Gas car parked at a Supercharger

[yo mama]

Those preferred parking spots for EVs are to get the building LEED points for being "green". The program is worse than useless-- it actually does a disservice by contributing to the image of EV owners being entitled. It's really unlikely anyone would buy an EV to get a better parking space. What we want are charging spaces, and we don't mind walking from a distant part of the parking lot to have them. LEED points should be given for providing EV charging, not preferred parking.

Eh, one of the many reasons I went Tesla was because of the single-driver carpool eligibility here in California. The preferred parking/charging spots sort of factored into that part of the decision. While not a driving factor it was something of a "plus" factor. Good parking is hard to find at Whole Foods!

 

[AEdennis]

Those preferred parking spots for EVs are to get the building LEED points for being "green". The program is worse than useless-- it actually does a disservice by contributing to the image of EV owners being entitled. It's really unlikely anyone would buy an EV to get a better parking space. What we want are charging spaces, and we don't mind walking from a distant part of the parking lot to have them. LEED points should be given for providing EV charging, not preferred parking.

Eh, one of the many reasons I went Tesla was because of the single-driver carpool eligibility here in California. The preferred parking/charging spots sort of factored into that part of the decision. While not a driving factor it was something of a "plus" factor. Good parking is hard to find at Whole Foods!

Ditto to @yo mama... At least with our first EV (the BMW Active E) but getting involved in the rEVolution made me accidentally environmental... Thus the title of my blog...

But, solo HOV access and good parking/charging spots is the "gateway" drug to a cleaner lifestyle.

 

[hsctiger93]

There's a positive flip-side to getting ICE'd.

Last Black Friday, on our way home from Jupiter Island, FL we stopped at the St. Augustine outlet supercharger to find not only orange cones blocking off all the supercharger spaces for Tesla, but a parking attendant present to keep an eye on the cars trying to move those cones. Hardly a space to find at the outlets that day... except for the spots at the Supercharger. It was a very kind gesture from mall management to do this. We got in, charged, ate, spent, then got out very easily.

 

[muleferg]

The Ugly Dog in Highlands NC. Drove by this place 8 times and did not see the charger. 3 ICE, i garbage can, And and a conifer blocking it.Didn't need a charge since i was staying at the Old Edwards Inn next door.

 

[MikeS85D]

Eh, one of the many reasons I went Tesla was because of the single-driver carpool eligibility here in California.

Me too. I'm still waiting for my white HOV stickers to arrive in the mail maybe today... I wonder how long the HOV lanes will be a useful perk though - Often on I-85 the HOV lane is just as busy as the regular lanes, mainly filled with EVs and hybrids rather than actual "high occupancy" drivers.

 

[BerTX]

I don't think spikes would be necessary, but some kind of barrier that could only be lowered by a car equipped for supercharging would go a long ways towards preventing this problem. It could be done with a firmware upgrade, though to do it well would probably require new hardware on the car.

As for the snake, I posted a while back that I think Tesla is thinking about that technology for a Supercharger upgrade at some point in the future.

The point and problem is, the property owner does not WANT the parking slots to be unavailable to non-Teslas. If they did, there would be signage to try to prevent it.

Tesla needs to avoid locating in places with these constraints.

 

[Max*]

Tesla needs to avoid locating in places with these constraints.

That's not always possible. If the choice is have a SpC at a rest area on a highway but have to share the parking space with ICE cars, or move the SpC 10s of miles out of the way, I'm 100% happy to share my spot with other vehicles.

 

[muleferg]

The SC in Burlington, NC that has the 30 min general parking, I have been there several times and never seen it be iced. I have never seen more than 2 Tesla. One good thing it's way back where its to long for people to walk to the movie.

 

[marcad80]

Print, Cut and Distribute, have left a few myself.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...es.pdf&usg=AFQjCNH8qP1da7GcVxeyN9Ue8MTU25fI0A

Enjoy!

 

[yo mama]

Me too. I'm still waiting for my white HOV stickers to arrive in the mail maybe today... I wonder how long the HOV lanes will be a useful perk though - Often on I-85 the HOV lane is just as busy as the regular lanes, mainly filled with EVs and hybrids rather than actual "high occupancy" drivers.

I got my decals and "registration" a week or so ago. I just can't bring myself to blemish the otherwise perfect body of my P85D - it's like putting a crappy tattoo on a beautiful person. I'm sorta of curious what the worst punishment possible is for driving in the HOV land without the stickers on, assuming the vehicle is otherwise authorized to use them.

 

[William13]

I believe a study should be done by Tesla to determine what works best to prevent ICEing. My observations: 1)Parking garages using green cones are never ICEd (theft of cones in open lots make this impractical ? ), 2)Green paint on the asphalt seems to work well, 3)multiple types of signs are used (efficacy should be monitored to see which work best).

I believe the green paint on the asphalt is needed. Full coverage.

 

[green1]

I believe a study should be done by Tesla to determine what works best to prevent ICEing. My observations: 1)Parking garages using green cones are never ICEd (theft of cones in open lots make this impractical ? ), 2)Green paint on the asphalt seems to work well, 3)multiple types of signs are used (efficacy should be monitored to see which work best).

I believe the green paint on the asphalt is needed. Full coverage.

Around here paint is pointless, not visible for half the year and wears out quickly. Signs are the important part.

 

[CSFTN]

Ditto to @yo mama... At least with our first EV (the BMW Active E) but getting involved in the rEVolution made me accidentally environmental... Thus the title of my blog...

But, solo HOV access and good parking/charging spots is the "gateway" drug to a cleaner lifestyle.

I am not aware of "preferred parking/charging spots." That smacks of elitism to me. Rather, there are facilities whose purpose is not to provide us with a special parking spot, but rather to enable the longer distance drives. Spots for charging are spots for charging, not parking.

 

[AEdennis]

I am not aware of "preferred parking/charging spots." That smacks of elitism to me. Rather, there are facilities whose purpose is not to provide us with a special parking spot, but rather to enable the longer distance drives. Spots for charging are spots for charging, not parking.

When charging at Level 2 speeds... You're effectively parked there for a LONG time. At 30A, how many miles can you add at 30 minutes of charging?

Just saying...

 

[Panoz]

Every page of this thread is a surprise. The UHauls with trailers parking the long way across charging spots take the cake.

 

[yo mama]

I am not aware of "preferred parking/charging spots." That smacks of elitism to me. Rather, there are facilities whose purpose is not to provide us with a special parking spot, but rather to enable the longer distance drives. Spots for charging are spots for charging, not parking.

Here in Hippieville, California places like Whole Foods put their EV charging/parking in the premium spots right up front. Very clear signage and people are mostly respectful. EVs are allowed to park there even if they aren't charging, plus they also have preferred "EV only" parking spots that *don't* have charging stations next to them. It's like preferred parking for expectant moms and/or "handicap" parking (or whatever the PC term is for those spots). I'm not sure I'd call it "elitism" but there is clearly an effort to encourage EV behavior from a social standpoint.

 

[Sasmania]

While this is definitely a problem when it happens to us individually, I have to say it's much more the exception than the norm. I just finished my trip where I hit 200 SuperChargers....

90% of the time I was the ONLY car, Tesla or otherwise
about 9% of the time there were a couple of other Teslas and no ICING
Maybe 2 times were SC's ICED and in both cases there were still plenty of open slots.
Only once, in CA of course, did I have to wait for an SC (about 15 minutes) but that was due to full Tesla usage.

One key is for Tesla to NOT take the prime spots...which in most cases they don't and this solves 95% of the ICING.

 

[brucet999]

While this is definitely a problem when it happens to us individually, I have to say it's much more the exception than the norm. I just finished my trip where I hit 200 SuperChargers....

200 SuperChargers! at 100 mi apart, that's a 20,000 mile trip.

I am more than impressed!

 

[ozweepay]

While this is definitely a problem when it happens to us individually, I have to say it's much more the exception than the norm. I just finished my trip where I hit 200 SuperChargers....

90% of the time I was the ONLY car, Tesla or otherwise
about 9% of the time there were a couple of other Teslas and no ICING
Maybe 2 times were SC's ICED and in both cases there were still plenty of open slots.
Only once, in CA of course, did I have to wait for an SC (about 15 minutes) but that was due to full Tesla usage.

One key is for Tesla to NOT take the prime spots...which in most cases they don't and this solves 95% of the ICING.

To contrast, I've been to a SC only once in my life, and the only car there was a Kia. So 100% ICEing for me so far.

 

[Max*]

To contrast, I've been to a SC only once in my life, and the only car there was a Kia. So 100% ICEing for me so far.

His margin of error is much smaller than yours /geek

I know you were joking