Nissan has announced the expansion of its "No Charge to Charge" promotion — which provides two years of no-cost public charging with the purchase or lease of a new Nissan LEAF — to 25 US markets, which are currently responsible for more than 80 percent of Nissan LEAF sales.
Nissan says the "No Charge to Charge" expansion will use the new EZ-ChargeSM card, a first-of-its-kind platform that will offer LEAF drivers access to the leading EV charging networks with a single, all-access card. New LEAFs will come with an EZ-Charge card that will provide access to chargers with ChargePoint, Blink Network from Car Charging Group, AeroVironment and NRG eVgo.
"'No Charge to Charge' and EZ-Charge are a winning combination, making public charging free and easy for new LEAF buyers," said Fred Diaz, SVP of Nissan Sales & Marketing at Aftersales. "Public charging is an important way to provide added range confidence to EV buyers and persuade more shoppers to join the more than 110,000 LEAF drivers around the world."
The EZ-Charge promotion will launch on July 1, 2014, in 10 of the top markets for Nissan LEAF sales: San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego, Seattle, Portland, Ore., Nashville, Phoenix, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston and Washington, DC. The "No Charge to Charge" offer and EZ-Charge card will be provided retroactively to buyers in these markets who purchased their LEAF on or after April 1, 2014.
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After the rollout in the first 10 markets, Nissan plans to add "No Charge to Charge" and EZ-Charge at LEAF dealers in at least 15 additional markets during the following year. More details on the programs in these additional markets will be made available closer to their launch.
"Nissan's commitment to mass-market electric cars is matched by our commitment to increase charging infrastructure for LEAF owners," said Brendan Jones, director of Nissan EV Infrastructure and Strategy. "EZ-Charge is a natural progression of our multi-pronged commitment to developing EV charging at workplace campuses, at Nissan LEAF dealerships and in the communities where LEAF drivers live and work."
In 2012, Tesla unveiled the first of many free, solar-powered “Supercharger” stations across the US, Europe and Asia that allow Tesla drivers to travel long distances with fast charging — today, there are 85 Supercharger stations across North America and 14 so far throughout Europe.
In other recent EV-charging news, last month Ford announced a partnership with GE through which it will install electric-vehicle charging stations at more than 60 of its offices, product development campuses and manufacturing facilities across the US and Canada. Ford said the stations will be networked to gather data on usage and plan for future installations. The company is also urging employees to use the MyFord® Mobile smartphone app to collect driving and charging information, which will help Ford understand driving patterns and potentially influence future product design. The service will be free to employees for the first four hours of charging each day.