Comments on: Tesla Car Charging Illegally at DIA?

By: Solar cars

Solar cars — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 06:48:25 +0000

Seems like the best way to treat this situation is to encourage the people with electric cars to use them, and plug in where they need to. That promotes their viability and gets more people interested.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:39:30 +0000

deKoven,

I sent an email to DIA right after I wrote this post to get their comment but they never got back to me.

I am going to be out to DIA again next week, so I will see if I can find someone to ask if it is ok to charge your car there.

At $18 a day, they should.

By: deKoven13

deKoven13 — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:28:06 +0000

Have read about your post in three different places. No where did anyone pose this question.

Is it possible that DIA doesn’t mind at all that this EV is plugged in?

Personally, I’d say that it’s very likely the case. Lots like this are patrolled by security and cleaning crews on an ongoing basis. It’s unlikely that they would not have noticed. (After all you did, and you lack the vested interest in the facility that they have.)

I also feel the need to question the presumptive attitude of your initial reaction.

What made you jump to the conclusion that it is a case of theft?

Did you consider that the owner of the car may have asked permission?

Did it occur that the DIA garage might not mind the EV charging there?
(Much as they don’t seem to mind everyone charging their phones and laptops inside the airport.)

Was your initial reaction some deep seeded mistrust of the world, or of EV owners, or was it perhaps an agenda of your own? – To drive traffic to your blog, perhaps?

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:51:18 +0000

Yep, I was just walking passed it and say, “hmmm that looks interesting”.

By: Christof

Christof — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:48:51 +0000

Thank you Dave! You managed to get people talking with that photo — did you just happen to find the car by complete chance?

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:15:30 +0000

No problem, I deleted it.

By: Christof

Christof — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:11:45 +0000

Oops – copied a bad link (Dave, would you mind deleting my previous entry?)

Here’s a better link to Facebook Plug in America (I think).

http://www.facebook.com/notes/plug-in-america/guerrilla-charging-theft-or-public-service/286235752086

By: James

James — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 05:13:30 +0000

The charging cable plugged into the Tesla costs $600 for a replacement.

If the person drove less than 100 miles distance to reach the airport, there was no need to even recharge while on the trip. I would have left my Tesla there (unplugged) as long as it had more than 100 miles of available range.

200+ mile range if the owner left the house fully charged before driving to the airport.

By: jbro

jbro — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:27:21 +0000

You are over-reacting. It should just be considered part of the rate. It would be like going after the 5 cents of electricity people “steal” form the airport to plug their laptop into the wall at the gate (if they can find one). Honestly, I think the person who did this is lucky thta the normal car thief raoming the lot doesn’t know that extension cord is worth about $200.

By: EVs R better

EVs R better — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:09:42 +0000

I think this is a bit of an overreaction. Assuming this Tesla driver drove all the way from C-Springs ~85 miles away, worst case Tesla driving consumes about 3 miles per KWh of electricity which at $.10 per KWh (which is slightly above the national average) cost the great city of Denver about $2.80. If it came from Boulder (~44 miles) it would cost about $1.40 in electricity and from Aurora (~17 miles), driving economically (4 mi/KWh), about $0.43. I suspect that the cost of scrubbing the oil stains on the pavement from gas burners at the DIA parking garage exceed this amount per car, as does the need to provide jump starts for gas burners that can’t start in cold weather.
On the other hand, if this Tesla provokes the rest of the auto industry (as well as Tesla) to produce cheaper, affordable electric cars, the savings to everyone will vastly exceed this insignificant cost.
Maybe a $3000 parking meter should be installed next to the outlet so that charging Tesla’s could pay for parking. Let’s see: for the C-spgs case at $3 into the meter, and assuming 100% occupation and 3 day average stays it would take 123 years to even pay for the parking meter. Maybe it would make more sense to just give the guy the juice (plugging is better for his battery, even if he doesn’t actually need to charge) if he pays for parking anyway, at least until there are enough electric cars to matter.