Its bad enough when you get ICE'd at a charger, but it seems worse to get EV'd by a fellow Tesla owner. They should know better. I had to leave one Supercharger because it was full. Some by cars just parked there. Got the last one at another nearby one. X next to me looks parked for a while and not plugged in. Does the car lock the charge port? Or could someone just go up and plug them back in? They'll have to come out either way to either unplug or face idle fees. Makes the point either way. What are your opinions?
Pretty sure the chargeport is locked with the rest of the car and won't respond to the button on the cable after the car locks.
That must be it. Best to be helpful. It's actually quite a long walk to the nearest store or bathroom and it's really hot today. I'm sure they don't wanna come out to a low battery.
folks really need to use their app.. double check the car is locked, check the kw charging speed... 'forgetting' to plug in after driving to a supercharger is mind boggling
I'm reminded of the time (and it wasn't the last) that a brand new Dolt owner drove right into an SC stall and appeared to experience some sort of a cognitive disconnect. For you see, his 2 charging ports were forward, and the SC cable was aft. Security was on the spot and quickly informed the driver that he needed to leave immediately. The driver opined that his salesman the night before stated that he "could charge anywhere" and that "the car told him to come here". Turns out there was a bank of Clipper Creek L2s on the other side of some shrubbery (Ni! Sorry - reflex reaction). The security fellow kindly directed him thereto. The driver couldn't get those to work either but at least the cable reached and the connector was compatible with his J-1772 port. I fear there will be more such incidents as other manufacturers finally get into the game in excess of 100- or 200-mile ranges. I've long opined that ICEing by our own has been, is, and will remain our #1 problem at SCs. As the model transitions to one in which everybody pays (and that day is coming - the current crop of S/X with lifetime charging included won't last forever), maybe that changes and maybe it doesn't. For now, I'd like to see idle fees significantly increased after 60 minutes lifetime to $1/min and after 120 minutes to $5/min. Once HD mapping and 10cm GPS become realities in TeslaWorld, it won't matter whether the car is charging or not or plugged in or not. I have noooooo problem making things financially inconvenient for those who are inconsiderate and/or who waste my time. One wonders if waaaaay down the road with solar/battery arrays and much faster charging if Tesla will make charging free for all Tesla owners again - as a competitive advantage. There are arguments on both sides of that coin, of course. The usual exclusionist contingent would of course have a cow, but it would be worth it to see them squirm.
Maybe once they get the snake chargers deployed and FSD sorted out for low speeds on private property, they make auto valet charging only free for everyone - the car will park itself, charge, and move out of the space when charging is complete.
After multiple instances of the SC failing to start charging due to problems with the SC, and/or severely limited charge rates, I never walk away without confirming the charge is ramped up to a reasonable level. Even the brand new Boulder SC gave me trouble today; no problem after moving to a different stall. Never just plug in and walk away = never forgetting to plug in and walking away!
Wish we could! That way they would get the idle fee penalty. Otherwise they do not for using a charging space for a parking space.
On a side note, there are legitimate use cases where getting hit with idle fees would suck. I was on a road trip with my wife. We needed to stop for the restroom and lunch. We stopped at a Supercharger and went to a restaurant to eat. It took us a good 5-10 minutes to walk to the restaurant after plugging in (the place was huge). We had a nice lunch, chatted and generally enjoyed ourselves. Yes, near the tail end of our meal I realized the car finished charging. There was probably 15-20 minutes between the time when the car finished charging and I unplugged. If I got hit with idle fees that would have been lameish. I was cognizant that the Supercharger location had plenty of empty stalls but what if it was busy? Interrupting my meal to walk 10 minutes to unplug and another few to drive and park closer to the restaurant to resume my lunch would not have been great. I realize that other owners might need to charge and I’m a pretty conscientious (also frugal) person so if the station was busy I would have interrupted my meal to make the stall available and avoid the fees. That said, the situation would have been suboptimal.
They enforced that in the simplest and best way they could in my opinion because some people may not be as thoughtful and you may be on the receiving end one day. You don't get with fees when the stalls are half empty. You only get hit with fees if the stalls are at least 50% or more occupied and you exceed the grace period and there probably just some flex in that too, but I've never been hit with a fee so I don't know for sure.
While the port on an S will open when the car is locked, the locking pin in the port won't disengage to allow you to plug/unplug a cable if the car is locked. And as for the issue brought up by the OP, unfortunately there are many people who are either ignorant, or selfish. Tesla owners are a subset of "people", thus the issue being discussed here. Giving folks the benefit of the doubt that they were just the former, I agree with the "leave a note" suggestions. Some folks will be educated, others will continue to look out only for themselves...