so you're one of those guys who use the chargers without really needing the charge and possibly blocking someone out who might really need a charge just so you can get some free power and park closer to the stores? SMH
Ok, I'll have to think about this etiquette.
After my almost running out of charge saga on my 3rd day (turned into night (turned into next morning)) of owning my car, when I found an EVGO Chademo station that did not work (already on my charge backup plan C at that time) and that caused me to have to literally choose between freezing weather with the heater off so I could get a charge at a 120VAC 15amp (12amp continuous) outlet vs. staying warm, and slowly crawled up the ladder of available charging options (Level 2 J1772, then a Chademo 30kW, then a SuperCharger) and still made it to work late despite having 6 hours to charge and drive to work, I have instilled a sense of "charge first, questions later" policy and attitude toward charging.
I attach TeslaFi excerpts of my above mentioned bad experience:
(As you can see, leaving Manteca SuperCharger at 4:20AM on a commute morning, I'd never make it to work in Mountain View for a 6AM start time on time, which I did not.)
Whenever I park anywhere, I want to park at the most appropriate charging, such as a fast charger such as Chademo (nothing else exists right now?), or if failing that, any type of Level 2. Whenever I am on the road, I want to top up at a fast charger of any type (Chademo, SuperCharger that is convenient), so that I don't have trouble making it to my next SuperCharger. As Bjorn said in his video, the Tesla Model S 60 battery means that you have to fill in between SuperCharger stops with Chademo stops everywhere you go to make it safely, and I learned that the hard way when a Chademo failed to work. That is my current situation, with my 60. So, now, I stop at every convenient fast charging option and get some there no matter what unless I am absolutely certain I can make it to the next SuperCharger. By the way, this "absolutely certain" calculation has had the Fremont Supercharger in the middle of the calculation for most of my trips, and for more than half the time I've owned my car, that meant that I could NOT charge at Fremont, since that SuperCharger has been out of commission for that period of time. That means topping up even more.
I have not yet had the delight of a destination charger available to me, but if and when I ever do run into that situation, I will make full use of it.
I love the idea of low cost EVSE's (EVSE means charger plug thing; ok, let's address this first.) EVSE: It is defined in
Charging station - Wikipedia as "electric vehicle supply equipment". That's vague. What I want to say is prettymuch in the Wiki's title: "Charging Station". I'll use "charging station" from now on. Ok, back to my discussion ...
I love the idea of low cost charging stations, such as at CalTech in Pasadena
Free Destination Charging: 50x L2 80A Stations @ Caltech, Pasadena, CA , and more of this should be done, where there are literally so many of the charging stations installed that they are inexpensive, plentiful, and you can park there as long as you like, but they do offer relatively slow charging. That's ok for me for destination chargers, as long as it is usefully fast enough.
So, that brings me back to what to do when there are limited charging spots. I like the "promotional" idea of "if it's full, that means you need more" that the original poster has. But, around where I live, most people are already aware of electric vehicles, a little. So, it becomes more of an etiquette question.
If I or anyone shows up in a long range P100D fresh from home on their 72amp charger with 65% left, that's ~65kWh, but with limitations, more like 55kWh-60kWh -- that's more range than my Model S 60 fully charged! They definitely don't need to use a rare and valuable Leaf or Bolt parking spot.
But, if I or anyone shows up in my medium range 60 fresh from home on my 48 amp charger with only 35% state of charge, which means about 35kWh, compared to the 100D who came in with 55kWh left, I am ape bat nuts scared that I won't make it to the next SuperCharger or home in time to charge, so I'm going to plug in. Yes, I know, 35kWh is more than a Leaf has, but one or two errands, and considering that I can't afford to live close in (hence the 60), and I have an hour or two commute to get home and that quickly depletes my 35kWh left, especially if I'm at 22kWh at some next errand somewhere, and despite me having more left than a Leaf 30 even has, I'm personally not looking at it that way, but in my what-if way. That extra 5, 10, 20, or 30 miles range I could pick up plugged into a Level 2 or Level 3 charger would really make that extra difference for me between having to scram around for charging options with special stopovers and added time costs, and maybe be put into +1 hour rush hour traffic as double and triple punishment, and just not having to worry about it at all.
So, while it may seem that "all those long range Teslas shouldn't be taking the spots of short range Leafs", first of all, short range Leafs are short range, so they should understand that when they buy their vehicles, and second of all, there are many, many, many Teslas on the road that are not long range at all, and are simply medium range. Leaf is about to come out with their own 60 pack, putting them in the medium range category.
Here's my range categories:
~100 miles: Short range. All current Leafs.
~200 miles: Medium range. Tesla 60, Leaf 60, Chevy Bolt, Model 3 lowest cost tiers.
~300 miles: Long range. Tesla 85, Tesla 90, Tesla 100, and highest Model 3 cost tiers.
Honestly, I don't know where the Tesla 70 & 75 fall. I bet it's closer to Medium than Long. Also, some of the medium Model 3 tiers will also be wobblers.
But what all this means is that it is fair game for all but the most wealthy Tesla 85+ cars to get to the slow chargers (Level 2 and below). The etiquette should therefore be more nuanced: "How badly do you need a charge right now?" "How much do you really need to add right now?" This can be any amount for any size battery for any type of vehicle, based entirely on their destination distance, charging options on the way there and once there and coming back, and current state of charge, not on what type of vehicle they have and their current battery size. A lot of that is determined by their current battery size, however, and that is clearly an admission of something.
If a Leaf 30 owner walks to the back of a Tesla and sees a "60", they ought to be more understanding, if a bit jealous, today, and while the question can still be asked "do you need to charge?", it often is a yes. The Leaf 60 will be on equal footing to the Tesla 60 and Model 3 200 mile ranger (50? 60?). On the other hand, if the Leaf 60 or Tesla 60 owner walks back and sees a Tesla "90" on the back, then they can legitimately ask the Tesla owner, "Do you really need to charge now?" and have that conversation. It gets even more interesting when a Leaf 20 owner walks back to the back of a Tesla and sees the
P110D emblem emblazoned on the back of the brand new Model X without even license plates, clogging up a particularly slow (6kW) Level 2 J1772 charger: they probably don't need to be using that charger, at all, especially if there's no well worn hitch plugged in the hitch receptacle.
