Retroactive cost for Idle charges

[icespedes]

Bought my Tesla in 2014 when there was no notion of idle charges. Now Tesla is starting to charge for that, which makes sense (I have been victim of inconsiderate car owners) but not without proper communication and contractual agreement.
As much as I love the car, Tesla continues their poor customer service and near bully-ish attitude. If you want to charge for idle charges do one or all of the following:
1) post a sign at charging stations
2) require an acceptance click in the car when somebody starts the charge, or at least a warning pop up
3) require an acceptance click in the app when somebody starts a charge, or at least a warning pop up
4) For old owners, obtain an acceptance documents of the new terms of the legal agreement with the owner

Notification in the app that idle charges will occur is nice but not nearly sufficient. Phone may be off, app may not be on, cell reception may be bad, etc.

I can't think of a reasonable example where I am charged for something I never agreed to pay for.

Idle charges should start at least 30 minutes after charge is done (5 minutes is absurd!). I got charged Idle charges while charging at a Tesla dealership DURING A TEST DRIVE FOR MY NEW MODEL X!!!

 

[chillaban]

I strongly disagree. 30 minutes could've been enough time for someone to completely fill up for a leg of their road trip, and instead they're waiting for you to come back from your test drive?

IMO it should be the owner's responsibility to charge in a considerate manner, and that includes planning ahead and not hooking a nearly-full car up to a supercharger. Tesla has stated that they only charge idle fees when stations are above half capacity, so it's not like it was abandoned.

Now, whether or not they correctly got consent about the idle fees from existing owners is a completely separate legal matter. But that aside, from an etiquette point of view, I don't think there is a legitimate reason for someone to leave an idle car on a supercharger, period.

 

[Krugerrand]

A huge thread already exists on this topic. You’ll find all sorts of opinions there, some will even agree with you.

 

[jelloslug]

Don't leave your car at a charger when you are finished charging. It's as simple as that.

 

[Ande]

30min is way too much, given all the tools (estimated time/app) 5 min is plenty.

 

[sreehyd]

Agree, 5 min is reasonable. Usually a low charge car can get enough juice close to 120-150 mils during that time

 

[Electroman]

5 mins is good enough.

How much were you charged to get outraged so much ?

 

[jeffro01]

Bought my Tesla in 2014 when there was no notion of idle charges. Now Tesla is starting to charge for that, which makes sense (I have been victim of inconsiderate car owners) but not without proper communication and contractual agreement.
As much as I love the car, Tesla continues their poor customer service and near bully-ish attitude. If you want to charge for idle charges do one or all of the following:
1) post a sign at charging stations
2) require an acceptance click in the car when somebody starts the charge, or at least a warning pop up
3) require an acceptance click in the app when somebody starts a charge, or at least a warning pop up
4) For old owners, obtain an acceptance documents of the new terms of the legal agreement with the owner

Notification in the app that idle charges will occur is nice but not nearly sufficient. Phone may be off, app may not be on, cell reception may be bad, etc.

I can't think of a reasonable example where I am charged for something I never agreed to pay for.

Idle charges should start at least 30 minutes after charge is done (5 minutes is absurd!). I got charged Idle charges while charging at a Tesla dealership DURING A TEST DRIVE FOR MY NEW MODEL X!!!

When you plugged in you agreed to the T&Cs... You had the option to not use the SC system thus not incurring idle fees when you leave your car there too long...

Jeff

 

[Parris]

agreed, 5 minutes is reasonable. Especially considering all the tools we have to check on the status.

 

[Gig103]

I get why it's 5 minutes, but if I was trying to get a bite to eat while charging I wouldn't expect to need to have my phone out the whole time and a 5 minute warning can be tough if you need to wait on a check and get back. 10 minutes is a better number I would say.

Better yet, a tier. 10 minutes if the station is > 50%, and 5 minutes if > 70%.

And the idea of "having to accept" every time is obnoxious. It has been widely publicized by now.

 

[Lump]

Idle charges should start at least 30 minutes after charge is done (5 minutes is absurd!). I got charged Idle charges while charging at a Tesla dealership DURING A TEST DRIVE FOR MY NEW MODEL X!!!

That doesn't make sense.

 

[BrettS]

I get why it's 5 minutes, but if I was trying to get a bite to eat while charging I wouldn't expect to need to have my phone out the whole time and a 5 minute warning can be tough if you need to wait on a check and get back.

You get more than a 5 minute warning. As you approach your charge limit you get a notification letting you know that it’s getting close, then another one after it has finished and your 5 minute counter starts.

 

[EVCarGUy]

I get why it's 5 minutes, but if I was trying to get a bite to eat while charging I wouldn't expect to need to have my phone out the whole time and a 5 minute warning can be tough if you need to wait on a check and get back. 10 minutes is a better number I would say.

When you plug in the car, wait a moment, and the screen tells you how long it will take to charge. How is this different than a parking meter where you have to remember when it times out? I don’t know why you even need a warning on your phone. Plus, there are phone warnings well before charging is actually done. I'm totally lost at this "5 minutes isn't enough" complaint.

 

[chillaban]

When you plug in the car, wait a moment, and the screen tells you how long it will take to charge. How is this different than a parking meter where you have to remember when it times out? I don’t know why you even need a warning on your phone. Plus, there are phone warnings well before charging is actually done. I'm totally lost at this "5 minutes isn't enough" complaint.

Not to mention if you consider the taper curve, being able to idle on a charger already implies you've spent a lot of time charging at a slower rate topping off your battery. That's already your "free" idle fee evasion, especially when you're stopping by your local service center to test drive a car.

 

[croman]

I've never supercharged beyond 98%. Most of the time I leave at 80 or so because it starts to taper such that it's better to stop again in 200 miles anyways and get those sweet sweet 100kw charging rates. I hate it when I only get 45kw and the station is full of nearly charged cars left abandoned. It's painful. Charge and go. We stay in our car or take a quick walk but we often don't eat as supercharging is too quick to really relax and eat at a sit down place.

 

[Nosken]

Bought my Tesla in 2014 when there was no notion of idle charges. Now Tesla is starting to charge for that, which makes sense (I have been victim of inconsiderate car owners) but not without proper communication and contractual agreement.
As much as I love the car, Tesla continues their poor customer service and near bully-ish attitude. If you want to charge for idle charges do one or all of the following:
1) post a sign at charging stations
2) require an acceptance click in the car when somebody starts the charge, or at least a warning pop up
3) require an acceptance click in the app when somebody starts a charge, or at least a warning pop up
4) For old owners, obtain an acceptance documents of the new terms of the legal agreement with the owner

Notification in the app that idle charges will occur is nice but not nearly sufficient. Phone may be off, app may not be on, cell reception may be bad, etc.

I can't think of a reasonable example where I am charged for something I never agreed to pay for.

Idle charges should start at least 30 minutes after charge is done (5 minutes is absurd!). I got charged Idle charges while charging at a Tesla dealership DURING A TEST DRIVE FOR MY NEW MODEL X!!!

Since you are in Folsom, I assume it was Rocklin. The "we only charge idle fee if 50% of the stalls are full" sucks when it is full of service and loaner cars.

Did you reach out to anyone at Tesla local or corporate to rectify?

 

[ucmndd]

Has anyone actually ever paid an idle charge? The whole setup seems to be a big scary deterrent without any honest intention of collection or enforcement.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

When you plug in the car, wait a moment, and the screen tells you how long it will take to charge. How is this different than a parking meter where you have to remember when it times out? I don’t know why you even need a warning on your phone. Plus, there are phone warnings well before charging is actually done. I'm totally lost at this "5 minutes isn't enough" complaint.

It's different because with charging it's a variable amount.

Like lets say you pull into a mostly full location and you start to charge. At this point you're likely going to be shared with someone else so you'll get a low charge rate. So the screen is going to read some high amount like an hour.

So then you go to lunch thinking "uggh, this is going to take some time so I should do something useful"

Then just as you're ordering your charge kicks into high gear because the person you were sharing with left. Now your left with significantly less time. If you're with someone it's not a big deal.

But, if you're me where you sometimes you get "trapped" in a restaurant it sucks.

It hasn't been an issue so far since I simply slide the charge limit from 90% to 100% if some timing issue happens. I still try to get to car to get on my way. But, I don't worry about the 5 min thing.

That happens rarely though. Usually I charge to an amount where I have an estimated 25% left at my destination.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

Has anyone actually ever paid an idle charge? The whole setup seems to be a big scary deterrent without any honest intention of collection or enforcement.

They now show up on a persons account on Tesla.

 

[Electroman]

So WHAT if you guys get dinged for a 10 or 15 minutes? costs less than a cup of Starbucks coffee, and some of you get all bent out of shape