Great story, I'm staying in Atlanta all next week with my new PIP. I called the hotel to see if there were any outlets in the parking garage. The hotel took the time to not only look for the outlets, but they also tested them. They told me to call ahead of time and that they would block off the outlet location just for little old me! Wow what service! My whole week will be gas free! :rockon: Hopefully Hotels will add this to the list of amenities and allocate parking areas for Plug-in vehicles. Please share your story.....
Personally, I think they will soon "wise up" as they did with wi-fi and see it as a new, additional revenue stream.
That deserves a letter to their management/customer service! Make sure to take care of them for helping you out.
doubtfull, 3 hours of charging might set them back .50 in electricty, but make a very happy guest, who will tell lots of other people, they get a lot of bang for the buck with free word of mouth on this issue. If they put in commercial EVSE's, many of them allow the venue to set the price, so that might be a different story, but using an outlet they already have? they are not going to worry about that.. even a Nissan Leaf overnight would not set them back more than a buck or two. This is less than the cost of the mints they put on pillows or their "lost towels"
Great service - I would notify the management and let them know that you will now be searching for hotels that can provide that service.
Another story from Portland area. I drove into a meeting at the Clackamas County Public Service building in Oregon City yesterday. I was surprised to find a "blink" charging station in the parking lot. I tried to plug in, but found that I need a card to activate the charging station. After an inquiry I found a web page on line https://www.blinknetwork.com/membership.html where I signed up for a card. I then downloaded an app for my droid phone and it shows "blink" charging stations all over the Portland area. I had no idea such a system was in place. Does any other area of the country have this system? I'm now over 300 miles and showing 67 mpg with 31% EV and 69% HV.
There are Blink charging points scattered around a few other areas but the last time I checked they were strongest in Washington and Oregon. Around California the ChargePoint system is more common. They have their own RFID card and smartphone app but there is also an "800" number listed on the charging station that you can call to gain access if you don't already have the card.
That's the whole point. It would be a highly profitable revenue stream. :rockon: Remember right after Al Gore invented the interweb and you could tap into the hotel phone lines with your awesome 14.4k modem for free? That's how it is for EV's right now. Hotels eventually saw they could charge for providing this service but the market eventually matured to the present where it is "free" but really bundled into the room cost. Once there are enough plug-in travelers, I think the costs of all those chargers will first be charged to the room (pun not intended) but eventually as the BEV/PHEV market matures the costs will be shared by all through higher room rates. Just a guess.
There a number of public Blink chargers deployed around San Diego already and more are coming. The locations so far include Balboa Park, Ikea (Mission Valley), certain hotels, some businesses (Qualcomm), etc. I have used a couple of these for my Leaf, however, I have not really needed them to extend the range to get back home -- just wanted to try them out. I am finding that I have very little need to charge my Leaf outside of my garage where my Blink Level II charger is installed. It was provided and installed for free as part of the early adopter program to gather charging / driving data. We will most like only charge the PiP at home with the Level I EVSE that comes with the car. We'll leave the EVSE in the garage. On occasion, we may use our Blink instead if we need a faster charge for the Prius. If I did not already have the Blink, I would not buy one just for the PiP. I would sooner put that money toward an EV (and then get the Level II charger). I charged my Leaf on Level I for two weeks before my Level II was installed. It worked fine, just took longer.
Isn't funny how things tend to stick -- whether true or not!? Al Gore never claimed he invented the Internet, but he did help provide funding for its research and development. It was the other party that made up the story that he claimed to have invented the Internet.
My first drive-thru experience with the PHV was this morning. Tired & hungry, there was little interest in bringing attention to the technology. So, I didn't say anything at the window to pay. However, I had noticed how being close to the wall and under the awning channeled the osolating drown of the pedestrian warning sound. Turns out, the guy taking my money did too... the moment I lifted my foot off the brake. All of a sudden, he's hanging out the window trying to determine what had just alerted his senses to my vehicle being different. He peered at me dumbfounded. I looked back and said, "Plug-In Prius; 100 Miles Per Gallon". His jawed dropped as I slowly pulled away. Think I made an impression? .
I don't pick up my PiP for another week and a half. I have had my ChargePoint and Blink RFID cards for a couple of months. The site I like is CarStations.com. What I like about this site is if you find a charge station that isn't on their map, you can add it. I have added about 20 charging stations in our area over the last few months - with photos.
I checked out public charging stations in my area (Redlands, CA) before my PIP arrived. I also like the CarStations.com site and App, as it shows charging stations from many networks, Nissan, GM, Blink, Chargepoint etc. I'm not too comfortable driving my PIP into a Nissan dealer to use their charging station. Does anyone have experience with using Nissan dealers charging stations for their PIP or Volt? I've found that many folks park their ICE in a charging station blocking access to the charger. There are no signs at the local Blink charging station to indicate EV / PEV charging only. There was some controversy in CA when a new law (AB475), backed by GM, allowed Plug ins the same access to public charging stations as EV's. It's somewhat of a moot point if the spots are blocked by ICEs.
My dad, an attorney, used to carry a few pre-printed cards with some flowery verbage to leave under windshield wipers of cars that took up two places. Now we have this website: youparklikeanasshole.com I'm sure that a box for blocking EVSE stations can be added.
