LEAF's at large - Click to Enlarge

The turn out at the 1st Middle Tennessee LEAF meetup at Nissan US manufacturing and logistics facility at Smyrna TN  was a resounding success!! I counted 9 LEAF’s, most of which quickly hooked up to the Blink Level 2 solar assisted chargers. Of the 9 chargers at Nissan 8 worked flawlessly, one was, ‘on the blink’ so to speak.

We had several out of state attendees such is the passion among LEAF drivers and would be drivers. Bert came from Birmingham Alabama, he flew up in a private plane, and Rachel came from Atlanta Georgia. Both Bert and Rachael are patiently awaiting delivery of their 2012 LEAF’s.

Schneider Electric LEAF - Click to Enlarge

I believe all available colors were represented at the gathering as well as one ‘non-standard’ paint job from a LEAF owned by Schneider Electric, pictured here to the right.

So what did we do while our cars charged back up? Those still waiting for their LEAF’s had plenty of questions and all in attendance were glad to answer them and give real world feedback on the pluses and minuses of driving a LEAF. Almost all of the feedback was positive, folks are very happy with their vehicles. We also compared the different optional extras and people were very interested in how those options functioned.

Thanks Nissan for the free Juice!! - Click to enlarge

Ralph the organizer of the gathering showed off his upgraded EVSE. One can have the 110v trickle charger upgraded to accept 220v input for a much faster charge. 110v operation is still possible with a small adapter.

CarWings Data - Click to Enlarge

The solar assisted charging stations are well thought out constructed  casting shade on the charging vehicles. I was glad for the charge, this is the first trip I have taken where a charge was necessary for the return journey. I may have got away without the charge, the total distance is 80 miles return, however I took a detour to Baptist Hospital, downtown Nashville to visit a patient. I also took a second detour closer to home to check out the Chargepoint EV chargers recently installed at Goodlettsville Library. I got home on ‘two bars’ so I used all of the 2 hour charge I got at Nissan logistics.

I look forward to the next gathering, maybe we can get a dozen or more LEAF’s!!

Ralph's LEAF outside of the main entrance to Nissan Manufacturing. Click to enlarge

The polar Bear didn't like the heat. - Click to enlarge