Charging etiquette at Airports

[sgopal2]

Hello - I'm new to the electric car scene. I travel frequently for work, mostly international trips. I noticed on my last trip to Newark airport that there were electric charging stations in the parking garage.

If I decide to use one of the chargers on my next strip, what is the general protocol with regards to removing the charger from your car once done? If I go away on a flight, I'm typically gone for 3-5 days. Wouldn't that piss people off if I hogged up the parking spot for this time while I'm away?

Or do people only use the chargers for short-term charging before you return home?

 

[Gizmotoy]

If the charger is in the airport garage, I seriously doubt anyone's using them for post-flight charging before they leave. Everyone's just going to leave their car connected. An airport charger is the one exception I can think of where it's not rude to leave your car connected when it's done charging.

That's why the airports around here have a vast number of low-speed chargers, instead of a few faster ones.

 

[FlasherZ]

The STL airport put in 208V, 16A chargers (usually 199V with drop). They have no problem with people soaking up the juice there.

They're located in an intermediate lot, which means you'll pay higher parking fees for longer trips.

I've contacted other garages who advised me to park near 120V outlets and use them.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

Be aware that depending on the airport, the chargers that are available may require membership to a certain charging network (like Chargepoint or eVgo), and may not be free. Furthermore, some of them may bill you per connected amount of time instead of by the amount of power consumed. Just be aware of what the billing structure is before leaving the vehicle plugged in for several days.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Someone posted about this at the TM forums a couple of months ago. The person at TM forums was charged several hundred dollars because the rate was based on time, not power consumption. You may wish to clarify this with the charging provider.

 

[hyperpretension]

Last week, I saw a Model S parked in a charging station in the front row of short term parking at the San Diego airport that wasn't plugged in at all. That really bothered me. Yes, the signs said the space was for electric vehicles, but no charging is bad form.

 

[EarlyAdopter]

They were smart at SEA and just put in dozens of 120V 15A outlets in reserved EV spots. 3 days and even an 85kWh Model S will be completely filled. L2 chargers are overkill in a situation like this.

 

[Dave EV]

Last week, I saw a Model S parked in a charging station in the front row of short term parking at the San Diego airport that wasn't plugged in at all. That really bothered me. Yes, the signs said the space was for electric vehicles, but no charging is bad form.

If those are the ChargePoint stations at Terminal 2, you can be towed/ticketed if you aren't charging. The signage is pretty clear looking at PlugShare.

 

[Jaff]

Hear that YYZ?...time for Pearson Airport in Toronto to get off the dime!!!...:cursing:

Glad to see yet another airport (in addition to San Diego) install banks of 120v outlets to accommodate long term customer parking...

They were smart at SEA and just put in dozens of 120V 15A outlets in reserved EV spots. 3 days and even an 85kWh Model S will be completely filled. L2 chargers are overkill in a situation like this.

 

[Gizmotoy]

They were smart at SEA and just put in dozens of 120V 15A outlets in reserved EV spots. 3 days and even an 85kWh Model S will be completely filled. L2 chargers are overkill in a situation like this.

Exactly. Similar situation here at SFO. SJC used a smaller number of J1772s, which I don't think was a great move. Just put in a big, cheap bank of NEMA 5-15s or 5-20s and call it a day.

Edit: Ooops, had the airports reversed. SFO has 100+ 120V spots, some smaller subset of those can also do 240V via J1772.

 

[CHG-ON]

Exceptionally bad form. You would think of ALL EV owners, A Tesa owner would understand that.

Last week, I saw a Model S parked in a charging station in the front row of short term parking at the San Diego airport that wasn't plugged in at all. That really bothered me. Yes, the signs said the space was for electric vehicles, but no charging is bad form.

 

[Galve2000]

Would a 120 V NEMA 5-15 outlet cover the vampire drain on a model S if it was sitting in 80 F temps for 5 or 6 weeks? I spend summers in Greece and my 240 EVSE is in a garage that got flooded 18 inches by hurricane sandy so I do not want to leave it there in case another hurricane rips through and floods everything again.

 

[EarlyAdopter]

Would a 120 V NEMA 5-15 outlet cover the vampire drain on a model S if it was sitting in 80 F temps for 5 or 6 weeks? I spend summers in Greece and my 240 EVSE is in a garage that got flooded 18 inches by hurricane sandy so I do not want to leave it there in case another hurricane rips through and floods everything again.

Yes, more than enough.

Vampire drain is ~300W with sleep disabled, and ~40W with it enabled.

120V 15A gives you ~1200W for charging after accounting for conversion losses. In 80F weather none of that energy needs to go into heating the battery, so you've got 4X to 30X more energy available to the car than vampire drain takes away.

People often underestimate the power of a 120V 15A outlet. Given enough time and fair weather, you can fully charge a Model S and keep it charged easily on 120V.

 

[rickgt]

Exceptionally bad form. You would think of ALL EV owners, A Tesa owner would understand that.

yes, at least they should be plugged in and charging.

- - - Updated - - -

Exactly. Similar situation here at SFO. SJC used a smaller number of J1772s, which I don't think was a great move. Just put in a big, cheap bank of NEMA 5-15s or 5-20s and call it a day.

Edit: Ooops, had the airports reversed. SFO has 100+ 120V spots, some smaller subset of those can also do 240V via J1772.

Which garage at SFO? I would welcome the 120 v 15a for multi day parking/charging.

Is is it only long term? Or, short term?

- - - Updated - - -

Be aware that depending on the airport, the chargers that are available may require membership to a certain charging network (like Chargepoint or eVgo), and may not be free. Furthermore, some of them may bill you per connected amount of time instead of by the amount of power consumed. Just be aware of what the billing structure is before leaving the vehicle plugged in for several days.

Yikes, that would be really tough

 

[Gizmotoy]

Which garage at SFO? I would welcome the 120 v 15a for multi day parking/charging.

Is is it only long term? Or, short term?

Domestic short term has most (all?) of them. There might be some in International short term as well but I'm not sure. I don't think there are any in long term.

So expensive parking, but the charge is free at least.

 

[JMG]

I am a little surprised and disappointed that DFW airport only has two EV charging spots and you have to use the DFW airport Valet to use them which is $27 per day.