I was planning to do a lot of driving in the morning. I got a notification that my car had been unplugged from the nearby charger. The lot was literally empty and no one else was using any of the chargers except for myself. Someone pulled up to the lot, disconnected my car, then drove off. Infuriating.
Might be another owner of a different EV car who was frustrated with people using that spot. Probably want to get back at those who are hogging it. Just a thought that came to mind. He surely knew what he was doing. If it was a prank, he would have paused and think of what to do next when he unplugged.
Picked up my 3 this week and they said the charger cord was auto locking so that could not happen. Which charger station?
This was at the city hall ChargePoint station in Richmond, BC. I'm not familiar with the Model 3's adapter but I don't think it's any different from the Model S J1772 adapter. The charger cord at superchargers is locked but not at J1772s as far as I know.
Correct - the Tesla proprietary “nozzle” will lock so no one can remove the j1772 adapter itself but they can unplug and remove the j1772 charging cable itself from your adapter.
The Tesla end of Superchargers, HPWCs, UMCc, and J1772 adapters locks to the car. But the J1772 standard has no lock, so somebody can unplug the cable from the adapter, leaving the adapter locked in the car's connector port. Dick move.
At least I have a rock-solid alibi, I’m more than 2,500 miles away, (or over 4,100 kilometers for most of the world!)
I'm going to say there could be more to the story. The unplug guy is pretty polite. I don't see 'all the chargers' from the footage. You must live really far way from that charger with a 100D to need to plug in overnight or longer to an L2 charge. The video as at 3:36am when City Hall is not open. There used to be 2 L2 stations, but now only one. Drivers report there is only 1 connection working. If the 100D is parked there constantly to save a couple of dollars, that is the world's cheapest and most self-centered bastages in the area, especially if he doesn't use the building every time he charges. Not to say that's the case. But who plugs a long range EV into a low-speed city hall charger at 3:30 am if they live in the area? Possible guess? It's a city hall worker who needs the range and finds the same Tesla there every morning with dew on the windshield. Possibly has seen them use a second car and assistant to use the plug. I liken it to our dumpsters outside. I pay for it, but it is not locked. People from the nearby houses would come and dump their large trash. The Sheriff says there is nothing they can do about it unless a Sheriff witnesses the dumping, even with no trespassing signs. The people doing know they are cheap aholes (you can rent a dumpster or call for large pickup) but figures they will just stab their neighbors in the back for a few pieces of silver. It's common today, the entire attitude. Me First, Screw You.
Both connections at this ChargePoint station are online. My battery was at 19%, so I left it plugged in to get enough juice for my trip in the morning. This is the second time I've ever used this charging location. I normally charge at the hospital where I work, or more rarely down to the supercharger. There's nothing "polite" about disconnecting someone when they need the charge and other chargers are available.
Why are you charging at city hall and not at home or the supercharger? How often do you do it? Does city hall have a hospital inside? Sorry if I don't automatically believe you about the chargers or your state of charge at 03:30. Nobody has reported the second cable as working. The simplest solution is normally the accurate one. Somebody goes through a lot of trouble to disconnect an EV at 3:30 am, which could be full by that time. Does not touch the car and nicely hangs up the charge handle. Doesn't sound like a psychopath to me. Sounds like somebody who is tired of leaving messages.
You can look up both cables on ChargePoint. They are both active and working. City hall is close to where I live. I do not have a home charger as I live in a complex that does not allow it. The hospital I work at is 45 minutes drive north. The supercharger is 30 minutes south. I should not have to justify being plugged in for a couple of hours at a level 2 charger I rarely use on a weekend in the middle of the night when there is no demand for a L2 charger.
But you should consider that most the EVs North American average about 80 miles true range, and some people rely on their work charge to get home. "Couple of hours at 3:30am" ... You might look into getting a hobby. Musical cars is a poor hobby at 2am-4am. I do find it hard to fathom that somebody far enough up the food chain to use a $100k commuter car, cannot afford to rent a building with an enclosed garage and a 120v outlet. During my divorce, I had to rent briefly, and my enclosed garage had a 120v outlet. And that was cheap enough to use as a crack den.
I think Rat is right this guy showed up probably wanting to charge his own car and found the charger occupied. Why else would he be at City Hall at 3am? If you wanted to "leave a note for him", you could print out posters with his picture on it and mention it isn't nice to unplug charging EVs.
That looks like Richmond City Hall. Overnight charging has been a contentious issue for a long time. Loads of negative comments on PlugShare left by passive aggressive EV drivers criticizing overnight charging behaviour particularly at City Hall. It's a matter of time before yours get disconnected. The only viable solution currently would be supercharge at Tsawassen until Tesla installs new ones in Vancouver proper.
