I ran into an interesting situation this past Sunday. I was on the way home on a road trip, when I got to the Wytheville, VA, supercharger. There were only two spots available, 1B and 2A. It's a V2 supercharger, so I was going to be sharing current, no matter which spot I chose. I was about to back into the 1B spot when the driver of the car in 1A walked by on the way into the hotel, and waved at me. He pointed out that the cable on 1B was hung up over the supercharger, which is the agreed-upon sign that a stall isn't working. I thanked him and pulled into 2A. Sure enough, I was sharing current and was charging at around 69 kW. (I had a reasonable low SOC in the teens, and had been driving for hours and pre-conditioning.)
About 5 minutes later, the driver in 1A leaves, and so I decide to move over to his spot, so I don't have to share power. Just for run, and because 1A is flush with a fence, I backed into 1B and plug in. It immediately starts charging, and quickly ramps up to 140 kW. So, I stay and finish my charge at the supposedly-broken stall.
I see three possibilities as to how that cable got hung as if the stall was down.
I hate to be suspicious, but I'm beginning to think that it's always worth trying a hung cable, if it's beside a charging car and there's no other option.
About 5 minutes later, the driver in 1A leaves, and so I decide to move over to his spot, so I don't have to share power. Just for run, and because 1A is flush with a fence, I backed into 1B and plug in. It immediately starts charging, and quickly ramps up to 140 kW. So, I stay and finish my charge at the supposedly-broken stall.
I see three possibilities as to how that cable got hung as if the stall was down.
- Someone plugged in, but there was a temporary malfunction and they couldn't charge, or were charging slowly. So, they wanted to be nice and hung the cable to warn others.
- The person in stall 1A hung the cable of the stall next to him, so he could wave people off and wouldn't have to share power.
- Someone who charged earlier in stall 1A the cable of stall 1B, so they could wave people off and wouldn't have to share power. The current 1A charger thought he was being nice to warn me.
I hate to be suspicious, but I'm beginning to think that it's always worth trying a hung cable, if it's beside a charging car and there's no other option.