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Destination Charging etiquette

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First post of a long time lurker here :) so be nice :)

Just wondering what the etiquette is of using destination charging. To me, politeness says you should be a customer of some description, I've seen people turn up, plug in and sit in the car or wander off and not buy anything which seems a little rude. Obviously you don't leave it plugged in for longer than you should and move when done and dont use the non tesla ones unless you have to that kinda thing.

But if so, what is the polite amount of custom. E.g you turn up to a hotel/spa etc to charge, do you buy a coffee, a meal, reserve the chargers for overnight stays etc? What if the place is closed and you are not in dire straights, do you charge anyway or move on?

I like to at least buy as much as it would cost the location in electric on a standard KWh rate so they don't really lose out(Often i'll spend a lot more than that) , but I guess it's in the same sort of thing as leaving a tip, but curious to know others thoughts on the matter.

Thanks :)
 
I’d say if it’s a hotel and your staying there then plug in and charge till you’ve got what you need / are full / you leave the next day... if your there for days and don’t need to maybe don’t plug in for days unnecessarily...

If it’s a shop, restaurant, etc then I’d say plug in do what your doing and leave as soon as you’ve got enough...

Unless it specifically says for “patrons only” then I don’t see anything wrong with plugging in when it’s empty if you need too.

Most of the destination chargers near where I am are in shopping centre car parks (with hourly parking charges) or hotels so they’re not really encouraging people plugging in and leaving the car for ages.
 
Cheers. the post above seems to be about unplugging when you are not using it(which is common sense) not when is it "polite" to plug in, in the first place or what to do if said place is closed(hope I read it right :) )
 
Cheers. the post above seems to be about unplugging when you are not using it(which is common sense) not when is it "polite" to plug in, in the first place or what to do if said place is closed(hope I read it right :) )

It's a general thread about exactly the same subject, the the best etiquette to use at destination charge points, really. Splitting the discussion over two threads only makes it harder when someone comes along later and does a topic search to see if something's already been addressed here or not. Might be an idea to ask the mods to merge these two threads together, to keep things tidy.
 
Unless it specifically says for “patrons only” then I don’t see anything wrong with plugging in when it’s empty if you need too.
The Tesla charger map gives the conditions of use for the destination chargers.I have yet to see one that was not for customers only . Some say call ahead/book but they all say for customers so unless you are a customer of the establishment it is probably not appropriate to use in theory
 
The dedicated Tesla destination charge points are all free for guests with Teslas, AFAIK, but hotels etc can charge for the use of the non-restricted Tesla charge points (i.e. the ones made by Tesla but that will charge other EVs). I believe that hotels etc that fit these have to have a minimum number of Tesla-only charge points before they can also have any of the Tesla "any EV" charge points.

We've been charged for using a Tesla "any EV" charge point at a hotel once (before I got the Tesla) but charges from Tesla destination charge points in the Tesla have always been free. We've come across a few hotels that charge a flat fee for use of their destination charge point, usually about a fiver. For example, the Hare and Hounds, Westonbirt, and the Broadway Hotel, Broadway, both charge a fiver for use of their charge points, the Royal Crescent, Bath and Burgh Island, both offer free destination charging. Every self catering place we've stayed at in the past few years has offered free destination charging, some just via an outdoor 13 A outlet, a couple with proper charge points. We've tended to leave a tip to cover charging costs at these places.
 
Given Tesla has announced that the WC v3 will support billing, I think charging will be more common.

hopefully it stays reasonable, but I feel like allowing places to break even might accelerate roll out. Free really isn’t sustainable long term.