I set up this mailing list so that we can communicate our experiences with the LEAF here on the Big Island. We face challenges here, of few LEAFs as yet and no infrastructure in place.

I got my LEAF in August 2011, purchasing from a dealership in Honolulu and shipping it here via Young Brothers. Start to finish was about 6 months. Be sure to sign up to get your State rebate of $5000 (a check!). Check here: evrebate@dcca.hawaii.gov

Cano Electric installed my charge station. And will be doing some of the commercial stations. Apparently by the end of January 2012, all the bi box stores with a parking lot of a certain size must install charge stations.

I have managed to get Costco to agree to install a charger by the end of this year, and have written to the manager of Target and the manager of Kona airport. Costco is the only one to answer as yet. Good on Costco!

I found that none of the Nissan dealerships here will do warranty service on the LEAF. Apparently it requires a clean room, costing around $50,000 so the dealerships are balking. I called Nissan customer service and said that shipping a car back to Honolulu every year just to stay in warranty was not really an option. So they responded by instituting a policy whereby every Nissan dealer must do LEAF warranty service by next year. My contact at Nissan USA is Emily.

I installed 10 solar panels to help with the charge. The plan is another 10 next year. I have NET metering for the solar panels and also a TOU (Time of Use meter) see here. You can use the LEAF onboard timer to charge after midnight and get a substantial reduction in rates. Amanda at Helco in Hilo handles this.

More later…
Doug