Stopped by LAX for a charge...terrible!

UCBruins,

Great job. More than one way to Skin the Cat.

What is the layout of the parking spot and the charger cable?
I would hope that the cable should reach at least 4 spots.

Also is LAX expecting someone to plug-in and Fly away?
That's Crazy !!!
Or is there also a Time Limit to park there?
The Attendants need to be in control.

 

Good Photos.
And the Volt & BMW don't have Plates yet.

 

Wow! I am getting ready for my vacation and contemplating in leaving my soon-to-pickup (3/30?) PIP in the lot for 2wks?!?!

How long did you actually leave it on the lot?

 

I loved the photos! Thanks for posting. It is very reassuring for me to see that being that I live in Ft.Worth and I have only seen 2 other Leafs and 2 Volts on the road in the last year. (I drive a Leaf) PiP isn't even available in my area yet.

Why does LAX have so many legacy chargers? I doubt they ever get used.

 

Buy a quick220 (Voltage Converter: 220 Volt from 110 Volt Outlets) and get the portable L1 charger mod'ed to run both 120v and 240v and then you won't have to wait at remote parking lots just to experience L2 charging.

Changing back to topic ... isn't lot 1 for long term (if I remember)? Well you have GM to thank for the spots being blocked. It used to be EV folks would leave courtesy cards on their dash, stating at what time it'd be ok to unplug someone, in case of emergency. Not any more. Now days, with the new law (sponsored by the local legislators under GM's control), unplugging another car on a charger (whether they're full or not ... or whether they've been charged up for over a week) is prohibited. All too often, chargers will be taken up by cars not even needing a charge. The spots are taken because typically, they're up close, and people are too lazy to walk from spots more remote. So they simply take the close (charger) spot, "because they can" ... whether they need a charge or not. plug it in (charging not necessary) and your selfish rights are supreme.

 

Did you need a permanent license plate in order to park?

 

Thanks... I am going to miss me PIP for a while... Please say hi to my PIP if anyone goes out there....

 

The chargers at LAX have been around since the days of the EV1. Back then they used to get lots of useage. Some of the EV1 specialist used to go there once in a while and move the cars around so that people's cars were fully charged when they got back from their trip.

The problem now is that there are insufficient J1772 chargers but the law says that to get free parking you have to park in the EV spaces so when RAV4 EV drivers get to LAX the parking spaces are often blocked with Volts, Leafs etc.

Note: while there is a law that says that cars parked in the EV parking spaces need to be charging the law also requires a sign with specific wording to be posted at the parking spots or at the entrance to the parking structure. LAX does not have this sign so the law cannot be enforced at this location.

Many of us thing that there is a big need for lots of 110V outlets around the various parking structures at LAX. If you are leaving your car parked there for 2 weeks you don't really need a level 2 charger.

 

Totally agree...At my work, there are 8 legacy chargers and no new charger at all. I was able to find an 110V outlet but not sure if they mind (why would they?!?).

Would it be easy for them to convert to new charger?

 

I'm not sure where you're reading that, but you don't have to park in front of a charge station to get free parking at LAX. Park anywhere you like - they have no way of tracking where you parked.

Yep, exactly. I still think ideally they'd be J1772 L1 charging stations so you don't have to whip out your charge cable. Also ideally you'd be able to tell it when to start charging - after all, if you're gone for 2 weeks you don't want to let the car sit fully charged the whole time, you want it to charge right before you come back.

Anyway - it's pretty clear that offering free charging/parking is too cheap and/or that there are too few charging stations at LAX. Regular old 120V outlets are probably cheapest - someone really needs to come out with a charge station that only costs a couple hundred bucks instead of the $700-1000 they cost now.

Another alternative would be to set up "max-duration" spots - it makes sense to have some charging stations available for a couple hours at most for people who are picking up / dropping people off. Perhaps setting up 4 hour max, 48 hour max, 7 day max and 4 week max spots would make sense. Could also set those up with varying max power to help reduce costs, too - the 7 day+ spots certainly don't need more than L1.

 

From http://www.lawa.org/parking/:

 

Interesting - in the LAX thread on MNL there are simply too few spots so there's no choice but to park in a non-charging spot. Besides - what's the point of parking in an EV spot if you don't need a charge?

Quote from thread reference above:

 

I wouldn't waste money on this as you're going to have a hard time using it. It requires two outlets on different phases. Usually all of the outlets in your garage are on a single circuit, so you will need an extension cord to another room in the house on a different circuit, and that circuit has to be on the other phase.

 

How many 120v outlets are available in the charging area of terminal one?

 

LAX posted NO PARKING signs in the EV area of Terminal 1. The sign reads as follows:

No Parking
4/10/2012 - 4/28/2012
Due to equipment service work.

I wonder what LAX is up too?

 

Construction on the new chargers started today.

 

I just tested this out and parked my PiP for 7 days in Lot 6. Came back, it was there--good start!! Got to the exit booth, and the parking fee was $240, which was waived after the toll person checked my VIN and driver's license and took a quick peek at the car!

Woohoo!!