 model. It has a 24kWh battery but now only gets about 100km on a full charge. He also said that it doesn’t have great thermal management of the battery, so regular fast charging can be problematic. For comparison, our bottom range Tesla Model 3 has a 60kWh battery and gets 360 to 440km on a full charge. The technology has certainly come a long way since the original Nissan Leaf cars, but they paved the way.

Charging

The Leaf uses the Chademo cable, whereas the Tesla (and most other EVs) use the CCS2 connector. But the charging station doesn’t allow us to connect both cables at the same time, since it has a total maximum draw of 25kW.

I was happy to disconnect while he tried out the Chademo, and then reconnect after he’d finished. Neither of us were in a hurry.

23 comments

  1. $18000 for a 100km range Leaf, I’m not sure that’s a cost effective purchase. Ouch!

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    1. Weiyun Sydney agreed, and at the same time a lot of depreciation for the previous owner/s from $50k to $18k in seven years!
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      1. Yeah, it's an interesting purchase. Are there better EV options for around $18k - $28k? You could save up to $5k a year in petrol and servicing over an ICE car 🤔.

        The second hand EV market is still pretty pricey in Australia, but I think coming down rapidly.

        Hopefully used EVs will be much better value when the recently purchased new fleet vehicles hit the used market in 6 to 12 months (which was the whole point of the EV incentives that wiped fringe benefit tax for EVs).
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      2. Keith Strib Current 39kWh battery gives 270km WLTP range, so that 24kWh battery should have 166km range. Down to 100km range, that’d be around 25% degraded. 2nd hand EV market is going to get more interesting.

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      3. Weiyun Sydney Yes, I think the battery degradation of older EVs like the Leaf (eg 25%) was much worse than current batteries, such as in Teslas (eg 5%).
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      4. Tesla Tripping Per earlier comment that that 24kWh battery probably had around 25% degradation, leaving 18kWh capacity. When the price crosses over with a home storage battery pack, that’s the time when it’ll get scuttled and have the pack mounted against a wall.
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      5. Weiyun Sydney or perhaps just plugged into the house with bi-directional charging, which I think is built into the Leaf – something I wish it Tesla did.
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      6. there are more choices slowly coming. I've seen examples of the imported 30kWh leaf for $18-24k and the 40kWh for sometimes as little as $28k.
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    2. Is $18k for100km range cost effective. It does 97% of my daily trips. A $60k car might do 99%. They are both saving $5k per annum
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      1. Tony Forster How do you get $5k saving a year? Don’t forget also that the Leaf’s battery from that vintage will deteriorate quite rapidly, potentially becoming a very expensive repair/replacement item. A small Corolla in good condition may be more dependable and cheaper overall.

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      2. Someone else mentioned $5k, it sounds ball park correct. I agree with your comments about end of life, it could be unrepairable at short notice.
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  2. Thanks for letting me charge. It was a pleasure meeting you
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    1. Tony Forster Thanks for the chat. If I got any details wrong in this post, please let me know.
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    2. All seems correct to me, thanks.
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  3. If the new leaf had thermal management and Type 2/CCS charging, and took off $10k, it would sell so much better. They really are a great looking and fun to drive little car, but immediately was knocked off my list of options when I saw the above issues (I call them issues but they're just dislikes for some people). I drove one of the Good Car Co. Leafs at fully charged and it's just so easy to drive.
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  4. Somebody is using the Fern Tree Gully charger, maybe you, so I am at Scoresby
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    1. Tony Forster Ha! It wasn't me. I am at the Scoresby charger now. Must have just missed you.

      I notice that the initial free 7kWh seems to have reset for today, even though it's slightly less than 24 hours since I finished my last JOLT Charge. I'm guessing that it's 24 hours between charge starts.

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      1. Tesla Tripping they charged me 50c for 4kWh and later reversed it with an apology
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      2. Tesla Tripping nothing like that rewarding feeling to get 50 cents back after wasting $$$ of time sending emails
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  5. Sorry if I am slow to catch on but there's more to Jolt than a free 7kWh per day! The advertising is paying for the free charge and environmentally aware advertisers and EV drivers are both benefiting and promoting environmental issues. "Like-minded brands are invited to advertise on JOLT's fast-chargers, which in turn funds the free charge program. In doing so, advertisers can win over an innovative audience of socially conscious consumers by:

    Supporting the needs of EV owners - Brands can promote their commitment to sustainability by helping people to own more environmentally-friendly transport.
    Target marketing EV owners - Brands can target campaigns at a specific audience using points of interest and mobile data insights. https://jolt.com.au/prove-it-or-lose-it-socially-consciou…; (I am happy to give Jolt some free advertising, its not even my page!)

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    1. It gets more interesting: "The ACT has cancelled a contract with an electric vehicle charger operator that relies on advertising due to concerns over "visual clutter"" https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8148073/act-cancel…
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  6. Chademo should be banned. Waste of money rolling out chargers for about one brand
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