charging at/near SFO airport?

[cwerdna]

I'm going on a ~4 day trip leaving from SFO soon. Unfortunately, from my work to SFO to home is 85 miles, almost all highway, so that makes the return home real dicey, esp. given I'm going to the airport at night (when it's cold) and returning home even later at night. Stopping by Nissan dealers on the way home to use their QC or L2 is likely out of the question as my flight arrives at SFO at 10:15 pm on a Friday night. No car dealer is going to open and their EVSEs and QC will likely be inaccessible.

From what I understand, SFO has some free charging (below):
https://sfoconnect.com/story/whats-new-sfo/complementary-electric-vehicle-charging-stations-sfo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.flysfo.com/to-from/parking/plugin-electric-car" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But, it seems long-term parking is rather pricey at $18/day (http://www.flysfo.com/to-from/parking/long-term" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false. I haven't used SFO in ages and definitely had no Leaf when I did. All I'd need is L1 but I'm wary of leaving my L1 EVSE out for days and having it stolen. (I'd MUCH rather take my Prius than have my ~kilobuck L1 EVSE stolen.) And, if the spots aren't sharable, I'd could be hogging a spot for days. And, worse yet, they could all be in use.

Is the list at http://www.travelnerd.com/airports/san-francisco-airport-SFO/airport-parking" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; fairly complete? Which of them is reasonably priced and offers free charging? Even better if they have staff on-hand to not plug in a car until the day the person is returning.

I will be heading home on 101 south most of the way so I might be able to find some reasonably priced/free L2 (hopefully capable of supplying 6+ kW, so no dialed down Blink EVSEs for me) or QC to top off. I DON'T want to depend on a QC that might be down or ICEd and don't want to pay a $5 Blink fee.

If I go slow enough, I can possibly make it back to my work to pick up a bit of juice (has free reliable L2 charging at ~6 kW) as it's basically on the home. Work > SFO > work is ~75 miles, almost all highway. It'll be cutting it close as again, it's night, cold and my battery's not new anymore.

I didn't see general thread for SFO airport charging that's semi-recent, so I guess we can use this one to discuss that, as well.

 

[JeremyW]

As someone who's done a round trip to an airport and back that was near edge of the Leaf's winter range, I'd recommend just taking the Prius if you can. Having a cold soaked battery, hypermiling, and only being able to run the seat/steering wheel heaters wasn't fun at the end of the trip... I'd be grumbling heavily if I needed to also charge on the way back home.

 

[cwerdna]

Thanks! One advantage of taking the Leaf is that due to the time of the flight, I can at least take advantage of my white HOV stickers for a bit of the drive to the airport.

Yeah... it's debatable.... I could try to use the new (non-Blink) QC at VW Belmont on the way home, but it could be down. Problem is, every side trip I take to look for charging = more time spent and more range wasted, if it turns out to be a bust.

I figure that you veteran EV drivers now always have to think about the tradeoffs of the time spent going slower vs. diverting to charge and waiting.

I think stopping at work to on the way charge is doable (work > SFO > work) as I'd probably need to catchup on emails anyway, but it could be a nail biter getting there.

I only need to pickup enough juice @ work to make it another ~12 miles to get home (my car draws ~5.8 to 6 kW on the 208 volt Chargepoint EVSEs there). That, IIRC takes ~12-25% SoC (per the dash's b&w SoC display) depending on how fast I drive, heater use and whether I take any diversions on the way home.

 

[planet4ever]

It's been years since I used long term parking at SFO, but I would probably swallow hard and accept the $18/day. I wouldn't even bother looking for a place to plug in. Instead, why not leave work a little earlier and try Boardwalk QC on the way up, and if that is busy, offline, or closed, go on to VW. That way you should be able to make it home without stopping, which I would think you would really appreciate at 11 PM. If charging on the way up fails, you could stop on the way back at VW, Evernote, or even Silver Springs.

Ray

 

[cwerdna]

Instead, why not leave work a little earlier and try Boardwalk QC on the way up, and if that is busy, offline, or closed, go on to VW. That way you should be able to make it home without stopping, which I would think you would really appreciate at 11 PM. If charging on the way up fails, you could stop on the way back at VW, Evernote, or even Silver Springs.

I likely can't leave any earlier as I've got an assignment at work that might be down to the wire. I'd rather not try to QC at Boardwalk on the way up given that my flight's at 8:50 pm on a weeknight. In the past few months or so, a Bay Area Leafer posted on Facebook about QCing there, but there were 5 Leafs in line behind her. :shock: I don't have that kind of time. It's preferable to catch my flight rather than avoid charging on the way back home.

To get on the flight, I have to go north on 85 then 101 or 85 then 280 then 380.

As for Evernote or Silver Springs, from Plugshare, it seems they have Blink equipment. I don't want to pay Blink fees (e.g. $5 for a QC) on flaky equipment and their L2s might have their output turned down, making me wait longer than I need to (I have the 6 kW OBC).

I've considered taking a DriveNow BMW ActiveE as Chargepoint (near my work) is an official "station", except there are usually no cars available there (surprisingly, there are 2 there right now). I know there should be no problem w/available cars at the SFO.

I need to call some of the other DriveNow locations in the South Bay to see if I can (safely) leave my car there.

 

[cwerdna]

So... there was a rare available ActiveE available at Chargepoint in Campbell tonight. I wanted to use it but due Southwest Airline snafus, their computers down, etc. they couldn't tell me before I started driving to SFO (in my Prius) whether my flight was really delayed or not and for how long. Got all different answers (e.g. don't know, their web site might be wrong due to computer probs, it's going to be on time, etc.) So, from the last answer (flight is on time), I didn't want to chance missing my flight (last one of the day to my destination).

So, rather than doing some walking and going back/forth to park my Prius @ work, grab the ActiveE, etc., I drove my Prius to the airport.

Flight's delayed by over 3 hours, at least! Ugh!

I could've saved a bunch $ and tried a BMW ActiveE instead of long-term parking my Prius near the airport. For some folks who'd otherwise might have to pay a lot for long-term parking, DriveNow might be a decent option, while driving an EV where you don't need to worry about paying for juice (as long as your trip's in range).

 

[Becky50]

I'd like some more info on Drivenow. Is it similar to ZipCar?

 

[cwerdna]

Yes. See https://us.drive-now.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Unfortunately, the promos that waived the membership/registration fee are over. https://www.facebook.com/groups/BayLeafs/permalink/609905009067164/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; mentioned a discounted $19 fee for that now. I also believe I can send referrals to folks so that they can get registered for $19.

 

[CoolerThanICE]

Yeah... the promo ended on Dec 31 - it included a 24hr free rental.

What about this and this? (might need to pay the long term parking)

 

[tinaCA]

I'd take a shuttle to the airport. Parking is far away from the terminals and expensive, and sounds like an extra hassle with your range. Or get someone to give you a ride to closest transit BART/Caltrain. Even with my ICE car I don't drive myself to the airport it's more trouble and expense than it's worth, I can usually get a friend to give me a ride or pay for the van.

 

[Deleted member 1622]

I usually agree that taking public transportation to the airport is the way to go... but BART has now priced their trips to the airport so high ($18.60 per person round trip for a total of two hours on a train if you are traveling from the East Bay, as I do), that they have literally made it less expensive to drive an EV and park in long-term parking when you are a party of two or more traveling for a weekend. This seems all out of whack to me. BART tries to soak the tourists for more money to subsidize trips made within the city, but they end up penalizing anyone who lives outside of the city limits.
When you consider that there are no chargers that I know of in other long-term parking facilities (I can't figure out why), this is a real problem for EV drivers. I can make it one-way to the airport, even with my 84% battery capacity (after 3 years of driving). But where am I supposed to charge up? I can drive the Prius, sure, but at rush hour in the morning trying to get across the Bay Bridge, the HOV lane really is the best way to go. I could go for those QC options, but as its been pointed out, they are never very reliable.
I've spent 3 years with the Leaf and loved it, but there are some limitations.
Josh