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Thursday, January 23, 2014

Looking for a solution to Charge the LEAF at an Autolib Station





Since last saturday, when we found out that an Autolib Charging cable is too short for a LEAF, I have been looking for a solution ....




All Autolib charging stations have a Type 3 outlet and plug, a J1772 to plug into the car, (and third party EV ones have a regular 220V outlet)


First I thought, let's get a Type 3 (only in France ...) to J1772 cable, 7 meters long at least to go from the back of the car to the front charge port; I found one on Yoann's Automobile Propre Online Store
But it is too pricy for me ...


Also found one on Leboncoin.fr, but it is also 300EUR and 5m long only ... and the LEAF is 4.5m long, so it is too short too




Then I thought: No this Type 3 will eventually come to an end since it is not used at all other than in France, and all Europe is using Type 2 / Mennekes
So let's stay with Autolib J1772, and extend it to the front of the LEAF with a J1772 Extension Cable, yes it does exist, in the US at least, and a good one



After requesting a quote, it comes to 385USD shipped to France, too pricy still, but looks very well built, and has been sold by hundreds I was told
Here is a picture of a user who charges his Tesla Model S with it in Hawaii



Finally this morning, I came across this French guy's website on his Opel Ampera (= Chevy Volt in Europe) and all his charging adpators (a lot)



I asked him and it looks like it has been made by a company in Germany, and I am trying to get in touch with them to get one 

I will use it on the Autolib charging station, unplugging their Type 3 plug, and plugging this one instead, and plug my regular LEAF EVSE ...


onto the European outlet using an inexpensive adaptor

2 comments:

  1. Bonjour,

    Je suis votre forum depuis de nombreux mois maintenant et j'y trouve toujours des informations très pertinentes. Bravo !
    Je suis proprio d'une C-Zero en région parisienne depuis 1 an et demi (offre à 90€ par mois) et j'utilise les bornes Autolib depuis le début.
    Depuis quelques semaines, le service autorise une recharge sur toutes les bornes, ce qui est vraiment appréciable mais je me suis rendu compte que certains véhicules comme la Leaf allaient avoir des problèmes pour recharger. La Zoé aussi mais dans une moindre mesure, le câble fourni étant plus long (enfin pas pour tout le monde...) mais permet de faire le tour de la voiture.
    J'ai déjà vu, à plusieurs reprises, une Leaf garée à contre sens dans des stations Autolib pour pouvoir se recharger (Porte d'Auteuil notamment).
    La solution que vous souhaitez mettre en place est très interessante mais a l'inconvénient de devoir utiliser le cable EVSE qui est limité à 10A, 2kW (sauf si vous avez modifié comme moi le boitier pour autoriser du 3kW).
    Mais il se peut que cette différence de temps de charge vous importe peu. Il est vrai que pour ma part, j'utilise le service plus pour la facilité à trouver une place à un prix hyper compétitif que pour recharger mon véhicule....

    Encore félicitations pour votre forum !

    Thomas

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  2. Bonsoir Thomas,

    Merci beaucoup !
    Yes the cable is too short for the LEAF and I noticed that two years ago already
    I also see some LEAF parked the over way around, but I would not do that since I already got a ticket - parking violation - for that two years ago, rue de Rennes at a regular city charging station.
    Yes I am looking for a small price solution, meaning the less cable and plugs possible and that involves using the original EVSE from the LEAF and a short Type 3 plus and a piece of cable. I do not have to charge fast and, like you, sometimes use these free parking & charging spots, easier to find now with Autolib opening to all EVs :-)

    Christophe

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