Charging etiquette for Tesla owners

[ShotgunF15E]

The solution, IMHO, is simple:

1) Don't park if there if you're not charging (else you get a ticket from parking enforcement officers)
2) If you are charging, you get a free 5 min grace period when the battery is full, then it's a heavy $$$/min fee to stay connected.

It should be similar to a city street parking meter.

Lastly, all EV charging stations (including Tesla's) should be network connected to report real-time occupancy stats. There is no excuse to not know how many open slots are are any given station.

 

[Bonlaw]

This is a site I regularly use and also report.

 

[John Stuckey]

What are your thoughts about leaving my MS plugged into a SC when I am the only Tesla user at the site? I have a placard with my name and cell number on it with a message to call me if anyone needs my spot. I have never seen more than one other car at an SC and 99% of the time I am the only car. Sometimes when I go to lunch I plug in to a SC just to advertise Tesla. I have not gotten a nasty-gram from the mothership. PS I live a long way from the East/ West coasts and have never used anything but an SC and my home HPWC.

 

[Andyw2100]

In silicone valley I saw all the superchargers always busy during rush hour at multiple stations. We saw it on this forum around Christmas where Tejon pass had 1 to 1.5 hr wait times. If the Tesla owners used plugshare the backlog of cars and extended wait times could have been avoided. Those traveling could have spent more time at the previous supercharger and avoid the congested stations.

The problem is even if you could get 100% of the Tesla owners who use TMC to use Plugshare 100% of the time they Supercharge, you'd still wind up with 80 or 90% of Supercharger use not being entered into Plugshare. The solution to the problem you would like to see solved is not Plugshare. The solution to the problem you would like to see solved is Tesla incorporating information into the Tesla apps and possibly into the Trip Planner about real-time supercharging activity.

Tesla has the ability to solve the problem almost perfectly. Nothing else can even come close.

 

[Andyw2100]

What are your thoughts about leaving my MS plugged into a SC when I am the only Tesla user at the site? I have a placard with my name and cell number on it with a message to call me if anyone needs my spot. I have never seen more than one other car at an SC and 99% of the time I am the only car. Sometimes when I go to lunch I plug in to a SC just to advertise Tesla. I have not gotten a nasty-gram from the mothership. PS I live a long way from the East/ West coasts and have never used anything but an SC and my home HPWC.

I have no problem with this.

The chances that the SC fills up are quite slim, and you have made yourself reachable in the event that it does fill up. I wouldn't sweat it.

 

[Darryl]

What are your thoughts about leaving my MS plugged into a SC when I am the only Tesla user at the site? I have a placard with my name and cell number on it with a message to call me if anyone needs my spot. I have never seen more than one other car at an SC and 99% of the time I am the only car. Sometimes when I go to lunch I plug in to a SC just to advertise Tesla. I have not gotten a nasty-gram from the mothership. PS I live a long way from the East/ West coasts and have never used anything but an SC and my home HPWC.

This this is no different than non-handicap people parking in handicap parking spots. When questioned they say no one was using it or I am not parked I am just waiting for someone and have the car running. I have been disabled for 20 years. There are days I can get way with just a cain, other days I am in a wheel chair. I will eventually be in a wheel chair all of the time. (Three spinal surgeries in four years, six spinal surgeries total) I have to get out of the car, get my wheel chair out to go up and ask the people to move, then if they do move I have to go back to the car put the wheelchair in the car and move the car into the parking spot (if someone else hasn't already parked there. Sometimes they say "I am not parked i am waiting for someone." and sometimes they don't move until you call the police. Usually when you get your camera out and start to take a picture they move and at the same time calling you named. You also have to worry they are crazy and have a gun. I have had a gun pointed at me. If I have an appointment I usually have to arrive 20-30 minutes ahead of schedule.

I recently volunteered at a EV show. It was on the property of a large government aerospace contractor. There were eight charging spots, four of the spots were taken up by EV cars but none were plugged in, the other four spaces were taken by non-EV cars and the four handicap spots were taken by cars without handicap stickers are placards. Twelve spots and none of them with legally parked cars. I asked the security guard who said the spots weren't being used so they allowed anyone to park in them, I asked where I could complain and they said I would have to complain in person in a different building. When I got to the other building the two handicap spots were taken by non-handicap people. I turned around and went home. I know a lot of people abuse handicap spots just like there are many who abuse EV parking privilege. I and others complained to the police about a grocery store handicap parking they had someone who would patrol the lot. This reduced the abuse. I think reporting to the police people who park illegally by taking a picture of the car making sure to get the plate and lack of a plugged in cord and sending it to the police is a way to push the issue. The Model X works great as it is easy for me to get in and out and easy to store and access my wheelchair.

 

[GKwey]

OMG, @Darryl. Are you serious? You are handicapped and you drive a P90DL MX? How your body handle the ludicrous mode?

 

[BertL]

What are your thoughts about leaving my MS plugged into a SC when I am the only Tesla user at the site? I have a placard with my name and cell number on it with a message to call me if anyone needs my spot. I have never seen more than one other car at an SC and 99% of the time I am the only car. Sometimes when I go to lunch I plug in to a SC just to advertise Tesla. I have not gotten a nasty-gram from the mothership. PS I live a long way from the East/ West coasts and have never used anything but an SC and my home HPWC.

I personally also have no problem with this, as it's close to what I do including the placard -- except that as soon as my charge is complete, I do go move my MS as soon as I've finished my meal or can get back to the MS. I never want someone to think I'm using a charging spot as a parking stall -- ever. While "advertisement" is an interesting concept, I figure there are enough logos on the Spc to make up for not having my MS parked there at the same time, and my MS being somewhere else actually does a better job of getting the word out.

 

[Andyw2100]

This this is no different than non-handicap people parking in handicap parking spots. When questioned they say no one was using it or I am not parked I am just waiting for someone and have the car running. I have been disabled for 20 years. There are days I can get way with just a cain, other days I am in a wheel chair. I will eventually be in a wheel chair all of the time. (Three spinal surgeries in four years, six spinal surgeries total) I have to get out of the car, get my wheel chair out to go up and ask the people to move, then if they do move I have to go back to the car put the wheelchair in the car and move the car into the parking spot (if someone else hasn't already parked there. Sometimes they say "I am not parked i am waiting for someone." and sometimes they don't move until you call the police. Usually when you get your camera out and start to take a picture they move and at the same time calling you named. You also have to worry they are crazy and have a gun. I have had a gun pointed at me. If I have an appointment I usually have to arrive 20-30 minutes ahead of schedule.

I recently volunteered at a EV show. It was on the property of a large government aerospace contractor. There were eight charging spots, four of the spots were taken up by EV cars but none were plugged in, the other four spaces were taken by non-EV cars and the four handicap spots were taken by cars without handicap stickers are placards. Twelve spots and none of them with legally parked cars. I asked the security guard who said the spots weren't being used so they allowed anyone to park in them, I asked where I could complain and they said I would have to complain in person in a different building. When I got to the other building the two handicap spots were taken by non-handicap people. I turned around and went home. I know a lot of people abuse handicap spots just like there are many who abuse EV parking privilege. I and others complained to the police about a grocery store handicap parking they had someone who would patrol the lot. This reduced the abuse. I think reporting to the police people who park illegally by taking a picture of the car making sure to get the plate and lack of a plugged in cord and sending it to the police is a way to push the issue. The Model X works great as it is easy for me to get in and out and easy to store and access my wheelchair.

 

[Andyw2100]

What are your thoughts about leaving my MS plugged into a SC when I am the only Tesla user at the site? I have a placard with my name and cell number on it with a message to call me if anyone needs my spot. I have never seen more than one other car at an SC and 99% of the time I am the only car. Sometimes when I go to lunch I plug in to a SC just to advertise Tesla. I have not gotten a nasty-gram from the mothership. PS I live a long way from the East/ West coasts and have never used anything but an SC and my home HPWC.

This this is no different than non-handicap people parking in handicap parking spots.

I'm sorry, Darryl, but it is completely different. Night and day different. Not in any way the same. I can't say this emphatically enough to demonstrate how strongly I feel that you are wrong.

When inconsiderate people park in handicap spots, they have no way of knowing how many people who truly need those spots may be coming along that may need them. And as you point out, even if the person remains in the car, it could be very inconvenient for the person with the handicap permit to have to get out of their car to communicate with person who parked illegally, etc.

In the situation John Stuckey describes, there is a 99.999% certainty that the charging spots are not going to fill up with other Teslas and then result in someone showing up and not being able to charge. In the parts of the country he is talking about there just aren't enough Teslas for that to happen. I would feel differently if we were talking about California, or perhaps if we were having this conversation in a few years, but we're not. On top of that, John Stuckey is leaving his contact information, so in the 1 in 100,000 chance that all the spots fill up and another car needs to charge, that person is going to be inconvenienced perhaps five or ten minutes, at the most.

It really is nothing like parking in a handicap spot.

 

[SBerg]

I know this is an old thread but something happened today I want to share. There are two public level 2 chargers by my work. I commute 40 miles so I plug in for 4 hours and leave. Today both spots were taken (one not charging) so I left a note on each car to give me a call when done. A guy from Malibu driving a Nissan gave me a call, even though he was not one of the squatters. I thought, how nice! When I get there he give me a lecture about how these chargers are for folks like him on the road who NEED to charge. He was oozing attitude so I pretty well just listened and went about hooking up. Finally had enough when he said "if you can afford a Tesla you can afford to charge at home." I told him these are public chargers, I only charge 4 hours and I leave a note on my car so people can call if they need to charge and didn't understand why he was blasting me. He blabbered on more about how I drive electric just for the image and he drives one for the environment, blah, blah, blah. I walked away.

 

[TexasEV]

You probably did the right thing by just ignoring him. I would have found it hard to resist telling him that level 2 charging isn't intended for people "on the road", it's for people who will be parked for an extended time.

 

[AEdennis]

...When I get there he give me a lecture about how these chargers are for folks like him on the road who NEED to charge. He was oozing attitude so I pretty well just listened and went about hooking up. Finally had enough when he said "if you can afford a Tesla you can afford to charge at home." I told him these are public chargers, I only charge 4 hours and I leave a note on my car so people can call if they need to charge and didn't understand why he was blasting me. He blabbered on more about how I drive electric just for the image and he drives one for the environment, blah, blah, blah. I walked away.

Well, you do need the charge, electricity is your fuel and you have every right to charge for the limit, just because he decided to get a Leaf instead of a Tesla doesn't preclude you from getting your charge. You are a member of the public.

You probably did the right thing by just ignoring him. I would have found it hard to resist telling him that level 2 charging isn't intended for people "on the road", it's for people who will be parked for an extended time.

Perhaps the Leaf purchased a model with no CHAdeMO. There are plenty of EVs that have no DCFC capability. Roadsters have travelled all over (and at least one around the world) without any DCFC of any sort, from Level 1 to Level 2 charging.