Parking Etiquette Question

[Pollux]

I arrived at the airport at the wonderful time of 4:50 AM to find all five stations filled with Teslas and Leafs. The implication is that these cars all hooked in for at least an overnight charge. Did they need that? Possibly. But it cost me 18 electric miles.

I confess that I'm ALWAYS skeptical about Teslas parked at public chargers like the ones at the airport. I always wonder whether the driver has come from far away, limping into the airport on the electrical equivalent of fumes, thanking his/her personal deity that a charger is available so that they'll be able to return home one day. Not to mention... how many of these travelers are making day trips versus sticking their cars at chargers and coming back several days later?!

I believe without any proof whatsoever that most of these Tesla drivers are coming from within a single hour's drive of the airport and, if they charged at home, would have ample energy to make the round trip.

Alan

 

[Az_Rael]

I confess that I'm ALWAYS skeptical about Teslas parked at public chargers like the ones at the airport. I always wonder whether the driver has come from far away, limping into the airport on the electrical equivalent of fumes, thanking his/her personal deity that a charger is available so that they'll be able to return home one day. Not to mention... how many of these travelers are making day trips versus sticking their cars at chargers and coming back several days later?!

I believe without any proof whatsoever that most of these Tesla drivers are coming from within a single hour's drive of the airport and, if they charged at home, would have ample energy to make the round trip.

Alan

Well, they might be plugged in to counter vampire drain, especially in cold areas or if you are going to be gone for a while. This is why airports need large banks of Level 1 plugs not Level 2. Then you can be plugged in for days/weeks and it wouldn't be a big deal.

 

[AEdennis]

Well, they might be plugged in to counter vampire drain, especially in cold areas or if you are going to be gone for a while. This is why airports need large banks of Level 1 plugs not Level 2. Then you can be plugged in for days/weeks and it wouldn't be a big deal.

Doesn't have to be in a cold area... In Southern California I've seen vampire drain as great as 7 miles a day (several fw releases ago) and safest to keep it plugged in and let the BMS do its job.

 

[azdryheat]

As a not-yet-Tesla owner who has one of those other EVs that relies on these slow chargers, I salute you, sir. My current vehicle is a PHEV with around 18 miles of real-world EV range (save the jokes--I know it's a stopgap ). Even when puttering around town to the grocery store/mall/etc, I can use an L2 charger, and it may actually impact whether I need to kick into the old dinosaur juice on the way home or not. When I come to a station and see a Leaf or Tesla plugged in at Kohl's or something, I'm not upset--they're certainly entitled to charge there just as much as I am! But it does occur to me that it's highly likely they didn't need the charge. Or perhaps it would be better expressed as: their charging probably didn't impact their ability to continue about their day on electric, where my vehicle very well may avoid running back to gasoline usage by sneaking in a 30-minute charge while I shop.

But then I realize that running into other EVs more often is a good thing, and I move on with life. One example--earlier this week I had to take a one-day business trip. Our airport has two garages--east and west. West has 5 L1 charging stations and 10 L2 stations. East has 5 L1 stations. Since I was to be gone around 12 hours and an L1 station fills my vehicle in about 9 hours, I went east, hoping to snag an L1 charger. I didn't want to hog an L2 since I would be done charging in 2.5 hours but not back to the car for 10 more hours.

I arrived at the airport at the wonderful time of 4:50 AM to find all five stations filled with Teslas and Leafs. The implication is that these cars all hooked in for at least an overnight charge. Did they need that? Possibly. But it cost me 18 electric miles.

When I was in Flagstaff this week, one guy parked his MX at the SC from 4 pm to at least 8 am. Probably 4 or 5 Tesla's parked near the SC, and I was staying across the street. Managed to get the last spot in the morning to top off.

 

[sdorn]

Talk about swinging from one end of the spectrum all the way to the other for price, performance and pretty much every other metric!

Alan

Yeah, I bought the Leaf as a third car because it was almost free and I wanted to see what driving an electric car was like, but I liked driving it so much I got rid of my BMW 550i.

 

[green1]

When I was in Flagstaff this week, one guy parked his MX at the SC from 4 pm to at least 8 am. Probably 4 or 5 Tesla's parked near the SC, and I was staying across the street. Managed to get the last spot in the morning to top off.

Around here most superchargers are at hotels. It's a HORRIBLE choice for location. Nobody staying at a hotel needs a supercharger, and if they leave their car there it's likely to be overnight.

Hotels should have L2 chargers for guests, and Superchargers should be at malls and/or restaurants.

 

[Pollux]

Yeah, I bought the Leaf as a third car because it was almost free and I wanted to see what driving an electric car was like, but I liked driving it so much I got rid of my BMW 550i.

Wow!

 

[Pollux]

Around here most superchargers are at hotels. It's a HORRIBLE choice for location. Nobody staying at a hotel needs a supercharger, and if they leave their car there it's likely to be overnight.

Hotels should have L2 chargers for guests, and Superchargers should be at malls and/or restaurants.

Maybe it's a win for the hotel -- more or less captive charging audience that winds up eating a meal there.

Does the valet move cars around at night? Seems wasteful to leave cars parked at an SC overnight.

 

[scottm]

Maybe Tesla should change the car software to UNLOCK the charge cable from the charge port once the car hits it's set charge point, or 100%. And the red "TESLA" logo on the SC station starts flashing. And since they know the car VIN charging there, begin monitoring how long the car remains in that spot. Assess penalties after some grace period (30 mins?) has elapsed. Double the penalty if every other position at that SC site is also occupied. Tesla has the data.

 

[dbullard]

People will just start to plug in, even if not charging. May not really change the legality, but makes it a whole lot harder to prove

ChargePoint chargers show if the car's charging on it's screen.

 

[green1]

ChargePoint chargers show if the car's charging on it's screen.

But how do you know if it finished 5 mins ago, or 5 days ago?

 

[roblab]

Except that the install is exponentially more expensive. There's a reason EV chargers are near the building, and it's not to be nice, is to avoid running long wires, which is very expensive.

So put the charger at the back door instead of the front. Usually the electric feed comes in at the back. Either way, quit putting them at the front door where everybody thinks EV owners already get too many perks, like getting to drive an EV.

 

[green1]

So put the charger at the back door instead of the front. Usually the electric feed comes in at the back. Either way, quit putting them at the front door where everybody thinks EV owners already get too many perks, like getting to drive an EV.

Not all buildings have parking lots that wrap around the building. Additionally, businesses these days put in chargers as a form of marketing, both to attract EV owners, and to tell the world how "green" they are. After spending the money to do that, the last thing they want is to hide the chargers, they want them as prominent as possible.

 

[NullException]

Additionally, businesses these days put in chargers as a form of marketing, both to attract EV owners, and to tell the world how "green" they are. After spending the money to do that, the last thing they want is to hide the chargers, they want them as prominent as possible.

I think that's very true for most (i.e. sane) retailers. As the exception that proves the rule, here's a quote from another EV forum!

I've just found this that my local Aldi has a Pod-Point public charge point in the car park (Aldi | Gateshead, England | Electric Car Charging Station | PlugShare), but it's hidden behind a shipping container which means nobody can get to it rendering it useless. Has anyone come across other examples of these hidden charge points?

I had a decent conversation with Pod-Point and they've been in touch with the store. The manager said "We don't have a charging point", but then they sent all of my photos to them and heard nothing back. I'm waiting for a response from Aldi UK.

 

[green1]

There are always the retailers who put in stations because they were pressured to, or management has changed and no longer sees it as a priority (worried about costs, didn't like EV, etc)
As an example, there's a charger in Merritt BC at a truck stop that has been offline for a year and a half now, I've been unable to convince the staff there to even check the breaker. On the bright side, there is a supercharger under construction across the street. I can tell you that when I'm charging at that supercharger, I will not be patronizing the restaurant in the truck stop.

 

[green1]

Maybe it's a win for the hotel -- more or less captive charging audience that winds up eating a meal there.

Does the valet move cars around at night? Seems wasteful to leave cars parked at an SC overnight.

Of the 4 hotels I can think of, 3 do not have restaurants at all, and none have valet parking. Luckily 2 of the hotels also have at least 1 level 2 charger, but that depends on courteous EV owners to figure out they should be using that instead of the supercharger. And then you ask, should a Tesla use the L2 when it could supercharge? Should it be blocking the only charger available to non-teslas?
Ideally the Tesla would supercharge but not park there overnight, but that again requires effort and courtesy.

 

[Pollux]

@green1,

I'm sure better solutions will emerge as EV use scales up. But I think we're still at the point where making the extra effort, and being courteous, goes a long way... as well as encouraging others to do likewise. And I think you agree!

Alan

 

[green1]

I'm sure better solutions will emerge as EV use scales up. But I think we're still at the point where making the extra effort, and being courteous, goes a long way... as well as encouraging others to do likewise. And I think you agree!

I do fully agree, however I also think that more needs to be done to counter human nature, and it doesn't have to cost much either. We need good signage, and proper enforcement of it. Those 2 things alone will go a very long way towards solving all ICEing issues. while we wait for the number of chargers to ramp up.

And while I am very grateful to the hotels who have agreed to host superchargers in western Canada, I strongly believe that Tesla needs to work harder to try to put these at restaurants or malls instead, and encourage the hotels to get a bank of destination chargers instead.

 

[Max*]

Those 2 things alone will go a very long way towards solving all ICEing issues. while we wait for the number of chargers to ramp up.

Like handicapped spaces.

 

[green1]

Like handicapped spaces.

Mostly, except handicap spots are protected by law, that's nice, but not essential, you can protect them using existing laws around no parking signs.