Denver International Electric Parking - Teslas Stop Parking There!

[LosAltosChuck]

If I’m in San Diego with my Tesla (not an unreasonable possibility), and I’m at a public charger OR a Supercharger, it is because I drove down from the Bay Area and I need charging. I won’t be near my home to charge. While I land on the side of folks who say that the Leaf folks have no grounds to complain about public charger use (except for the parking spot hogs we all hate), I also respectfully disagree with dreamwave6 on using Superchargers as the primary mechanism for charging, and treating home charging as “emergency only” charging. Two reasons this is bad, in my opinion: the Supercharger network is designed to extend range nationally, not to merely be an energy subsidy. For those of us who are early adopters, buying the more expensive Model S and X vehicles, we were incentivized to take that step by being offered a nationwide range for free. It is not expected that people would go beyond their local range on a regular basis, in fact, I think most driving happens within about 20 miles of home for the average person. If Tesla had intended this to be just an energy subsidy, they could have saved money by just paying our home electric bills. The Supercharger network can’t support all of us (or even many of us) using it as our every day charger.

Second reason it is bad is that the Tesla batteries, as I understand it, are not designed to be supercharged every time. As I understand it, these batteries benefit from a slower charge.

 

[Dax279]

Is the problem the people who are parked in the stalls and not plugged in. Anyone else who is parked in a spot and plugged in should be fine. Agree you have to assume they have a reason for being plugged in and not get on their case because you assume they have sufficient charge or because there is a charging station down the road. As I noted in a previous post, what if it is winter and I need to plug in to protect my battery?

 

[Electroman]

o, because I charge my EV at the airport while I am traveling so that it is fully charged upon my return

If you are out of town for a week, you are hogging the charging space that no one else can charge for that whole week.

That is being selfish and rude and highly inconsiderate. It doesn't matter if it is a Tesla or a Leaf

 

[mwoz]

Considering it costs $24/day, the airport should be able to provide additional chargers for patrons, has anyone contacted them and inquired?

 

[Barry]

If you are out of town for a week, you are hogging the charging space that no one else can charge for that whole week.

That is being selfish and rude and highly inconsiderate. It doesn't matter if it is a Tesla or a Leaf

I live close enough to DEN that I will never need a charge there, or at the nearby Supercharger. However, if I did need a charge, why should I inconvenience myself, by sitting at a Supercharger for 20+ minutes, after returning from somewhere far away, anxious to get home, rather than use the away-time to charge? Airport parking is designed to be used for a trip's duration. It's absurd to suggest that an EV should be moved from an airport parking spot with a charger when done charging, while its driver is hundreds or thousands of miles away. In addition, the SC is about 7 miles south of the airport. If I lived in Boulder or somewhere else north of Denver, the SC would be 14 miles of extra driving just to charge, if my plan was to take E-470 or I-76 to get home. Again, not something desirable after returning from an out-of-town trip.

 

[OCRyan]

I wish airports would move to cheap 110V outlets at all/most spots rather than expensive L2 chargers in just a few spots.

It's an airport. You generally don't park for just an hour or two. It's either too short a time for L2 to matter, or too long for L2 to matter.

110V for all solves the issue.

The "Aladdin" parking garage at San Diego Airport has a bank of 110V outlets in front of spots marked "EV Only". The outlets are only active from 12:00 AM - 6:00 AM, which is the "Super Off Peak" time for SDG&E. So you get about 18 miles of range added per day of your trip. IMHO, this is the perfect setup for long term airport parking. It was minimal cost to install a simple standard outlet and they're only paying the lowest cost electrical rates, this is now the only place I park.

:: Aladdin Airport Parking, Official Site of San Diego's Premiere Airport Parking

 

[Barry]

Somehow your time of 20+ minutes extra waiting is more critical than a bunch of folks who are turned away without the ability to charge for the duration of your trip which could be two days or one week.

It all goes back to the poor decision you made in 1) buying a Leaf, and 2) driving it too far for its limited range. Again, this is an airport. Parking somewhere for the length of the trip is expected. Maybe you should take Uber or public transportation to the airport. That's what I do if my trip is longer than 5 days, as it's more cost-effective.

Or, park at one of the off-site parking lots that has valet and EV charging. At DEN, USAirpark and Canopy both offer this service. The valet will move your car when charging is completed,

 

[Tyl]

As I gripe and complain to every one about each of us I need to slap myself and focus on the solution. My efforts need to be on educating any and all airports on the 120v
S O L U T I O N that will end my griping and provide us all with slow long term charging as we travel about the planet.

 

[PLUS EV]

As I gripe and complain to every one about each of us I need to slap myself and focus on the solution. My efforts need to be on educating any and all airports on the 120v
S O L U T I O N that will end my griping and provide us all with slow long term charging as we travel about the planet.

I agree that this is the obvious solution and that this is where the efforts of the OP and mkjayakumar should be directed. Rather than getting angry at other EV owners for using public chargers that are by their very definition available to the public.

 

[Rocky_H]

Okay then hogging a charger for 2 full days is somehow okay?

Yes, absolutely yes, but it's called "using", not "hogging". When charging stations are put in the long term parking areas of an airport, the WHOLE POINT of them is that people can stay hooked up to them for multiple days at a time while they are away. Short term parking areas would be a different story. I may have not quite seen it mentioned in this thread, but is this a long or short term parking area?

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Yes, absolutely yes, but it's called "using", not "hogging". When charging stations are put in the long term parking areas of an airport, the WHOLE POINT of them is that people can stay hooked up to them for multiple days at a time while they are away. Short term parking areas would be a different story. I may have not quite seen it mentioned in this thread, but is this a long or short term parking area?

The parking garages right at the airport have 36 electric car charging stations in the long term parking area. Only 10 of the 36 charging spots are level 2. The other 26 are level 1 charging. There are an additional 11 level 1 charging stations located in another lot.

 

[mwoz]

I just noticed that the fine parking garage in aurora is part of Tesla's destination charging program and has 40 chargers. Seems far from the airport, but 40 tesla chargers is pretty nice, has anyone used them?

 

[Doug_G]

Moved a bunch of posts to snippiness due to a toxic mixture of personal attacks and bickering.

 

[Dynastar]

I wonder if 120v outlets might actually be more expensive over the life of the outlet then a low amp level 2 plug. Due to overhead the S and X are much less efficient charging at 120v and will consume a lot more kwh charging that way.

 

[MileHighMotoring]

They certainly are. It's an 11% difference in efficiency for 120v vs 240v and beyond.

 

[ZEPHYRHATS]

Is there any trick to the Denver garage ev chargers? I've tried 3 times so far and they don't seem to work. One said ready until i tried it and then showed not working.

 

[mknoebel]

Curious if anyone has used any of the outlying parking at DIA with charging. I see that Fine has Tesla charging, ParkDIA, Canopy and USAirport parking all have charging available also.

 

[Zaxxon]

I use Canopy frequently. Their covered park 'Juice Bar' is fine, but IMO shares charge cables among too many spots. They do have some L1 outlets hiding at the base of these installations, and I do like that for extended trips. They also offer valet where they will plug your car in as needed to be charged when you return, but that's a bit pricey for my taste. One nice thing is that if you want the 'normal' covered park but can't find an open plug, they will put you in valet at the covered park rate.

 

[tvuolo]

I just returned from dropping someone off at DIA and had to take the Leaf for various reasons. I thought I'd grab 45 minutes of L2 charging while I helped my passenger to security. Five of the 11 L2 spots on the west side were ICEd. Three L2 spots had EVs that were plugged in. The remaining 3 spots has various Teslas that were not even plugged in. That's very frustrating. All of the L1 spots were taken, too. I know there's not much love for Leaf owners on this forum, but please don't take an EV spot if you are not going to use it.

I contacted DIA. They told me I need to let them know when I'm there. I asked what would happen to the non-EV cars and they said it "would be up to the officer or parking once they respond." I suspect a note at best.

I did make it home in the Leaf without having to stop at another charger. I had around 4 miles left (it stops estimating below 9 miles).

Please be nice to all EVs.

 

[Zaxxon]

Yeah, that's frustrating. As a former Leaf owner, I empathize. Teslas are as entitled to the spots as anyone else, but plug in or GTFO.