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Fist fight over spot at Supercharger

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David99

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Supporting Member
Jan 31, 2014
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After owning Tesla for 7 years and visiting 500 Superchargers, I just witnessed my first fist fight at one. At Phoenix Camelback two guys had an argument over a spot. They got in each other's face and then both ended up finding a spot next to each other. Instead of being content, they got out of their cars and eventually fits started flying. I tried to get between them as much as I could but when two people are in full on rage it's hard to do without getting hurt yourself.

Fortunately with a few other people we were able to separate them and eventually both drove off. Pretty sad to see this. I'm sure it will blow up on social media as several people were recording it.
 
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I have to admit that my temper has risen at a couple of crowded Electrify America sites (certainly not to the point of fighting though!).

In one case after waiting for 3 other cars ahead of us in line at a busy 4-stall site, we finally plug in and are getting crap charge rate out of the charging station. A second stall opened up, which was working for the previous driver, but it was showing as unavailable in our app (which is key, because we got free charging with our VW, but we had to start it with the app and not the credit card reader). So finally a third stall opened up and I got out to unplug our car, but just as my wife started to pull out to move to the new stall, a Bolt drives in and parks in the newly opened stall (a 350kW unit). I try to explain our situation, that we had been waiting for 40 minutes just for a stall to open up and really needed to use that stall, and could they use the 150kW unit instead, since their Bolt wouldn't be able to take advantage of the 350kW power anyway, to which they explained to me that their Bolt was capable of charging at 250kW (pretty sure they were confusing their range with power!) and that they only got full speed charging from the 350kW units. I did finally get them to park in the 150kW stall, but then they grab the cord from the adjacent 350kW unit (that we had intended to use) and start charging from it (which is worse, because now they are essentially taking up two stalls!). They told us that we could just use the other cord. I told them that it doesn't work like that! Only one cord could be used at a time. Of course the wife in their car is getting furious with us and telling us we have no idea how the Bolt works and that their dealer said they had a newer model which could charge at 250kW! (of course my wife's previous car was a Bolt, so we are very familiar with them)

At this point, fortunately, the 4th stall opened up and we moved over to it and start charging at our expected rate. But meanwhile a Polestar driver pulls up and tries using the 350kW unit (which the Bolt owner is trying to get working). I wasn't paying close attention, but ultimately they do finally figure out that no, you can't use both cords at the same time. The guy came over and apologized and told us that no, they weren't actually getting 250kW charge rate into their car, it was the 50kW that we had been telling them all along that is all the car would support.

The other incident was at another busy site. This one had one broken stall (out of 4) leaving only 3, and one of those was being used by a Nissan Aryia prototype (they had just finished covering it up as we arrived). We were again having problems with the stall we were in, so when the car next to us left, we were about to pull over into it when again, a Bolt pulls up and started to pull into that spot. This guy was very understanding and let us use the new spot while he used the one we pulled out of (he was able to get 50kW out of it, and we were able to get close to our 125kW out of the one we moved to). The problem here was the Aryia. They were going to charge that baby up to 100%. And when it was finally done, they had to take time to uncover it, and then do some kind of paperwork. Meanwhile a line is growing at this site. A Mach-E with a husband, wife and baby pulls up and starts waiting for the Aryia to move. Which they don't. They are done charging and unplugged and refuse to move the car until they do whatever paperwork they have to do. Both me and the Bolt driver try to politely ask them if they can just move their car out of the spot so the Mach-E can charge. Nope. Their procedure does not allow them to do that. Which is ridiculous, but I get that some engineer somewhere probably created this procedure that they have to follow. But at some point it starts getting ridiculous. They are tying up this spot for like 20 minutes while the poor Mach-E is waiting.

So this is where I start getting upset, and have to write this confession! I start taking pictures of the Aryia. It's not like I really care or I'm out to post them to social media, but wow, did that get their attention! They tell me that I'm not allowed to take pictures (in a public parking lot remember!) that it's against their policy. Whatever...I told them that if they move their car I'd be happy to stop. Well, they call up their boss and explain to me that their boss says I can't take pictures. Well, I said I'd like to talk to their boss, so I get even closer to the car so I can get closer to the phone, and boy they liked that even less--you're not allowed to see inside this car! I was trying to play it cool and keep it polite, but wow, these two ladies were yelling and screaming at me, as I was trying to explain to their boss that their procedures were seriously inconveniencing other travelers including a young family with a baby who had been waiting for 15-20 minutes after the Aryia had completed charging.

So while I certainly don't condone getting into heated arguments (and certainly not fighting), I'm not surprised that tempers would flare at busy stations. It's bad enough at a gas station where you might have to pick a lane to get in, and then find out that the lane you picked winds up being very slow. If there is not a good way to manage the queue at full or nearly full charging stations where one stall might empty in 2 minutes and another 30 minutes, it's going to get nasty out there.
 
After owning Tesla for 7 years and visiting 500 Superchargers, I just witnessed my first fist fight at one. At Phoenix Camelback two guys had an argument over a spot. They got in each other's face and then both ended up finding a spot next to each other. Instead of being content, they got out of their cars and eventually fits started flying. I tried to get between them as much as I could but when two people are in full on rage it's hard to do without getting hurt yourself.

Fortunately with a few other people we were able to separate them and eventually both drove off. Pretty sad to see this. I'm sure it will blow up on social media as several people were recording it.
Although I've never used this SC, it has a reputation as having a high number of altercations. I've heard the layout doesn't lend itself to a clear first come first served que.
 
Yes it's a busy parking lot and it's difficult to see both sides. I am usually not in a rush and stay on one side and just wait. But others try to race around to the other side to get a spot while someone else is waiting on that side.

I think it's a terrible thing in general. It shines a really poor light on Tesla owners.
Although I've never used this SC, it has a reputation as having a high number of altercations. I've heard the layout doesn't lend itself to a clear first come first served que.
 
After owning Tesla for 7 years and visiting 500 Superchargers, I just witnessed my first fist fight at one. At Phoenix Camelback two guys had an argument over a spot. They got in each other's face and then both ended up finding a spot next to each other. Instead of being content, they got out of their cars and eventually fits started flying. I tried to get between them as much as I could but when two people are in full on rage it's hard to do without getting hurt yourself.

Fortunately with a few other people we were able to separate them and eventually both drove off. Pretty sad to see this. I'm sure it will blow up on social media as several people were recording it.
What? No WORLDSTAR! video??