Burned by Tesla on idle fees. Something to know

[kort677]

Golden Rule people.

he who has the gold, makes the rules?

 

[Ulmo]

Oh dear, we do not want this thread to devolve into THAT debate.

A moderator brought it up.

CON 5 minute: Supercharging time predictions are inaccurate especially if you are sharing a charge spot, so you can get surprised by when your car is done charging. People have kids, etc, so getting the whole family back to a car before its done charging is challenging. Some superchargers are far away from good restaurants so you have to walk a long ways. Not worrying about when your car finished charging and doing fun stuff while you waited like eating at a nice restaurant was part of the carefree Tesla road trip experience that is now gone. Actual lines are rare except at particular superchargers, so Tesla should allow 10, 15 or X minutes grace instead.

You missed one of the biggest ones: SuperChargers stop for any reason at any time without notice.

Also, I take issue with your characterization of "some" superchargers being far away from good restaurants; most SuperChargers are a long walk away from anything useful at all. For instance, in Gilroy, you have a choice between corn-filled donuts at the 76 station, and ordering at Denny's which is certain to take way longer than your charge, and you'll spend 45 minutes just walking back and forth to the Denny's and moving your car, across a busy multi-lane road where you could easily be run over, all past a very seedy Motel. This is the typical experience at almost all SuperChargers; Love's is a 15 minute walk from Gustine; Subway is a 10 minute walk from Manteca (if that's what you want to eat even); Safeway is a 15 minute walk from Dublin; there's practically nothing at all at Mountain View, and that's after the most punishing wait of them all; going to the bathroom there becomes an exercise of immeasurable willpower (since there are no bathrooms there), and guaranteed you'll need to do so since that charging ordeal takes 25% of your waking non-working hours in a day.

The only SuperCharger I can recall anywhere in my regular travels that has anything useful nearby within a 5 minute walk is San Mateo, with that Whole Foods right there. But, that's hardly an endorsement for that SuperCharger experience, since the waits there are insane. Oxnard (not in my regular travels) had a Whole Foods about 10 minutes away (note: way longer than the 5 minute grace). Atascadero had a Subway, again, but at least it's a five minute walk, but I can't eat Subway any more (I'd OD on it). One time in Atascadero I went another direction and took 30 minutes to find nothing useful at all; by the time I got back, my car could have likely been way past stopped charging.

 

[apacheguy]

I've seen that. It is bad. But this thread is about idle fees and not Supercharging etiquette generally.

This thread has everything to do with Supercharger etiquette.

 

[bonnie]

Speaking of the 6 stall Supercharger in Hays, KS, I showed up there on 12/26/16, probably one of the busiest travel days of the holiday season. I found one inconsiderate local blocking half the stalls in the middle of the day.

Unfortunately, there's no way idle fees can be charged properly for someone who parks like this:
View attachment 257957

Oh god. I did that a few times when on a roadtrip with a trailer. (It saved me the few minutes of dropping/reconnecting.) But I left notes ALL over the car with my phone number. And had a seat in the restaurant where I could watch the Supercharger and run out and move if need be.

Worst nightmare would be a photo of my X on TMC with a note 'Bonnie blocked all the spaces'. hahah.

 

[ecarfan]

I've only ever seen the report of occupancy as an even number like "4 out of 8" never something odd like 3 of 8.

I have seen odd numbers of stalls reported in the car nav as being in use.

 

[JohnSnowNW]

I have seen odd numbers of stalls reported in the car nav as being in use.

I have also seen odd numbers, specifically 1 and 3.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Oh god. I did that a few times when on a roadtrip with a trailer. (It saved me the few minutes of dropping/reconnecting.) But I left notes ALL over the car with my phone number. And had a seat in the restaurant where I could watch the Supercharger and run out and move if need be.

Worst nightmare would be a photo of my X on TMC with a note 'Bonnie blocked all the spaces'. hahah.

With an X, a trailer and notes all over the car, I could be forgiving...but this guy had no excuse. I could tell from the license plate sticker that he was a local from within 30 miles or so. I have charged there half a dozen times over the past year but only have only seen this discourteous owner's car once.

 

[bonnie]

With an X, a trailer and notes all over the car, I could be forgiving...but this guy had no excuse. I could tell from the license plate sticker that he was a local from within 30 miles or so. I have charged there half a dozen times over the past year but only have only seen this discourteous owner's car once.

Plus, I would have been out there moving before you had time to take a photo .

 

[Carl]

Speaking of the 6 stall Supercharger in Hays, KS, I showed up there on 12/26/16, probably one of the busiest travel days of the holiday season. I found one inconsiderate local blocking half the stalls in the middle of the day.

Unfortunately, there's no way idle fees can be charged properly for someone who parks like this:
View attachment 257957

That guy either (a) is crazy, (b) was drunk or (c) just invented a perfect way to have a good night's sleep and avoid idle charges, by blocking half of the stalls himself

 

[MorrisonHiker]

That guy either (a) is crazy, (b) was drunk or (c) just invented a perfect way to have a good night's sleep and avoid idle charges, by blocking half of the stalls himself

Idle fees had just been announced but I don't know they'd started charging them yet. I think I Tweeted Elon asking how idle fees would be charged in circumstances such as that but didn't get a reply.

If there's a next time, I'll get the VIN and report it to Tesla.

 

[kort677]

Oh god. I did that a few times when on a roadtrip with a trailer. (It saved me the few minutes of dropping/reconnecting.) But I left notes ALL over the car with my phone number. And had a seat in the restaurant where I could watch the Supercharger and run out and move if need be.

Worst nightmare would be a photo of my X on TMC with a note 'Bonnie blocked all the spaces'. hahah.

if you are proactively watching the car while charging blocking the spaces at the lesser used locations isn't all that much of a problem. you'd be accused of causing a riot at some of locations in places like SoCAL that see a huge amount of usage.

 

[bonnie]

if you are proactively watching the car while charging blocking the spaces at the lesser used locations isn't all that much of a problem. you'd be accused of causing a riot at some of locations in places like SoCAL that see a huge amount of usage.

Truth. Gotta know your audience.

 

[efusco]

I'm in the camp of 'don't leave your car at a Supercharger after done charging'. I've seen remote locations fill up with a pod of Teslas coming through. (I can find some pics of Tesla Road Trip showing up at a remote location & several spots blocked because 'no one is ever here'.)

Usually I try to find a hotel with a Destination charger or J1772 (and I still leave my contact info on the car) - then I don't have to deal with any of that 'move your car' nonsense. But if I didn't have a choice, I'd leave it charging while I checked in & then would move it, and finish in the morning.

Everyone's time is valuable, I get that. Part of moving is because I do know of times where a bunch of Teslas show up at once. And part of it is because the next wave of EV owners will learn from us. We are role models for the next group of owners. If we're unwilling to move because we think we know better, they're going to be worse. It's a given.

Again, totally agree with this as a 'general guideline'. But there are also reasonable circumstances where dogmatically insisting on that as a rule is impractical and unnecessary.

 

[kort677]

The only SuperCharger I can recall anywhere in my regular travels that has anything useful nearby within a 5 minute walk is San Mateo, with that Whole Foods right there. ind nothing useful at all; by the time I got back, my car could have likely been way past stopped charging.

you need to see more of the world, in my part of the world SPCs located in desolate locations are not the norm. defuniak springs fla is in a poor location for services, about my worst experience was perry ok.
here the issue is that many SpCs are located in places where they become isolated and desolate outside of normal business hours.

 

[croman]

Again, totally agree with this as a 'general guideline'. But there are also reasonable circumstances where dogmatically insisting on that as a rule is impractical and unnecessary.

No rule is perfect. A spectacularly few things in life and binary. Its all shades of gray so I think everyone agrees generally but it boils down to whether your exemptions/exceptions to the rule are reasonable and it sounds like they are mostly edge cases (hence my gambling theory since the rule doesn't allow exemptions/exceptions).

 

[IdaX]

The other thing is plan your sleeping better. If you're so tired you can hardly stay awake while charging for 10 to 15 minutes, then were you even safe driving before you got there in the first place? When this was poorly planned by me, I ended up quite a few times parked somewhere where the car was not getting charged, then when I awoke, I'd still have to go to a charger. At least I could take a walk (in the same old boring SuperCharger location) when I got to the SuperCharger.

When arriving at a hotel with a supercharger:

(1) plug the car in
(2) get your bags out, walk to counter, check in, get to room, unpack, take a shower.
(3) unplug and move car

for me step (2) easily lasts half an hour (longer if they're incompetent at the front desk), so there's plenty of charge to get you to the next supercharger. Only issue comes in if you for some reason need to charge for 90 minutes to get to 100%. But do you *really* need to get to 100%?

 

[kort677]

No rule is perfect. A spectacularly few things in life and binary. Its all shades of gray so I think everyone agrees generally but it boils down to whether your exemptions/exceptions to the rule are reasonable and it sounds like they are mostly edge cases (hence my gambling theory since the rule doesn't allow exemptions/exceptions).

the grey, who interprets the grey and who is bound by the grey is the source of so many issues. eliminating as much grey as possible and things would function so much more efficiently.
see tokyo for an example of how a massively overcrowded city functions well because of strict societal norms.

 

[aesculus]

A few of us spent last weekend in Tonopah NV. I think we were the only Tesla's I saw in three days until I got back near CA. We charged daily as we were doing a lot of local travel and needed to range charge the night before to make it back without an additional intermediate charge. Even though we were sure we were the only Tesla's that were going to use the 8 chargers, we removed our cars promptly as soon as they were done charging. It was the right thing to do.

 

[croman]

the grey, who interprets the grey and who is bound by the grey is the source of so many issues. eliminating as much grey as possible and things would function so much more efficiently.
see tokyo for an example of how a massively overcrowded city functions well because of strict societal norms.

Even in Tokyo there are people who risk social stigma to violate "rules." (Smoking outside the designated smoking areas is one). I'm in favor of the rule, but I do acknowledge that its not perfect is all I'm saying. I could see how a couple exceptions would make sense.

 

[RayW]

140 replies and OP never did state what the fine is for parking overnight