Logan Chargers

Jack_L said:

Have a business trip planned next week and wondered if there should be any issue parking at a charger in central parking on a Thursday mid-morning. Do folks think I will have any issue finding an open charger? Any tricks to keep it charged while away? Am I crazy to leave the vehicle at Logan (have an old ICE I could take)?
Thanks!

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There is usually at least one charger open in each area, but I think the ones by Terminal A (Delta Shuttle) fill up quickest, and Terminal E (International) are the most open. I have often used the Terminal A, A/B, and E chargers in the central parking, and the chargers in B as well (very convenient to American Airlines). I suggest you look on Chargepoint app the night before and again in the morning, and be prepared to walk a little extra, e.g. from the E corner if the A area is full. I've personally never had a problem however.

No tricks to keep it charged - I've left it there from day trips to 2-3 nights away. Feel a little guilty if Chargepoint has texted me that the car's full before I even land. Based on vampire drain the car usually charges a bit more every morning or every other morning. To minimize your guilt, I suggest you skip charging for a few nights before the trip, and set your charge level to 80 or 90%. :biggrin:

There is always a risk that you won't get a charger so seems risky to go to the airport with low charge unless you live nearby. That said, I've never had an issue getting a charger there.

Agree. I live about 10 miles away, so can go with a pretty low charge but still have plenty to get home.

I agree with the comments above -- I've never had a problem finding a charger. It annoyed me last time I was there, though, that I parked next to another Model S in a charging spot, not plugged in. And I took the last charging spot in that corner. This felt worse than ICEing, since the Tesla owner surely understood the value of that spot to other EV owners.

Wednesday evening and many more chargers available now than this morning. I'm on an early Delta Shuttle tomorrow for the day - shouldn't have any problem.

check with charge point app or website before you go. It's much more of an issue for me - ~55 miles from the airport in my LEAF - I've got to charge!. at least now there are a couple of CHADEMO quick chargers around as backup.

I recently returned from a trip through Logan. I managed to get the last chargers by Terminal A before I left but I think I was done charging before my flight even left (down perhaps 30 miles).

I had used the website form a few months ago to complain about the charging situation (should be L1 chargers throughout, not a few L2 chargers, etc.) and
never heard back. Sunday night the CEO of Massport was on the news and I googled for he email address and I put together an email expressing my thoughts.

I heard back from them by phone today!!! I rarely fly but I had the guy call my wife, a frequent (nearly weekly) flyer out of Logan. They are in the
review process for updating the charging infrastructure and he said my email to the CEO was timely.

I've also emailed with them about L1 chargers. It's ridiculous to spend so much on L2 chargers when the cars will be there for days in most cases!
Even if you live relatively close to Logan, in the winter the vampire losses could run the battery down if you're away for a couple of weeks (say in Belize for example). A simple 110V plug would be perfect.

I've never taken my Model S to Logan - only had it a week. I've often been pushed to remote parking with my ICE though. Will they let you into central parking if it is otherwise full in order to get to a charger? I live 2 hours from logan so I'm a little nervous to drive down with so much doubt. If I leave home with 80% charge I should have enough get to logan, get back to the Seabrook SC but it would be nice to know if charging is reliable.

RedSoxFan18 said:

I've never taken my Model S to Logan - only had it a week. I've often been pushed to remote parking with my ICE though. Will they let you into central parking if it is otherwise full in order to get to a charger? I live 2 hours from logan so I'm a little nervous to drive down with so much doubt. If I leave home with 80% charge I should have enough get to logan, get back to the Seabrook SC but it would be nice to know if charging is reliable.

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My wife flies nearly weekly, she has good luck begging her way in to closed areas to see if charging is available.
But she has given up on afternoon or evening flights!

All the Logan chargers are ChargePoint, so you can check availability on the ChargePoint smartphone app. (The space could be ICEd, of course, but it's a good first check.)

I completely support the view that a 120v outlet between every two spots in the green car parking area would be far more valuable than the dozen L2s. I've discussed this issue with the Portland city manager re the Jetport here.

120v is a bad solution for the Central Garage!

I completely disagree that the solution in the central garage is Level 1 chargers so they could install more of them. Sorry, but the problem with Logan is all the spots are usually occupied by cars like @EdA who are no longer charging. No offense, I think you had good intent, but did you think about those who came after you who might have really needed a charge but couldn't because your car was sitting there for days without charging? I was there Dec 17 and again on the 21st and both times every spot was taken by a car that was plugged in but not charging. On the 17th I was picking up a passenger and 120v would have been utterly useless for the short time that I was there. As it is the 30A Chargepoints are almost useless.

Level 1 (120v) might be a good solution for the economy (long-term) lots. The solution for the Central garage is more powerful chargers, not less, and they should charge a fee to use them. With a fee you would only need half as many chargers because only those who need it would plug in. It would also provide funds to install more of them instead of meeting the budget by cheaping out with only 120v. If they were charging a fee I bet it would have eliminated the problem I had of driving 2.5 hrs and then nowhere to plug in because a lot of "local" cars were almost full by the time their planes took off.

It's about a 100mi round trip from Seabrook to Logan, so even in the worse extreme cold winter conditions, you probably would only need a 50% charge, so if you start with 80% at Seabrook and your trip is less than a few weeks, you won't need the chargers. (Nice to save them for those who really do - but now with Dedham, Auburn and Seabrook, most probably don't).

hcsharp said:

I completely disagree that the solution in the central garage is Level 1 chargers so they could install more of them. Sorry, but the problem with Logan is all the spots are usually occupied by cars like @EdA who are no longer charging. No offense, I think you had good intent, but did you think about those who came after you who might have really needed a charge but couldn't because your car was sitting there for days without charging? I was there Dec 17 and again on the 21st and both times every spot was taken by a car that was plugged in but not charging. On the 17th I was picking up a passenger and 120v would have been utterly useless for the short time that I was there. As it is the 30A Chargepoints are almost useless.

Level 1 (120v) might be a good solution for the economy (long-term) lots. The solution for the Central garage is more powerful chargers, not less, and they should charge a fee to use them. With a fee you would only need half as many chargers because only those who need it would plug in. It would also provide funds to install more of them instead of meeting the budget by cheaping out with only 120v. If they were charging a fee I bet it would have eliminated the problem I had of driving 2.5 hrs and then nowhere to plug in because a lot of "local" cars were almost full by the time their planes took off.

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Isn't it a lot more likely that the cars plugged in were people away on trips rather than "local" cars?

RDoc said:

Isn't it a lot more likely that the cars plugged in were people away on trips rather than "local" cars?

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the cars plugged into the logan parking chargers are almost certainly people on trips.

I think in addition to adding many more charging points (low power in economy, 20 or 30 amp in central parking), they need to add CHADEMO and more high(er) power J1772 in short term or the cell phone lots.

RDoc said:

Isn't it a lot more likely that the cars plugged in were people away on trips rather than "local" cars?

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Most of the people plugged in were both local and away on trips. Not one or the other. I thought that was obvious from my post.

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essaunders said:

the cars plugged into the logan parking chargers are almost certainly people on trips.

I think in addition to adding many more charging points (low power in economy, 20 or 30 amp in central parking), they need to add CHADEMO and more high(er) power J1772 in short term or the cell phone lots.

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I agree except for the 20 - 30 amp idea. The central parking is supposed to be short-term. Like 1 - 2 hours to drop off or pick up a passenger. 20 - 30A makes no sense for anything short-term. They should have a lot of 40 - 80A and CHAdeMO just like you said. In addition, they should charge a fee. That will eliminate the current problem of locals on long trips occupying a charger for days on end. Low power only makes sense in the economy (long-term) lots.

hcsharp said:

Most of the people plugged in were both local and away on trips. Not one or the other. I thought that was obvious from my post.

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I agree except for the 20 - 30 amp idea. The central parking is supposed to be short-term. Like 1 - 2 hours to drop off or pick up a passenger. 20 - 30A makes no sense for anything short-term. They should have a lot of 40 - 80A and CHAdeMO just like you said. In addition, they should charge a fee. That will eliminate the current problem of locals on long trips occupying a charger for days on end. Low power only makes sense in the economy (long-term) lots.

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Central parking is 'short term'? really? that's pretty much where everyone I know parks for trips of several days to up to a week. I seem to remember central having both Short term parking and 'normal'. I think all the EV charging is in the 'normal' section (deck 6, I think). I'm flying out of logan for a 1 week trip soon, - but as I plan to park in economy I'll have to drive the Prius - there's no place to charge in economy and it's not worth the extra ~$80 to park for the week in central parking

I think they should install EV charging in the short term lots - that would answer the need for charging for 'pick ups'. $ Chademo in cell, high power J1772 in short term...

essaunders said:

Central parking is 'short term'? really? that's pretty much where everyone I know parks for trips of several days to up to a week. I seem to remember central having both Short term parking and 'normal'. I think all the EV charging is in the 'normal' section (deck 6, I think). I'm flying out of logan for a 1 week trip soon, - but as I plan to park in economy I'll have to drive the Prius - there's no place to charge in economy and it's not worth the extra ~$80 to park for the week in central parking

I think they should install EV charging in the short term lots - that would answer the need for charging for 'pick ups'. $ Chademo in cell, high power J1772 in short term...

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IMO it is worth the extra $80 to not have to dig your car out if it snows after returning from a long trip...but that's just me...

I also agree that Central Parking was not built for short term drop off/pick up.