Perk: Free parking at LAX

[Jimmydreams]

One thing I love about the Bay Area and SF is how they BS about being so green and EV friendly when they have the worst EV charging availability, no incentives and are moving as slow as possible. In the meantime other cities have had multiple programs for years and years. There should be more programs like this to get EVs out and about.

Really? Then San Diego and San Francisco must be sister cities!!! SD's EV charging availability is basically limited to the Nissan dealerships. I would have thought SF would have been further along.

Oh wait! We have Ecotality!! If you haven't heard, they're installing 1400+ charging stations by May!! Which is......only....4 days away. They've already installed.....uh......nevermind.


(sigh)

 

[mwalsh]

Oh wait! We have Ecotality!! If you haven't heard, they're installing 1400+ charging stations by May!! Which is......only....4 days away. They've already installed.....uh......nevermind.

:lol:

Well you're doing better than us. At least you're on a promise (as we say in the UK)!

 

[jhartman]

Used the free parking at LAX Structure #1 last night (day #2 since we brought the Leaf home.) A couple of points:

1) Do NOT go there expecting to get a charge. Structure #1 only had two Level 2 chargers. Both were being used when I arrived (one Leaf and one Volt) and there were two other Volts and two other Leafs parked nearby. The chargers are the outside wall of the ground level. I seem to remember seeing the chargers in Structure 6 on the inside when I was there a few months ago.
2) The Leaf owner was very kind and left a note on the charger saying that if it was after June 14 and someone needed a charged they could simply unplug his/her car. As luck would have it I was able to move into one of the other charging spots AND the cord reached just far enough to this spot hence I was able to get a charge.
3) I did not have the required "key" to use the charging point so I simply called the 800 number. It probably took 10 minutes for the guy to figure out where I was at ) and to activate the charger. He kept asking what the address was for LAX. It was pretty obvious that he did not reside in the US. Allow a little extra time for this.
4) I had no problems exiting without paying despite the fact that I do not have the stickers. I had printed out a copy of the website but apparently there are enough EVs that all of the attendants are familiar with the offer. They did ask to see my driver's license and title. I showed them a copy of the purchase agreement which sufficed.
5) If you ever wanted to have a drink or dinner at Encounter you now have the perfect excuse! The restaurant is just around the corner from Parking Structure #1.

Jennifer
Los Angeles

 

[z0ner]

3) I did not have the required "key" to use the charging point so I simply called the 800 number. It probably took 10 minutes for the guy to figure out where I was at ) and to activate the charger. He kept asking what the address was for LAX. It was pretty obvious that he did not reside in the US. Allow a little extra time for this.

Thanks for the info, Jennifer. Most of us already registered for the Chargepoint cards (either for free or for $10), and Blink has said they are shipping their cards early next week. I'd highly recommend signing up with both to increase your future charging options.

https://www.chargepointportal.net/index.php/authz/login.html
https://www.blinknetwork.com/membership.html

 

[mwalsh]

Used the free parking at LAX Structure #1 last night (day #2 since we brought the Leaf home.) A couple of points:

1) Do NOT go there expecting to get a charge. Structure #1 only had two Level 2 chargers. Both were being used when I arrived (one Leaf and one Volt) and there were two other Volts and two other Leafs parked nearby. The chargers are the outside wall of the ground level. I seem to remember seeing the chargers in Structure 6 on the inside when I was there a few months ago.

Jennifer, FYI....there are no chargers in Lot 6 that are applicable to our cars as of now, neither L2 (J1772) nor L1 (120v). Or rather there are no 120v outlets near the other chargers - I'm going to go over there one of these days and check for hidden-in-plain-sight outlets elsewhere in the garage. But until I am (or someone else here is) able to do that, or until they change out some of the units there for J1172 compliant ones, you should not expect a charging opportunity in Lot 6.

2) The Leaf owner was very kind and left a note on the charger saying that if it was after June 14 and someone needed a charged they could simply unplug his/her car. As luck would have it I was able to move into one of the other charging spots AND the cord reached just far enough to this spot hence I was able to get a charge.

Good for him/her! Quite possibly one of our crowd, since we've been talking about doing just that in our discussions of the subject here!

 

[SharonaLA]

LAX is close enough to us that we don't need to recharge while there. I asked a LAX parking guy on the phone if I could just park near the EV chargers and he said that would be OK.

LAX has two Leaf-compatible 220-240 chargers.

When we dropped off the car at 5:15 a.m. on Sunday, June 12, one Leaf was connected to the charger, the other was empty. We parked nearby.

When we returned at 11 p.m. on Tuesday, June 14, both chargers had Leafs parked in front of them connected to the chargers.

We parked for three days, which would have cost $90. Leaving the lot, the parking exit attendant recognized our Leaf as electric and said, "I think it's free."

 

[TomT]

I'm going to assume that if you just wanted to park for free and did not actually need to charge, you would be fine in Lot 6...

there are no chargers in Lot 6 that are applicable to our cars as of now, neither L2 (J1772) nor L1 (120v). Or rather there are no 120v outlets near the other chargers - I'm going to go over there one of these days and check for hidden-in-plain-sight outlets elsewhere in the garage.

 

[mwalsh]

I'm going to assume that if you just wanted to park for free and did not actually need to charge, you would be fine in Lot 6...

Which is precisely what I did. But we really should find out if there are any 120v outlets tucked away in there, so we can at least sneak a L1 charge. Not to mention they really should change out at least some of the L2 units there for ones we can actually use. I mean there are like 19 inductive units over in that one lot! :shock:

 

[SRBast]

We should be getting our Nissan Leaf 2 days before we leave for NYC for a week. How much charge does your car lose when it sits there for 7 days? We are 30 miles away, so would opt not to take a charger. However, if it loses charge, we could be in trouble.

Also, we don't have the decal yet, but it seems that proof of ownership is enough. Yes?

Curious to those who parked in lot 6 or 1 - do you then take a shuttle to your terminal or is it close enough to walk to them all?

Thank you,
Stephanie

 

[z0ner]

Stephanie, there are several here that have left it for long periods of time (7 days+) with almost no perceptible reduction. You'll be fine as long as the car is turned off when you park it

 

[thankyouOB]

We should be getting our Nissan Leaf 2 days before we leave for NYC for a week. How much charge does your car lose when it sits there for 7 days? We are 30 miles away, so would opt not to take a charger. However, if it loses charge, we could be in trouble.

Also, we don't have the decal yet, but it seems that proof of ownership is enough. Yes?

Curious to those who parked in lot 6 or 1 - do you then take a shuttle to your terminal or is it close enough to walk to them all?

Thank you,
Stephanie

URL for LAX maps. It is walking distance to all, depending on how fit your are and what you have for luggage.

http://www.lawa.org/welcome_lax.aspx?id=256

 

[mwalsh]

Curious to those who parked in lot 6 or 1 - do you then take a shuttle to your terminal or is it close enough to walk to them all?

I dropped my wife and the luggage off at the terminal, then went and parked, and walked back. Lot 1 to TBIT would be a bit of a hike. But Lot 6 is pretty central to all the terminals. In fact, for TBIT you just have to walk back through Lot 5, cross the street, and walk through Lot 4.

 

[SharonaLA]

Stephanie, we parked in lot 1 and walked to terminal 3 in about 10 minutes, pushing/pulling rolling luggage. The exercise was nice before sitting on the plane all day. It took less time than when we had to park in lot C and wait for the shuttle.

 

[SRBast]

Thank you everyone! So very helpful. And it looks like tomorrow is our day for our LEAF. Woo Hoo!

 

[Deleted member 1464]

Great thread. Got me to wondering about Bay Area airports...
Looks like SFO, OAK, and SJC all have free (IIRC) EV parking with free charging.
So you won't return to a dead car, and you save $10-$15/day on parking too.
(But space is limited, and first-come first-served, so they may need to add more spaces once the LEAF starts selling!)

I looked at the SFO website and found where it said you can plug in for free, but it did NOT say you could park for free. Could you please post the URL where you found there was free parking for EVs.

Here's the info on the SFO website - http://www.flysfo.com/web/page/orphan/plug-in_electric_car_parking/

SFO now offers electric plug-in vehicle preferred parking in all of our public garages. Best of all, there’s no charge for the charge! Plug-in vehicle parking stalls are available on a first come, first served basis. Each stall is located at a close-in parking location and includes a 110 V standard outlet. NOTE: You must supply your own connection cable.

All electric vehicle plug-in parking stalls are marked, “Green Vehicle Parking.”

I have the same question - where does it say you can park for free?

 

[mgoleta]

:lol: No charge for the charge :lol:

It didn't look like they said no charge for parking.

 

[lettcco]

I am at LAX right now, and to my surprise I found 4 Leaf (including mine) at lot 1! I really needed the charge for an hour or 2 so I was happy but dreaded to see so many leaf at the same time. To my relief, Only 1 was plugged in (black one from first nissan, anyone on this forum?), the other one was not used but a blue leaf parked in front of it. And next to it was a RAV4 EV (he should have picked the other EVSE since he got so many to choose from), meaning I can't reach the level 2 plug if I park on the outside. Fortunately there was still a spot on the opposite side of the EVSE (inside the parking lot), so I just throw the plug over the fence, and it barely reached...whew. Really would like to see more EVSE at LAX on the other side of the lot, that way we are not fighting for parking spots close to the plug.