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some Model S drivers are just jerks

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I visit a lot of public chargers around the greater Los Angeles area. Most suffer the problem of being overused. Chargers near malls or busy places are always full. That's fine, it's great they are getting used. What upsets me is if I see people using these spots are premium parking instead of charging their car. As much as I hate to say but I see a lot of Model S parked in charging stations not even plugged it! How freaking ignorant and self centered can an EV owner be? It's really not exceptions, I see it all the time that Tesla owners do that.

I didn't even need to charge when I saw this again today, so I was fine, but it just upsets me to see this. I did talk to some people at the building, but none of them really seemed to care.

I sound like a broken record but the only way to fix this problem is to put charging stations in locations where it isn't the most convenient to park your car. Put chargers in the top level of parking structures. Put them further away from the main entrance. Don't put them in premium locations.

I would leave a polite note under their windshield wiper asking them not to block other cars that need to use the charging post. This is what I do when ICEd. EV owners really should know better. The more of these notes they get the better. Most people will eventually stop.

I agree that installing the charging posts at the far end of the parking lot is best for everyone, espically when it will not raise installation costs significantly.

GSP
 
That app is useless unless it has clients for both Android and Windows Phone too. If the person wanting to scan your QR code does not have iOS, he can't decipher it. Love the idea, but it needs to be more universally accessible.
They should make it in to a webservice. That way you can leave a QR-code with a URL that anyone can read and perhaps post messages to. Now the developer can make App frontends for whatever platform he chooses but users of other platforms can still read the content...
 
I have only had my car for a month, but i have driven more than 2000 miles during the month. I have not seen any bad behaviour by any EV drivers thus far. A couple of times all spaces were being used, but someone quickly left. OTOH I may have been a jerk myself when i left my car overnight connected at a Supercharger. Mine was the only car there, though, so there was lots of empty space. I have seen several public chargers that seem to be regularly filled with BMW i3's staying for a very long time. I have not yet seen that with Teslas. On one occasion I wanted to use a level 1 outlet in a public parking garage, not marker for EV's. The ICE driver who had just taken the spot asked me if I'd like to use it to charge. She graciously related her car. So, thus far I have seen nothing other than courtesy and kindness.

I am strongly in favour of EV charging, especially Superchargers, being in less convenient location when they are in malls, airports etc. The walk does us good anyway, and the ICEing ceases to be so much of a problem. Personally i see the ICE problem most often by a couple of Tesla owners who park their ICE vehicles in EV spots. Probably I should have said something, but there has always been space for me to charge, so i have not said anything.

I have no idea if it will continue to be similar after more EV's get to my area. Probably not, jerks are everywhere.

Finally, the Store where i finalised my order, Dadeland in the south of Miami, goes out of their way to complain about Tesla owners wanting to charge/park in their spots, in a prime mall location. Of course that store specialises in rudeness anyway, so I do not know whether or not that is a real problem. Maybe it is. Even so there is not too much justification for taking out their ire on potential buyers.
 
Finally, the Store where i finalised my order, Dadeland in the south of Miami, goes out of their way to complain about Tesla owners wanting to charge/park in their spots, in a prime mall location. Of course that store specialises in rudeness anyway, so I do not know whether or not that is a real problem. Maybe it is. Even so there is not too much justification for taking out their ire on potential buyers.

I'm hoping I misunderstood this. Are you saying a Tesla Store (employees, manager, etc.) complains about Tesla Model S vehicles parking in spots that have HPWC (high powered wall chargers) and charging? That would be completely unacceptable. They would hear about my dissatisfaction also.
I've experienced the opposite, if I call "my" store, they will move inventory (test drive cars) out of the charging spots to ensure I can charge. Whether I'm needing the charge, or just topping off doesn't matter.
 
At other South Floriida Tesla facilities the attitudes are different. To be fair, the area around the Dadeland store is full of local and visiting Teslas. They probably do have lots of demand because the two closest Superchargers right now are each an hour or so away. There are options, free ones. Personally I think it is a bit rude to try to charge there when there are other options less in demand, so i have not tried. I might have if they had not been so openly contemptuous. Quote "...some buyers think we should give them gifts of merchandise. We don't do that here. They also think they should charge at any Tesla location. We might help in emergencies, but not at any other time. we need those chargers for our own cars." Factually, maybe they are correct. the attitudes are a bit over the top IMHO.
 
I would leave a polite note under their windshield wiper asking them not to block other cars that need to use the charging post. This is what I do when ICEd. EV owners really should know better. The more of these notes they get the better. Most people will eventually stop.

I agree that installing the charging posts at the far end of the parking lot is best for everyone, espically when it will not raise installation costs significantly.

GSP

I have a BIG post-it note with flashy color such as bright pink and orange, and as GSP suggested, when I see such a rude behavior, I always write a message on the note and put it on the windshield, where ALL passing-by people can clearly see and read. That way the person will feel at least some regret for such a behavior.
 
Reading through this and thinking about the problem in general, I realize that the root of the problem is mostly based in laziness and convenience. We all want to have things in life easy and convenient. That's why people like to use convenient parking spots, they go to places that are convenient. The whole concept of "drive through" says it all. Especially if it's something we have to do on a daily basis. Many people will become jerks to make it easier for themselves. It's a general issue. There is no fix for it.
 
At other South Floriida Tesla facilities the attitudes are different. To be fair, the area around the Dadeland store is full of local and visiting Teslas. They probably do have lots of demand because the two closest Superchargers right now are each an hour or so away. There are options, free ones. Personally I think it is a bit rude to try to charge there when there are other options less in demand, so i have not tried. I might have if they had not been so openly contemptuous. Quote "...some buyers think we should give them gifts of merchandise. We don't do that here. They also think they should charge at any Tesla location. We might help in emergencies, but not at any other time. we need those chargers for our own cars." Factually, maybe they are correct. the attitudes are a bit over the top IMHO.
I understand your point about charging someplace else with less congestion. However, the Tesla store can wait. They have all night to charge, when you go to the mall to visit / charge you need the charge now, not over night. You aren't going to be there long enough (or at least shouldn't have to be). Maybe they have too few chargers, here in cincinnati we have 6 at the Tesla Mall location. How many test drives are they doing simultaneously? Probably at most 2, that would be the maximum number of spots they "really" need to use, any other Test drive Tesla can charge at a 110V outlet.
sounds like the Tesla Store people are just too lazy to move the already charged Test drive cars out of the charging spots. No other excuse.
 
Reading through this and thinking about the problem in general, I realize that the root of the problem is mostly based in laziness and convenience. We all want to have things in life easy and convenient. That's why people like to use convenient parking spots, they go to places that are convenient. The whole concept of "drive through" says it all. Especially if it's something we have to do on a daily basis. Many people will become jerks to make it easier for themselves. It's a general issue. There is no fix for it.

Compounding the problem are chargers that are free. When there is something Convenient and Free, well, resistance is futile.
 
Agree totally. However, it is human nature to be jerks (me first). Earlier adopters of Teslas realized that these cars were something special, and most took great pains to be thoughtful, courteous and considerate of other Tesla (and BEV) owners because of the paucity of charging locations of any speed. But now that Teslas are becoming more mainstream, we are attracting the rest of the population that will reflect a higher percentage of selfish and inconsiderate people.
 
Agree totally. However, it is human nature to be jerks (me first). Earlier adopters of Teslas realized that these cars were something special, and most took great pains to be thoughtful, courteous and considerate of other Tesla (and BEV) owners because of the paucity of charging locations of any speed. But now that Teslas are becoming more mainstream, we are attracting the rest of the population that will reflect a higher percentage of selfish and inconsiderate people.[/QUOTE

There is a parallel that applies to other cars as well. I was an early adapter of BMW (1973 2002 tii) at a time when most people thought that the initials stood for British Motor Works. At that time, there was much camaraderie, flashing of lights and waving, etc. I read somewhere recently IIRC that BMW now has a reputation for having the most jerk drivers. Go figure.
 
A buddy just told me that he sees several Model S's "tesla-bombing" the green/charge spots at the office tower in Toronto where he works. I'm pretty sure he said they plugged in, but...

I explained to him that most Model S's have an all-day battery, where less expensive plug-ins are MUCH more likely to NEED some power to get home or to their next place. He then saw the same nightmare scenario that I did -- a coming class war for the power plugs !!

If we take the spots because they're great, and plug in for optics and don't need the juice, we're not just selfish, we are being horrible to other EV owners and I promise you Karma will take you down, one day and/or another ;)

Not yet in my Model S but I've done many what-ifs for range and (except in winter) I do NOT plan to "tesla-bomb" every EV outlet, and even in the winter I'm planning on preheating and timing my final charging to maximize range, as I'll usually either be heading out for a long drive or heading into an underground parking garage, hopefully maximizing range.
 
Lex, the problem gets too complex if you think in terms of who needs to charge more. 4 cars and 2 chargers, what do you do? the ones with the smallest batteries get priority? Or the ones that have to lowest state of charge, or the ones that have the longest drive home, or the ones that need the most charge to make it home, or the ones who came first, or the one that didn't get a chance to charge for the last week at all? And what if you reached your bare minimum to make it home, do you have to run out of a meeting and vacant the charger? What if a 5th car arrives and changes all variables? And even if you find a most needed solution, that would mean the Tesla driver would never be able to charge which gives the potentially free electricity always to someone else. Should you not even use a charger because there could be someone arriving after you, who needs it more? Should you run your battery down all the time or charge to 100% and have your battery age faster just to not use a public charger? Do plug in Hybrids need to charge at all as they can always make it home? Should a car with a slow charger be allowed to take up a spot longer than another car that can charge faster and occupies the charger less time? What is fair? Should you always be with your car to vacant the spot if a 'needier' car arrives?

There is no clean and definitely no simple solution.
 
If I need a charge, I take the spot. I drove to Boston yesterday and, while I could top off at a supercharger on the way home, I parked my car for the 9 hours I was at the office to charge for the return trip. I feel no guilt at all for doing so. There are other chargers in the area that someone could use and I had a legitimate need.

If I don't need a charge and a charger is available, sometimes I'll plug in to show that the charger is getting use. But I'll always leave a note with contact information. If someone desperately needs to charge they can contact me and I'd be happy to move.

Doesn't address the Toronto situation above but I think it's poor form to plug in at work every day unless it's absolutely necessary.