Charging Etiquette

[Vostok]

Would being able to check in via Plugshare from the car to start the session be a useful feature? What other features would improve Plugshare?

Automatic check-in and out via the car would be very handy, even if it was some “default” user for those who don’t have Plugshare accounts or enter those credentials into the car. Often I forget to check out, but if you specify an estimate of how long you will be there when you check-in, Plugshare checks you out automatically at the expiry of that time.

Extra features that would be good to add would be average time between check-ins and average charge duration, which would be a guide to likelihood of contention.

 

[moa999]

Given the current ownership of Plugshare (US charging company EVGo) I'm not hopeful, but some obvious internationalisation is needed, at the moment it's a bit of a fudge

- show correct Tesla CCS2/ Type 2 plugs
- distinguish Tesla only CCS2 vs open to all (at present just in Europe), but also for Type 2 wall chargers
- distinguish between tethered and integrated Type 2

Agree stats on usage, breakdown rate would be good.
As would be live usage. They've made some efforts in this regard with Evie and Jolt (but then the Jolt renumbering seems to have broken it)

 

[positiv]

Would being able to check in via Plugshare from the car .... be a useful feature?

Pretty sure you can already check in from the car. Plugshare has a Carplay App which works with most EV's out there.*

*Tesla doesn't support Carplay

 

[lS3toM3]

I'm tempted to get stickers made to put on council chargers. "Download plugshare and check-in" etc to raise awareness

 

[RareEarth]

Bega NRMA is a case in point. There was a queue on Friday, looking at Plugshare there is only one check in for that day (I didn't charge). Situation not helped by locals getting a free charge instead of charging at home (only guessing here but I assume this is happening).

Plugshare is good, especially for single chargers like this, but awareness of it is lacking. Best way to spread awareness is suggesting it and answering questions, not getting uppity.

 

[Onshore]

I really think the onus is on the infrastructure operators to provide a means to track the status of the equipment.

It's not up to the punters

 

[moa999]

Agreed, and it looks like NRMA will have an app (when the finally begin charging).

But neither their own app or Plugshare prevents the issue with single stall sites.
Even if you do check, and then decide to drive to the site, nothing can stop someone else arriving 30 seconds before you on low state of charge, meaning a 30-60 minute wait.
The only thing that reduces that risk is mult-stall sites

 

[Vostok]

Bega NRMA is a case in point. There was a queue on Friday, looking at Plugshare there is only one check in for that day (I didn't charge). Situation not helped by locals getting a free charge instead of charging at home (only guessing here but I assume this is happening).

I suspect part of congestion at NRMA sites is the fact that they are currently free. There is a section of the population that cannot resist “free” regardless of how wealthy they are and could afford to pay.

NRMA at Nabiac for example gets a seemingly disproportionate number of check-ins. And considering check-ins represent a dwindling fraction of use with a growing proportion of EV drivers not even knowing about Plugshare, one can conclude this site is being hammered. And yet 24 km up the road is a 350 kW Evie site with 2 stalls that gets far fewer check-ins. Evie indirectly called out the free NRMA charger at Nabiac in their recent report to ARENA as distorting the market.

So implementation of payment on NRMA sites can’t come soon enough In my opinion. When payment per kWh at these sites is more than what people pay at home for their electricity, this behaviour will stop overnight.

PS. NRMA Nabiac has been offline since 28 July and its Plugshare score has plummeted from 10.0 to 1.0 - just look at the number of check-ins prior, and the comments afterwards… and there appears to be an increase in check-ins at Evie Taree post that date

 

[Hairyman]

Would being able to check in via Plugshare from the car to start the session be a useful feature? What other features would improve Plugshare?

If PlugShare had access to more charging networks real-time usage it would make the issue go away. Evie does it already, can’t recall the others

 

[lS3toM3]

Nothing is free. These networks need to run and make money. Plug share is not going to provide this for free

 

[OzVic]

I'm tempted to get stickers made to put on council chargers. "Download plugshare and check-in" etc to raise awareness

Someone's put them on most of the Newcastle charge-points. Looks good, but not sure if it's helped much looking at the check-in frequency. I guess if it's impacted one person, we can call it a win..

 

[OzVic]

PS. NRMA Nabiac has been offline since 28 July and its Plugshare score has plummeted from 10.0 to 1.0 - just look at the number of check-ins prior, and the comments afterwards… and there appears to be an increase in check-ins at Evie Taree post that date

Anyone see any Evie staff around Nabiac on the 28th July?

 

[karlos22]

Using Plugshare is considerate, especially while we have limited charging infrastructure, being able to see if someone is there already and message each other. Abusing someone for not using it isn't the answer, maybe they'd never heard of it, it's always better to offer advice and people can take it or leave it.

I will never confront someone for not checking in, but personally it annoys the crap out of me and these days 9 times out of 10 people aren't checked in. Of course this is to be expected as EV's become more common.

I ALWAYS check in, except for Tesla Superchargers because the car shows available stalls in real time (unless there is some issue with a stall that hasn't been identified). However just about everywhere else, I leave a check in and mention when I am leaving. It is polite and allows the next person to plan accordingly. Seriously, how hard is that? The number of times I rock up at Chargefox or NRMA chargers and there is some car sitting there and not checked in, I just end up leaving because god knows how long I will be waiting for. I just move on to the next charger. Its annoying but I just move on, and to be fair there is no rule that says you HAVE to check in.

At the end of the day, this is why I bought a Tesla so I don't have to worry about this stuff. If chargers are being blocked, abused or just heavily used, I go to the SC - pay the premium and relax.

 

[Candleflame]

This is a topic which probably deserves its own thread @meloccom what do you think?

My views:

• Only park in an EV charging spot if you are actually plugged in and charging (natch)
• Unplug your car and move it as soon as practicable after charging is finished, especially if you are at a site with only 1 or 2 stalls
• Don’t charge to a level higher than necessary if the site is full or people are waiting
• Checking in on PlugShare is good etiquette on single-stall sites and non–networked sites (i.e. sites that do not provide real-time usage indicators on their respective Apps). Checking-in on such sites does a few things. Firstly it provides recent information to others as to whether a particular site is working - otherwise people would have no idea - and that can greatly relieve trip anxiety. Second, it helps people judge whether a site will be available when they go there but of course that is not foolproof. Someone might turn up 1 minute after the previous check-in or 1 month after the previous check-in (at more remote sites). Totally random.
• rage and anger have no place at an EV charging station.

I generally check-in at every public charger I use. But I have observed that people rarely do it at Tesla Superchargers for example and I think that is fine. At multi-stall sites with real-time availability information, checking in really doesn’t add any particular value that cannot already be obtained, maybe apart from usage history which gives an idea of congestion likelihood.

Which is why chucking a hissy-fit over someone not checking in is so petty and rude, particularly if it was a metro site with realtime availability information.

this has become a problem with a lot of SR users who now routinely go to the shopping centre to charge their car from 96 to 100% and then let it sit there.