20 J1772 plugs at Disneyland California!

For a theme park that is always talking about and portraying the future I got this response when I asked about Ev charging stations:

12/14/2011


Dear Greg,

Thank you for your e-mail to the DISNEYLAND® Resort.

Unfortunately, we do not offer a charging station for electric vehicles
in our parking lots. We apologize for any disappointment this may cause
you and your family.

Again, thank you for taking the time to write. We hope you will have the
opportunity to visit the DISNEYLAND® Resort soon and trust your visit
will be pleasant in all regards.

Sincerely,

Linda Trump
DISNEYLAND® Resort
Guest Communications

U P D A T E February 2014
++++++++++++++++++++

Disneyland, in Anaheim, California has add 10 double charging stations in the Micky and Friends parking structure. They are located on the first floor by the handicap parking. This is a large installation providing 20 available places to charge an Electric vehicle.

There is a fee of $0.35 per kilowatt/hr and you must be a member of the ChargePoint Network.

++++++++++++++++++++

I don't think Linda is giving you any more information than what she has. I doubt she would be privy to future plans that Disney may have, and if she did, she may not be authorized to tell you.

Why not write her back, and ask her who YOU should contact to suggest EV chargers?

Here is how that response is constructed:

Dear <paste in customer name>,

Thank you for your e-mail to the DISNEYLAND® Resort.

Unfortunately, we do not offer <paste in what customer asked about>. We apologize for any disappointment this may cause
you and your family.

Again, thank you for taking the time to write. We hope you will have the
opportunity to visit the DISNEYLAND® Resort soon and trust your visit
will be pleasant in all regards.

Sincerely,

Linda Trump
DISNEYLAND® Resort
Guest Communications

It is amazing that an entity like Disneyland, with it's billions in earnings, can't install a few measly EVSEs and spare as many parking spots for us lowly EVers... Fortunately, I did my homework and found an old legacy EVSE at the Anaheim Hilton, got a room there and left the next morning with a full charge... :ugeek:

They told me months ago that the hotel had EV charging. Nearby Marriott properties are another good bet. Some hotels are installing charging, and others might be likely to accommodate an L1 charge due to EV friendly corporate culture.

TangoKilo said:

It is amazing that an entity like Disneyland, with it's billions in earnings, can't install a few measly EVSEs and spare as many parking spots for us lowly EVers... Fortunately, I did my homework and found an old legacy EVSE at the Anaheim Hilton, got a room there and left the next morning with a full charge... :ugeek:

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Don't be so hard on Disney. By my calculation EVs are currently around 0.005% of the cars in the US and the general population is totally unaware of them. A few businesses and municipalities have dipped their toes in the water in the past, but there was very little adoption. Only now is the technology really coming into broader availability, and with standards in place and the EV population increasing the situation should change over the next few years.

Public charging is a bit of a flawed concept anyway but that's another matter.

One would expect Disneyland, with a magical park full of electric vehicles and other green things, to portray that green image in their parking lots... :ugeek:

Yup, I agree... even as will probably be expected... a theme park price tag for the priviledge! As least it'd be available!

TangoKilo said:

One would expect Disneyland, with a magical park full of electric vehicles and other green things, to portray that green image in their parking lots... :ugeek:

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And I expect they will, now that electric cars are coming out from major mfrs. Up till now you had about as much chance of seeing a unicorn as an EV.

Theme park parking lot is a good example of a place public charging can work... a separate section, possibly gate access for EVs only.

TangoKilo said:

One would expect Disneyland, with a magical park full of electric vehicles and other green things, to portray that green image in their parking lots... :ugeek:

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Plus 1

The way Disney actively controls parking (and everything else) it may not be as easy as it seems to implement.
I speculate it may take 3 to 5+ years to put it together.

This is another example of where more low amp stations would really help. 400 amps to put in 10 charging spots gets to be a real project. Disney may need several of these groups to provide full coverage in various structures, surface lots, hotel etc. And Disney needs to consider how much these reserved spots might impact all the other patrons where parking is already tight and the walk lengthy.

Disney may also want to see how the industry shakes out to know what works best. As in J plugs, wireless, or L3 etc. I doubt they want to get stuck with a bunch of obsolete equipment like Costco.

TangoKilo said:

One would expect Disneyland, with a magical park full of electric vehicles and other green things, to portray that green image in their parking lots... :ugeek:

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When did they upgrade the Autopia cars from dirty 2 strokes to electric?

drees said:

TangoKilo said:

One would expect Disneyland, with a magical park full of electric vehicles and other green things, to portray that green image in their parking lots... :ugeek:

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When did they upgrade the Autopia cars from dirty 2 strokes to electric?

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Ah yes, but they have been Prius style hybrids since I was kid and long before the Prius ever existed. The engines shut of at idle and start up again when stepping on the gas.

it is a bummer that Disneyland does not provide a plug yet and i guess they failed to mention that they do have plugs...for employees (pix posted here) as i believe Hill posted a pix of him AND his co-worker Leaf's parked together

but then again. only saw the cars parked there. dont know if they got a plug.

in a way, providing L1 charging would be a great publicity stunt for Disney. few people go there less than most of the day so charging as fast as L2 is probably not as needed since the average stay at Disney has to be 8+ hours (as much as it costs to get in, i would stay AT LEAST that long)

Perhaps few visitors are local, and even fewer will drive a BEV.

How many would they need to have to guarantee an open spot.
Who is going to go back and unplug and move the car in the middle of their visit.
I think that adding a few would cause more problems than solutions.

Mx5racer said:

How many would they need to have to guarantee an open spot.

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Such is the folly of public charging. Not just Disney, anywhere. Let's say you book a room at the Hilton because they say they have an EV charging station. You get there only to find someone else using it, and get all irate because you have an important meeting to get to in the morning and your LEAF is one mile away from turtle. Because you're a platinum card holder they need to appease you, so they have Enterprise or someone deliver a rental car to the hotel and lose money on your stay. Then they increase the number of EVSEs in the parking lot to 10. Next time you come it turns out you are the 11th guy and the process repeats. Is the hotel supposed to manage reservations for the EVSEs separately?

Mx5racer said:

How many would they need to have to guarantee an open spot.

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Same method as handicap. Unfortunately to always have enough, some space must go unfilled much of the time. That may not work well when all spaces are needed.

Yes for something like Disney a space reservation (probably for a price) will be needed. If coming from San Diego it could be worth an extra $10. For myself I would not need it but would certainly use it if free. And yes that might squeeze out someone that needs it more hence the need for reservations. Paying by the hour would also ration the spaces to those with the highest need or the most money.

L3 and valet parking might be a better solution until the logistics of fixed charging spots is worked out.

The infrastructure will need to grow with demand. Eventually it could be a significant percentage.

kevin672 said:

drees said:

TangoKilo said:

One would expect Disneyland, with a magical park full of electric vehicles and other green things, to portray that green image in their parking lots... :ugeek:

Click to expand...

When did they upgrade the Autopia cars from dirty 2 strokes to electric?

Click to expand...

Ah yes, but they have been Prius style hybrids since I was kid and long before the Prius ever existed. The engines shut of at idle and start up again when stepping on the gas.

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Prius style hybrid? The Prius will run for about a mile EV. That's WAY superior to ICE shut down at a stop. Pre-bankrupt GM put a "shutdown-at-a-stop" technology in their Silverado pickups years ago, and it made virtually no difference environmentally, or in mileage. As far as Disney running EV autopia cars, I think maybe in Hong Kong only ... not in the U.S. though ... and I doubt that Chevron would be sponsoring Disney U.S. autopia cars if they were EV's.
I think they finally changed autopia over to CNG instead of gasoline. Story book has been electric (lead acid) ever since it came into being. The motor boats were ICE, but they finally got taken out several years back. As for CA Disney ... EV parking ... and forward thinking (they like to call it 'Environmentality'), it's hard to forget Tomorrow Land. If it's not continually modernized, it quickly becomes a joke - that folks cynically call, "Yesterday Land". It'd be a shame, to have to shame Disney into modernizing their parking amenities. Without betraying any confidences, I'll say this much - there have been talks:
Point 1- L2 will be a hard sell. Why should the park install a charge connection that lets you fill up in 4 hours, when they want you there for 10 ... 12 ... or 15 hours?
Point 2- As mentioned already, EV's are less then 1/10 of 1% of the driving public. In winter (off season, maybe under 3,000 cars) that would be maybe 1 EV at Disney. In summer (peak season max of maybe somewhere over 10,000 cars) that'd be maybe 8 or 9 EV's max ... maybe 10 or 12 cars total when plug-in's get more popular. But plug in's don't necessarily get stranded if/when they can't plug in, so whether you count them at all is maybe an entirely different animal.
Point 3- L1 parking. Let me publish a picture:



Some will recognize the aerial shot as the south east corner of the roof top parking structure of Anaheim Disney (Facing from the North, looking to the South). Just to the left of the red arrows are stairs that run from the rooftop, down. I know that prior to L1 plugs being installed for Disney employees over at their admin parking structure, there was a certain Mini Cooper EV that discovered the 120v plugs located at those red arrows, just to the west of the stairs ... not just on the roof - but also on the 5th floor, the 4th floor, 3rd floor, etc. He got permission to utilize the guest parking 120v receptacles. People, I'm just sayin'. Put on a big happy smile, ask permission ... get there early, and see what you can accomplish.
So . . . . "No EV charging At Disney California" ?? Some may find out differently.

Perhaps large hotels, Disney, airports etc could benefit from a SINGLE L3 charging station each?.. and supervised so the charger does not get hogged for 8 hours by the same guy. Lets see what happens when the Nissan $10k charger becomes available. Add a second L3 charger if the demand merits it.

Also open it up to everyone for a reasonable amount of $$