KiWhi Pass - Nissan Charge RFID Badge received and activated

This week, I received this RFid Badge from Nissan for free; It will allow the use and payment - even if charging stations are mostly free for now - of public chargers in France with a unique Badge

KiWhi is the company that makes this badge and Nissan partenered with them to offer this unique solution to their customers, for free ...



Registration on the KiWhi Pass website and link with the badge
After that you can refill your badge using your credit card, and a little fee is added, for example, 60cts charge for a 20 EUR refill



More charging stations are added and visible sorted by date, descending


I will have to test it somewhere now ...

Nissan to deliver free charging stations badge

In France, Nissan should deliver an RFid badge to all - Nissan - Electric Vehicle owners, allowing free charging on different charging networks ==>> Very Cool :-)

You just have to request one ...

First Charge of the LEAF at an Autolib Station in Paris

Yesterday, after getting this new RFid Badge from Autolib to charge the LEAF, we went for Japanese lunch, and instead of parking in the regular underground parking, parked an Autolib station right next to it, since one spot was opened ...



I swipped the RFid badge, the lid blinked green, and I opened it

Guess what, the J1772 Yazaki charge cable is too short to go all the way to the front of the LEAF to access the charge port .... bummer ! - I actually knew this already - but here is a picture with my son showing the maximum length ...

As you probably know, the charge port on a BlueCar is located at the rear of the car to the right, next to the charge station lid


The solution would be to buy a Type 3 to Type 1 cable, unplug the one in the charge station, and plug mine; Problem: this kind of cable is not at all cheap ...

Also, the LEAF is a tight fit in an Autolib spot, it is just the right length, but a Model S would never fit there ....   ;-)









Finally I could never figure out if my badge started a Charge and since I did not use any power I guess it never started counting anything

My Autolib iPhone App shows no charges at all, just like nothing ever happened ...


Later on after lunch we went in Marais and plugged right behind the City hall as usual

Surprise: A white Vectrix was there, parked on the sidewalk, charging ... this is rare enough to take a picture



Charging full blast at 10.5A x 143V = 1,500W


Funny thing: he left his helmet there, passing the charging cable through it


Vectrix and LEAF charging together


LEAF with Autolib charging

Vectrix Surprise Charging @ Mairie de Paris & The Return of the Black LEAF @ Autolib Charging Station

Today, plugging in at Mairie de Paris as usual, we had the surprise to see a blue Vectrix, coming from Brittany, kind of far from Paris 

It had a custom yellow thick charging cable

"Department" 56 on the plate, Morbihan, close to the Atlantic Ocean

I thouhgt: Maybe he came step by step from there to Paris ...

And, like few weeks ago, we saw thi sBlack LEAF plugged in at an Autolib Charging Station (not the Third Party EV Charge Spot, but the same Autolib Spot, which you can use but it cost you way more (so why use this one ??)

Autolib Station - Rue Lacordaire 75015 & Go Motorboard Electric Scooter

New Autolib Station in rue Lacordaire, Paris, where I dropped off some family members yesterday. 

Kids had great fun again using daddy's Go Motorboard electric scooter :-) on this first warm day after a long cold winter here ...

It looks like I am the first one using this brand new station, with no Autolib parked on it yet

Third party EV & electric scooter charge spot

Second day with LEAF Link iPhone App - New Version 1.1.0

This week end, after updating the LEAF Link iPhone App to the latest version 1.1.0 on the App Store, I went to several places in Paris and checked often the app and its notifications



Status out of the parking

Sending Japanese restaurant address to the LEAF GPS

Testing: Start Charging (I am parked in the street, unplugged), and the return message is "Charging failed, not plugged in", which was expected ...

After lunch, my son and I are heading to Opera to the Apple Store to take a look at the new Iphone 5

and parking at Autolib on Boulevard Hausmann, and plugging in on the third party EV charge spot

New status notification from the app received

Galeries Lafayette ...

The Opera Apple Store (a beautiful building, formerly a 100 years old bank)

and here it is, the new iPhone 5 ! and it is difficult to get to have one in our hands

Check the app: the car is charging ...

Nice, nice ...

Cool in landscape, much more room 

Beautiful aluminum back

Thin

and at the accesories downstairs

New York City

New headphones

Amazing flyover...

Still charging ... more range 

More range, end time shortened

And moving to Marais, parking at Mairie de Paris, our usual charge station, after de-ICEing one spot (I had to remind the Diesel BMW owner parking that it was reserved for EVs)

The Cityhall

Charging again

and heading for this great Italian ice cream shop

Milk cream cone, yummy !

And a Vectrix is there charging too

Dashboard range

is identical to LEAF Link app range, 150 km

And on the way back home, an Autolib in traffic jam

Tonight, I will have to take some time and test Mike's new version of the app, including OpenChargeMap charging stations location bug