ChargePoint at Pasadena City College

[omkar]

From the ChargePoint site, it looks like there are 2 available in Lot 1 and another 2 coming soon in Lot 5.

Has anyone used these? Is it free to get into the parking lot to charge?

 

[91040]

If nobody posts information before then , I will try to stop by PCC and check the Chargepoint locations this afternoon or tomorrow.

There is a fee for all the lots. I think one or two dollars. Lot 1 is staff parking. Lot 5 is a parking structure. Where did you see an indication that there would be charging sites in Lot 5?

 

[91040]

Chargepoint at Pasadena City College

There are two units in the Lot 5 parking structure with four parking spaces. Enter from Bonnie Avenue at the north end of the building. Use the ground level entrance which puts you on Level 3. Make an immediate left on entering. They are on the left side next to the column marked 3C. The daily parking fee is $2 from the machine nearby. One unit was in fault mode for the 240v, the other unit worked fine.

Not sure about hours of use. There is no gate to block entrance. The campus library is nearby and there are eateries along Colorado Boulevard.

Lot 1, on the northwest corner of the campus is for staff only. Entrance is on Hill Street at Green Street. You would have to to beg the guard to use those.

The Chargepoint map shows the location of the Lot 1 units not those in Lot 5. The pin marked "East" is misplaced.

This is the map of the campus: http://www.pasadena.edu/maps/parking.cfm

Glad to know they are there.

 

[91040]

In Old Town Pasadena:

The School House parking lot has 3 legacy charging units but also has two 120v outlets on a timer. There are two parking spots there. You need to go two levels down then back up to the first level to get to them. First 90 minutes parking is free, after that $2 per hour with a $6 maximum. Late night entry is a flat fee.

Info: http://www.oldpasadena.org/info.asp

Last I heard (2 months ago), they were planning to update the charging units but were still studying the issue.

 

[Lopton]

Thanks for scoping those out, I will probably be using them in the future

-Matt

 

[lincomatic]

Chargepoint at Pasadena City College

There are two units in the Lot 5 parking structure with four parking spaces. Enter from Bonnie Avenue at the north end of the building. Use the ground level entrance which puts you on Level 3. Make an immediate left on entering. They are on the left side next to the column marked 3C. The daily parking fee is $2 from the machine nearby. One unit was in fault mode for the 240v, the other unit worked fine.

Not sure about hours of use. There is no gate to block entrance. The campus library is nearby and there are eateries along Colorado Boulevard.

Lot 1, on the northwest corner of the campus is for staff only. Entrance is on Hill Street at Green Street. You would have to to beg the guard to use those.

The Chargepoint map shows the location of the Lot 1 units not those in Lot 5. The pin marked "East" is misplaced.

This is the map of the campus: http://www.pasadena.edu/maps/parking.cfm

Glad to know they are there.

There are two in the staff lot. I went in through the entrance marked for visitors. There wasn't anyone in the booths. Chargepoint thinks there is only one, but in fact, there are two. The two times I went there, despite Chargepoint listing it as available, there were these "Out of Order" signs covering both of them. I noticed they were powered up under the sign, so I tried one of them anyway, and it worked! The parking fee is $2, enforced 24x7x365.

 

[omkar]

Thank you so much for scoping those out! I saw via the Chargepoint site that 2 were up in Lot 1 and 2 were coming soon in Lot 5. Good to know that they are already here. Thanks for the details on parking and access to the lots - very helpful!

 

[omkar]

We made a trip (1 LEAF, 1 ICE) to the Huntington Library and Gardens yesterday. After dropping off our families, my buddy and I went to PCC (~1 mile away) to drop the LEAF off to charge. We first tried Lot 5 and I am very thankful for the detailed description of the location of the EVSEs (3rd floor) that 90140 posted.

In Lot 5, I was not able to get connected. I had only used ChargePoint once before (at Fashion Island). I tapped my card and the L1 door opened. I was unable to get the L2 handle out. I then tried plugging in my L1 EVSE but was unable to close the door. It may have been user error but after a few minutes of messing with both L1 and L2, I decided to try my luck with the EVSEs at Lot 1.

In Lot 1, the EVSEs were easily spotted. There are two entrances (one for staff and one for guests) and there was no guard so we were able to drive right in. I tapped the ChargePoint card and was able to release the L2 which I plugged in and started charging. Then I went to buy parking but the bill accepter was not working. Luckily we had enough change ($2) between the two of us. Bought the ticket, placed it on the dash, and then went back to the gardens.

After about 3 hours at the gardens, my buddy took me to pick up the LEAF from PCC, we then went back to the gardens, picked up our families, and drove back.

On the way there, I drove pretty conservatively (for me) and used up 8 bars (~50 miles one way). After charging for a little over 3 hours, I had 10 bars ('94 miles'). I drove home pretty aggressively and made it home with '18 miles' left - I think it was at 3 bars.

It was a little bit of a hassle but I was happy to take our LEAF that far. Having EVSEs at the Huntington Library and Gardens would be much more convenient (I submitted a request via the MyChargePoint site). Thanks to all here for enabling me to take the LEAF on this outing!

 

[lincomatic]

Congrats on your trip. I happened to be at the Huntington yesterday afternoon, too.
I wonder if we were there at the same time.

Have they removed the Out of Order signs from the 2 Chargepoints in Lot 1?

 

[omkar]

Very cool! We left around 2:30pm. I didn't notice any Out of Order signs on any of the ChargePoints.

 

[lincomatic]

Sounds like you left around when I arrived!

OK, good to know that the Out of Order signs are gone.
I was a bit worried last time when I was charging w/ the signs attached ... that
the campus police might not like it.

 

[tbleakne]

Friday night, July 22, I attended the monthly Von Karman lecture held at Vosloh Forum on the NE side of the PCC campus. I was able to charge (L2) at one of the two new ChargePoint stations at the North end of the first floor of parking structure 5, which is only 100 yards south of the lecture hall. Both stations appeared fully functional. This event marked several firsts for me:

1. First opportunity to charge while attending a non-Leaf, non-EV event.
2. First time I had to pay:
$.50 per session from my ChargePoint card (correctly listed on ChargePoint web site) and
$2.00 for all-day parking permit. These rates seemed quite reasonable to me, although in the evening between school sessions the parking structure was almost deserted (but well-lit).
3. Another Leaf (white) was parked right outside the Vosloh auditorium. This is my first sighting of a Leaf "in the wild" at a non-Leaf event. I did not get a chance to connect to its owner(s).

I was there 1.5 hours, so I got about 3 bars of charge. This was very convenient. We need QC stations, of course, but we also need a whole bunch of well-located L2 stations, like these.

The lecture itself was good. The topic was "Hot Water: The Oceans and Global Warming." The speaker, Dr. Josh Willis, has a good sense of humor. Note his title on his business card, which was conferred on him by a congressman who publicly ridiculed one of his papers.

 

[lincomatic]

+1 Love his business card!

 

[abasile]

We also charged at PCC on the night of 7/22. We parked in Lot 1, on the northwest corner of campus. As we arrived at the lot late (past 9 PM), we were never asked to pay a fee other than the $.50 per charging session collected by ChargePoint. We stayed overnight at a nearby relative's place and picked up the car early the next morning, charged up to 80%.

 

[lincomatic]

FYI, the campus parking rules are that the fee is required 24x7x365. No exceptions. That being said, I don't think they police it vigorously, though it's intimidating to be parked among the police cars in Lot 1 w/o paying. I was not ticketed nor approached by parking enforcement for the 1/2 hour or so that I was charging (for free at the time) at the Chargepoint.

 

[abasile]

FYI, the campus parking rules are that the fee is required 24x7x365.

There was no attendant present to collect a fee. Is there an automated kiosk somewhere where one can pay the fee?

 

[91040]

FYI, the campus parking rules are that the fee is required 24x7x365.

There was no attendant present to collect a fee. Is there an automated kiosk somewhere where one can pay the fee?

There is a parking ticket vending machine near the EVSEs in the Lot 5 parking structure. Lot 1 is for staff so there might not be a machine nearby. Maybe you pay at the security booth when it is manned.

 

[JPVLeaf]

Thank you for the photos and reports. For reference on lot locations, here is the PCC campus map:

Pasadena City College
1570 E. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91106

 

[lincomatic]

FYI, the campus parking rules are that the fee is required 24x7x365.

There was no attendant present to collect a fee. Is there an automated kiosk somewhere where one can pay the fee?

There is a parking ticket vending machine near the EVSEs in the Lot 5 parking structure. Lot 1 is for staff so there might not be a machine nearby. Maybe you pay at the security booth when it is manned.

Lot 1 is for staff, but the Chargepoints are in the visitor section of the Lot. The ticket vending machine is near the end of the driveway where you enter the lot. All of the lots on the PCC campus have ticket vending machines.