Airports seem like an ideal place to recharge electric vehicles – the cars sit unused for long periods of time and could benefit from something productive like slow charging. Environmental correspondent Jim Motavalli took an aerial view of the current state of airport electric vehicle charging stations and found charging stations at 11 major US airports.
The most interesting and comprehensive one is San Francisco International Airport. Just like the metro area and Silicon Valley, SFO is more electrified than anywhere else. There's EV preferred parking charging stations at all of its public garages. "Best of all, there no charge for the charge!" according to an airport promotional statement. The best offering is the Domestic Garage – with 15 stalls. There are Level 1 and 2 chargers throughout the airport, and visitors are asked to bring their own charging cable for Level 1.
ChargePoint is playing a big role in charging stations being placed at major airport parking garages. Logan Airport in Boston, John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC, and Oakland International Airport offer several of the ChargePoint stations. It's free at Logan and Oakland airports, but costs money at JFK Airport and Reagan, which can be covered on a credit card or ChargePoint payment card. At Denver International Airport (see above), there are two Juice Bars in Indoor Valet within parking garages. There's no charge for the electricity, but you do have to pay for the parking.
What about the possibility that an electric car's battery could get burned out from too much charging? After all, you're probably going to be gone for a few days and the charging will only take a few hours. Since charging can be scheduled and shuts off automatically when the battery is full, overcharging doesn't appear to be an issue. Tesla Motors faced a crisis earlier this year with batteries in its Roadster electric sports cars "bricking," but that had to do with batteries burning out when drivers ran the state of charge so far down that the battery stopped working, not putting too much energy in. As for airports, it seems unlikely that EV car owners will have their battery fried during their trip.
The most interesting and comprehensive one is San Francisco International Airport. Just like the metro area and Silicon Valley, SFO is more electrified than anywhere else. There's EV preferred parking charging stations at all of its public garages. "Best of all, there no charge for the charge!" according to an airport promotional statement. The best offering is the Domestic Garage – with 15 stalls. There are Level 1 and 2 chargers throughout the airport, and visitors are asked to bring their own charging cable for Level 1.
ChargePoint is playing a big role in charging stations being placed at major airport parking garages. Logan Airport in Boston, John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC, and Oakland International Airport offer several of the ChargePoint stations. It's free at Logan and Oakland airports, but costs money at JFK Airport and Reagan, which can be covered on a credit card or ChargePoint payment card. At Denver International Airport (see above), there are two Juice Bars in Indoor Valet within parking garages. There's no charge for the electricity, but you do have to pay for the parking.
What about the possibility that an electric car's battery could get burned out from too much charging? After all, you're probably going to be gone for a few days and the charging will only take a few hours. Since charging can be scheduled and shuts off automatically when the battery is full, overcharging doesn't appear to be an issue. Tesla Motors faced a crisis earlier this year with batteries in its Roadster electric sports cars "bricking," but that had to do with batteries burning out when drivers ran the state of charge so far down that the battery stopped working, not putting too much energy in. As for airports, it seems unlikely that EV car owners will have their battery fried during their trip.
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