I don't need no stinking high voltage

Tomorrow morning we're driving up to SFO (San Francisco airport), about 60 miles, and taking a plane to the LA area. We're flying back in the evening and driving home. Naturally I wondered -- what if I had my LEAF?

Clearly 120 miles of mostly freeway driving isn't going to happen without recharging. It turns out that SFO has EV parking spaces in the main garage next to each of the section elevators. ... Nice. ... But.

• Parking in that garage costs $33/day whether you are an EV or not.
• There are only two EV parking spaces for each section, on the first floor only.
• The SFO website says the EV parking spaces only have "110" outlets.

Given that my wife and I are starting to show our age, and that the day is going to be very long, I'm willing to pay the top parking rate for the convenience and time savings. That's where I'm going to park our Prius, and where I would park the LEAF.

Hopefully at least one of the five sections in the main circle would have an available space. They aren't all that far apart, so I could drop my wife at the elevator we want and drive around to find a space if the two in our section are occupied.

Now, about that 120v charging. The car will be sitting there for nearly 14 hours. That should be about long enough to recharge it completely. Cool! I would have to use my "supplied trickle charge EVSE", but that does have a space for a small padlock that is supposed to prevent unlatching the connector from the car. That should discourage anyone from walking off with the EVSE unless they have a bolt cutter. The plug at the other end is another matter. I could imagine dragging our Christmas booty out to the car at 9:15 PM only to find the plug lying on the garage floor, and the car with even less pep than we have.

So, I do have some concerns about charging at the airport, but it turns out voltage is not among them, even for a same-day round trip. 400v? 240v? Who needs it! Now, an electron nozzle permanently attached to the building -- that would be nice.

Looks like there is parking in several garages - the long term garage is only $14/day with easy bus access to the terminals.

http://www.flysfo.com/web/page/orphan/plug-in_electric_car_parking/index.html

planet4ever said:

<snip>
Now, about that 120v charging. The car will be sitting there for nearly 14 hours. That should be about long enough to recharge it completely. Cool! I would have to use my "supplied trickle charge EVSE", but that does have a space for a small padlock that is supposed to prevent unlatching the connector from the car. That should discourage anyone from walking off with the EVSE unless they have a bolt cutter. The plug at the other end is another matter. I could imagine dragging our Christmas booty out to the car at 9:15 PM only to find the plug lying on the garage floor, and the car with even less pep than we have.
<snip>

Click to expand...

If the EVSE is/are Coulomb ChargePoint units, the 120V outlet is covered by a locking door. The lock and locking door should keep things together pretty well...except for those bolt cutters.

http://www.mychargepoint.net/driver-assistance.php

3. Lift the door and plug your charging cord into the socket.
4. Push the door closed to lock in place.
Charging begins when the door locks. The station displays a message indicating the vehicle is charging.

Click to expand...

Have a great trip!
Andy

it really sucks when your main concern is whether or not someone is going to steal your extension cord (omg!! is it sacrilege to call it that??) to recycle the copper to buy drugs

Welcome to the 21th Century.

AndyH said:

If the EVSE is/are Coulomb ChargePoint units, the 120V outlet is covered by a locking door. The lock and locking door should keep things together pretty well...except for those bolt cutters.

Click to expand...

Nope, these were not "charging stations"; just normal uncovered dual-plug outlets mounted in a structural column. I parked on the level where the EV spaces are located so I could get a look at them.

Here's a tip for anyone planning to use the ones at SFO for your LEAF: You will want to back in to the parking space. If you don't, you'll have to run the EVSE cord from the back corner of the car to the front, and, more important, a significant fraction of the people going in or out of the elevator hallway will be walking within inches of where the cord plugs in to the car. For anyone using these spaces for a Volt, you need to back in to the stall on the right side of the elevator hallway (as you see it in the figure below), otherwise you will end up running the cord halfway around (or over or under) the car. Volts could park either way on the other side; pulling in forward will be more convenient but leave the cord more exposed.

DaveinOlyWA said:

it really sucks when your main concern is whether or not someone is going to steal your extension cord (omg!! is it sacrilege to call it that??) to recycle the copper to buy drugs

Click to expand...

It may not be a sacrilege, but it certainly misses the point. This "extension cord" has an expensive connector on the car end and and electronic box on the other end. If someone could make off with one intact I expect they might be able to get $100 for it on the black market.

planet4ever said:

If someone could make off with one intact I expect they might be able to get $100 for it on the black market.

Click to expand...

Stolen L1 chargers will likely start showing up on Ebay soon...

tps said:

planet4ever said:

If someone could make off with one intact I expect they might be able to get $100 for it on the black market.

Click to expand...

Stolen L1 chargers will likely start showing up on Ebay soon...

Click to expand...

The L1 charger (as well as my Clipper Creek L2 unit) have a lock hole in the handle so you can put a small lock on it. I'm guessing ALL handles have that hole. Sure, if a thief wants it bad enough, one swift kick will probably break the plug away from the charging port on the car, but there'd be damage to the plug and it would be workth less.

Yes, a pain in the ass to use a lock, but I would do it if I was charging in a questionable area....also, you can have the car text you immediately if the plug is removed, so depending on how far away you are, you stand a chance of catching the perp in the act.

Jimmydreams said:

The L1 charger (as well as my Clipper Creek L2 unit) have a lock hole in the handle so you can put a small lock on it. I'm guessing ALL handles have that hole. Sure, if a thief wants it bad enough, one swift kick will probably break the plug away from the charging port on the car, but there'd be damage to the plug and it would be workth less.

Yes, a pain in the ass to use a lock, but I would do it if I was charging in a questionable area....also, you can have the car text you immediately if the plug is removed, so depending on how far away you are, you stand a chance of catching the perp in the act.

Click to expand...

Yes, I mentioned the lock hole in my original post. I also mentioned bolt cutters. And for the hypothetical on which I posited this thread, the car was in San Francisco and we were in the LA area. (Actually, we were in Irvine, which I know you folks down there call OC not LA, but to us NorCal folks it's all one big megalopolis down there.)