LAX parking not free starting March 1

[thankyouOB]

When I first got my Leaf and learned about the free parking at LAX up to 30 days, my first thought was, "Wow, that's a great perk". My second thought, "Wow, that's going to be abused by alot of people."

Sad to see it go but I can't seem to blame them. They already offer free charging. It seems fair that we should pay for parking. If anything, I wish they would install chargers in all the lots.

how do you abuse free parking?

 

[Valdemar]

Yeah, I don't think any sort of abuse took place. Even those who were hogging charging spots were following "the rules" which required you to park at a charging station to qualify for free parking. The fact that people failed to read between the lines is a different story. The system was not thought out well, that's it.

 

[Herm]

how do you abuse free parking?

You can choose to pay your fair share..

 

[thankyouOB]

how do you abuse free parking?

You can choose to pay your fair share..

how do you pay for free parking?

 

[x10guy]

When I first got my Leaf and learned about the free parking at LAX up to 30 days, my first thought was, "Wow, that's a great perk". My second thought, "Wow, that's going to be abused by alot of people."

Sad to see it go but I can't seem to blame them. They already offer free charging. It seems fair that we should pay for parking. If anything, I wish they would install chargers in all the lots.

how do you abuse free parking?

I believe they were allowing up to 30 days of free parking... which is alot. In retrospect the policy was probably flawed from the beginning.

 

[Herm]

how do you pay for free parking?

Charity?.. how many homeless in LA while you enjoy free parking worth $$hundreds?

 

[thankyouOB]

how do you pay for free parking?

Charity?.. how many homeless in LA while you enjoy free parking worth $$hundreds?

i do give to charity, particularly to an interfaith shelter in my area of LA. i give way more than the value of the three times that i have used the free parking.

how about you, Herm, do you give in timbuktu?

 

[Herm]

I dont want to talk about that, they eat greens around here.. I'm glad you think about the poor also

 

[malloryk]

Since they installed all those charging stations, they should let us park in the premium lots for the same price as Lot C, which is the only other airport-owned longterm parking solution. After March 1, all those charging stations will be empty. I don't mind paying for parking, but $30 a day for the use of free L2 charging is ridiculous.

 

[thankyouOB]

Since they installed all those charging stations, they should let us park in the premium lots for the same price as Lot C, which is the only other airport-owned longterm parking solution. After March 1, all those charging stations will be empty. I don't mind paying for parking, but $30 a day for the use of free L2 charging is ridiculous.

yes, someone should explain the marketplace to them at LAX World.
i doubt they are thinking this through, especially as their sister city department, LADWP, is doing everything possible to encourage EV use, from charger subsidies to discounts on electricity for home users.
https://www.ladwp.com/ladwp/faces/ladwp/residential/r-gogreen/r-gg-driveelectric/r-gg-de-evncentives?_adf.ctrl-state=1buk1j3z89_4&_afrLoop=226632129323000&_afrWindowMode=0&_afrWindowId=7c8zqsef2_1#%40%3F_afrWindowId%3D7c8zqsef2_1%26_afrLoop%3D226632129323000%26_afrWindowMode%3D0%26_adf.ctrl-state%3D7c8zqsef2_25" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Valdemar]

Since they installed all those charging stations, they should let us park in the premium lots for the same price as Lot C, which is the only other airport-owned longterm parking solution. After March 1, all those charging stations will be empty. I don't mind paying for parking, but $30 a day for the use of free L2 charging is ridiculous.

I like them empty. They need a more complete solution that would allow for both short-term and long-term parking charging scenarios.

 

[blappen]

My vote is for lots 1 and 6 to provide free parking for perhaps 5 hours (or one day) for EVs. This would allow anyone to charge (there will be many available charging ports), but will not give away free parking to those who don't need it.

Additionally, they can add some L2 (or how about fast?) chargers in the cell phone waiting lots where you are allowed to park for free as long as you stay with your car.

The goal of chargers at LAX should be to allow EVs to get enough charge to get home (or to the next charger). While encouraging EV ownership by offering free parking has been nice, it is not necessary to push someone to buy an EV.

 

[timhebb]

After several calls to persons on the LAWA contact list posted previously in this thread, I finally got a callback today. Received this information:

LAWA (Los Angeles World Airports) will be installing 24 L2 charging stations in Lot C, and 20~22 L2 charging stations at the Van Nuys Flyaway location, within the next few months. The charging will be free, the parking will be at standard rates.

That's the bottom line. The rationale I was given for LAWA choosing L2 rather than any L1 charging is that a third party is donating the EVSE, that LAWA has no independent budget of its own for additional charging equipment, and so they are taking what they have been given. However, I was told that LAWA was responsible for the "preconstruction" which included trenching and, apparently, electrical pulls. (I did not bother to query the representative who called me about the fact that preconstruction costs would be probably 95% of the cost of installing L1 charging; she did not seem to be an appropriate party to raise that issue with.)

I recommend that any of you who would like to comment or offer suggestions for future facilities planning at LAX respond to the following email address, which the rep who called me provided. She said that the planners read messages sent to it daily: [email protected]

My own feeling is that the new charging facilities coming soon to Lot C and Van Nuys represent welcome incremental progress, but the capacity they will offer is likely to be eclipsed by demand within a year or so, if it isn't already.

To me, L1 charging is a far more appropriate and cost-conscious solution for LAX and Van Nuys long-term parking. I intend to email my thoughts along those lines to "[email protected]" and I encourage all of you with an interest in this issue to do the same.

 

[malloryk]

My own feeling is that the new charging facilities coming soon to Lot C and Van Nuys represent welcome incremental progress, but the capacity they will offer is likely to be eclipsed by demand within a year or so, if it isn't already.

To me, L1 charging is a far more appropriate and cost-conscious solution for LAX and Van Nuys long-term parking. I intend to email my thoughts along those lines to "[email protected]" and I encourage all of you with an interest in this issue to do the same.

wow, I agree with you. It seems that at an airport, only L1 and L3 make any sense. Thanks for getting that info!

 

[RegGuheert]

My own feeling is that the new charging facilities coming soon to Lot C and Van Nuys represent welcome incremental progress, but the capacity they will offer is likely to be eclipsed by demand within a year or so, if it isn't already.

To me, L1 charging is a far more appropriate and cost-conscious solution for LAX and Van Nuys long-term parking. I intend to email my thoughts along those lines to "[email protected]" and I encourage all of you with an interest in this issue to do the same.

wow, I agree with you. It seems that at an airport, only L1 and L3 make any sense. Thanks for getting that info!

Is there any public L1 equipment out there that provides a J1772 handle rather than just a 120VAC outlet? The reason that I ask is the ChargePoint L1 stations at our airport are too smart and they try to detect the current drawn by the EVSE. Unfortunately the upgraded EVSE draws so little current that the station thinks it is unplugged and ends the session. The only thing you can do is just charge up to 80% (or 100%) immediately. As soon as the charger stops, the thing throws a fault and the session is over. It's pretty dumb, IMO.

 

[davewill]

Is there any public L1 equipment out there that provides a J1772 handle rather than just a 120VAC outlet? The reason that I ask is the ChargePoint L1 stations at our airport are too smart and they try to detect the current drawn by the EVSE. Unfortunately the upgraded EVSE draws so little current that the station thinks it is unplugged and ends the session. The only thing you can do is just charge up to 80% (or 100%) immediately. As soon as the charger stops, the thing throws a fault and the session is over. It's pretty dumb, IMO.

Actually, I think they are just the perfect amount of smart. They are keeping people from parking there and hogging the station when they aren't charging the car.

 

[timhebb]

Is there any public L1 equipment out there that provides a J1772 handle rather than just a 120VAC outlet? The reason that I ask is the ChargePoint L1 stations at our airport are too smart and they try to detect the current drawn by the EVSE. Unfortunately the upgraded EVSE draws so little current that the station thinks it is unplugged and ends the session. The only thing you can do is just charge up to 80% (or 100%) immediately. As soon as the charger stops, the thing throws a fault and the session is over. It's pretty dumb, IMO.

I don't know that I've ever encountered public L1/J1772 EVSE here in So Cal (or didn't recognize it if I did...) Anyone?

This would seem like the way to go in long-term parking facilities, as it eliminates the security issues for owners concerned about theft/vandalism of their personal EVSE, can be monitored/paywalled centrally, etc.

 

[RegGuheert]

Actually, I think they are just the perfect amount of smart. They are keeping people from parking there and hogging the station when they aren't charging the car.

No, they are just wasting four parking spaces. There are four L1/L2 charging stations provided for eight parking spaces there. I have NEVER seen more than four EVs there because no one iuses the L1 charging ports. I chose to use an L1 spot for a one week trip so that I would not block one of the L2s for that time. But my well-planned timers which were intended to restore my SOC while minimizing average SOC were foiled by these overly-smart charge stations. Truly, it is just wasting valuable, premium parking at the airport.

 

[RegGuheert]

I don't know that I've ever encountered public L1/J1772 EVSE here in So Cal (or didn't recognize it if I did...) Anyone?

This would seem like the way to go in long-term parking facilities, as it eliminates the security issues for owners concerned about theft/vandalism of their personal EVSE, can be monitored/paywalled centrally, etc.

I think such a thing would be perfect for airports. It would greatly reduce the power requirements, allowing for many more EVSEs to be installed while simplifying usage issues for EV owners. Perhaps we should start manufacturing these things!

 

[KeiJidosha]

After several calls to persons on the LAWA contact list posted previously in this thread, I finally got a callback today. Received this information:

LAWA (Los Angeles World Airports) will be installing 24 L2 charging stations in Lot C, and 20~22 L2 charging stations at the Van Nuys Flyaway location, within the next few months. The charging will be free, the parking will be at standard rates..

More L1 would be better, but this is still good news. What would be helpful is to have these new EVSEs installed so that each L2 EVSE is at the corner of four EV signed, non-AB475 compliant parking spaces, allowing charger sharing. In the future the Airport could replace these L2 sites with 120 volt quad outlets for L1 charging without having to make major changes to the infrastructure. It would also be helpful if a few L2 EVSEs at each location were Pay-to-Charge, so an EVSE is available when a BEV really needs to charge.