Well I finally decided to go with the Fisker/Lear EVSE. The electrician is coming out Thursday to run all of the conduit and wiring, and the device itself will be delivered and installed next week. They're making two trips to accommodate my schedule.
It ultimately came down to the 'dumb' Lear charger vs. the smart Ecotality Blink charger. I like the Blink a lot, but ultimately I couldn't justify the additional $700 in cost. Since where I live there are no EV rate plans that start at a certain time having timer programmability wasn't essential, and while WiFi and phone apps are cool, they aren't $700 cool. Besides, if I decide in a few months to upgrade to a Blink or something else I'm sure there will be someone on this forum who would be in the market for a gently used Lear unit
A comment about my experience with EVConnect: They started out very poorly but really turned it around. When I first contacted them in late November they told me the package price didn't include installation. When I called BS the person I spoke to backpedaled and made some comment about how he was talking about a different installation package. He then agreed to send me some information on charger alternatives to the Lear unit, which never arrived. I made it clear then that I wanted everything complete by end-of-year. As I mentioned in the original post, mine is a very straightforward installation. I had the site inspection on 12/5 and heard nothing from EVConnect for two weeks, even after multiple follow-up emails and calls from me and from my dealer. I finally heard from Craig at EVConnect this week, and simultaneously received a quote by email for $3000. I kindly told him to pound sand, and expressed to him my dissatisfaction with their customer service and the inflated quote. He didn't seem to be aware of Fisker's marketed bundle pricing, couldn't explain why the quote was so high and said he would look into it. I also got my dealer involved to intervene. At this point I'd given up on EVConnect and started looking elsewhere.
Yesterday I heard from Brett Hauser, EVConnect's COO. Brett opened with an apology for the complete lack of customer service and for their poor responsiveness. He was very patient and engaged as we spoke through the issues, asked for feedback on my experiences with them, asked what I'm trying to acheive and what they can do to make it right. He explained that the larger quote was because they understood from the contract electrician that this would be a complex install; an R4 in their parlance instead of a simple R1. I explained how that seemed unlikely, and how even the electrician commented it would be simple. Brett committed to looking into it, making it right, and answering all of my other unanswered questions, including a discussion of charger alternatives. He also committed to doing whatever they could do to meet my end-of-year deadline, even offering to compensate me if I miss the tax deadline. True to his word I heard from him and Craig several times in the last 48 hours and they made it right. I'm still paying about $2400 for the install instead of the $2295 quoted by Fisker, but it's close enough. I can chalk it up to shipping, tax and permitting costs that must vary by state.
Even after all was settled and I electronically signed on the dotted line I received another call from Brett to again apologize, thank me for my patience and to express his committment that they will address the issues I faced. All-in-all, a remarkable and unexpected customer service turnaround.
A couple other points of note:
- My dealer floated the idea that Fisker may add charger progammability to the vehicle itself (like some other EVs have) so you wouldn't need to rely on the EVSE to manage the timing. I don't know if that's speculation or something he heard from Fisker
- EVConnect is working on a device that plugs into the car's OBD port that can provide charger timing functions even if the car or EVSE doesn't
- EVConnect is looking to come out with an even lower bundle price for very simple installs - for example, for people who have an unused 220V dryer outlet already wired in the garage
- EVConnect is working with Fisker to get them to officially endorse the Blink as a smart-charger alternative
I'm slowly accumulating things that say Fisker in my house. I now have a couple Matchbox cars, a thumbdrive, and soon a charger. Now if I only had an actual car that says Fisker on it...
Brent
