Charging for not Charging

[jaanton]

I just left a free Blink charge station where a Chevy Volt had been connected for more than five hours and was still then when I left after I was done. Free charge stations are nice, but if they're just being used to park or taken for a whole day but only really charging for a few hours, it seems like the free station should no longer be free. More and more free charge stations are being blocked by EVs which have long finished charging.

How about putting a fee on connected by no longer charging vehicles? Say if a car is connected more than an hour after finishing charging then fees would kick in.
IMO these blocked chargers are getting significant.

 

[cwerdna]

Blink does that on many (most?) of their non-free stations.

If you look at the video at Electric Vehicle Charging by ChargePoint - ChargePoint Services Video, you'll see Chargepoint lets station owners set whether or not someone's charged only for actively charging vs. the whole time it's connected.

 

[Tharo]

all charge station should be free the first hour, then very expensive.

 

[jaanton]

I don't think you got my point. The point is that charging can be free, but blocking the spot costs.

 

[richkae]

Charging your car should be free. Parking in the spot should cost you money.
A parking meter is way better than a fancy EVSE with point-of-sale crap in it - plus it will keep the spot from being ICEd.

Parking meters! Parking meters! Parking meters!

 

[Tharo]

in a parking where all cars park for free, you can't pay for parking in a charging station, but you can pay for charge (a little).

 

[Lloyd]

You can charge for not unplugging after the free charge is done. It could be debited from your Blink account.

 

[Kipernicus]

Parking meters! Parking meters! Parking meters!

LOL I've never seen anyone so excited about what many consider to be the bane of urban existence, but I agree with you. Actually I agree with jaanton more but the meters thing was too funny.

 

[Robert.Boston]

Be careful what you wish for. Studies have shown that charging for stuff can actually backfire by removing the "moral" "do what's right" sense. Day care centers that charge for late pickup have a much more serious problem with late pickups: by putting a price on undesirable behavior, people are able to rationalize their behavior.

I would strongly prefer to see Tesla text msg you when your car is fully charged. The text would be especially powerful if it would say, "other people are waiting to use the supercharger."

 

[dnanian]

Even better, the Tesla application can notify you in various ways. No need to use generic texting...