ICEHoles in Iowa

[thx1139]

So my wife has a meeting today in Cedar Falls, IA. So she drove from suburbs of Chicago in our 85D to Waterloo, IA last night. She had a reservation at a Fairfield Inn in Waterloo IA that has 2 Tesla Chargers and 2 J1772 chargers. Well she arrived and someone had recently vandalized them and they are out of commission. Next door is a Hampton Inn with 2 Tesla and 2 J1772 chargers and 3 pickup trucks are blocking them.

So she is panicking because she doesnt have enough juice to get to SuperCharger outside Iowa City. Likely the pickup trucks will move, but she is supposed to be at a meeting at 815AM.

 

[ewoodrick]

That's not uncommon with J1772 plugs.

 

[thx1139]

Pickup trucks left at about 7:30AM. So she was able to plug in and leave for meeting with co-worker driving her.

 

[swaltner]

Happy to hear that she was able to get a charge with only a little bit of a hassle.

In situations like this, where the hotel has installed EV charging stations, but doesn't even do something as simple as put a traffic cone in front of them to block ICE vehicles, stop at the front desk and talk to them. They're not going to search for the owner of the vehicle and get them to move, but I'd have a conversation along the lines of "I stayed at your hotel specifically because you have a EV charging station. Because I'm unable to count on being able to charge there, I'll be staying with your competitor next door on my next visit to town." This should help impress upon them that a blocked EVSE is a non-existent EVSE. Don't get belligerent or anything, just inform them that the EV charging station was the primary reason you stayed with them and will be looking for alternatives in the future because they were not available. If enough people talk to them about that, they'll maybe enforce parking rules in front of the EV charging station.

 

[TomServo]

Laws need to be enacted and enforced. As long as EV charging stations are located in "perceived or actual" prime parking spots this is going to happen again and again.

 

[Hilbe]

I keep PlugShare on my phone as emergency situation only - supercharger/destination chargers are full/broken.