Charge Point Etiquette ?

[jsollender]

So I parked at a free charge Point site at 8:30 am. Sign said 4 hr max charge time. Ok. At 12:30 my phone app notifies me that charger was disrupted and no further charging. That was interesting as last week I used same charger for 8+ hrs, so I thought it was not an auto disconnect but manually done. I was nearby and walked to my car to find indeed that the cable was no longer connected, but the black adapter was still locked in my charge port. Some leaf had wiggled into the next door motorcycle parking area and was connected. I didn't make eye contact with him, nor him of me. I walked away. Came back at 5 pm and my car had been reconnected and had sucked up more juice. Did I miss a confrontation that should have happened for disconnecting me or was I wrong to not move out of that spot after 4 hrs? By the way I did have to pay $13 for all day parking just like every other car in the lot. It was only the energy that was free...

 

[Kipernicus]

You should have moved after 4 hours.
They go low, we go high.
Those small battery cars (yes even the hybrids) generally need the charge more than we do.
Free public charging is like finding coins on the sidewalk. Nice but don't rely on it.

 

[kort677]

You should have moved after 4 hours.
They go low, we go high.
Those small battery cars (yes even the hybrids) generally need the charge more than we do.
Free public charging is like finding coins on the sidewalk. Nice but don't rely on it.

while I agree with observing the time limits posted those small battery car owners have zero standing to ever unplug another vehicle. that small battery car owner made a choice when he purchased that car.

 

[goneskiian]

At least you were plugged in. I walked by an S parked in a charging spot in a local mall parking garage that wasn't even plugged in. That's not even remotely OK.

Bottom line, if you don't need the charge (and Tesla's rarely do in around town driving) don't use the spot. If you do, and are charging don't complain when somebody that needs the charge more than you do, unplugs you. Hey, these Tesla's are expensive and we shouldn't castigate others who may not be able to afford one but is actually driving an EV. We're on the same team here, and until charge points get more ubiquitous we need to learn how to share.

My $.02 anyway.

 

[cgiGuy]

I'd say if he could see that the Chargepoint screen showed 4 hours of charging he had every right to unplug you. He may have been sitting there desperate for an hour waiting for it to hit 4. You have as much right to use the chargers as smaller battery cars, but shouldn't go beyond the posted time limit regardless of the cost to park there.

On the other hand, I work near a parking garage with chargers (no time limit) and walk past 5 spots with Leafs, Volts, Etc. every day in the morning and those same cars are still hooked up at 5pm. So they left their car sitting for probably 5-7 hours after it was full. Also not cool.

Broken record.. but a lot could be solved by throwing 110v outlets along 10-20 parking spots and letting people charge all day at those.

 

[kort677]

If you do, and are charging don't complain when somebody that needs the charge more than you do, unplugs you.

My $.02 anyway.

hmmm how does someone know your state of charge and your need for it, sorry bub, unplugging someone is a big no, no!

 

[kort677]

Broken record.. but a lot could be solved by throwing 110v outlets along 10-20 parking spots and letting people charge all day at those.

this is a good idea, I ran the same idea past the local airport authority and drew blanks. They claimed that it would be too costly to install many L2 chargers at the airport, I explained that people in long term parking do not need fast charging and the access to 110 outlets would suffice most people who use the lots, they responded that I had an interesting point but there are still no 110 outlets available.

 

[goneskiian]

hmmm how does someone know your state of charge and your need for it, sorry bub, unplugging someone is a big no, no!

If you're parking in those spots in your Tesla, get used to it, bub.

 

[kort677]

If you're parking in those spots in your Tesla, get used to it, bub.

wtf is that supposed to mean?

 

[Az_Rael]

hmmm how does someone know your state of charge and your need for it, sorry bub, unplugging someone is a big no, no!

Doesn't matter what anyone's state of charge is, the max allowed was 4 hours, period. Some places will ticket or tow if you exceed the time limits.

I probably would have unplugged if I could see the charge time on the readout said over 4 hours and I was waiting. If the charger was locked, I would have reported it to the parking security for them to ticket.

 

[McRat]

Only 4 hours of energy was free. EV stalls are for cars that are charging. They are not parking stalls. They are charging stalls.

The EVSE cable doesn't belong to you. If somebody unplugs it, you have no legal standing whatsoever. They did not have to touch your car, they touched the property of the EVSE owner.

You admit you saw a 4 hour max free charging (less than a cup of coffee worth), and you wanted to steal 4 more. You should not have to ask if stealing is wrong. That is bizarre to say the least. That has nothing to do with EV's.

Did you know that most BEV's can't go 100 miles? And that they out number Teslas over 2:1? Yes, it is REALLY common to see EVs "ice'g" J1772's. They don't even bother plugging in, I don't think some have an adapter. They believe EV Charging means Parking.

I blame the schools.

 

[goneskiian]

wtf is that supposed to mean?

I think they answered you well enough...

Doesn't matter what anyone's state of charge is, the max allowed was 4 hours, period. Some places will ticket or tow if you exceed the time limits.

I probably would have unplugged if I could see the charge time on the readout said over 4 hours and I was waiting. If the charger was locked, I would have reported it to the parking security for them to ticket.

Only 4 hours of energy was free. EV stalls are for cars that are charging. They are not parking stalls. They are charging stalls.

The EVSE cable doesn't belong to you. If somebody unplugs it, you have no legal standing whatsoever. They did not have to touch your car, they touched the property of the EVSE owner.

You admit you saw a 4 hour max free charging (less than a cup of coffee worth), and you wanted to steal 4 more. You should not have to ask if stealing is wrong. That is bizarre to say the least. That has nothing to do with EV's.

Did you know that most BEV's can't go 100 miles? And that they out number Teslas over 2:1? Yes, it is REALLY common to see EVs "ice'g" J1772's. They don't even bother plugging in, I don't think some have an adapter. They believe EV Charging means Parking.

I blame the schools.

 

[goneskiian]

this is a good idea, I ran the same idea past the local airport authority and drew blanks. They claimed that it would be too costly to install many L2 chargers at the airport, I explained that people in long term parking do not need fast charging and the access to 110 outlets would suffice most people who use the lots, they responded that I had an interesting point but there are still no 110 outlets available.

I applaud your efforts on this. We can only hope airports and other long term parking areas can be educated on this and have those 110 outlets installed.

 

[K-MTG]

When I stayed at the Hilton Union Square in SF, this Jeep double parked between two charging spots (J1772/HPWC). Called security but they didn't even know they had charging stations LOL

Luckily the Jeep left

 

[jsollender]

I tend to agree that at 4 hrs i was ripe for anyone to unplug me. I have trouble though that i did pay $13 like every one else for a specific stall number for 8 hours of parking. The paid parkung was stall specific and if i moved to another stall i would have had to pay another $13 if i wanted to stay till 6 pm. Does my payment for that spot from 8:30-6pm change anyones tune?

 

[Chuq]

As I understand it there is an informal "gentlemans agreement" regarding EV charging.

First priority are the short range EVs (Leafs, i-MieVs)
Second priority are the long range EVs (Teslas)
Third priority are the plugin hybrids (Outlanders)
Last priority are non-plugin hybrids, they shouldn't even be there at all!

The reasoning is that the first category are more likely to need the charge to get where they are going. Teslas are less likely, plus they have more options (destination chargers and superchargers). PHEVs do not *need* a charge at all since they can use petrol.

HOWEVER... this doesn't take into account stopping other peoples charge. Which of course you shouldn't do without their permission. Does the four hour free charging stop automatically? If so, he didn't technically stop your charging, and more likely he helped you out by plugging it back in again afterwards which kick off a new session!

A question - did you need four hours of charging in order to get to your next destination? Or was it just opportunity charging?

Get a sign like this: Electric Vehicle Charging Hangers

If you don't *need* the charge, hang the green side out. If you really need that charge, hang it with the red side visible.

As an aside, it is possible to buy/make an adaptor to allow a Tesla destination charger (at least, with the plug used in Australia) into a J1772 socket such as on a Nissan Leaf. The "gentlemens agreement" works the other way in this situation. Non-Tesla owners understand that Tesla owners indirectly paid for the supply and install of the equipment and will defer to a Tesla owner.

 

[Az_Rael]

I tend to agree that at 4 hrs i was ripe for anyone to unplug me. I have trouble though that i did pay $13 like every one else for a specific stall number for 8 hours of parking. The paid parkung was stall specific and if i moved to another stall i would have had to pay another $13 if i wanted to stay till 6 pm. Does my payment for that spot from 8:30-6pm change anyones tune?

That is terrible parking lot design. I probably wouldn't charge there at all with that sort of system. If I regularly needed to charge there, I would contact the parking lot management company and ask them to change the policy. Either by allowing folks to move for free from the EV spot, or by changing the signage on the EV spot to 8 hours.

Unfortunately, a lot of folks haven't really figured out the whole EV charging spot thing, and the people who set that up probably didn't really consider all the consequences when they did.

Edit: after thinking about it, its possible the conflict is by design, since the chargers are free, Someone is paying for that electricity, and so the parking lot might consider the $13 for only 4 hours the "payment" for the juice. Either way, if you want to use the spot regularly, you need to get it all clarified with the company.

 

[vandacca]

I tend to agree that at 4 hrs i was ripe for anyone to unplug me. I have trouble though that i did pay $13 like every one else for a specific stall number for 8 hours of parking. The paid parkung was stall specific and if i moved to another stall i would have had to pay another $13 if i wanted to stay till 6 pm. Does my payment for that spot from 8:30-6pm change anyones tune?

Sounds like a flaw in logic. Parking is for 8 hours, but charging is only 4. Doesn't add up and they need to be in-synch. It would be like a Math teacher giving away 10 comic books to 3 students and telling them to split it between themselves.

 

[McRat]

To the OP:

I apologize for assuming you were trying to get more power than you are allowed. I did not know about the assigned parking.

However, it doesn't change the purpose of an EV stall. You need to clear it within the prescribed time, or not use it. It would suck if they charged you twice, but $13 is actually in the range of normal cost for plugging in. So if you did pay $26, $13 would be for juice (about $5 worth).

 

[hmcgregoraz]

Personally I find around town charging to be almost useless especially if it costs $.

We have a Plug-In Prius, which we did use the free charging at a local used book store a bit, when they moved to $, it was not worth the effort. The reason we used it was not the savings per say, it was to make sure the used book store knew that it was used and valued.

We also have a Leaf, and have only used public charging once, and our Nissan dealer charging once. When we did need it at the Nissan dealer a second time, the level 3 charger was down, and NO estimated time to repair. The manager at the Nissan dealer sent us over to the sister Ford dealer as they "just installed a level 3", no, they had a Level 2. We charged for 20 minutes, which was enough to give us some grace to limp home.

We have a Model X on order, and I highly doubt we will use public charging except possibly on trips to Phoenix.

One of our more common destinations in California has 120V outlets and dedicated Charging parking, which we use with our Plug-In Prius. I have complained to the front desk when there were non Plug-In vehicles in the spots, but they have enough spots it's not much of an issue.

The problem with public charging is that most of it is going paid, which will greatly reduce the usage, and free ones attract people who really don't need to use them.

I plan to have a postcard on the windshield with a Google Voice number on it so that people can contact us if they need the spot.

-Harry