Nissan Leaf owner finds closed quick-charge station is absolutely useless

Vacaville, CA, like a handful of other cities within the U.S., has a Level 3 quick-charge station for plug-in vehicles. The unit in Vacaville was activated in late May 2010 and uses the CHAdeMO charging protocol. Though standardized in Japan, the U.S. has not approved the CHAdeMO interface. However, CHAdeMO is the type of Level 3 connector that most quick-charge stations in the States utilize.

Most of Vacaville's other (and older) 45-plus charging points were installed for the previous generation of plug-in vehicles and, therefore, don't have the standardized Level 2 SAE J1772 connector. This, according to Nissan Leaf owner George Parrot, presents a problem. You see, Parrot frequented a DC quick-charge station in Vacaville for some time now and to his surprise, the unit is now out of service and has a sign that reads:

PG&E is currently working to receive the appropriate certification for the DC Fast Charger and its is our goal to have the unit open for public use. In the meantime, there are two Level 2 J-1772-compliant charging stations located next to the DC Fast Charger that you may use if you wish.

Which brings us to this question: what's the point of a Level 3 charging station if it's out of service? Fortunately, the SAE says that it hopes to finalize a U.S. standard for the Level 3 connector sometime in 2012.

On a related note, one Leaf driver even reports being denied a charge at a Nissan dealership. That got sorted out, but still.

[Source: All Cars Electric, Plugin Cars]