Look, I have no doubt that some people ICE their own and spend too much time at the SC's. But I am not a fan of people who think you need to stay in your car the whole time either. I have had people give me bad looks at that same Fountain Valley SC because I ran over to Costco and grabbed a couple of things #efficiency.
If it takes you 45 minutes to walk from point A to point B on the photo below then I would argue that you need to spend less time sitting and more time walking. Most able bodied people would have no problem walking across that lot, buying a couple dozen items and walk back in less than 45 minutes. And, their car would likely still not be at the desired rate of charge.
My question is simple, how do you know when another person's car has been sitting idol and for how long? If you are assume that because they have a few items from Costco that they are ICEing you, then you need to calm down and recognise that some people like to kill two birds with one stone and can do it quite efficiently.
Yeah, that Costco ICEing actually happened. I know this because one of the cars in front of me in line was driven by the offending ICEr. I saw her park, leave, and return. We all took bets from what little shade was offered by the valet’s umbrella, knowing that she probably wouldn’t return in time.
The point being that you don’t know when you leave your car how long the checkout lines are going to be at Costco, and we all have the same phone app. You’re guessing, and hoping.
Again, with idle fees now in place, I expect the problem is lessened.
Also, as stated above, for future urban installations, it will matter less at/near Costco since getting in and out in 60-90 minutes is far more doable than in 30-45 minutes - at least at peak times.
The larger point is that putting any SC next to any distraction is antithetical to the point of supercharging.
Easy solution: after 60 minutes of lifetime (reset upon transfer of ownership) idle fees, increase the cost from $24/hour to $60/hour, and require a credit card on file to continue SC access. After 360 minutes lifetime, go to $300/hour.
Even livery, along with compulsive shoppers and gamblers, would have to re-evaluate their lifestyle choices at that point.
Another value add would be to stripe all SC stalls green and to sign them with municipal no parking signs (as is done at Fred Meyers locations in the NW). It will probably take a generation to get people to attach the same level of repect for green paint as is accorded to red and blue paint - might as well get started.
Finally, superchargers, urban and otherwise, constitute one of Tesla’s greatest competitive advantages. The last thing we need is to rationalize ICEing by our own.
