I think those sceptics will be pretty enraged if they have to wait 30-60 minutes before they cant start to charge because someone wanted to finish their meal or whatever.
It isn't wanting to allow people to finish their meals for me at all. I am advocating for a system where a reasonably diligent average person would optimally never get idle charges by accident, while experiencing a resonable-feeling system that won't hamper their EV adoption interest. That is the optimal goal, but I would also be glad of any further steps towards that.
It is to give predictability and an understandable system for the average person, which I feel now lacks. I have no problem demanding car moving once charging finishes. I am arguing for a more humane system to do so. Like I said I would support 0 minute grace (zero minutes!) if the car could give upon charge start a guaranteed move-the-car time before which any idle charges will definitely not accrue. That would be a system an average person can understand, return at a pre-determined time. That is similar to the parking meter. People understand parking meters and can be expected to understand them.
One issue with engineering designed solutions is that they are often quite inhumane. From an engineerin perspective, the concept of people moving their car immediately once the charge is finished (the five minute is basically jus to give you time to notice the notification and disconnect the cable) is certainly inviting. But it hardly takes into consideration the human who is operating the process. Machines can react to changing circumstances immediately, for humans that is a more difficult task.
Let's look at what we have here: A long, imprecise charging event towards which the only visibility you have is a mobile app and the screen inside the car. There are people without the app, and the notifications of the app are notoriously unreliable anyway. There is the taper and stall sharing and different conditions of Supercharges making the length of the Supercharging event variable, even during a charge. And you have to move within 5 minutes of completion or face penalty charges (which I would assume most people dislike beyond their monetary value).
1) You can not plan with your watch, as the event length can vary a lot.
2) You can not rely on app notifications, because they are not reliable (and not everyone uses apps).
3) You can not use your expertise to estimate the length of charging (which would be beyond the average person anyway), because stall sharing can speed up and slow down your charge beyond your control. Some stalls also have varying speeds for other reasons like technical condition.
4) Sometimes Supercharging simply stops before reaching the percentage you want. It just completes on its own abruptly.
= The only options that are reliable are sitting in the car watching the screen or constantly looking at/updating the app and staying close enough to be 5 minutes away at all times. Or taking penalty charges.
Having a 30-60 minute grace time will kill supercharging for everyone once masses of Model 3's hit the road. Sure, you can argue that it's a capacity issue, but if people are educated that a Supercharging spot is really free convenient parking it will be a perpetual capacity issue. It just won't work to create a broken system to try to accommodate the biggest sceptics. New (and old!) EV drivers needs to be educated on what is acceptable charging behaviour.
There are two things at play here IMO:
- Charging an EV is an inconvenience, no doubt about it. It hampers adoption. Allowing people to use that break in a meaninful manner helps with adoption. If we allow people to plan their return to the charger better, they can spend the break in a more meaningful way, resulting in higher satisfaction. If we rely on education and a system that is inhumanely demanding, more people will just stick with ICE.
- My thinking is not just about Supercharging either, but all EV charging. It simply is such a different type of event currently, that I do not think using similar metrics as at a gas station is the reasonable way forward. When the charge is long and unpredictable, allowing a larger time window for moving the car after finishing is simply common sense IMO. It is normal, it is reasonable, it should be designed for. This reasonable period can have some price, but not a punitive price.
I'm not saying I know what the reasonable stay ends up being for an EV charging event upon completion for people on average. But I am saying I do not think it is 5 minutes or less.
When you take your car to a quick automated car wash, it is understood that you do not park there but move out after it is done. It is so quick you can be expected to do so. But when you take it to a longer, human-operated car wash, they do not demand that you pick it up within 5 minutes of them getting it done, since you can not know when they are done. They will call or SMS you that it is done and understand it will take a while for you to return. That is normal. Same goes for any lenghty, unpredictable events...
Now, please understand that I am not ignoring the people queueing for the charger. I am seeking a compromise that works for all, while optimizing EV adoption barrier removal.
With that said, sure, there are certainly improvements Tesla can make. A starting point would be to link a credit card in MyTesla and charge after each session with detailed information on the screen, as well as proper information about Supercharging when you take delivery of your Tesla.
It is easy agree with this. This should happen in any case.
I am not seeking perfection either. If Tesla had implemented this as 1) pay as you go credit card system 2) with a 15 minute grace from the start, and 3) with an SMS warning system, I would probably have much less to say about this.
15 minutes hardly solves everything, but at least it would be more humane than 5 minutes (and still short enough to encourage prompt return to car), SMS would reach most people and be more reliable than an app (app would still be an option too of course), and pay as you go would remove most nasty surprises (no accumulating of year's worth of charges). It would be infinitely better than what we have now IMO.