I just want to put something on the table that may or may not be an issue.
When we first got our Nissan LEAF in March 2012, we had the "official" AeroVironment charger installed in our garage. AeroVironment is the preferred charging solution for Nissan as well as Ford. (just a note: Levitron used to be the preferred charging solution for Ford--but now AeroVironment is the preferred solution)
The charger worked perfectly for over a year. When we added the Ford Focus to the household, we did not need another charger, because all of the electric vehicles (except for Tesla) take the same charger.
One day I went out to get in the Ford Focus Electric and the car had not charged overnight. I tried to charge it again thinking that maybe I had not plugged it in properly. It would not charge. The LEAF was fully charged, so I thought there was something wrong with the FFE. It just would not charge. Since the FFE only had 22 miles left on it and the dealer is 35 miles, I called Ford and had it towed to the Ford dealership that works on EV's.
As it turned out, there was nothing wrong with the FFE and they indicated that there was probably something wrong with my home charger. Since the LEAF was still charging, I thought the guys at Ford were incorrect.
A day or two later, the LEAF stopped charging. I called AeroVironment and they determined that the charger had failed after we went through some processes over the phone. (resetting breakers, looking at indicator lights, etc)
AeroVironment sent an advance replacement charger under warranty. It took about 4 days to get here. During that time, we used the "emergency chargers" that came with the vehicles in order to charge the vehicles. As you know the emergency charges take 12-18 hours to charge the cars. It's ok in an emergency, but not for day to day use.
The new charger came, I installed it. It's pretty simple to replace. I sent the defective charger back to AeroVironment using the box that they sent the new charger in. I paid for the return shipping which is about $25.
I thought that would be the end of it.
45 days later, we go through the same thing again. The new replacement AeroVironment charger failed. They advance replaced another under warranty. We go through the same thing process again. I send the second one back and paid for return shipping. That was in August and September of 2013. Since then the chargers have been working as they should.
I would not think anything else about this except my brother called about 2 months ago and his AeroVironment charger had failed under the same circumstances. He went though the same thing and AeroVironment replaced his under warranty. He also has a FFE.
AeroVironment chargers are considered the best in the industry and they are also the most expensive.
My concern is that these AeroVironment chargers might fail out of warranty.
Has anyone else had any similar experiences with these chargers?
This is not something that I want to have to replace every few years.
Joe
When we first got our Nissan LEAF in March 2012, we had the "official" AeroVironment charger installed in our garage. AeroVironment is the preferred charging solution for Nissan as well as Ford. (just a note: Levitron used to be the preferred charging solution for Ford--but now AeroVironment is the preferred solution)
The charger worked perfectly for over a year. When we added the Ford Focus to the household, we did not need another charger, because all of the electric vehicles (except for Tesla) take the same charger.
One day I went out to get in the Ford Focus Electric and the car had not charged overnight. I tried to charge it again thinking that maybe I had not plugged it in properly. It would not charge. The LEAF was fully charged, so I thought there was something wrong with the FFE. It just would not charge. Since the FFE only had 22 miles left on it and the dealer is 35 miles, I called Ford and had it towed to the Ford dealership that works on EV's.
As it turned out, there was nothing wrong with the FFE and they indicated that there was probably something wrong with my home charger. Since the LEAF was still charging, I thought the guys at Ford were incorrect.
A day or two later, the LEAF stopped charging. I called AeroVironment and they determined that the charger had failed after we went through some processes over the phone. (resetting breakers, looking at indicator lights, etc)
AeroVironment sent an advance replacement charger under warranty. It took about 4 days to get here. During that time, we used the "emergency chargers" that came with the vehicles in order to charge the vehicles. As you know the emergency charges take 12-18 hours to charge the cars. It's ok in an emergency, but not for day to day use.
The new charger came, I installed it. It's pretty simple to replace. I sent the defective charger back to AeroVironment using the box that they sent the new charger in. I paid for the return shipping which is about $25.
I thought that would be the end of it.
45 days later, we go through the same thing again. The new replacement AeroVironment charger failed. They advance replaced another under warranty. We go through the same thing process again. I send the second one back and paid for return shipping. That was in August and September of 2013. Since then the chargers have been working as they should.
I would not think anything else about this except my brother called about 2 months ago and his AeroVironment charger had failed under the same circumstances. He went though the same thing and AeroVironment replaced his under warranty. He also has a FFE.
AeroVironment chargers are considered the best in the industry and they are also the most expensive.
My concern is that these AeroVironment chargers might fail out of warranty.
Has anyone else had any similar experiences with these chargers?
This is not something that I want to have to replace every few years.
Joe
