Thanks Giving in Manchester, TN even my Nissan LEAF got a battery full at Cracker Barrel

On Thursday we made 55 mile trip down to family in Manchester Tennessee, arrived at our relatives property with 25 miles left. So I decided to take the Nissan LEAF up the road to the new L3 charger at the Manchester Cracker Barrel Store on Paradise Road. As I pulled up to the Quick Charger guess what;
A junky Jeep gas guzzler alla cart was sitting in one slot, and a younger couple just got ready to leave there van, in the 2nd slot. I asked the driver nicely to move the van over into the L2 Charger spot since the ChaDemo cable is only set up to park directly in front of the high speed charger. The driver did move the van with some minor protest, but after I thanked him for the effort all was good. The Jeep driver did find a business card on the driver side window, letting him know that he effectively blocked an EV from getting charged. Since I was already quite hungry, I went in the Cracker Barrel Restautant, an met the manager, to order a hot chocolate, due to a long wait. While I was waiting at my LEAF to get a 80% charge, a Volt driver pulled in the parking lot, and we talked about our EV futures, he was also from Manchester, TN. It took only 20 minutes to charge to 80% from 25%, after which I then drove back to our family site, and plugged the LEAF in to the 240 V outlet in the Barn, using the Phil conversion autosensing Nissan EVSE that came with the LEAF. After about 2 hours the LEAF  had it’s belly ah Battery full, and we took back off towards Nashville, arriving at.home with 35% charge left.

L3 Charger at Cracker Barrel not online

On Wednesday I decided to take a little detour via Murfreesboro, to enjoy one more great count rt y breakfirst, to find that the L3 ChaDemo Charger at Cracker Barrel was not online, but the L2 BLINK charger was. I tried to use the Blink Network RFID  card, when I noticed the display said: “plug in your vehicle, ready charge”, so I did. One of the best parts on the charger location is the fact that it acually at back side of the store, very unlikely to ICE’d.

Cracker Barrel EV Charging spots have EV sings now, helps keep slots availabel for EV

On our way Sun & SKY Sports at Cool Springs Gallaria, we got hungry and decided to stop Cracker Barrel on Sidco Lane, for lunch. The wait was only 30 minutes, pretty good for a Sunday, so I drove around back to find that finaly the 2 EV chargers had the blue BLINK EV sings on them, and the slots where unocupied, even thou the parking lot was fully packed. I got to order there great Cranbarry Salad one more time, and also jad a chance talk to manager to let him know that we are charging our mule, AKA Nissan LEAF as well, he was very exited about that. If the spots would hsve been occupied again I would have gone by Cracker Barrel Cool Springs, since they had signs for a while now.

Cracker Barrel Franklin also has BLINK L2 chargers

This morning I had stop and get an extra coffee to take to work, so stopped by the Cracker Barrel in Franklin. At the time I pulled up to the EV slot, both spots were vacant, but aftet 10 minutes inside the store, a gas guzzling jeep driver had pulled into the 2nd spot. While I was getting ready to unplug, a couple walked by, with a create interest in my car and my expirience using it.
Then the driver of the “offending” SUV came out, and I asked her if saw that this was a dedicated “EV” parking spot. She replied: “…we dont think EV should get a special treatment, they are not handicap drivers…”
2 b continued….

BLINK L2 chargers at Cracker Barrel in Brentwood

Today I took an extra country breakfast at the Brentwood Cracker Barrel Old Country Store on Mallory Ln. As I arrived both EV charging lots were available, so I could pull right in and plug up, dispite the rain. While I was locking the car up a lady aproached me and asked what are those things…, I answered this and a few more questions, so the interest is there now that CB has the chargers installed.

BLINK L2 online @ Cracker Barrel Sidco Dr. Nashville, TN

I took a little detour this morning to the Sidco Dr Cracker Barrel and found 2 BLINK L2 chargers installed and online at the south side of the building.
Awesome!