Sad state of San Francisco chargers

I'm still waiting to hear about anything up by Pier 39, Ghirardelli Square, The Exploratorium, Golden Gate Bridge. These are the areas my family wants to go to, and we're 70 miles away from them. Four hours of L2 charging would make the trip feasible.

Ray

planet4ever said:

I'm still waiting to hear about anything up by Pier 39, Ghirardelli Square, The Exploratorium, Golden Gate Bridge.

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The two electric chargers at Pier 27 aren't too horribly far from Pier 39. Probably could use them for a trek to Pier 39 and Ghirardelli Square (walking distance of 3 miles from Pier 27 to Pier 39 to Ghirardelli Square back to Pier 27). Of course, with the additional walking for sightseeing, you'll be over that distance, but you'll likely be taking your time anyways.

Pier 27 charges $15 all day on weekdays, and $12 on weekends for parking last I checked.

Recargo also mentions chargers at the ProPark on 655 Beach St., which is right in Fisherman's Wharf. Much shorter walk, but the parking rates are higher at $2.00 every 20 min, with a daily max of $25.00 (Mon-Fri) or $30.00 (Sat-Sun). Looks like the rates have been fluctuating upward, so no guarantees on pricing. I actually haven't been to this location, so if you are planning on using it, you may want to confirm that the chargers are operational, available, or free before you go. Personally, I'd stick with Pier 27 if I needed to be in the area and wanted a charge.

Unfortunately, the Exploratorium and Golden Gate Bridge will likely remain a dead zone for electric chargers (with outdated Avcons at the Presidio) for awhile.

jwatte said:

The story actually has a decent conclusion.
Next day i parked in the Masonic Center garage (no hill climbing this time) and they have regular NEMA outlets at various places (in the pillars). Trickling for 8 hours beats no charge by a long shot!
(Drive to the bottom floor where you have your choice of open spot, and back in to put the charging port close to the pillar)

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Thank you for that report, I was wondering about the outcome of your trip. I wish we had a way to report 120V outlets to Recargo or some of the other site. I know PlugShare allows this.

The company I work for has installed a few Chargepoint stations that do NOT show up on the Chargepoint map, and provides us with RFID cards to allow access. I wasn't sure if these were special cards that grant access, or if any Chargepoint card would work. It appears that any card will work.

I was also unsure if these unlisted stations were tracked by Chargepoint. It turns out they are. So, even though they do not show up on their map, when you log in to your account, the station you are presently charging at does appear, along with the car's charging status.

leafarmer said:

The company I work for has installed a few Chargepoint stations that do NOT show up on the Chargepoint map, and provides us with RFID cards to allow access. I wasn't sure if these were special cards that grant access, or if any Chargepoint card would work. It appears that any card will work.

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I actually prefer when Chargepoint doesn't list the chargers that are intended for private access only (whether any Chargepoint card works or not). Somehow, it annoys me when Chargepoint lists chargers with restricted access (e.g. Google) on their maps with no option to filter them out. Just makes the map more sloppy for people looking for locations where we actually can charge.

jwatte said:

I'm spending a few days at a conference in the Masonic center (Nob hill) in San Francisco. I'm driving up from Redwood City.

Looking on evchargermaps, an "i was there" from a leaf owner in the stockton/sitter garage gave me hope for a pluggable parking spot -- no such luck; only old paddles/handles on display. That Leaf review has to be a fake!? The garage also charged me $3 just to exit again :-(

Then on to fifth/mission garage, also listed as "ev charging." However, again only old stations/connectors.

So... I'll probably make it home again even though I started out at 80%. But how can it be this bad? And what was wrong with the old standards/s that we couldn't just keep using that instead of J1772 anyway?

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The single Coulomb J1772 charger inside the Ellis-O'Farrell Garage definitely works well. (But might just be too far for you ...)

I used it 3 days in succession without fail. I intend to use this whenever I go to downtown. It has 2 parking spots but only one J1772 receptacle.

You must enter the garage on the Ellis Street side, and veer towards the Right that says "For Disabled Parking/Valet Parking". When you pull the ticket, and pass the boom gate, in 15 feet, the 2 EV parking spots are on your left.

This was where I also spotted the Honda Fit EV parked:
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=5730" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Luckily, in 10 mins or so, the Honda guy actually came up to the car and told me he had parked there overnight to charge up. LOL! In the event if it was occupied, I would have been in a bind .... maybe just use the L1 port on the Coulomb.

Chargepoint now has an option to display only unrestricted stations. I guess they picked up on our grumblings.

leafarmer said:

Chargepoint now has an option to display only unrestricted stations. I guess they picked up on our grumblings.

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Where do you see the option? I'm looking at their map right now and the only filters I see are: status, power level, pricing, and reservations. I don't see anything regarding unrestricted or restricted access.

Below "Status" and "Power Level" and above "Pricing" there is a box that is labeled "Access". There are two buttons, one for Restricted and the other for Unrestricted. This defaulted to just the Unrestricted button for me.

Selecting both shows 280 stations for Northern California, and selecting just Unrestricted shows 150 stations. That is better than I thought it was. Note, however, that some of these stations are not practical for everyday use, like the one in Alameda that charges $5 an hour.

leafarmer said:

Below "Status" and "Power Level" and above "Pricing" there is a box that is labeled "Access". There are two buttons, one for Restricted and the other for Unrestricted. This defaulted to just the Unrestricted button for me.

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Hrmm...very strange. I had to log in before that option actually showed up. Now after logging off, it shows up. Must be some weird internet caching thing (though it didn't show up on IE or Firefox at the time).

edit: Now after closing and revisiting the site (w/o logging in), the Restricted/Unrestricted option once again does not show up. Something weird going on with their map program...

On this topic... The San Francisco parking authority played the good old "Good news bad news" trick on me this week.



As some of other San Francisco residents have probably noticed, the charging stations at the Sutter Garage near Union Square have been "out of order" for almost 2 months. In fact they were out of order the day they were installed. And to make things worse, the previously working AVICON was also now disconnected. I park there often so I asked the clerks - clueless. I called Chargepoint 800 #. They didn't know but promised to call me back. I am still waiting. Finally I called 411 to report the problem. A few days later I got a call back from a nice lady who informed me that the stations would be put in service in "about a month" due to a missing breaker. Keep in mind that a month had already passed. I don't know which contractor needs 2 months to find a breaker. It must be one hell of a slow electrician or they're using some really special breakers. Hand painted or something...

So the good news came this week: City hall diligently called me back to let me know that the charging stations at the Sutter garage were up and running. Yeaa! Unfortunately, when I showed up today this is what I found:



Good news: The stations are now plugged in... bad news you can't get to them. They're ICEd! I can't wait to hear their excuse for not having the proper markings in place: "There's a 3 month lead time on the green paint" or "the EV signs are on back order". C'mon SF. Get your stuff together and take this seriously.

ericsf said:

Some "progress" to report on this : http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=8412&p=186582#p186582.

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Amazing. Thank you for the detailed report. For what it's worth the Lombrard Street garage went through a similar tragicomedy. I have to be in the Marina fairly regularly, and there was no place to charge nearby. When the Coulomb station went up, I rejoyced, but it took the City nearly half a year to put it in service. Is there a good point of contact at the City Hall or would it make sense to write a letter to the mayor?

surfingslovak said:

Is there a good point of contact at the City Hall or would it make sense to write a letter to the mayor?

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411 worked nicely for me. They knew what was going on and followed up as they had promised.

The unmarked EVSE at the San Francisco Sutter parking garage is now blocked with orange construction sticks. Hopefully this means the "EV only" signs and painting is just a few days away.

On a related note, I've been using the ChargePoint EVSE recently installed at a hotel across the street from my work and those also routinely ICEd. The only signs are "EV Parking only". No painting on the ground and no "You may be towed" warnings. Either people don't see the signs or they don't care. Those are prime locations, next to the ADA.

The worse I've seen so far: A Hummer parked in the middle of the 2 EV spots blocking the 2 charging stations just by itself.

There are still options

Option 1) If the charging cord will reach, double park behind the Hummer to charge. Then watch as he tries to explain to the police why he needs your illegally parked car towed because it is blocking his doubly illegally parked car.

Option 2) Change his gas cap for one of these: http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/d...apwcid=P1135867996W43b3f85c7ab9e&apwid934m6Ij Keep the keys as a souvenir.

And then the boring option...

Option 3) Complain to the business and ask that they call a tow truck.

ericsf said:

The unmarked EVSE at the San Francisco Sutter parking garage is now blocked with orange construction sticks. Hopefully this means the "EV only" signs and painting is just a few days away.

On a related note, I've been using the ChargePoint EVSE recently installed at a hotel across the street from my work and those also routinely ICEd. The only signs are "EV Parking only". No painting on the ground and no "You may be towed" warnings. Either people don't see the signs or they don't care. Those are prime locations, next to the ADA.

The worse I've seen so far: A Hummer parked in the middle of the 2 EV spots blocking the 2 charging stations just by itself.

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Twice in the last 48 hours I've logged onto the ChargePoint network (through my phone) and have seen one of the Sutter Stockton stations in use. So, somebody might be getting the message. As for the hummer, well, I'm thinking of buying a grease/wax pencil and leaving a "reminder" on their windshield next time I come across such a situation. Or maybe keep a bar of soap in the car--isn't that what they use at the car wash?

Some well placed nails would be a cheap and effective remedy.

I carry one of these adapters with me at all times. If I ever really need a charge and the public station is iced, I can use this adapter and my modified cordset, (along with an appropriate extension cord) to get me the juice over to where I'm parked...

http://modularevpower.com/UL%20J1772%20to%20NEMA%2014-50%20Adapter%20Box1.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

walterbays said:

There are still options

Option 1) If the charging cord will reach, double park behind the Hummer to charge. Then watch as he tries to explain to the police why he needs your illegally parked car towed because it is blocking his doubly illegally parked car.

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Sadly, the kind of person that intentionally parked like that would have no compunction about bulldozing your LEAF out of the way with their tank. They'd probably enjoy it and brag about it.

Nubo said:

walterbays said:

There are still options

Option 1) If the charging cord will reach, double park behind the Hummer to charge. Then watch as he tries to explain to the police why he needs your illegally parked car towed because it is blocking his doubly illegally parked car.

Click to expand...

Sadly, the kind of person that intentionally parked like that would have no compunction about bulldozing your LEAF out of the way with their tank. They'd probably enjoy it and brag about it.

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Of course, you would note their license plate number before parking behind them (take a picture with your phone?), wouldn't you? I'm sure, once the Police arrive, you could also file charges for malicious destruction of property. The sad part is that your LEAF would then be an old (and maybe inoperable) car.